Better Late than Never

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Hey....I know that for the past few weeks I've been writing about some of my more dramatic moments in Argentina where I've had to go without food. Things did work out in the end and I got the monthly allowance that I usually receive from overseas right in the nick of time. It felt so good to have food in my belly again and I definitely appreciate all that I have on an even deeper level. I'll expound on that more another time and in the upcoming blogposts, I'll share on how the experience impacted me. But for now, I want shift and go from talking about the dramatic moments of living abroad to some of the funnier moments of life here.

"Better Late than Never", that seems to be the resounding theme of the culture here in Argentina. There are times when that philosophy is extremely frustration while other times where that philosophy works wonderfully to my advantage. Like the time that I was to teach a class from 6-8.....a class that I thought was from 7-9.

I've been in situations before where I got told to come to event that started at a certain time only to find that the event actually ended up starting an hour later than advertised. Irritating as it may seem at times, I am really glad that Argentines have a very lax attitude towards time because that attitude kicked in when I arrived at 7pm for a class that starts at 6pm.

Upon finding out that I had arrived an hour later, I apologized profusely to my students. But my students looked at me strangely like "What are you apologizing for?" They saw no reason for me to apologize. Let me explain to you how I could get away with something like that.

It is normal for things to start 30 to 40 mins later than advertised here in Argentina. It is possible that many of the students arrived around 6:25 and when they were waiting during the 1st hour until 7pm when I arrived, they thought they were waiting for other students and people to show up.....luckily this includes the teacher TOO

I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw their reaction to my error. They didn't even think I did anything wrong. Now I am not recommending that one allows themselves to be late on a regular basis.   But it gets interesting to live in a country where cancellations and delays are seen as a normal part of life and expected to happen. I have come love dealing with people who always want to see and believe the best in others.  What a relief it is to be given the benefit of the doubt :)