Daylight Saving Time and the Argentine Schedule

Argentina uses Argentine Time (ART). We are talking Coordinated Universal Time UTC-3 or for the old-fashioned readers Greenwich Mean Time GMT-3. My home country Germany uses Central European Time (CET = UTC+1; Germans call it MEZ) in Winter. Not too long ago Germany switched to Central European Summer Time (CEST = UTC+2; MESZ for the Germans) to 'save daylight'. The Argentine do not save daylight and I am actually very grateful for this aspect of Argentine life.

DST - blue: using DST; orange/red: stopped using or never used DST

First and foremost, changing from standard time to daylight saving time is simply strenuous and stressful for me. I will never understand, why we Europeans do that. The majority of studies suggests, that DST actually has negative effects in context of energy consumption, economy, public safety, health. I simply do not get, why - knowing all that - we are not just resigning the practice of DST.

On the other hand I already have a hard time with the regular Argentine daily schedule. In Argentina the whole daily schedule is shifted for about 2hrs compared to the regular German schedule.

The average German working day:

• 0600 to 0700 get up
• until 0800 latest: breakfast
• 1200 to 1300 lunch
• 1600 to 1700 coffee with a little afternoon snack
• 1900 to 2000 dinner (rather late)
• 2000 usual time to go to a restaurant for dinner
• 2200 to 2300 restaurants close their kitchen
• 2200 to 0000 usual time to go to bed
• 2300 to 0000 last drinks in restaurants

Of course you'll get drinks through the night, if you stay at bars or discos. But that is about the usual schedule.

In Argentina it seems to be more like:

• 0700 to 1000 get up (depending on your job)
• until 1100 latest: breakfast
• 1400 to 1500 lunch (usually lasts until about 1600 and just takes endless time)
• 1500 to 1700 siesta
• 1500 to 2000 mate with some snacks (criollos, facturas, etc.)
• 1800 end of working day, if you did not have a longer siesta
• 2000 end of working day, if you had a  siesta
• 2200 to 2330 usual time to go to a restaurant for dinner
• 0100 to 0200 most restaurants close their kitchen
• 0200 usual time to go to bed
• last drinks, QUÉ?! wtf are you talking about?

For a German boy this is all very exhausting. I do not have the slightest clue, how I am able to keep my system working. It feels like I was a student again, where it was my habit to watch the sunrise at like 0430 with a cup of coffee to then go to bed and sleep until 1300 (Dear Mum, I confess, that I never really went to my university lessons. I just did the exams at the end of every semester. The rest of the year I basically alternated between procrastination and [very limited] work. Mum? I am truly sorry, Mum!). Right now I am going to bed around 0200 on a regular basis.

Due to DST in Germany it actually is even worse. A couple of times I was actually texting with my German friends and relatives, who already got up at the time I was going to bed. That is a very strange thing to do. I would so like to get back to my usual schedule, but it is just not possible. Life here is different and you just cannot avoid the Argentine schedule.

But actually the relaxed non-stressful approach to life is why I am here... :)

Meet Sporty Granny...

I spent a lot of my time en el parque. Since mid-March I have been running about 250 km there. So I kinda know the place. But yesterday I saw her for the first time dashing through the park: proper dark blue woolen skirt, gray blouse, matching dark blue woolen cardigan and... gray running shoes! ... look, it is Sporty Granny! ... I guess she was somewhere between 65 and 70 years old, short gray hair and she was speeding along my regular running track. Never met her before, but hope I will meet her again (to ask her, if I can take a picture of her). We were kinda running 3 or 4 laps (i.e. 3 or 4 km) together before she left. She was actually fast. I was very impressed with her.

Sporty Granny is my idol! I just love it, when people are taking care of their health in this way... Anyway, I like my running tights better than dark blue woolen skirts if it comes to running... :)

Monitoring & Controlling Night...

Two months into the sabbatical and I just realized, that I did something, that no good project manager should ever do: I carried out my daily business and executed the tasks at hand (in context of my sabbatical this means: I lived) without ever having a look at my budget or actual spending again. No monitoring, no controlling established. Doh! Not a good thing to do! Particularly if you feel like you spent way too much money to sustain for the full time of your sabbatical (i.e the time you are out of any kind of salary) anyhow.

So tonight is monitoring & controlling night...