The Field

Ngwe Saung Beach, Silver View Resort, Myanmar

Here it is.  What I have waited and slaved over for months in the library.  What I was so nervous and excited for all at the same time.  “The Field.”  We arrived around 1:00pm in pouring rain to Ngwe Saung.  At that moment, I was incredibly thankful my next-door neighbor Judy had taught me how to pack outfits into ziplock bags – I had assumed this was mainly for saving space and making everything air tight in a duffle bag, but what I quickly learned is that it can keep everything waterproof too!  We huddled in the station for a few moments as people came up to us and tried to offer us hotel rooms – and then all of a sudden I heard, “Ms. Ashley?”  I turned around surprised to see a gentleman waiting for us with a golf cart to take our things back to his hotel.  I had met the operations manager of the hotel at the meeting in Ngwe Saung before, and he had suggested we stay at his hotel.  I didn’t think I could afford it, but Hosana and I were thrilled to get out of the rain and have someone help us around.   We arrived to the Silver View Resort, looked around, negotiated a price, and settled in.  

 

 It certainly wasn’t a very pleasant day – it was raining everywhere and everything was soaked.  But the rain cleared around 4pm, and Hosana and I took a walk on the beach, which was beautiful.  I almost forgot how much I loved the beach until I got to sink my toes in that perfectly soft sand.  We ate dinner on the porch of our room and then without a second to digest – went straight to work interviewing the Silver View hotel staff…late into the night.  We interviewed five people – past 11pm that first night, and by the end I was beyond exhausted.  But these five individuals gave me a lot to think about and I looked forward to what was in store for tomorrow.