What month is it?

I was sitting on a bus the other day when my friend asked me what the date was. I realized I didn't even know what month it was and that got me to thinking why that was. There are several factors that lead to a near complete disconnect from the calendar. I'll start with taking the day to day and then expand from there.

Probably the most disconnecting thing is that the nine to five doesn't exist in the countryside. My neighbors spend their days working on the farm or making sombreros. They start early, end late, and the work is broken up by chores around the house. The work carries over to their weekends as well. This leads to a general disconnect from the weekly routine that exists in the States.

Since the 9 to 5 doesn't exist, it also doesn't exist for my work. My water committee meetings are Sunday mornings and workdays are dispersed randomly throughout the month. So, when you ask me what I'm doing on a Saturday night it's probably getting to sleep early, however, I might find myself in a bar with friends on a Monday.

There is a means of tracking the week with the routine of school kids. However this too has its issues. It seems that the kids all too often get random days or a full week off at a time. This confusion of the school year generally adds to the separation between myself and the calendar.

Attempting to track the year is also a bit difficult.  Sadly seasons that bring snow, flowers, and beautiful warm colored trees, aren't so pronounced here. The only thing that divides the seasons is rain or no rain, and sometimes it rains when it shouldn't or doesn't when it should.

Add in all the other differences like no mirrors in my house to watch me change, the general insignificance of the calendar and hour of the day in the countryside, lack of change in the length of the day throughout the year, plants always looking about the same, etc. And you get a very good answer to the situation that occurred on the bus. I can't say I much enjoy the disconnect and look forward to structured days again.