Ahorita
March 23, 2015
I lost my watch the second week I arrived in Mexico. Luckily I was traveling with friends in Mexico City at the time, so since the group was responsible for timeliness I didn’t really feel the loss immediately. As it is, I realize that watches are somewhat outdated with ubiquitous cell phones that now keep the time for us. Still, I had really liked wearing a watch and was one of those obsessive people who is constantly checking the time and planning her next moves down to the minute. But, as time went on I still haven’t replaced the watch, and have decided to intentionally lose my obsessive punctuality along with my unintentionally lost watch.
As I leave the watch-wearing world, I’ve begun to better enter the world of “Mexican Time”. This is a concept that I was quickly introduced to upon arriving here in Mexico and was further elaborated upon by my Spanish teacher, Leticia. Classes with Leticia are equally valuable to me for their precious insight into the Spanish language as they are as a cultural exchange. I can attribute most of my Spanish language skills and a good chunk of my knowledge of Mexican culture to Leticia and her “Letici-isms”.
One of the Letici-isms that came pretty early on and has stuck with me is not only an explanation of Mexican Time but also a justification for it as well. Indeed, time is very important and very sacred in Mexican culture; timeliness is not. This may seem like a contradiction, but allow me to elaborate. Present time is so important that whatever a person finds herself doing in any moment is the most important thing that she could be doing, whether it’s chatting with an acquaintance on the street, enjoying that last bit
of a cup of coffee, or stopping to listen to the passing mariachi band. So, when someone shows up late to a meeting or an event, she is immediately excused without having to provide an excuse because whatever she was occupied with previously must have been important. And, we can all rest assured that now that this person has finally arrived, she will stay and savor the current moment. People don’t even say “I’m late” (estoy tarde) here, instead they say something more passive like “I was made late” (se me hizo tarde). Along similar lines is the wonderful word “ahorita”, a diminutive of “ahora” (“now”) which can mean “right now”, “soon”, “in a little while”, or “around now but we’re not sure exactly when yet”.
This has been a huge adjustment for me. It really does seem like processes just take longer here. Even beans take longer to boil (OK, maybe that’s because we’re at a higher elevation above sea level than I’ve ever lived in before, but still). And everything seems to work on a free flowing timeline. When I was invited to a barbeque the other week, the answer I received when asking what time I should come was something like “Oh, I never get up early on Sunday.”
Nevertheless, Mexican Time is one of the biggest counterpoints to another language learning foundation I have established for myself while here in Mexico: T@lk Times. This is a South Korean company that arranges English practice over Skype with native speakers from the US and Canada. The students are advanced English speakers already, so my main role is to chat with them for a 10-minute session about an assigned subject and correct their egregious mistakes. The primary reason for choosing this line of work is that it is very lucrative; I only need to work a few hours daily to sustain myself giving me ample, well, flexible time. But, it is undoubtedly in Korean Standard Time (KST).
KST is +15 hours from Oaxaca, which means my 8am classes are at around 11pm KST. This is pretty remarkable given that a majority of my students are in middle or high school. The other day, the topic of discussion was on the negative effects of even minor sleep loss and its association with increased risk of diabetes and obesity. You can imagine the awkwardness discussing the gravity of sleep deprivation with a very tired 13 year old at 11:30 at night.
The Oaxacan afternoon classes end up being at more reasonable hours, at around 7am KST. But, they provide a much bigger conflict merging the two disparate “time zones” I’m dealing with: Mexican Time and KST. One afternoon, I had set up a meeting with a local architect who has interesting projects using bioconstruction. We were to meet at a café near his workshop at 2pm. Not having been to the café before, I arrived early and waited. And waited. At around 2:20 I called him and asked if we had a meeting, and he said he thought it was at 3:00 but would come and meet me ahorita, no problem. He rolls up at about 3:10 and we commence a whirlwind meeting in motion with seemingly no regard to time or any other commitments I may have.
We bike together to his taller during introductions (of each other, but not of the itinerary for the afternoon). Once there, we ditch the bikes and he gets into his white VW bug and signals me to follow. Next thing I know we’re on the carretera headed out of the city to see some of his projects under construction, and I nervously start thinking about my upcoming 4:10 T@lk Times session. There’s no out now, so I try to relax into the adventure as we visit site after beautiful site, while I constantly check the time on my phone and wonder if I’m going to make it back in time for class. Though we leave the last site shortly before 4:00, a stop for gas guarantees I’m going to miss my class.
I have the architect drop me off on the side of the highway near my apartment and run home, arriving 20 minutes late for the 10-minute class and, of course, receive no answer when I call the student. I’m worried about disappointing the student, frustrating the company, and potentially losing my job (I had missed a few classes the previous week for faulty internet connection). But, it all turned out just fine.
After an apology, I still have the job and am enjoying the cultural mind warp of switching from debating current events with Koreans in English to discussing Mexican literature in Spanish with Lety, all in the same morning. If there is contrast between Mexican culture and American culture, Korean culture lays at the complete other end of the spectrum as Mexican. But just like with physical exercises, I’m finding these mental gymnastics a lot easier if I relax into them. And, along with the discomfort of a tied tongue, Mexican Time is something I am trying to embrace. I am really trying to learn to be more Mexican, more relaxed about timeliness and savoring the moment I’m in just a bit more and a bit longer, at the expense of my anxiety.
So I happily leave my watch behind in the vortex of Mexico City. And when I do need to check the time, I always have my Mexican cell phone. Though, despite it being constantly updated by satellite, the time it keeps does always seem to be running about two minutes late.