time

last class we talked about time and how people not only use it differently but also see it differently. this is very true. hispanics have the fame of alway arriving "fashionably" late. my family will tend to be from one to two hours late to whatever event they are trying to get to.
while in el salvador i really got to see how they view time there. everything seems a lot more chill. people aren't late for lack of respect (which is what lateness can be considered here in the US) but rather because they value time differetly. it is almost expected that if u say you will be some place at four it will actually be 5 or maybe even 5:30 by the time you actually get there. it may just be the people i was with but this relaxed attitude about time borders procrastination. everything can be done in "one more minute". this minute can take up to an hour.
Salvadorans do things as they go, one thing at a time. Monochromatic is what we called it in class. frankly i kind of like this way of doing things. here in the US i am always running and jumping through hoops to do a million things in one day. and that is how things function here. over there i can sit eat my breakfast and have a nice chat with a stranger at the dinner.
i know that with organization this can also be done here in the US i can make it so i have some time in between tasks, but its not as effortless as it is over there. its not because we don't all have the same expectations. most people in the US want it done now. papers must be due now, homework, tasks at work.
it is strange to me how relaxed things are over there, but how much gets done as well. its not like the people don't work or have deadlines. its just different. society is also set up differently. kids get out of school at noon and have the rest of the day to play, do homework, or simply get bored and invent something. adults also get out of most jobs earlier as well. somehow the days just seem longer. the first few days i was beginning to feel anxious because things were getting done so slowly! this was my tiny culture shock while down there. i was so use to things getting done so fast, that when they took an extra minutes i was about to lose it!  then i began to appreciate the one thing i was doing a lot more-- now that i had more time to dedicate to it. i like it. instead of doing a lot of sloppy jobs and tasks i was able to do fewer much better and more appreciated jobs. i liked that we discussed this in class before i left. it gave me the chance to actually recognize why i was feeling so weird the first few days.