Waiting for Godot

One of the habits I quickly (had to!) rid myself of after moving to US was being late for everything. I still have this habit, -once in a while I am late for a meeting, a date or a movie, say about five minutes... OK, may be ten minutes... Well, fifteen at most, but hey, at least I call ahead of time! Many Turks don't call when they are late -be it going to their dental appointment, leading a session in a conference or meeting for a concert-, and not by just five or ten minutes but by more than fifteen minutes and sometimes by hours.

Once I am back in Turkey, I quickly adapt to this habit. Well, I am Turkish and being late is literally in my blood. But, what I don't get is how we corrupt those from other nationalities visiting Turkey; such as the British scientist at the research conference I attended this week, who was fifteen minutes overtime for his scheduled twenty-minute presentation. How does this happen, why does this happen and why is it so contagious?

Ministry of Science taking his time for his talk

The meeting I attended was the first stem cell conference in Turkey. Overall, it was good. Not like its European or American counterparts, though quite informative for researchers in Turkey whether they realize it or not. There were many organizational redundancies and unrelated talks which I am sure will be fixed in the following years. But what is not going to happen in the next meetings -or in any meeting in Turkey- is that the sessions will ever start or end on time... Somebody will be late (like the session chair arriving thirty minutes late),  or someone will not abide by the twenty-minute presentation rule (like almost everyone attending). I have seen cases in US where buses would arrive late and people would be upset about it. Here in Turkey, it is different. People are usually happy for waiting; most probably because they themselves arrived late too, and didn't have to miss anything...

Turkish Cafes on a typical weekday

I observed myself during the past ten days I have been in Turkey. I was late for most of my meet-ups with friends and had to call ahead of time. My parents were different, they just played it by the ear: 

B: Merih? I am so sorry I will be late by an hour, there is a lot of traffic!

M: Don't worry, I didn't leave yet either. 

B: Selen, I will be there by 3pm, not 2pm, is that OK?

S: Sure, I just woke up anyhow...

B: Dad, aren't you late for your 5pm dental appointment?

D: No, he said come after 5 not AT 5. 

Breakfast with the family

First, I thought I was late because I was on vacation (getting up late, being lazy, family visits, etc). But my friends were not on vacation, neither were my parents nor the organizers at the meeting. And yet, these people were late, too. Then, I thought it was the traffic; but you could easily avoid being late by taking alternate transportation or by just leaving a little earlier. Finally, I realized what was going on: it was the amount of time I spend on "talking" while having breakfast, lunch, or dinner. On an average day, you would find most of the population sitting around a table with tea or Turkish coffee or rakı in one hand and unfinished plates in front of them... Gathered around food, Turks love to talk, gossip, debate, sing, dance and sometimes even save the world (talk politics), or as the Turks say: "Dünyayı kurtardık!".

My return flight is in the afternoon with a German airline this week and I am worried that I will be late (happened twice before). If the pilot is not Turkish, I think I am in trouble!