How do you view time? When you are invited to be somewhere at 4:00, does that mean 10 til, 10 after or 5:00 or 6:00. Apparently, our cultural background seems to influence what 4:00 means to each of us. So, what are some practical things we can do to work around these differences with grace. The first and most important step we can take is communication. When inviting someone to our home we can clearly communicate what we mean. For example, "I will begin preparing the food at 3:00, so if you would like to help, please join me. We will probably have munchies at 4:00 and then we will all be sitting down to eat at 4:30, so we hope you will be able to join us for dinner". Or, if you have been invited to someones' event at 4:00, you can just come right out and ask for clarification.
The authors of our book suggest that if we are reaching out in hospitality to a cultural group that has a different view on time than we do, we might consider making soup. And, another suggestion is to plan on having the meal much later than the time on the invitation...and put lots of munchies out for those that are there on time.
The authors close this section of the chapter with this reminder: "...don't be surprised if your foreign guests stay longer than your American guests normally do. Staying very late into the night is acceptable in many countries. Remember, the clock does not rule in many other cultures!"
No comments:
Post a Comment