It's hard to believe that I already have been in Mexico for 2 months, and during this time I have learned a lot. I have learned, mostly, about the difficulties of undertaking a field study. Working alone in a foreign country with a language that you are still learning has its many challenges. I know that I'm not supposed to come home from my field study and talk about what I learned about myself, but I definitely have been learning a lot about how important it is to know yourself in order to work well and productively. I think that we sometimes forget that when we work alone we don't really work alone, but with ourselves, and it is important to remember to treat ourselves well as we work towards our goals. In our daily field journals we kind of need to be Sherlock Holmes in order to view not just those around us, but the reasons and patterns that we ourselves follow. I think I explained this concept well in my field notes the other day by comparing my field study to a business:
Today I realized something interesting, and that is that a field study
is like a one-man company. Not only am I all the workers in all the
different departments (office boy, interviewer, clerk, etc) but I am
also in charge of planning for the future, of productivity, of HR,
employee morale, and customer satisfaction. I am every employee and every
boss. The trick is being a good boss to yourself, and giving your
best work as an employee. Just as a good boss needs to treat his
employees well and show that he or she loves them, so I need to do so
with myself, and, in like kind, I need to reciprocate that by being a
good, hard-working and dependable employee. It really is a rather
interesting analogy which, if I can master, can bring me light years
ahead of where I currently am not only in productivity, but also in
understanding myself and how I work with myself and others. Hmm, if I
can learn how to teach myself, then I will be much better at teaching
others. If I can love and lead myself, then I will have so much more
of an understanding and a preparation to be able to do so with others.
Now to apply some of these findings and get to work getting to know better the language and the people here. My next blog post should incorporate some of what I have learned from the application of this knowledge, and, hopefully, talk a little more about the actual progress of the project that I came here to do.