We are on island time, baby.
Or…El Salvadorian time, I guess?
Either way, I love it. I have always said I loved Latin American culture, but I think after these three months here I will know it for sure.
These people are uniquely warm and enjoyable; they are not task or time oriented.
You know when you go to the beach for vacation and there is this laid back, no-cares feel about it all? When you put away your worries of school or work for a week and just lay around and read and eat and laugh with your family and sit outside on the porch just sipping a cold drink and starting out at the ocean? When you aren’t obsessively worried about what has to happen that day; you are just existing and enjoying the blessings of a week to enjoy being alive?
Well that is kind of the perpetual feel of this place. Meeting times are more of a suggestion than an expectation, and you better believe that there will be a healthy dose of standing around laughing and playing after whatever business needs to be addressed. Family members and friends are constantly hugging, kissing, and laughing, and gloria a Dios (Glory to God) is a frequent utterance.
In fact, these people are so much more focused on enjoying each other than on accomplishing tasks that many places, including retail stores, are still decorated for Christmas.
And I find it all pretty hilarious when “Be ready to leave at 7!” means 8:15, or “this meeting will just be a few minutes” means 2 hours or more. In the US, these scenarios are cause for extensive apologizing and re-scheduling of our day; here, everyone just gets a smile and a kiss and then we just mosey right along. It is really nice to not have to be too concerned with my schedule. In fact, the only time these people seem to be in a hurry is when they are driving, at which point you do some serious praying for your life as lanes, turn signals, speed limits, oncoming traffic, and pedestrians are ignored as you precariously bounce along in the back of a pick up truck with 5-15 other people.
We have had so many cool experiences already that I don’t even know how to blog about them: amazing food; warm people; celebrating the church anniversary in a party complete with streamers, balloons, cake, and children and animals everywhere; and worshipping in tiny, makeshift tin-roof gathering places.
We work 6 days out of 7, preaching and leading worship at services in plant churches in rural areas, and caring for children; during the day, we are helping to scrub, paint, and generally prepare a local public school for its new term. The teachers have huge workloads with very large classes and do most of the cleaning, yard work, and school maintenance themselves; we are helping to relieve this burden and allow them to focus on lesson plans. Meanwhile, I am embracing the perpetual “island time.” Peace. 🙂
