Amongst my million other things to do before I left to go to Acadia, I had to stop at my eye doctor and pick up my new contacts. They called and left me a message, oh, maybe 4 weeks ago. With each passing day, I felt more and more lame. It's like when you go to the dentist and they make a point of telling you how long it's been since your last visit. Because I don't want to deal with the guilt, I put my appointment off, and then more time goes on, and before I know it, years have gone by.
I obviously couldn't put off picking up my contacts forever, so I bit the bullet and I went in. I thought I would employ a preemptive strike: I would fess up to how late I was before they had a chance to say anything, but surprisingly they just laughed at me, and said:
"Oh, honey, we're on Spanish time here. We have glasses from three years ago."
Of course, it instantly made me feel better, but thats the mark of a good doctor. (Thanks Dr. Wayne) It made me stop and think how many times I've heard that phrase.
We're on "Insert Name of Country Here" time.
Be it a leisurely lunch in Paris, a three-hour mani-pedi in Morocco, dinner served four hours after ordering in Tanzania, or tapas and sangria in a cave bar in Madrid, any time I get the least bit antsy, I'm reminded that the rest of the world runs on a more leisurely time schedule than the U.S.
Whenever I travel somewhere, it always takes me a while to slow down. With camping, I think you have almost no choice but to slow down. Nothing cooks fast over an open fire, and, besides hiking, I was left with cards and a crossword puzzle book. The dogs had almost no problem relaxing. They play hard and they sleep hard. You can see the fatty asleep in the tent after a long hike.
I think back to when I worked for a European company: I had a month of "holiday" vacation instead of the standard two weeks. I used that time to travel to Spain and Portugal, and, when I came back, I was rested and energized in a whole new way. I could definitely see the appeal of a 35-hour work week, 2-hour lunches, and the whole month of August off.
Do you think that Americans are losing out by not embracing leisure?
~Meghan
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