To say “moving like a speeding herd of turtles” may be a slight exaggeration. It's probably more like a responsible, law abiding herd of turtles. You know me. I'm pretty easy going. No need to get riled up about things taking time. It's a good thing I'm wired this way, because even I acknowledge the slowness with a slight annoyance at times. Mostly I just smile to myself. The funniest part to me is that no one here has any idea.
You'd like examples? Well the fact that I walk considerably faster than most Africans should be the first clue. (Yeah, me, outwalking people) The other day when we were finishing up the roof I was kind of pushing to get done. Morgan says to me, “We'll get this first sheet lined up and then bang bang bang, we'll be done in an hour.” (it's about 12.10 at the time) I told him there was no way, and that it'd actually be 15.00 or 15.30 before we were done. Sure enough 15.35 we stuck on the last sheet. For any LOTR fans, working here feels a little like Merry and Pippin at the council of the Ents. After twenty minutes of talking back and forth, they turn to you and say “we decided to use 150x50 timbers for the roof.” and you're like “twenty minutes ago you said 50x50's weren't big enough, so that was really our only option right?”
I went to church today. It was a joint English/Bemba service so it started at 9.00. I got there about 5 minutes early and sat down. They normally do a lot of stuff before the actual sermon, but today (and this is completely true) it was all of 2 hours and 55 minutes before the pastor got up to speak. It was not only joint English/Bemba (which takes longer to translate) but it was also a baptism/confirmation/communion service as well. We left at about 13.30.
Now I am honestly not complaining. I'm not even criticizing. I'm just informing you of how it is here. Like I said, I do pretty well being chill, and I handle slow very well. My most common reaction is just to smile to myself, but every now and then a little of the efficiency and productivity training that constituted the majority of my college education whispers in my ear. I'll try and help them grow and they'll do the same for me. It's what I love about traveling.
Tomorrow morning at 7.45 I'll be leaving with Kafuti to head down to Livingstone and Victoria Falls. I'll be taking a lot of pictures, and I'll tell you all about it when I get back. If not sooner.
2 comments:
So glad to read your post. What about the efficiency and productivity training from your childhood? I'm sure you heard your mother's voice whispering in your ear too.
3 things...
1. This post reminds me of the phrase TIA. And Dru telling us the first day we were there, "Everything takes longer in Africa."
2. You walk faster than most Africans? I remember what your "fast" pace was... and, well, it wasn't very fast. Needless to say, my "slow" is faster than most Americans, but I will say, a lot of the Lifesong kids could keep up with my clip. Maybe Africa's next generation will be faster walkers.
3. I'm excited (and a little jealous) you get to go to Victoria Falls & wish our team had been able to go (although the game park was cool). Definitely take lots of pictures and post them if you can!!!
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