- Time in Mongolia is exemplified by the expression “margaash” – “tomorrow.” Counting on anything to get done now or in the immediate future is not the norm.
- Services such as buses and trains run late, even international air-transport tends to operate on the “tomorrow/margaash” principle.
- People tend to show up when they’re ready and not a moment sooner – and not just people: the mail, the train, the plane, your salary, your relatives from the other side of the country, etc.
- If you have a 2 pm appointment and happen to see your cousin or your neighbor’s friend, or your co-worker’s grandma on the way to where you are supposed to meet, taking an extra 30-40 minutes to talk to this person – and hence keep the other party waiting until nearly 3pm, is something to not even think about twice. It is not rude to be late – it tends to be expected.
- Most everyone expects people, vehicles, the mail, and anything else you can think of to be slow, late, broken, ill, or otherwise unsatisfactory upon arrival. And so enjoying the moments you have, and taking joy in the seemingly trivial, is considered the norm.
- People usually give their time freely, and its only when dealing with Americans, Germans, Japanese or others who are concerned with punctuality that some effort is made to be prompt – but even then, Mongolians tend to expect that those countries’ nationals should adapt a little to the Mongolian way of doing things.
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