Eight O'Clock

I've hit a weird milestone in my expatriate development: I completely expect certain cultural norms, but they are not yet completely part of me. It is like learning a new skill, I suppose. When learning how to drive, a person "knows" what to do, but it isn't an automatic skill yet.

Take the 20:00 rule, for example. If there is an evening event scheduled, it will most likely begin at eight o'clock. From conversations I've had, this is because it gives people time to get home, eat dinner, put the kids in bed, give the baby monitor to the next door neighbor, lock the house, and get to the meeting.

Recently, when scheduling my childbirth classes, the instructor and I decided on...eight o'clock. Completely expected. Yet, later that day when I was trying to schedule another meeting, and someone suggested the same evening of the class, I got all excited. "It'll save us a trip into town," I thought. Cerainly, we could meet from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., I reasoned. Nope. As soon as I shared I had another meeting at eight o'clock, it was decided I couldn't be in two places at once. It was either eight o'clock or another day.

Editorial comments: I dislike the 20:00 rule. I'm used to things beginning earlier, even around 6 or 6:30 so families can get home and tuck their kiddos in bed before it is too late. Unless it's on a Friday or Saturday, 8:00 just seems too late to start something. Besides, I much prefer the thought of not leaving children, sleeping or otherwise, home alone, with the baby monitor acting as the babysitter.