The Pressures of First Impressions

I understand that catching a glimpse of a blonde riding through town on the back of a motorbike might seem weird, but I can’t tell you how overwhelming the whole experience is.  As you drive by, you can read the expression on the villagers faces – some smile, others wave, children practice their English with ‘Bye Bye!” and elders grunt in disgust.  But I never expected it to be so exhausting!  As I am introduced to each head of the village as “American” the pressure to represent my country, my program and my passions is overwhelming.  While I am aware that it is impossible to reverse every stereotype and perhaps accurate depiction of the Ugly American traveler, for most of these villagers it is the first time or close to first time they are meeting an American – and I have to be perfect in living up to their expectations as well as representing my country the best I can.  At the end of the day, after spending 8 hours meeting with villagers for interviews and taking surveys, I hung off the edge of the bike trying not to fall asleep from exhaustion.  I closed my eyes for just a second, soaking in the sun and fresh breeze with the rustle of palm trees over my head (yes – I am pretty sure this place is heaven) and when I opened them, there were at least thirty children lined up at the side of the road, staring at me with curiosity and intimidation.  Of course, embarrassed that I wasn’t on my best behavior, I quickly smiled hoping that would salvage the situation.  As soon as I showed teeth, I saw grinning teeth and glistening eyes waving back at me.  School was out – so we passed over 200 children in green and white perfectly pressed uniform on their way home from school, and although I was exhausted, each smile, wave and squeal I got made it all worth it.

The Village

Motorbike Gang

If I had to choose one moment on this entire adventure that encapsulated everything, or the first image that will pop into my mind when I get home and people start asking me “How was your research trip?  How was Myanmar?”  Today was it.

Walking through the mud...so much for that bike!

At 7am Monday morning, Hosana, Khin Mg Swe (the manager of the hotel) and I put on our rain jackets, waterproofed our documents and set off for the villages.  We had interviewed many people that were located in the local Ngwe Saung village, but in order to get a more accurate perspective, we had to venture out to the villages near the shore and farther away from the center of town.  Only problem was – our little toto golf cart wasn’t going to make it over the rough terrain and two hour ride to the villages…which meant I had to take my first motorbike ride.

  

I’m not going to even pretend that I wasn’t excited, but at the same time incredibly nervous about sitting on the back of a motorbike.  I was fairly certain I would fall off, and terrified at the thought of not being able to hold on to anything while we rode around these villages.  I had nightmares the night before envisioning me tearing through the villages on a motorbike screaming in terror and scaring all the villagers away for our interviews…

Dolly ride across the river

I got on the motorbike and the driver smiled as I frantically tried to figure out how to hold on…and we started off!  I closed my eyes rather terrified at the speed we were going, and thankful that it was too early for my brain to convert kilometers into miles to see how fast we were going.  I closed my eyes for what felt like seconds but all of a sudden, we slowed down and he motioned for me to get off the bike.  I was confused, but followed Hosana and Khin Mg as they took off their shoes and began tiptoeing through the mud.  I had gotten myself all worked up about riding a motorbike and was on one for 30 seconds before I had to get off to trudge through mud because the road conditions were too poor to drive!

We came to a river crossing and I watched in awe as two young boys pulled a dolly boat across the river filled with motorbikes.  It turned out that this was one of the transportation improvements since the hotels and tourism came to town…wow!

Practicing our survey questionnaire

We made it to our first village and Hosana and I eagerly met with our first translator, who was going to take our surveys to interview several people in her village.  She was 19 years old and had just graduated high school and was awaiting her matriculation exam results but hoped to be a teacher.  We explained the survey and allowed her to look over it, and then conducted one survey together, interviewing a neighbor farmer to ensure the proper procedures were followed.

We hopped back on our bikes and set out for the next village…and the next…and the next, handing out surveys, practicing them with the local people, and interviewing a few individuals on our own on the side.

