Our tour guide in Ethiopia must have sensed me being schedule sensitive. Maybe it was the unnerving feeling in my stomach when we were kicking back for our coffee ceremony and he casually mentioned some new adoptive family was waiting for him at the airport. This may have been the first time he used this line on me "Europeans have watches, Africans have Time. All the while a relaxed demeanor and a big smile.
Yikes!
I am so thankful for the books I have begun reading. ( When Helping Hurts as well as African Friends and Money Matters)I believe they will help me appreciate the differences in culture from here to there. I really want to lesson the gap in my mind. How can I be more like an African? How can I appreciate a more relaxed schedule?
Experiencing God is also a fantastic read.
While I am still here in Tualatin, Oregon which could be 6 months or forever, I am watching for what God is doing. Instead of just wishing for when I will be somewhere else, why not watch for what is going on around me? There are three precious little girls who I am becoming quite fond of. They love to peak in my sliding door to see what I am doing. I am really deliberately trying to make time. Time to listen, to play marbles, to look in their faces and give them my attention. They just want love. Not much different than my Ethiopian friends. It seems to be a valuable international commodity. Time and love going hand in hand. Instead of looking at the gaping differences between the cultures maybe I should try to see similarities.
