It's a bit hard to believe, but I'm at the half-way point of my time in Cambodia. Aside from field visits when I was working in Boston, which were only a week or so, this is the shortest amount of time that I've ever spent somewhere working. Since it's so short, I'm also staying in a hotel for the entire time, which is another new experience. It seems like it might be kind of nice, but I miss things like having my own kitchen and being able to really unpack my suitcase. Although to be fair, I didn't have shelves in my closet in Sierra Leone for about 5 months, so I didn't unpack there for a long time, either.
We're deep in the heart of rainy season now and I think there's only been one day in the past two weeks that didn't involve torrential rainfall, at least for a few hours. While that sounds awful, it would be much worse without the rain. The temperature is usually up to 90 degrees by 10 or 11 AM and the rain is the only thing that cools it down, if only for a few hours.
Last week we finally were able to go out into the field and start doing interviews. I've lived in cities for a long time now, but there is a part of me that really still loves rural areas. As you drive out of Phnom Penh into the Takeo province, the buildings dwindle and you find yourself staring out at acres of green rice paddies and a mountain in the distance. People and cows dot the landscape and the overall effect is really calming. It was enough to make me not even be too upset at having to leave at 6:30 AM, and that's really saying something for me.
As I wrote before, I was a little worried that the interviews would be too slow-moving for me and I would be bored, but I was surprised with how pleasant I found the whole experience. When I was at Wash U, I worked for a study and I had to interview about 8-10 people a day. I was fast and could get through the interviews quickly, but it became monotonous really quickly. The difference with qualitative research is that you have the freedom to ask more about interesting things and it feels more like a conversation. I found myself enjoying seeing where each interview would go and liking the opportunity to see the different parts of Takeo.
That said, it is really exhausting. Each day involves at least 5 hours in the car, if not more, and at least 4 or 5 hours of interviews. And then after that's finished, best practice is really to review your notes and add in things you forgot, clean them up, and share them with your colleagues. So after your 12 hour day, you should really spend a few hours working on your notes as well. Luckily, when you're not in the field, things are pretty low-key so it balances out quite a bit.
I only have about two and a half weeks left now, so the end is coming soon. This weekend, I'm going to Bangkok with my colleague because our visas are about to expire. So, we need to leave the country and come back in so that we can stay until we're finished with the work here. Stay tuned for updates and pictures :)
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