Photos

I finally put new batteries into my camera, which for some reason eats up batteries like chocolate ice cream. And so now I can regale you with some of the photos.


This is the group of Belorussian, Ukrainian and Azerbaijani doctors, TB center directors and one International Federation of the Red Cross worker, who participated in the multidrug-resistant TB workshop at the Latvian State Agency for Tubeculosis and Lung Diseases (where I am technically based). Partway through the workshop, I heard about it and found out that it involved trips to a prison hospital where TB is treated, a TB hospitals where people are sent for enforced treatment (for those who refuse treatment on multiple occasions or who act out at other TB hospitals; it has the best food of any of the TB treatment centers but it is basically a prison, and fights and even murders happen regularly). So I asked to participate and was very graciously allowed to sit in (for free; and causing great discomfort with my extra body in the minivan that drove us around). This is after a visit to one of the patients who has his TB treatment brought to his home every day by Ivers, the gentleman second on the left.
I participated in the workshop only for a few days, but am very happy for it because I got a much better sense of the organization of TB control in Latvia (at least as it is supposed to work), and went to places to which I probably wouldn't otherwise have access, and became friendly with all of the other participants. So now I have invitations to continue my research in Belorussia and Azerbaijan.

On to more poetic pictures...


This is autumnal Latvia, a view onto the lake in the outdoor Ethnographic Museum on the outskirts of Riga. It was opened in Soviet times and has traditional houses and buildings which were collected from throughout Latvia and brought here. Here is me (and Yuliya Leonidovna's long shadow) in front of one.

It is late, and I am sick, so I will go off to enjoy sleep-treatment. More tomorrow...

Work and play in Latvia

Happy Thanksgiving! I hope everyone is spending it warmly and deliciously!

It feels festive here, too, though of course Latvians don't celebrate Thanksgiving. But tomorrow I am going to one of the Fulbright professors' house for Thanksgiving dinner; I have been talking to people at home and hearing of turkeys and family gatherings; and today I haven't done much, so it feels like vacation in contrast to the rest of this week, full of work and cultural activities.

Last week I finally received approval for my project from the Ethics Committee! On Tuesday I asked patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis to participate in my interviews, and on Wednesday and Thursday I already had three interviews. So finally I am working. I am really enjoying talking to the patients (as well as one person who has already completed treatment); they are interesting and talkative and complicated and optimistic. The work is going smoothly, because by now I am familiar with the TB clinic and a lot of the staff, and I feel comfortable and they know about me, because the doctors and nurses are being extremely helpful - in part, I think, because they seem to be really interested themselves in what they patients will say - and because the patients are miraculously almost all agreeing to talk to me. Actually maybe most important is that a lot of preparation has gone into this and because, over the course of these two months, I understand much more clearly what I want to find out and what I expect I might find, as well as what it might be possible to ultimately change within TB control.

The interviews happen like this: ahead of time, in person or by phone, I invite the patient (or past patient) to participate in the study and arrange a time convenient for them to come to the clinic and be interviewed (sometimes at 7am!), and then set the table in Cabinet 10, the "Education Room," with tea and coffee and cookies and tangerines. The interviewee comes and I explain the project and have them sign the informed consent form, attach a lapel microphone to them, turn on the (extremely easy and high-quality!) digital recorder, and have a conversation loosely based on the questions that the EC approved. We talk for about 2 hours and so far everyone leaves happily. I already have heard a lot of suggestions about what to do to improve patient care and treatment, although I am no closer to putting a finger on what medical workers could do to improve patient compliance with treatment. It seems that if people value their health (their life) and if they have something, and especially someone, to live for, then they are much more likely to adhere to treatment. But this isn't a factor that can be ingrained into the TB control system...

As for play, last weekend (Nov. 18) was Latvian Independence Day, and there was a very official multi-faith service in the Dome Cathedral (President Zatlers walked by me as I stood by the exit), an equally official flower-laying at the Freedom Monument (which is a giant grey statue of a very long-legged lady named Milda holding three stars up to the sky), a very quiet and tiny military parade, various classical music concerts (which I ended up skipping), and, after a very very fun Independence Day party with a group of fantastic Latvians that my fellow Fulbright students brought me to, a short but pretty fireworks over the Daugava River. And after the fireworks, back to the party for hot blackcurrent juice and Riga balsam, American music, traditional Latvian karaoke (that is, traditional Latvian songs, not traditional karaoke), lots of desserts, games, red and white (the colors of the Latvian flag) candles and cranberries (the white ones were coated with powdered sugar)...It was great!

