Bump to baby on the beaten expat track
After all the rumblings over the years, it’s surprising how it’s still so little-known that foreign aid makes up less than 1% of the budget. To see how it impacts the average person, here’s a breakdown of where Jane Q. Taxpayer’s taxes go, from the IRS website:
I haven’t used a stats package in a long time. I remember back in grad school how interesting my Biostats and BioInformatics courses were, especially Janet Hughes‘ classes. But in my professional life, I hardly ventured beyond the first five tasks in the function button on the standard Excel toolbar.
My QI (Quality Improvement) team has been pre-testing some clinical assessment questionnaires for Health Centers. The questionnaires consist of a checklist and a rating, for two assessors to fill out while observing a specific consultation eg an Antenatal Care visit. The checklist scores are weighted with qualitative ratings. For example, of the items which the midwife conducted during the Physical Examination, the assessors rate the quality in which these items were carried out.
There’s a lot of room for bias in any data collection method, but at least I want to know that my instrument is reliable. So I want to test the inter-rater agreement (eg did they see the same things? did they rate the items similarly?). You’d think this is a simple enough calculation to carry out in excel, in a neat and tidy point-and-click experience. But no. Apparently this seems to be an obscure corner of statistics that you need macros for to carry out in SAS and SPSS.
I ask for the billionth time in my short life: what did people do before internet? I’m a bit less stumped since I’ve found these handy sources below, which provide a free or low-cost stats package for content analysis. Whew!
I love Christmas! But Cambodia is not a Christian country, so it’s up to the expat community to organize our own holiday affairs. Some events, like the ones below, have grown over the years and are a fun family outing. The best part of this year is that we have a baby boy to celebrate the holidays with :-)
WIG Christmas Fair 2011
Location: Hotel Intercontinental
Time: Sunday, 27 Nov 2011 10:00am – 5:00pm
Cost: Admission is $3, children under 12 free. Proceeds go to projects that support vulnerable women and children in Cambodia.
Christmas Village 2011
Location: Le Duo Restaurant #17 St 228, between St 51 and 57
Time: Friday – Sunday Dec 2-4 10am-10pm
Christmas Craft Celebration 2011
Location: Nam Trea wedding hall, #167, St 163 in Toul Tum Pung
Time: Sat Dec 3 10am-4pm
Christmas Carols by Bella Voce 2011
Location: The Intercontinental Hotel Ballroom
(296 Mao Tse Toung Blvd +855-23-424888)
Time: Saturday, December 3, 6pm
Cost: Individual $5, Family $15. Tickets will be sold at Jars of Clay coffee shop, #39 St 155 (near Russian market) Toul Tom Poung and at Jacob’s Well Restaurant, Crn of St 111 and 242 ( near Monivong and Sihanouk Boulevard)
Christmas Street Fair 2011
Location: St 240 between Norodom Blvd and St 19
Time: Fri-Sat Dec 9-10 5-10pm
Christmas Caroling 2011
Location: Gasolina 56- 58, St 57 in BKK 1
Time: Fri Dec 16 6:30pm
And then there are the cafes that offer your traditional desserts for order – from gingerbread cookies to fruit cakes; pannetone; pumpkin, apple and pecan pies. Check at The Shop, Java Cafe, Jars of Clay, and Le Duo.
Happy holidays!
Last month the most direct route from our house in Phnom Penh to my parents’ doorstep in NYC took 29 hours. We took two flights: Phnom Penh – Hong Kong for three hours, then Hong Kong – JFK for around 16 hours. It’s a long time on the road with an infant. Our baby practically lives in a suitcase, and has been on numerous flights since he was born – always as a lap child (at $1520 a seat on this flight, I think we’re going to take him as a lap child as long as we can!), so he’s used to flying and is generally manageable on flights. Nevertheless, I’m always anxious before the trip and packing “his” carry-on is de-stressing me.
We’re preparing for our trip back this weekend — yes, after I’d finally adjusted to the time zone and the cold weather. And grr we lose a day going back to Asia. But after several weeks of on-and-off colds and coughs, we’re ready for some tropical weather! With the rainy season over (though the floods in SE Asia sadly are not..), it’s the start of the cool season there.
So for keeping the baby constantly entertained on the plane? We’d irritate fellow passengers after Old McDonald belts out his farm song for the 20th time so no loud toys. Nor bright blinking toys, since they dim the cabin and passengers sleep to adjust to the time change. We’re packing a couple of his favorite snacks and activities. Here are a few ideas, but these are too things many to lug around. It’ll be just as chaotic keeping track of them as it is to keep the baby entertained or asleep.
Not to mention other necessities like an extra change of clothes (for both of us and the baby), enough diapers and wipes, and low expectations: Six months ago as a four month old, he did well on the same cross-Pacific trips because he nursed and slept a lot back then. But on this trip here he’s a mobile and easily engaged tot with an intense curiosity. I went into the Phnom Penh – NYC trip with some trepidation, and I found I had a significantly more difficult time than when I’d previously embarked on flights with an open mind and low expectations. Good thing hubby has a more laid-back and calm personality so the baby didn’t have just my frazzled self to soothe him.
Here’s hoping for smooth flights and a soundly asleep baby for most of the trip..
Having a baby is a life changer, and thankfully our life outside the US has been good for us. The social culture in SE Asia and my profession are both supportive of young families. Staff and diners here don’t cringe when we walk into a restaurant or food shop; instead they fight over who gets to hold the baby while we eat, and he’s returned to us with the bill. Second, we’re lucky that my employer is so supportive of new mothers. There’s a nursery at the office so nursing moms to bring our babies to work. My colleagues help make sure that I can pump on the days I don’t bring the baby by scheduling me into the meeting rooms. I have an unofficial flex time. And on travels I can bring the baby (and his nanny) with me.
My current work has to do with quality improvement of health facilities in USAID-supported provinces. Two of the three people on my team have young babies, and we bring them along with us to the health centers. Since my husband does freelance and can work anywhere there’s an internet connection, he often joins us on my work trips.
One of the areas my team is working on is improvement of labor and delivery procedures. We’ve watched several deliveries lately – an endlessly fascinating miracle to me. It brings me back to the time my son became real to me, a little someone in my arms… Check these photos out. The baby is 2.5kg.
It’s the end of the rainy season, with a lot of storms north of us, so the rivers are bursting. Tuk tuks and motos are still going, but a lot of them are stalling out. These photos are from yesterday, when you can literally watch the water level rise because it’s happening so fast. And as I type I can hear the pouring rain in the night outside. Wonder what tomorrow will bring, but luckily the health centers where we’re working this week are relatively dry.
