The Art of Waiting
Mongolians are highly skilled in the fine Art of Waiting, much of their lives are spent waiting. The idea that time is money has little meaning here; no one is in a hurry anywhere, and the implications for an economy are rather interesting.
I've spent quite a lot of time this summer honing my waiting skills, but I still have a long way to go. Sometimes I'll just buy a bag of pine nuts and go sit on a bench eating them, waiting for nothing in particular, cracking the shells between my teeth, getting the little nut out, spitting the remaining shell on the ground. I'll watch it bounce on the pavement a couple of times, and move on to the next nut. I gaze around, looking at no one person or thing, just waiting.
People here can spend entire days waiting. Waiting for a vehicle to leave, waiting for food to be made, waiting for the sun to move across the sky. I have hired motorcycles to take me places for little more than the cost of the gasoline required to reach the destination. I guess that is what happend when the opportunity cost of a person's time is not just tiny, but literally zero.
Sometimes other things, like superstition, play into the waiting. Like when you are waiting for a vehicle. It's bad luck to ask how long it will take to get somewhere, and if a car breaks down, you don't ask what is wrong or how long it will take to fix it, because that too is bad luck. You just lean back and wait. Moxie and I had a textbook experience coming back from Kharkhorin: the micro broke down, and for hours and hours, in the middle of night, everyone in it sat and dozed off. Stared out the window. Snored. The driver fiddled and tweaked and took out the scotch tape, and finally also just sat down and waited for the battery to recharge itself.
I also think it would make a great Watson project (lately I have been spitting out Watson projects like it was my job) - the anthropology of cultures where waiting is a prominent feature of daily life, or perhaps the implications of such cultural phenomena on a labor market. If the opportunity cost of time is zero, and labor is abundant, what happens to wages?
I used to think that I was quite brilliant at procrastinating, but have realized now that I am but a novice, with much to learn about the noble art of waiting. The munklings in the picture are young, but already quite skilled.
I've spent quite a lot of time this summer honing my waiting skills, but I still have a long way to go. Sometimes I'll just buy a bag of pine nuts and go sit on a bench eating them, waiting for nothing in particular, cracking the shells between my teeth, getting the little nut out, spitting the remaining shell on the ground. I'll watch it bounce on the pavement a couple of times, and move on to the next nut. I gaze around, looking at no one person or thing, just waiting.
People here can spend entire days waiting. Waiting for a vehicle to leave, waiting for food to be made, waiting for the sun to move across the sky. I have hired motorcycles to take me places for little more than the cost of the gasoline required to reach the destination. I guess that is what happend when the opportunity cost of a person's time is not just tiny, but literally zero.
Sometimes other things, like superstition, play into the waiting. Like when you are waiting for a vehicle. It's bad luck to ask how long it will take to get somewhere, and if a car breaks down, you don't ask what is wrong or how long it will take to fix it, because that too is bad luck. You just lean back and wait. Moxie and I had a textbook experience coming back from Kharkhorin: the micro broke down, and for hours and hours, in the middle of night, everyone in it sat and dozed off. Stared out the window. Snored. The driver fiddled and tweaked and took out the scotch tape, and finally also just sat down and waited for the battery to recharge itself.
I also think it would make a great Watson project (lately I have been spitting out Watson projects like it was my job) - the anthropology of cultures where waiting is a prominent feature of daily life, or perhaps the implications of such cultural phenomena on a labor market. If the opportunity cost of time is zero, and labor is abundant, what happens to wages?
I used to think that I was quite brilliant at procrastinating, but have realized now that I am but a novice, with much to learn about the noble art of waiting. The munklings in the picture are young, but already quite skilled.
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