6 DAYS LEFT!!! NNOOOOOOOOO...
As our time here in Cambodia begins to wind down I realized we have not been very good bloggers! So lets play catch you up! Beans posted about her work last week and I haven't been able to get around to that! It is hard to sum up everything I am getting to do at work, there is sooo much going on! (if you aren't into business I won't mind if you skip the next couple of paragraphs :p just know work is fabulous and way more than I ever expected and way more fulfilling!)
I have been working on 6 projects simultaneously for the past 3 weeks and have finally started to finish most of them. One of the projects I was assisting Francis (the volunteer from Singapore!) in writing CVCD's business plan projection for the next 5 years. This included stuff I had learned in my non-accounting business classes but had never expected to use in real life thank goodness the internet can tell you anything! We successfully wrapped up the business plan on Francis's last day Friday just in time! The plan ended up 36 pages long! Working on the plan ended up being such a blessing it gave me an in depth look at the NGO and the programs unfortunately it also gave me a closer look at the government, the economic environment, and the inefficient education system in Cambodia. Cambodia still has a very long way to come before they can be self sustainable (If you are interested in chatting more about it feel free to email me because I could write several blog posts on my findings).
I wrote about my work on CVCD's Annual Report in my last bit about work and good news! I was able to present it to my supervisor and I am thrilled at the prospect of getting to help her in December put together the 2012 Annual Report using the new template! I am currently assisting her with the 2nd Quarter Report also, but I am afraid that will have to be finished via email when I return to the states. Business pace is much more laid back over here than our western "GO GO GO" culture. I have had to pray for constant patience some days and that I can learn from the business culture even if at time it is frustrating. They do not take the work as seriously as we do, in a good way! They have a "It'll get done eventually" attitude to most things, very counterintuitive to my western training, but also very freeing and less stressful once I let myself accept the fact that this or that project will get finished eventually!
I have also been working on compiling a massive database of the people and families who receive Micro Loans from CVCD. This has been a longggggg process to say the least we have interviews with each member before they received their loans and after. The goal is to compare the families quality of life and change in income and other key figures, however all of these interviews are in the Cambodian language (Khmer) and need to be translated before I can input the data. It took 2.5 days to finally communicate with my friend translating what would be the most time efficient POA(plan of action) luckily we are kicked into high gear now, but just in time for her to be out of the office for 3 days. Again just another when we get there we get there :)
I am so torn up about having to leave my Cambodian coworkers here! They have been some of the sweetest & funnest people I have met! They are always cracking jokes and making me feel right at home in a land so foreign! Being in this office has taught me so many lessons not only about the western & S.E Asian business culture, but also about myself as a person and as a worker(I am an efficiency natzi) I am so grateful for the lessons I have learned and the ones that I will still be learning in the months to come from this experience!
I could go on & on about work but will leave it at that! We will have to post some pic updates from some of our recent weekend adventures later because we are about to run out the door to go to Jazzercise with the Cambodians at the Olympic Stadium!
As our time here in Cambodia begins to wind down I realized we have not been very good bloggers! So lets play catch you up! Beans posted about her work last week and I haven't been able to get around to that! It is hard to sum up everything I am getting to do at work, there is sooo much going on! (if you aren't into business I won't mind if you skip the next couple of paragraphs :p just know work is fabulous and way more than I ever expected and way more fulfilling!)
I have been working on 6 projects simultaneously for the past 3 weeks and have finally started to finish most of them. One of the projects I was assisting Francis (the volunteer from Singapore!) in writing CVCD's business plan projection for the next 5 years. This included stuff I had learned in my non-accounting business classes but had never expected to use in real life thank goodness the internet can tell you anything! We successfully wrapped up the business plan on Francis's last day Friday just in time! The plan ended up 36 pages long! Working on the plan ended up being such a blessing it gave me an in depth look at the NGO and the programs unfortunately it also gave me a closer look at the government, the economic environment, and the inefficient education system in Cambodia. Cambodia still has a very long way to come before they can be self sustainable (If you are interested in chatting more about it feel free to email me because I could write several blog posts on my findings).
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| Francis and the Directors setting up to discuss the Business plan |
I wrote about my work on CVCD's Annual Report in my last bit about work and good news! I was able to present it to my supervisor and I am thrilled at the prospect of getting to help her in December put together the 2012 Annual Report using the new template! I am currently assisting her with the 2nd Quarter Report also, but I am afraid that will have to be finished via email when I return to the states. Business pace is much more laid back over here than our western "GO GO GO" culture. I have had to pray for constant patience some days and that I can learn from the business culture even if at time it is frustrating. They do not take the work as seriously as we do, in a good way! They have a "It'll get done eventually" attitude to most things, very counterintuitive to my western training, but also very freeing and less stressful once I let myself accept the fact that this or that project will get finished eventually!
I have also been working on compiling a massive database of the people and families who receive Micro Loans from CVCD. This has been a longggggg process to say the least we have interviews with each member before they received their loans and after. The goal is to compare the families quality of life and change in income and other key figures, however all of these interviews are in the Cambodian language (Khmer) and need to be translated before I can input the data. It took 2.5 days to finally communicate with my friend translating what would be the most time efficient POA(plan of action) luckily we are kicked into high gear now, but just in time for her to be out of the office for 3 days. Again just another when we get there we get there :)
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| One of the interviews |
I am so torn up about having to leave my Cambodian coworkers here! They have been some of the sweetest & funnest people I have met! They are always cracking jokes and making me feel right at home in a land so foreign! Being in this office has taught me so many lessons not only about the western & S.E Asian business culture, but also about myself as a person and as a worker(I am an efficiency natzi) I am so grateful for the lessons I have learned and the ones that I will still be learning in the months to come from this experience!
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| Thida & me at karaoke! (Our coworkers took us to Cambodian Karaoke a couple weeks ago! They are so sweet!) |
Catching up on that Bakin' after the Shakin' last week! ;)
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