For the past couple of months, I have been accompanying my daughter, June, while she researches her thesis on Thais living in the state of Kedah, Malaysia. My nephew here has been very gracious to drive us around places of interest and towns, cities and villages where Thais reside. It has been an eventful couple of months.
I have observed June’s introversion and peaceful nature. June has a unique sense of concentration before pressing on the shutter of her Canon camera and her alertness to see details pertaining to her research. June also has a quiet way of communication in terms of her tone, inflection and her attentiveness to listening. She interviews Thais in Kedah for information on culture and the differences in it, their livelihood, kinds of jobs they do, challenges they face, how their children keep up with mastering the Thai language while going to local schools here.
Yesterday, while we were in a village, in Pendang, Kedah, with a beautiful Wat (temple), she got the opportunity to interview the monk and a few of the members of the event organizing committee of the Wat. She would start by asking a question and as they answered, I would ask follow up questions for her. She would go quiet. She will then come back to another question, and I would do the same. This went on and the interview lasted for close to two hours.
Our Google Map showed another village with Thais. Here we met with a librarian of the village. Here too I sat in the interview. This time around I was a good listener and observer. June finished her interview in less than half an hour, covering the whole scope of what she wanted. Her professor had given the range of information needed for her thesis and she kept to it and was able to get what she wanted with specific questions.
The lesson learned here is to know when to be a good listener and let others do what they need to accomplish at a given time.