During the week there was a further explosion of cultural activities in my life: on Tuesday I went Latvian folk dancing with Markus, an erudite British aquaintance who teaches English in Riga and travels the world and is packed with knowledge and inquisitiveness. There was circle dancing and lots of skipping and twirling and even butt-clapping! And a live band! On Wednesday was Tanya's birthday (the woman who I lived with in Imanta) and we, a group of variously-aged women, feasted on a whole table of salads, and then I helped clean up and slept over. (I was less sad and nostalgic than I expected to stay again in my old room, but it did recharge me with calm and a little bit of magic.) And yesterday, on Thursday, Yuliya Leonidovna and I went to the dress rehearsal of a modern ballet of Anna Karenina. It was phenomenal! I realized that the tragedy of Anna Karenina, the heroine, is mitigated in the book by the aliveness and joy of Kitty and Levin, but here is was pure tragedy, stripped of Tolstoy's beautiful nature and faith in goodness. The music and dancing was heartbreaking, and especially the dancing was fantastic. I haven't cried at ballets before.

Speaking of movement, I started swimming again (a little bit - there has already been a four-day break!) at Sporta Centra Daugava, which is 10 minutes walking from Yuliya Leonidovna's apartment. To my huge surprise, it has one of the best pools I have ever been to - clean, big, very bright. It is very organized and so it feels quite Soviet. First, you must leave your coat and shoes in the garderobe (coatroom? in English), then once a month go to the doctor's cabinet (within the sports center) and have your feet checked for warts, pass through the corridor flanking the side of the pool (there are windows from the corridor directly into the water, so that you can see the swimmers), leave your clothes locked in a locker, go upstairs to the pool, take a shower, and then swim for exactly 45 minutes under the supervision of a swim "trainer" - generally very nice jolly men who nicely talk to me in Russian. Swimming feels great and I regret that I ate too late today and so ended up not going...

Tomorrow I am going to a conference on Baltic Futures, organized by the Social Science Dept. of Latvia University (in English), and then to one of the Fulbright professor's house for Thanksgiving dinner. And on Sunday I have an interview and then more cultural activities: the movie Elizabeth (with Cate Blanchett) opened here today and on Sunday I plan to see it. Sunday is All Soul's Day, also called Candle's Eve because people leave candles on loved one's graves and on soldier's graves at the Military Cemetery. It will be very beautiful, and so I plan to go to one of the cemeteries in Riga when it gets dark.

The end!

Post Script on Latvian Democracy

Perhaps it (people's direct power over politicians) exists! After last Saturday's protest, the president - who has the power to disband the parliament and the prime minister - asked the prime minister and the parliament to resign, and the prime minister has agreed to leave his post on Dec. 5. Though we'll see whether it will actually happen...

Culture in Riga

It turns out that Riga is full of cultural events! There is: the opera, with different operas performed almost every night, the ballet, the Russian theatre, the (Latvian) Daleis theatre, concerts, movie festivals, museums, galleries. (Of the events I paid most attention to), this week and last week there were two Russian film festivals and an international music and film festival about modern(ized) folk music. I went to watch Пушкин. Последния дуэль (Pushkin. The last dual) and Агитбригада "Бей Врага!" (the translation requires too long of an explanation) - which I especially recommend - and to a performance of Motion Trio, three Polish accordionists who mix traditional folk music with modern alternative artsy music plus pop music and symphony orchestras. Below is the website of Motion Trio, where my accordionist-readers (Rita! Essie!) and others can listen to amazing (it is really beautiful!) accordion music. Which, unfortunately, was not what I heard tonight, since they performed with the Latvian Symphony Orchestra. One could barely hear the accordions, and it just felt like the group was given the chance to fool around with a real orchestra and, for some reason, they chose to perform pop music that sounded like film scores, seemingly impressing people by involving accordions in pop music and in symphony music. http://www.motiontrio.com/a2Home.html

Unfortunately I missed a performance by The Shin Egari, a group from Georgia - lively, passionate, and mixing traditional and modern music. And I didn't have the energy to attend a Latvian folk choir rehearsal yesterday.

There is also a holiday celebration of Martini Day this weekend (similar to Halloween, I think). There is an open-air "Ethnographic Museum" and this weekend there will be festivities with lots of masks.

Artists in Riga have traditionally been considered - forgive me my lay terminology - alternative, edgy, new. In particular, there are traditions of ceramic art, watercolor paintings, and wood carving. (Probably there are other traditions in art, as well, and there is much more to say about it, but it is only now getting cold enough for me to let myself go to museums instead of walking around the Old City, and so I haven't made it to the Fine Arts Museum yet.)

Also Latvia has an incredibly strong song and dance tradition, which is evident everywhere - for instance, at the protest last Saturday there were traditional songs (Dainas) performed live between politicians', journalists', and intellectuals' political speeches. There is even more to say about this, too, but I am also only yet to go to the folk music choir rehearsal, so I only know vaguely about Latvian song tradition.

