Advertisement
Published: June 17th 2009
Edit Blog Post
I haven’t done anything worth reporting since I got back from Siem Riep. There was some brief excitement when we received a visit from one of the Phnom Penh psychiatrists and some Belgian women whose function I could not ascertain. They took me melon shopping (a delicate art, I can now identify a good watermelon by how it
sounds) and out for dinner, where I was fed mixed ants and something that was apparently either lung or pancreas. Considering one of them was a doctor I was disturbed by their inability to identify the bodypart we were eating.
The ants are really good, the miscellaneous organs not so much. I put a piles of ants on top of slices of carrot to form a kind of insect volouvant, which they thought was a hilariously European thing to do. Since they were the ones feeding me guts and pancreas I didn’t really feel like they were in a position to be laughing at MY eating habits, but whatever.
Progress has somewhat stalled on the project because I didn’t get back from Siem Riep until Wednesday, then Thursday and Friday were staff training, no-one is here at the weekend and Sunnari
was busy on Monday. So I had fully days of nothing to do. Might as well have stayed in Siem Riep. There are some sights to see around Kampong Thom, but being all templed out for the moment after Angkor I decided to just try and get some work done. The other guy who lives here keeps insisting, “Jenny you must be so boring!”. I assume he means bored, but still… ow.
I surprised myself. I have transcribed and coded all my interviews (5 so far) and now have 5000 words of my write-up complete. None is referenced and much is just methodology and background salvaged and re-written from my Cambodia HCS essay or ethical approval proposal, but I also have a good 2000 words of results and analysis. Yes, it is probably methodologically flawed to start writing up before I’ve actually finished (don’t tell my tutor), but I can always change it as I go along and this whole qualitative research thing is supposed to be an organic process, right?
It is incredible how productive I can be when I have no access to TV, internet, Kit, ice-cream, housemates or indeed anyone else who speaks English. I
Magic Tinsel
Apparently you boil these things in water, then drink it... and that cures mental illness. I do wonder if some of my participants are taking the piss. have read two Khmer Rouge era memoirs along with a textbook on Buddhism and a 400 page history of Cambodia. Don’t worry, I’m not going to tell you about it. But suffice it to say I now know more about the history of this country than I do of England.
I initially thought that attempting to write this project up while abroad would be an unmitigated disaster. You know me, or I’m assuming you do if you’re reading this (if not, hi internet stalkers!) so you can probably envision me trying to write this up in an Internet café some time in August because I’ve forgotten what month it is and accidentally set fire to my laptop. Still, the prospect of flying home at least 8 weeks early just to write up and hand in a project didn’t appeal, so because I have no sense of academic integrity I thought I’d just try and get it done quick as possible while I’m here.
But no, it looks like this might actually NOT be a total calamity. I don’t want to speak too soon, especially given my previous laptop trauma, but it really looks like this was a good
call. I’m essentially getting free accommodation here, plus all the food, water, fried crickets and horrible powdered coffee I need for a mere $2 per day, so I am in fact spending LESS than I would be in Leeds. And somehow, I am getting everything done exponentially faster.
If you want ascend to new heights of productivity, cut yourself off from modern civilisation, shower in a bucket, eat ants and get up at 5:30am every morning because the sodding chickens wake you and there are no curtains on your windows. Honestly, this is the secret to efficiency.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.059s; Tpl: 0.009s; cc: 9; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0315s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1mb