My favorite fisherman :)

My favorite village was a small fisherman village, Naung Maw.  There we interviewed my favorite fisherman, who had a smile that was absolutely contagious.  He had the body of a 25 year old despite his age of 58 – and still went out each and every night to catch shrimp with his crew.  His town had no electricity, running water, or connection, but he happily sat down with us to share pictures of his recent catches on his digital camera that he preciously took care of.

  

There are moments when you try to take everything in – and as we traveled from one village to the next, it was a chance to internalize the interviews and people we had just met and the information we had just obtained.  It had been overcast and raining all morning but after our second village, the clouds parted just as our motorbikes touched the sand of the beach.  As we rode along the beach, with the sun warming my face, I watched the sun sparkle and dance along the waves.  In that moment, I realized how truly special this entire trip has been, and that an opportunity this special will never come again.

Not bad for my first motorbike ride?!  ;)

The Most Important Research Tool is the Power of Listening

We were up bright and early ready to tackle today’s interviews.  We met with local tour guides, hotel staff from Sunny Paradise Resort, shopkeepers, village elders and later had an evening meeting with a United Nations World Tourism Organization employee who was traveling through Myanmar surveying the area for tourism.  They were all ages, from all different backgrounds, and from all parts of Myanmar.  I had started to see a pattern develop already but I told myself not to get my hopes up and that it was only one day.  We had over ten long in-depth interviews and were exhausted by the end of the day.

Day #3 followed a similar pattern of long interviews with many different people – all fascinating.  We interviewed handicraft workers, restaurant owners, grocery store vendors, housewives, elders and the head of the village.  Although I cannot verify this for certain, I really felt that each person was genuine, honest, and open to sharing their story with us.

Going to School!  Meeting with a middle school teacher in Ngwe Saung

Being in a classroom surrounded with academics, certainly gives you a feeling of entitlement, power, and poise when it comes to researching.  You use “important” terms such as ‘conducting field research’ and ‘ethnographic interviews’ and it all sounds super exciting and important.  Getting to “THE FIELD” however – really made me realize how unimportant the researcher really is.  Hosana and I sat down with families, individual entrepreneurs, mothers, salesmen, and hopeful high school graduates and I listened.  Sure – you ask a few probing questions.  But your job out there is to LISTEN…and take notes as frantically as possible!  Leaving that classroom under of the label of ‘Researcher’ feels so important, yet when you get to your site, you realize that you have little to do with the success of the research – and the story, work and data lies in the people and their stories.

“I thought all Americans were black…” Exchanging Cultures

Interview with a local family in Ngwe Saung village

As is with any exchange in culture, there are sometimes moments when you are perplexed, stunned or even dumbfounded.  As we interviewed one woman earlier today, she asked Hosana where I was from.  When he answered, she told him something and he started laughing – hard.  What did she say?!  I wanted to know…

Hosana explained that she was confused because she thought all Americans were black, and said I couldn’t be an American because I wasn’t black.

We all laughed and awkwardly smiled after settling down and starting the interview.  But I couldn’t help think how funny each of our stereotypes and preconceived notions are and just how far off we can be sometimes.  There is no better way to start a research project, than to be reminded that just because one person says one thing or acts one way or looks one way – it does not represent the group.  And that was the best motivation to ensure we spoke with as many people as possible – to show the true colors in the research.

Our trusted 'Toto:' We sure aren't in Kansas anymore!

I learned a great deal about culture, lifestyle and the morals and values of the local people on this trip.  And there were many comparisons – most revolving relationships between boyfriend and girlfriend, husband and wife.  Hosana explained that in Myanmar (although this is slowly changing between generations), most people date one person in their life – that they later marry and together raise a family.  Most people have one sex partner, and sex before marriage is not accepted.  Women are responsible for raising children and attending to the house, while men are the breadwinners and work.  Marriage then, is seen more as a business partnership, where two people can balance the responsibilities of life and coexist peacefully.  It sure was a different understanding of relationship than the one I had been exposed to in the United States!

