tick tock

one thing you need to learn when you come down here is that everything (but driving) is in dominican time. no matter how hard you try to get other people to be somewhere "en punto" (on the dot), or even to be on time yourself, it just never seems to work... i dont even bother wearing a watch.

when it is raining most people pull off the road to hide under a little store front roof or just sit inside until it is over. when it is too hot and sunny most of the dominicans again hide inside or in the shade while all the 'gringos' are out there soaking it up. when there is construction or just a big load of anything, the whole road just gets blocked off until they decide to move their big dumb truck. and nobody seems shocked or even aware that an event started at 3 but nobody is there until after 4.

last year one of my friends was invited to his dominican friends' wedding. he said it was supposed to start at maybe 5 so he planned for that and still showed up at 530 and they were just beginning to set up. even this week some friends were coming over to the house to help me make dinner and they said they would be there at 7. luckily i still made some kraft dinner beforehand because my first friend showed up at 8ish with some plantains and the other two didnt come until after 10 - and they forgot the food. finally we ate around 1130. good times (literally, ha im hilarious).

everyone always just wanders around town slowly, hissing and people watching, and finally when they put their mind to go somewhere they can be the most impatient, speed-demons you have ever seen. i dont know how many times we have been passed by a truck full of people in the back while there is a motoconcho on our right and a car and motoconcho driving towards us. everyone just moves over as far as they can and speeds off to wherever they are headed. i sometimes figure it is because they know they are already so late so they try to make up for some of it with their driving techniques, but who really knows.

basically, the point of this blog, (besides the fact that i was assaulted by dominican time again today when i went to pick something up that we ordered last week and was supposed to be ready two days ago, yet wont be ready until at least next week) is that if you come to the dominican and start getting upset that people arent meeting you or calling when they say they will, you just have to remember what i was told... "the white man invented the clock"