How important is punctuality to you?

I live in a country where you are still considered to be “on time” if you arrive up to 15 minutes after the appointed hour. To me that is late! But I try to go along with things like this and don’t let it bother me much … until it also starts happening in my working life. Because I do expect my students to show up on time (just like they expect me to be here waiting for them and prepared to give a class) and for the most part that works out. But yesterday was the third time my Spanish/English classes with María Paz went for a burton … and I just can’t function like that.

Twice she just didn’t show up (no call, no nuthin) and yesterday, after having asked me to move the class forward half an hour, she turned up twenty minutes late! And well, okay, not the end of the world or anything, and if it were just about getting together for lunch or to hang out it probably wouldn’t bother me [much!] … but I can’t *work* like that. And so the classes have now been postponed – probably indefinitely. On the other hand, María Paz is great for being spontaneous and coming out to the hospital with me at a moment’s notice. So we are trying to work out a way to keep seeing each other more often without any sort of rigid schedule.

But no classes. Just hanging out… well, maybe.