Apoya la Huelga!!

Apoya la Huelga!! (Support the Strike!!)

(Okay, the file of the photo was the right way, yet it still came out sideways. Somebody with a Mac who uses iPhoto needs to tell me how to fix this.)

This is a picture of one of our lovely metros here in the city. Normally, our metros are practically spotless. Unblemished. Beautiful. It really is quite amazing how a city so large can have metros so pristine.

But a few weeks ago, the cleaning services people went on strike. And now our beautiful metros are not so beautiful anymore.

At one metro I saw flyers strewn all over the floor that said "Support the strike! Dirty the metro!" And let me tell you, they have.

I don't have a photo of it, but the metro closest to my house now has some very impressive graffiti inside on the platform where you wait for the train.

In one station, somebody squirted ketchup all over the wall. It's been there for at least a week. Disgusting. I can't help but laugh about it, though. There's just something humorous about wading through newspaper to get to the train.

But I do I hope it ends soon, though. It is pretty dirty...



Okay. Enough about the strike. Something else.

For those of you who thought consumerism and materialism was a uniquely American thing, you were wrong.

There's a large department store that's similar to Macy's, except more massive. It's like a Macy's/Best Buy/Barnes and Noble/Brook Mays/Grocery store combined. Yeah - they've got everything. It's like a high-end Super Wal-Mart.

Well, for Christmas they had an ad out all over the city that broke my heart. It said "A little more of Christmas with every gift." Really? Is that what they really think? Because that's one of the saddest things I've ever heard.

Now there's another holiday this Sunday, Three Kings Day. The "Three Kings" are kind of like the equivalent to Santa Claus. There's a parade tomorrow evening, and then the whole family dines together and after the little ones go to bed, the "Three Kings" come and leave gifts for them. For most people here, it's a bigger event than Christmas day.

Well this same department store is running an add on the TV that shows little cartoon kids dressed up like the kings, carrying gifts, and the add starts out with child-like voices saying "Presents! Presents! Presents!" and then it sings a little song about getting gifts.

There are so many things going through my brain right now so I'll just leave it at that and let you think on it.