A thought about waiting

7/13/10 - 6am

I think I spoke too soon when I made the statement that I would be adjusted to the time difference by today, because at 4:30am I was wide awake and could not for the life of me fall asleep! So I got up and wrote in my journal for a while, and now it's about 5:45 and I have some time to kill before I go to breakfast, which doesn't start until 7.

One thing I noticed about India is… you do a lot of waiting. I'm a very impatient person, even by East Coast standards, so waiting for several minutes for my change at the restaurant last night (to use one of many examples) was, I'll admit, annoying to me.

But like I was saying in my earlier entries, the level of hospitality here is second to none, so there has to be another explanation for the waiting. My hypothesis is that it's a different way of showing guests respect. To go with the example of waiting an eternity for my change, instead of thinking "What are these people doing taking so long, they are wasting my time, don't they know it's 10pm and I am exhausted and want to go to bed?" I should have realized that I was being shown respect because they were taking the time to make sure my change was correct and that I would be satisfied. I'm not sure if this is a correct interpretation, but given what I have experienced so far, it makes sense.

Speaking of waiting, I'm going to be doing a lot of it today when I go over to register as a foreigner. I'm not sure why this is necessary, considering I filled out paperwork and went through customs and immigration when I got here, but I have already learned not to question the intricacies of Indian bureaucracy. I'm just thankful that USIEF is sending someone along with us to help in the process. When I was having difficulties with my visa I remember how much of a difference it made when I had someone to help me out, so I am glad we will have that provided for us.

And speaking of being patient, I'm going to give myself another day to adjust to the time difference...