I know it is a little late to post this, but better late than never.
I was having lunch in a restaurant with a few friends on 5th July.4th July being Sunday, Monday was a holiday. For the un-Americanized, 4th July is America's 15th August(independence Day). And if it falls on a Sunday, Monday is declared a holiday. They do not have holidays here in the US like we do back home. Of course, with 4 major religions(33 million gods in one of them) and countless festivals for each of the religions, all the warriors and leaders, we just need an occasion for a holiday. And I am not even counting the holidays one gets because of the rains, bandhs or political tension. So with only a handful of public holidays, Americans make sure that they get a long extended weekends on all on them. This gives them a chance to sit in front of television one whole more day and drink beer, or drive to some place and drink more beer there.
Anyways back to the restaurant.So, I was having dinner and there was a group of American guys, all in their late teens, sitting on the table next to us. There was nothing out of the ordinary until the following exchange:
Dude 1: Is July 5th, like, a federal holiday each year?
Dude 2: Ummm. I don't fuckin know. I know 4th July is.
Dude 1: Then, why do we have off?
Dude 3: I think it is a holiday each year man. Maybe it's because, like, it was the first full day they really got to celebrate the Declaration of Independence you know.
And he wasn't even joking. I nearly choked on my lunch.
