What Time is It? :: Essays Papers

What Time is It?Before meeting with my fri remnant Leticia from Honduras, Central America, I would strike her if she was arriving according to spousal relationship American clipping or Latin American beat. Smiling, she would answer, A la hora Latina, of course. This meant that she would be late. The concept of time is very antithetical for Latin Americans than for North Americans.Life in the United States is fast-paced. There be fast food restaurants, overnight delivery services, shuttle services, instant change machines, fast charge loss plans, and even instant minute rice. avidly following such sayings as, The archaeozoic bird gets the worm, and, First get along, first served, North Americans even have their meals in an efficient manner. Microwaves help nuke their early breakfasts, noon lunches, and five-oclock dinners.Time is money for big businesses. Everyone follows set agendas. Minutes are taken at meetings that are precisely scheduled. North Americans take fleece i n juggling busy work schedules and still finding time to spend with family and friends.Latin Americans stroll leisurely through life. They amble past open-air restaurants, across shaded patios tucked behind walls of Bougainvillea. In the cafes, the service is slake but courteous. Outside on the streets, people walk by, not for weight purposes, but to get somewhere. Buses arrive and depart on their own schedule, sometimes sooner or later than their printed times. And if you miss the bus, wait. One will come along eventually. Mid-morning breakfasts are homemade. Lunch is around three in the good afternoon and dinner could be anytime after the arranged time. No one follows a set agenda, but business is accomplished at a delaying and comfortable pace. Watches are not followed precisely, and one barely ever hears the question, What time is it?This cultural difference has proven to be a problem for many North Americans visiting Latin American countries and vice versa. For example, this problem has escalated on the issue of adoption. While in Honduras the summer of 1989, I translated for couples from the United States who were flavor for children to adopt from Central America. All legal procedures were transacted between a attorney from the U.S. and a Honduran lawyer. Legal matters on the North American end were handled almost immediately. The Honduran lawyer, however, was considerably slower with field work and newspaper publisher work and was unable to give definite dates or times for the accomplishment of the adoption. This created a cultural barrier and added to the confusion of the situation.