monochronic vs. polychronic culture

this past week i taught my post grads about invitations, time, and appointments. taught them phrases and some examples like:

"hi, i'm calling to make an appointment for a haircut next week..."

...sounds normal right?

not in china! this is actually a VERY foreign concept to my students because SO many things in china are done "on the spot" and without appointments. you just show up or announce things the day of. for example, some of my teammates were invited to go to a wedding and they asked when the wedding would be. the friends responded, "tonight at 6:30pm"...! yep, things like that just don't happen in america because we're a monochronic culture and time is strict, limited, and very scheduled. in china it's the complete opposite being a polychronic culture (educate yourself here: http://hackvan.com/etext/monochronic-vs-polychronic-time.html)

my new alarms

there are 3 things in Harbin that generally wake me up before my alarm clock goes off:

1.) the sun (i have "black out" curtains but they don't completely seal the bright light that sneaks through on the sides... everyday the sun rises earlier and earlier in Harbin, today it was 5:09 am, tomorrow about 5:07am- sweet.)

2.) the street-sweeper-ice-cream-truck-like-music (it plays music to the tune of "it's a small world after all"... i personally think a nice classical song would be better haha)

3.) them harbin dogs (there's a TON of them that roam around- big, small, mutty, pudgy, dirty, occasionally cute... the other day i was walking back to my apartment and couldn't help but overhear a few dogs barking NONSTOP(with a high pitch squeak) in the bushes somewhere. i had to video it... now they wake up at the crack of dawn arguing over something or just talking about how the sun rises so early.)