Week 2 of Field Work

My second week of working in the villages and temples started on Monday. My day on Monday was pretty laid back. We walked about 1 1/2 kilometers with the monks on an alms round. Walking there took a little under 30 minutes, but it was nice to be able to walk through the rice fields and see more of the countryside. After a long nap at lunch we were able to get two interviews done.

Tuesday did not go as well. There was a ceremony in the morning, so a few of the high ranking temple lay people were there. We thought this would be our chance to get to interview them, but 2 out of 3 said no, and the one who said yes we had already interviewed. My translator got a little angry with him and started yelling at him. Something along the lines of "She is American and she paid lots of money to come study our culture, your religion, your temple, your village and you can not even talk to her for 5, 10 minutes! Se traveled so far..." At that point myself and my other translator (Surphon) cut him off.

Discouraged, we ventured out into the village to do some interviews. Near the end of the morning, I started having really bad hot and cold flashes, dizzy head, and my muscles were all super sore. I went and took an extra long nap and felt a little better. However, later that night I started to feel bad again. Wednesday morning we were driving out to the temples and stopped at the bakery we always stop at, and I knew I had to talk to my teacher. She made me miss the field school and go to the doctor, which I was not too pleased with.

The doctor did some blood tests, and I will know what's wrong with me Thursday morning. It could be dengue fever, but I think it's more along the lines of heat exhustion. I am just happy it's not stomach problems!

Anyways, that's how my week has been going. Hopefully Thursday and Friday will be a little better. When I get back to the village, I will take some pictures to post.