African Time

We have mentioned how much longer things take here several times.  We thought we would share a couple of stories that demonstrate how much time is not a pressing matter here.

Bekah was supposed to play in a basketball game with some of the Thies University girls.  The plan was to meet at the gym, where they normally practice, at 3:30.  Then they would take a bus and play at 4 at a stadium in town.  Well needless to say, it didn’t exactly go as planned. Shocker.  Bekah was there on time at 3:30 (just in case something did happen on time).  However when Bekah arrived, there were only 2 girls there.  Eventually all the girls came around 4 and they took the bus to the stadium. Once they arrived at the stadium it was discovered that no one actually had keys to the stadium. Classic. So Bekah and the girls waited for over an hour at the stadium until someone eventually came who had keys.  Then once they actually got into the stadium, they had to set the portable hoops up.  The game didn’t actually end up starting until almost 6!

Lucas has been playing on a neighborhood soccer team to build relationships with the guys.  They were supposed to have a tournament on July 4^th.  But the first game got delayed a week so they would play on July 11^th.  A girl, Helen, stopped by our house the morning of July 11^th and said the game had been postponed until the following night.  The reasoning was the game was postponed because the teams who were supposed to play on the 10^th didn’t end up playing, and they had to play first.  So the other teams played on the night of the 11^th, and our neighborhood team played the following night of the 12th.  The plan was for everyone to meet at a neighborhood shop at 8 then they would get a vehicle to the game which was supposed to start at 9.  Sounded simple enough, right?  Lucas headed over to the boutique just after 8, and ended up sitting there until just after 9.  Once all the guys showed up, they headed to the stadium.  The game ended up starting at about 10:15 and there was still another game after Lucas’ which didn’t end up starting until after 11:30!

Needless to say, understanding how time works here has been a real adjustment.  It is night and day from what life is like in the United States.  Bekah remembers in college when if you weren’t five minutes early to basketball practice then you were considered late.  That kind of mind set just can’t be used here.  The culture is different, and we have just gotten used to it.