Telling time

written Monday, 28 May 2007

 

 

Two funny things about telling time here:

 

I had been warned before I came to the village that life would run on "African time", so if I try calling a meeting for 3 pm, people would most likely start showing up at 4 or 5 pm.   But to the contrary, I've (at least so far) found people to be very time-conscious here (although I have yet to try calling a meeting).  Several times people have noticed that I wear a watch and asked me what time it is.  If my watch says, for example, 3:28, then I'll usually round it and tell them that it's 3:30 (easier on my language skills).   But then they will look at my watch themselves and say, "No, it isn't!  It's 3:28!" as if I had been trying to trick them.   They want to know the exact minute it is!

 

The other funny thing about telling time here (especially given how time-conscious people apparently are) is that people don't seem to know how to tell time on analog clocks.   Just the other day, my 13-year-old brother, who goes to school and is pretty smart, was playing with a toy clock and asked me to teach him how to tell time on it.   It only took him five minutes to understand once I explained it to him; it's strange that they overlook teaching simple things like that at the school.