Little update

What I have been doing: getting over being sick (and unproductive) last week, doing interviews with past patients, meeting with medical sociologists (there are two in Latvia, and finally I found them!), dancing Latvian folk dances, singing traditional Latvian folk songs (as far as I understand, there are two types of Latvian folk songs: traditional - old - and less traditional - germanized, but much more popular ones), putting in order documents for my grandfather's invitation to Latvia (so he can apply for a visa for his visit in March), thinking about my findings so far (I could go on for a long time about them, but probably it is best to keep my ideas to myself for a little longer, until they settle and ferment and acquire some logic), doing laundry, making bliny and pancakes, planning trips to Cesis (tomorrow), Jurmala (on Sunday for a Ziemassvetki party - a pagan winter holiday which falls on the same day as Christmas; it is called the season of ghosts and every day a candle is lit for gods and spirits, and on the last day the candles are extinguished to represent an end to the unhappiness of the previous year!), and Dobele (where Lielberze TB hospital is located, which I will visit on Monday and Tuesday). And last week I was a little bit sick, then sicker, and luckily didn't have any interviews planned. I cooked various goodies and generally stayed home in the company of Valera, who is repainting and re-wallpapering and generally fixing our kitchen (the cabinets are now unexpectedly a deep and bright blue color). Also I got a small haircut from a friend of a friend (a St. Petersburg artist from my Latvian class), which was a lot less unpleasant than my usual hairdresser visits (they are usually like visits to the dentist), and met the American ambassador in a very formal and very short meeting with all of the Fulbrighters (which actually was like a visit to the dentist).