Watching My Watch

Today in seminar we discussed our cultural values in the United States – from freedom to capitalism, from equality to telling it like it is. While we discussed what we thought the top five and the bottom five were in the U.S., we also shared our personal top five values. An interesting discussion took place about the role religion plays in our culture and politics. However, I found the most eye-opening part of the readings and discussion for me was my own personal reflection on the value of multitasking and speed.

At some point last semester I realized that I was keeping track of the time in my head. “Ok Claire, you have until 12:15 to finish folding your laundry. Then from 12:15 to 1:00 I’ll do homework, and then a ten minute break.” I was scheduling my time down to the minute. Looking back on it now it seems kind of crazy until I realize that I’m still doing it! Just this past Friday I decided I would go on a run from approximately 6:15-6:45, then I would do laundry from 7:00-8:00, take a shower, eat breakfast and meet my friends at 9:00. Let me just say, Ghana does not run this way. However, I haven’t found it frustrating which is surprising. When someone says that lecture will start at 9:30 they really mean around 9:45, maybe even closer to 10:00. When grandma says that the meeting at church will be very short, she means we will be staying for over an hour. Ghanaian time is different from my own. It’s something I can accept, can live with, and haven’t had any difficulties with. But it’s funny that I still try to run on my own time. I don’t know if it’s something that will really change while I’m here because it hasn’t been problematic or caused me to be stressed or left me feeling frustrated. I am interested in hearing about what Grandma and Felix think about it though…

To add to this discussion about time - none of the clocks in my house work; when you ask a Ghanaian how long it will take you to walk somewhere they usually say 15 minutes when in reality it's a 45 minute walk; lectures don't actually start at the time they are supposed to; trotros run whenever they feel like it; you never know how long you will sit in a shared taxi waiting for it to fill up with people; and when someone tells you they are coming in the morning, it could be anywhere between the time you get up and noon (or in the case of my grandma's niece, she said she would be over in the morning - turned out she wasn't coming until 1:00).

I run on my time, Ghana runs on its time.