First day of work!

Today was a day of many firsts! It was my first day of work! I had no idea what to expect when I walked to the VSO office to meet Rith (my placement officer), but was pleasantly surprised when we jumped into one of a posh VSO vehicle to drive to the DAC. Once there, ironically the rest of the day progressed not too differently from the first day on any Accenture project. I first met with the client in the resource center/big meeting room for an hour or two. This first meeting was with the Executive Director of the DAC and his Deputy Executive.

I was impressed to learn that the DAC is on a national, Ministry level. However, they are trying to preserve their autonomy so they can continue to be a member organization and continue to support virtually every disability organization in Cambodia without too much government influence. I was also impressed by how professional and organized they were and how well they seemed to "have their shit together." I had ups and downs between feeling like the task ahead may be too daunting to feeling like all my work had already been done for me! Again, typical consulting project. Except this time, I felt the heavy weight on my shoulders of being the main person responsible for the success of the project.

Afterwards, I met the "real people," my colleagues who I would be working with on a daily basis. Everyone was really nice and their English was very cute. They sent me emails welcoming me to "the DAC family." I went to lunch with the executives just like any other first day. We DROVE to a nice restaurant; I offered to pay but they took care of the bill. I was surprised... VSO has trained us well not to expect any of the perks of corporate life such as expensed lunch meetings. But the executives of this company at least seem to do well, after all my boss does own a car.

In the afternoon, I met with my colleagues to get up to speed on things and received a bunch of documents that I still have to finish reviewing tomorrow. I'm pretty excited about what I will be doing! At the end of my day, I was DRIVEN home again. I was very spoiled with all the time in the car today. In this single day, I have spent more time in a car than in my whole first week of being here. And probably more than I will in all of the rest of my time here.

Another first! I got my bike from VSO today. I love it! It's a bright blue older model from the '70's with a basket in front. Life on two wheels is so much better than life on two feet. At first it was a little scary, but once I got the hang of it, I felt much safer than I did when I was walking. My bike also has a zippered cloth enclosure around the basket to keep my belongings safe from purse-snatchers.

Today I used my motorcycle helmet for the first time! I rode on the back of my real estate agent's moto to look for apartments. How strange! But the apartments were all really nice! Much nicer than I expected. I feel like I'm cheating or spoiled because I get to have things like A/C and a washing machine. But it's nice and I'm happy to have it. I'll leave the roughness the like of Africa for my next adventure.