In my time at a university in the United States, meetings are usually seen as professional, which implies that you should be there on time or a bit before. During my time here, meetings are still seen as professional, but being punctual, or on time, is not always apart of the definition of professional. I feel that here, people know that everyone has a lot of priorities, and so if you run late that means you had to tend to another priority and you will come when you can. This happens in social life, too. If I am going to meet my Colombian friends for dinner at 7:00 PM, I will probably show up at least 15 minutes late depening on how many people are coming. I am a very flexible person, so people canceling plans or arriving very late does not bother me a lot. It has made me think of how I am in control of my emotions and reactions. Sometimes I even enjoy sitting at a dinner table alone waiting for a friend-we have so much going on in life, and waiting forces me to stop and think!
Another mismatch that I realized was our greetings. With my friends in the U.S., it is not weird if I text them "can I borrow your bookbag this weekend?" or when we are talking on the phone, to just say "bye," and hang up. In Bucaramanga, this is less common. If you want to ask your friend something or have a conversation about anything in general, the first thing you say is "hi, how are you?" and you check in on the other person first. You ask what they have been up to, and how their life is going. Then a few minutes later, you bring up your question or what you wanted to talk about. It is seen as rude to just jump into what you need from the other person, and when I thought about it, this makes a lot of sense. I really like this part of the community culture.
