Start of the internship

So I've officially started my internship. For those of you I haven't told about it I'm working with the Cambodian office of International Development Enterprises, an NGO that helps provide productivity improvements and enhanced market access to rural farmers to help lift them out of poverty. IDE's two big focuses are water potability and irrigation, which it approaches through market-driven solutions (hence my interest as a student of private-sector led development). You can check them out at http://www.ide-cambodia.org/.

The office is a bit of a haul from the central part of town where I'm staying. This would be less of an annoyance if it weren't for the fact that streets are poorly marked (if at all), taxi drivers don't know maps, and you basically have to guide them by your own impression of where you are (easier said than done on day 5 in a country). Still, I'm learning. The office is in a modified colonial house/villa, which is pretty awesome. Everyone is really nice; they bring up coffee and tea several times a day and I have good internet access as well as my friend/fellow intern Chris to share a room with.

Things are starting off slow; our director Mike is out of the country for the week and left me perhaps a day's worth of reading to cover my first four days here. I'm hoping to get tasked with something more substantive when he gets back in the office; for now I'm just getting settled and taking my time on the readings.

The more exciting news is that I think I've finally beat this jetlag. I passed out at 8pm, woke up at 2:30am for a little over half an hour, then fell back asleep until the morning. Hopefully tonight will bring normality to my body clock, and I'll be sleeping through the alarm like I used to in DC. At this point, being grumpy and groggy in the morning may actually make me homesick.

I'm beginning to apartment hunt this week/weekend, so hopefully I'll be moved into some more permanent digs soon. I'm trying to stay near the central part of town, rather than get a place close to work that would be near absolutely nothing. As a DC resident I can stomach a bit of a commute, and it will be worth it to be near all the bars/restaurants/etc.

That's all for now; everyone feel free to let me know what's going on in your lives...