Encouraging Time

Well, so much for my promise to post more regularly.

Anyhow, I learned something amusing the other day.  Most of us know someone who is perpetually late.  If they're coming to meet us somewhere, will always say they're five minutes away regardless of where they actually are.  Here in Ghana, the loose relationship that many people have with the clock is referred to as African time.  One neighbor who I hang out with regularly operates completely on African time.  Whenever he gives you an ETA, you can expect he'll take three times as long as he says he will.  His nephew and I were joking about this recently and he said that these estimates are an example of "encouraging time."  If you're told that someone will arrive five minutes, it by no means discourages you from waiting.