The beach, a cold and lawyerly things
Hey Everyone,
You all will have to excuse me, but this entry is both quite late, and will also be quite short. We went to Otres beach in Shianoukville last weekend and the trip was lovely. Unfortunately, many of us got burned and I got close to second degree burns because we got on-the-beach massages by locals with what, I only belatedly realized, was oil. My skin is just barely beginning recuperation efforts and healing. Additionally, I managed to catch my first cold of the summer, which I thought I had escaped by being I a tropical environment. I usually get about two-three mild colds a summer, but since this is my first one it has come at me with a vengeance and quite incapacitated me this whole week. I had plans to write a blog entry on Tuesday but my lack of ability to sit still (the burn) and my throbbing head cold prevented me from being able to do much else then focus all my willpower on my industry summary assignments.
I hope you all can bear with, and forgive me, but I am going to put this blog post in quick blurbs. It is focusing on activities from last week. If I am feeling better, I will write another short post on Monday about my activities for the current week and weekend to make up for missing a post.
1. On Wednesday of last week I returned to court with one of our adoption clients for their final hearing. It was a pretty intimidating occasion, as the judges decision this time would decide whether or not our clients had a valid Cambodian adoption of their little girl. The clients brought some friends and supporters for the hearing, but in the end the judge only permitted the family and our Khmer councils. The rest of us waited with baited breath outside. Luckily, it was to be a happy occasion and our clients are now the happy parents of an adorable little girl. She is about 5 and has some disabilities but she is very sweet and quite a happy youngster. While our Khmer and foreign council discussed waiting times for official orders, the little girl took a liking to me and we played outside for a couple of minutes while her parents finished their business, since it had rained during their hearing, I got splashed quite a bit.
2. On Thursday, we had another call with our Hong Kong clients and it was as frustrating as ever. I have made it a personal goal to be nothing like the American or Chinese attorney we interact with most on these calls. Not only do they like the sound of their own voice too much, but their pomposity beleaguers every interaction and completely ruins an efficient and speedy completion of our business. Every conference call is boggled by their failure to understand cultural divides and our team found it quite funny that the Vietnamese firm they have employed alongside ours seems just as fed up with their unprofessional and needy manner. After the call, I assisted in researching business aspects which the Hong Kong Stock Exchange had requested additional clarification on. Hopefully the matter will be wrapped up soon, but my co-worker told me to expect another conference call next week.
3. I have continued work on my industry summary reports and have discovered through random conversations that I can quote facts at will about many Cambodian industries. Even my boss was surprised during our follow up to the Hong Kong call when I recited information related to a clarification point for the Stock Exchange. The lead Khmer counsel on the case was thrilled that she did not have to research the point since I had just completed the work for one of my summary reports and could send her the citations and relevant blurbs.
Well that’s about it for now. I’m hoping that at some point this weekend I stop trying to cough up a lung, but that’s a pretty weighty goal.
--Vlada