Right of Way

I was having a conversation yesterday about interesting cultural differences between Americans and Madridians. One of the observations was that Madridians, under almost no circumstances, J-walk. Like never. (As an aside, during this conversation, we saw someone J-walk. He defended his point by claiming that the gentleman must be an tourist. I'm still debating this fact, but it's true, even in the safest of road-crossing situations, people have their feet glued to the sidewalk if the red hand is illuminated.)Anyway, crossing the street here is quite a production. They have the pedestrian crossing lights at most intersections(except the colors are green and red instead of white and red. Oooohhhh, ahhhh....)however, the crosswalks make a repeated beeping noise when they are set to "walk." I'm not sure if this is an accommodation for the blind or not, but I've actually started to get accustomed to it. I don't even look up if I here the familiar sound because I know I have the right of way. If I don't hear it, I don't move. The problem with this is that the same is not true for crosswalks that are not illuminated with Sir Green Man and Miss Red Hand. When I walk up to these types of crosswalks, and stop, I create angry locals. At these smaller crosswalks, Madridians expect you to walk, almost without looking, so if you hesitate or stop, it throws them off. They really take this pedestrian right-of-way thing to an extreme. If they even see you approaching in any capacity they are going to stop for you. Even if it seems there is no way you'd be at the curb by the time they had passed through, they will slam on the breaks if they see you approaching. I try and wave them on in that "just to be nice" sort of way, and I continue to get angry looks like "Just cross the road you idiot." I'm sure it will become more natural soon, I just hope I don't cause a motorcycle pileup in the process.