And in Vilnius (Lithuania) there are even more exciting, or at least more extensively-organized, cultural events. This weekend is the Festival of Light (in response to the darker days and darkness of November), which involves many events throughout the city through the collaboration of artists and even scientists. For instance, the river will be lit from below, there will be bicycle-riders around the city projecting light designs on buildings, and in one of the parks there will be people in costumes lit from inside. (http://www.culturelive.lt/en/lux) I am hoping to go on Sunday, but I haven't decided yet...

Photos of me

Per request, here are Riga photos of me and of important women in my life...

With my mom.
Again with my mom in my bedroom at Tanya's.
Nadya, Lyuba and I on our namedate.

Protest

I haven't yet written about the tumultuous (non-Russian/Latvian) political situation in Latvia (largely because, to my embarrassment, I haven't been following the news). There is a lot going on politically, and today there was a hugely-publicized and extremely well-organized, though disappointingly small and tame protest.
Having not followed the news carefully, I may not relate all of the details correctly, but here is the situation, more or less...

It is generally accepted and criticized that there is a lot of political corruption in Latvia. Some years ago the Latvian government established KNAB - Corruption Prevention and Combating Bureau of the Republic of Latvia. Until a few weeks ago, the head of it was, successfully, Aleksejs Loskutovs. Successfully, because he was doing something, including conducting an investigation into how much political parties had spent in the last election (the government had recently put a cap on each parties' campaign spending). The investigation uncovered that the ruling party, the People's Party, had spent three times the limit, and just before the report was to be released, Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis suspended Loskutovs. In response to this, Loskutovs has continued coming to work, Foreign Minister Artis Pabriks has resigned in protest, and there have been two mass protests calling for Loskutovs to be brought back and for the government to resign.

Today was the second protest, officially allowed, and it was expected to be enormous - 20,000 people (which is particularly large for a country as small as Latvia).
The Diena ("Day"), the biggest Latvian newspaper, had a huge announcement today calling people to protest:

For a truthful Latvia
For honest politics
Today on Dome Square at 11:00.

But actually it turned out to be quite tame. As Mike Collier wrote in the Baltic Times today, it was "less an outpouring of public anger than a polite agreement that all is not well in Latvia." (http://www.baltictimes.com/news/articles/19204/)
It's a perfect description, because while there was an estimated 9-10,000 people (not 20,000, but still), the speeches sounded calm and were full of platitudes (Laura, one of the Fulbright students whom I went with, translated), the folk music between speeches was cheery and pretty, not revolutionary, and the crowd dwindled tangibly as the speeches went on. Although there was the unexpected highlight of President Valdis Zatlers speaking (basically he said hello, I hear what you are saying, and goodbye; most people yelled for the government to resign). Also it was just cold, grey, snowy, wet and unpleasant, as today was the first day of winter weather, with fluffy wet snowflakes and big brown puddles.
But what I found interesting was that it was very different from American protests, because there was a real crowd, rather than people cordoned-in like sheep; it was in the Dome Square, a centuries-old meeting place; it was so well-organized - there was a lot of advertising beforehand, and at the protest there was a giant covered stage, like a concert stage, and somewhat bizarre flat TV screens, which showed the protesters and almost advertisement-like images, presumably of the government and various politicians, in bright colors; and it was almost entirely middle-aged and older people and practically no youth. Most importantly, it felt like a raw democracy. Though, like most democracies, it seems likely to be toothless and unable to create real change.

Sigulda

I am finding it hard to write, as I am feeling that all I have to say is grumpy and grey, so I will finally replace my words with photographs. Although I will start with photos not of Riga, but of Sigulda, a city Southwest of Riga, about an hour away by lazy creaky Soviet train. It is known for its castles and hills and forest and winter skiing, and the day that I went was appropriately grey, making it seem all the more magical and mysterious and ancient. I went with Elina, a Finnish colleague of Laura, one of the other Fulbrighters, who (Elina) very disappointingly left back to Finland today.

This is the forest. (We travelled over it in a "foniculer" - a flying glassed-in cart.) Somewhere in its depth is the Gauja River, which was incredibly still, like a lake. Like a ribbon winding in the valley between the forests and castles.

This is outside of one of the caves (which are some of the landmarks in Sigulda), which were all of very sandy rock (sandstone?), like the beach packed into a hillside, and this one (Peter's Cave) had a lot of engravings and names and schools from the 1920's even! And it had this ghoul.

This is the old Sigulda castle. It is in ruins, in bits and pieces, and here it looks deceivingly whole. On the right side of the fortress, at the top, one can just barely make out on this picture a huge ingraved red cross, which to did feel very ancient and menacing.

And this is me, bundled up a little bit after a long lunch (of various yummy store-bought picnic products, including black bread and mushroom cheese spread) on top of "Painter" or "Paradise" hill, with this view. The little bit of white to the left of me is the still and ribbony Gauja.

And I have more beautiful and whimsical photos, but I haven't yet figured out how to flip them on my new Canon computer program, and so they are yet to come.