Appointments

Typical here in Moldova, we spent the first 4 or 5 days of the trip getting situated, and now things have taken off. It's amazing how fluid appointments here can be...an e-mail asking for a mobile phone number, a phone call, and 2 hours later, tea at the French cafe. We like this way of working. It takes a little getting used to - and a little faith that we will accomplish something while we are here! Nevertheless, we find we can do a lot this way, one conversation leads to a couple of other meetings and those contacts are typically easy to arrange at the last minute.

It's so very different than the Netherlands and the USA. In the Netherlands, people are very "afspraak" driven, with most everybody working out of an "agenda" and scheduling appointments days, or even weeks, in advance. There are spontaneous drop-ins, most definitely, but scheduled afspraaks are important. In America, I find in my circles at least, that it's a little of both - schedule and plan, but leave it somewhat spontaneous since we are all busy and might be called away for any given reason at any given time.

I've been thinking about how all of these methods are effective, and how they are all unique to the culture. Moldova is all about networking and flexibility. The Netherlands, more engineered and formal. The USA, a blend of cultures but geared towards individuals rather than community. Impose agendas and strict time codes in Moldova, and all that ends up happening is a lot of missed appointments. Work with the fluid appointments typical of Moldova, and in the USA it would be difficult to find times when all the parties are available.

So here we are, Americans who lived in the Netherlands doing things the Moldovan way, and getting work accomplished. Dan and Beth didn't waste their trip to Moldova!