Work work work

Hello all

yes it has been a while, and now that I write you, I cannot even say life is all that exciting. Getting up early in the morning, working on either the interviews, transcripts or DHS analyses. Going to bed on time and getting up early again. Even though it is wonderful to do so. I love doing the fieldwork, I love talking to everyone, I love being surprised by the beauty in them, the culture and the scenery.
I am so relaxed and at peace with my life here, where I thought I would stress out by the uncertainty and unpredictability, I welcome it now. Even though life is not very exciting, I feel better now than I have in a very long time. It seems that this was the last step I had to take into growing up.
But eventhough I do not have much to tell you, I do have a few pictures for you. One is of the outside of the clinic. It is quite small, but they are going to extent it soon with special rooms to battle the HIV/AIDS in the mother to child transmission group. The other picture is of the Monks, I took it on a trip to Ream, a town about 20 KM from Kampong Som. We (my translator, her brother in law and I) went to visit the wat there. It was beautifully situated on a top of a hill. And the last picture you see is of me working in the room at the guesthouse.

So what about the research, are you interested in what I am finding out. Well so far I am only getting more confused. The answers from the women and the answers from the DHS do not seem to match so far. I have therefore decided I am also going to ask a few questions to men. After that I will talk to staff and experts, hoping they can make sense out of my data mess. HELP HELP I am drowning in all the information.
But really, it is a lot of fun, and very exciting. I get the impression that women think that men should make all the decision, even though in fact they also say they make the decisions alone or together. I find this very interesting, perception and reality do not seem to match here. Also the main reasons for not using contraceptives are because of the (perceived) side effects / health problems. And guess where they get most of their information, not from health workers but from the neighbours.

Well this is all for now. I am going to go back home and get some food and sleep, as the electricity is off at the guesthouse there is not much to do. It seems to be off almost everyday. Usually it switches on again around 7 though

Once again, thank you for all your messages and emails. I miss you all (when I have the time for it)

Lots of Love,

Loes

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