In Africa, time does not move linearly. Now I don’t have any scientific evidence to support this, but I know. It has been widely discussed amongst my friends here. The days are endlessly long. Perhaps this feeling has to do with my wake up time. During college, I was accustomed to waking up at 9am, and going to bed anywhere between midnight and 2am. Things have changed a bit here. My Peace Corps wakeup time is anywhere between 5am and 6:30am. It’s not by choice, but my body has decided that I shan’t sleep past 7 in the morning, except for in rare circumstances. This means I hit noon, and I’ve already accomplished several hours of reading, written a couple lessons, and perhaps even watched a movie. In the afternoons, I teach for another five hours. This gets me to dinner… After dinner is another couple hours of reading, maybe another movie, and possibly a few episodes of television. By about 11pm, I’m ready to crash. This leaves me with rather long days. There have been numerous incidences when Adam and I remember something that happened ages ago… and then we remember we’re still in the same day.
But as the days drag on, the weeks shrink to nothing. I remember my last trip away from site (three pictures posted). It seems not that long ago. And then I stop and realize I’ve been home for nearly three weeks. Every month, Adam and I stand in front of the calendar, stunned that it is April, May, June, July. By the time we’ve sat down, mid-month has arrived. And before we can put our feet up and settle in, we’ve reached the end of the month, and it’s time to stand in front of the calendar once more, gaping openly at how quickly time is passing by.
Clearly, linearity is not high on Africa’s priority list.
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