Daylight Savings Time

Last Sunday Morocco switched over to Daylight Savings Time in an attempt to conserve energy, and as I expected, it's been a slow and chaotic change. Peace Corps was good about sending out both emails and text messages reminding us volunteers to move our clocks ahead. According to one of the many emails I received from Peace Corps, this is not the first time Morocco has attempted Daylight Savings Time. The last time was twenty years ago.

Twenty years is a long time and I can understand how people might find this change complicated or unnatural. Imagine if you were 25 years old and the last time you experienced Daylight Savings Time, you were five years old. But, excluding young people, you'd think the older folks would remember and try to adopt the time change.

Instead, what's happened here is slightly insane and very very confusing. I call it the "new time" "old time" paradox. Official places like schools, government buildings, the airport, and cities have changed over to the "new time." Everyone else, including my town, have stayed with the "old time." Well, everyone except for me and the mayor's office, the post office, and the schools. And the schools are closed now, so I'm pretty sure the kids are functioning on "old time."

The first morning of "new time" I walked outside my house at 9 am to find all the stores closed. My friend Kabira was just arriving to open up the bakery downstairs. I asked her, "What time is it?" to which she responded, "8 am." And then we got in an argument about Daylight Savings Time. I guess we were both right. I told her it was 9 o'clock, she was convinced it was 8 o'clock. I told her the entire country was changing their watches and she told me that only the airport would change over. I asked her how people were supposed to make their flights on time if everyone else was living an hour behind the airport. Her answer: she doesn't know anybody who travels by plane.

That day I left for a weekend on the beach, where I forgot about the "new time" "old time" paradox. I bought a new cell phone on Monday and when I got back home, I charged it up and started using it. Somehow I got confused and went back to the "old time" for a few hours that day. I'm back to "new time" and probably the only person in town who finds this whole thing amusing. Ask a person for the time nowadays and they will respond with the following, "Oh, it's 6 pm old time, 7 pm new time."

The problem with all this, is that time doesn't really matter here. Especially now that school is over and it is summer. Time is dispensable here and as an American, that is a strange idea to wrap your brain around. Luckily, my work is winding down for the summer and I now have no reason to ever mind the time. But, don't worry mom and dad, I will be at the airport on Tuesday at the correct time! Only three days!