8.25 The Psychology of Sitting

“…people in the Western civilization no longer have time for each other, they have no time together, they do not share the experience of time. This explains why Westerners are incapable of understanding the psychology of sitting. In villages all over the world, sitting is an important social activity. Sitting is not a ‘waste of time’ nor is it a manifestation of laziness. Sitting is having time together, time to cultivate social relations.”

                        -Andreas Fugelsang

I have no idea who this guy, or what he’s famous for, but I came across this quote in one of the books the Peace Corps gave me, and it made me think a lot about my current situation. Currently, this has been the one aspect of the culture down here that I have struggled with. For those of you who no me well, I’m not one to sit around and let life pass me by. Whether it’s exploring a new place, trying a new food, or just running down the same beaten path for the 100^th time, I like to live to keep myself moving. For me, I’ve always considered sitting around as a waste of good day light, and essentially (for me) that’s synonymous with lazy.

So moving down here was a real change of pace, because as I quickly found out, there is a lot of emphasis on “sitting around”, and waiting for your neighbors to stop by and talk for a bit. Just today my host mother asked me, “Why do I exercise seemingly night and day? I had to try to explain to her that I physically get anxious and sluggish if I’m not constantly moving, and she just couldn’t understand that. Well she understood what I said literally, but had no way of relating to my condition. And that is because a successful day can be sitting around your house or on your porch, and having a handful of good conversations with your neighbors and community members. Weekends have proved to be the toughest time for me, because being new in town and not being able to leave, I don’t have anything scheduled. And exercise can only take up so much of the day. So I’ve been forced to embrace what I refer to as the sitting culture.

It does have its benefits is the first thing I’ll say. I feel like I’ve already very much become a part of my community because I plant myself outside my host mother’s ice cream shop day and night, reading the paper and saying hello to everyone that walks by. For that I’m very grateful. It’s also a great opportunity to practice my Spanish and talk my self up around the proverbial water cooler. But at the same time, my Spanish is still lacking so conversation is very simple, and I get super antsy. So you have to give and take.

What’s interesting is that it would be very tough to even try and apply just sitting around your porch in the states. It’s a shame, but almost never do people just pop in unannounced any more, or stroll by your apartment to so say hello or see if you there. Because like getting an actual letter in the mail, it’s always nice to be surprised and have a spontaneous conversation with someone you weren’t expecting. Maybe the decline of the sitting culture started with cell phones. No longer do you actually need to go to someone’s home to talk, you can skip that step, and save 10 – 15 minutes of your time. Real bummer. So next time your bored, instead of calling a friend, maybe just walk over to there place, take a seat, maybe crack open a beer, and embrace the sitting culture