Breakfast :)

 But as with any culture clash – there is an exchange, and Hosana and I shared a few of our own.  One in particular that I found so funny was as I was getting ready for bed, Hosana asked what I was doing.  I was confused by his question – seeing as this was my nightly habit of getting ready for bed since I was about 10.  He said, what were you doing with that string?  I was still confused and looked in my bag – string, string…Oh – you mean floss?!  “Yeah – what is that?”  I could explain floss was the string you used to get out food stuck between your teeth, but I couldn’t really explain why it was so important – I just kept reiterating that it was important and the dentist says you can get cavities if you don’t floss.  Sitting down and teaching Hosana how to floss was hysterical for me – mainly because I had flossed since I was a little girl and had always always been told that you had to floss.  And here I was trying to explain how to floss to someone, and I couldn’t really explain WHY flossing was so important – even though I had been doing it for fifteen years!

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.

Preparations

I spent the first few days in Yangon – trying to collect as many contacts and information possible before departing for ‘The Field’ – Ngwe Saung, located six hours west of Yangon.

Hosana and I with the Ngwe Saung Hoteliers Association in Yangon

I met Hosana for the first time – who was nice (crazy?) enough to agree to accompany me the entire time in Ngwe Saung and assist with the research.  In Yangon, we went over the survey I had prepared with approval from my professors, and helped translate it into Burmese, clarifying the portions that didn’t make sense with translation.  

Hosana and I also went to several meetings with travel agencies and programs to better understand the travel and tourism business in Myanmar, where it was headed, what the challenges were, and what some of the successes had been.  The most interesting of these meetings however, was when we had the opportunity to meet the Ngwe Saung Hoteliers Association – which was a room filled of over twenty people, who owned the 17 resorts in Ngwe Saung.  While I don’t want to give too much away from the research, it was an incredible meeting that shed light on some of the positive and negative impacts of tourism, and how business for these hotel owners was doing in Ngwe Saung.

Hosana and I left the room a little skeptical however, wondering if the local people would have the same positive impact that these hotel owners had highlighted.  Leaving that meeting, I was itching to get to Ngwe Saung and see it for myself!

Flying in to Yangon

Flying into Yangon

 As we flew into Yangon, my nose was pressed against the glass of the airplane just as it had been six months ago.  I had to hold my breath so I wouldn’t fog over the images that I was desperate to catch a glimpse of – Myanmar.  I tried to recognize something, anything, from my last visit – but instead I just saw rice patties, lots and lots of rice patties.  I was excited, nervous, and anxious to get started and even more excited.  

Driving out of the airport, I tried to catch a glimpse of the Myanmar I had fallen in love with six months ago…but I could barely recognize anything!  It looked similar of course, but I couldn’t recognize the cars – there were so many and such newer models!  Our driver explained to us that the taxes to buy cars in Myanmar had decreased and permit laws had recently changed, and now more people could afford to buy cars.  I was impressed to see such new models in comparison to the cars I had seen six months before that were from a time period that I hadn’t even been born in yet!  Construction was everywhere and the traffic was nasty – there is certainly no denying that Myanmar is changing and climbing – one building and new model car at a time.

Carolina and I were lucky enough to travel together for the first leg in Yangon – and we met a Rotarian who was nice enough to let us stay with him while we scraped on our student budget and ran around the city all week for meetings.  We had mishi for dinner – which is traditional noodles with soup and chicken, and prepared for the following morning.  

Carolina and I in downtown Yangon Theingyi Zei Market

As we settled to bed for the night, I couldn’t help but be extremely excited for this adventure.  I was going to be on my own for three weeks in some foreign country, wandering around asking people questions, and hoping to get some sort of congruence to formulate an answer to my thesis.  It sounds rather tricky to me!  

I was in a state of excitement mixed with danger and the unknown.  It was the same feeling I had as I walked around town for the next three weeks in my tome (longyi) – that feeling of knowing you tied your tome incorrectly and at any second it could come undone, completely exposing everything, but yet you keep on walking – one careful step at a time.