Grant Updates
So, if you have had the misfortune of bumping into me online in the last week, then you might know that this
OSI grant is EATING MY LIFE! It has fully consumed me for the last 7 days, not only because there is a huge time crunch and I have been essentially cold-calling non-profit organizations in Ukraine for participation and immediate commitment, but also because every inch of communication has been in Ukrainian. Its SUCH an emotional roller coaster.
--Hey! I heard back from the folks in ____!! ROCK!!
--Oh crap! I don't know that word. Where's the dictionary?!
--Oh, hey they like my idea! I'm golden!!
--But, shit, how do you say "First Draft" in Russian?! WAIT!! I dont speak Russian!
Oh my lord. Stephen has been coming up to me randomly in the hallway and just giving me random, unsolicited hugs on principle. I have let my stress level get so high. The one saving grace is that the deadline for this grant is this Thursday, so come hell or high water, its all over (at least in the immediate) in 5 days.
But here's how things are going, for the interested:
*I sent out a bunch of e mails baiting people into talking about this. I heard back from 4 organizations and one activist at the national All Ukraine HR office in Kiev.
*I sent out a second e mail of the "wanna write a grant?" variety and heard back from one group who said that they were planning on applying for the grant themselves, but are interested in submitting a proposal together, and could I send them what I have?
*I tell a dirty lie and say that I have drafted a proposal and will get it translated out of English for them pronto.
*I hit the library and then compose said grant proposal, sans hard dollar values for the budget (how am I supposed to know what a reasonable compensation is for being interviewed is in Ukraine?--see, this is why I need them.)
*I find Nina, who is a FREIKIN ROCK STAR, and who is also Russian, who is willing to translate this 4 pg single spaced document into Russian by the next morning.
*And I just mailed off what I have to them. Part of me is leary about this situation, because there is nothing stopping them from just ditching me at this point and taking my methods as their own. But honestly, I'm ok with that risk. Because, frankly, I really have no interest in doing this project alone. I can't do it alone. I think its almost inappropriate for me, a newbie to this, not even fluent in the language, to come in and to this national-survey--even if I was able to hire every Ukrainian social scientist at CEU with these grant dollars. Worse case scenario, I don't get the grant (for shame!) and another organization has a better idea of how to run respondent-driven sampling and maybe, just maybe, do a better job on this project. At the very least, squeeze some more dollars for their heinously underfunded programming...I think that, despite these possibility, I will be able to sleep at night.
HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY MOM! May God bless you with patience for your daughter's unreliability in the following year.
Oh wow. Ok, so I am actually sitting in class right now, blogging out into my word processor, waiting for a movie that we are watching to recover from its DVD death so that we can finish it. Its called “The Cruise”, and is about this crazy guy who works as a tour guide on a double-decker tour bus in NYC. This is the most hilarious thing I have seen in ages.
“Looking at this building, I feel like I am running through a meadow. Naked. Chasing after a strange woman, who is also naked. Its like an evil, primordial chase of man…As you look up the building, can’t you feel the undulation of her curves?”
“Then men who designed Central Park were transcendentalists….No sweating allowed in Central Park. Those people you see playing baseball, roller blading, jogging—they are not historically accurate.”
“H.G. Wells said that to tell the history of New York City is to tell the history of the world. Fasten your seatbelts.”
Its brilliant.
I have had a crazy week so far, but last night was one of the most random and completely fun nights I have had in a long time. So, I am going to revert to one of my most tried and true formats and provide you the run down of my evening with lists of things that are awesome.
*There are two girls from Bavaria staying with us right now. They came in from Germany early yesterday morning after taking the night train. They are way cute hippie types, and they juggle. Excellent.
*We have another guy from Patagonia coming tomorrow. He lives in the place that the company that makes those backpacks is named after. I can't seem to get off of that fact. Yay cultural sensitivity! Gold star, Jen.
*I have heard back from 5 different groups in Ukraine now, all of whom seem interested in writing this grant. I am sending out another e mail today. We'll see what happens. This is all happening really fast, but money talks. So, I hope we can get something pulled together in the next week. I may have to call the woman at the OSI office in NY to see if we can't get an extra few days for this proposal. Do people do that? Blah. We'll see.
*I finally made it to the post office in Joszefvaros to pick up my Mp3 player. Its a little Creative Zen V. Its rad. Its my new favorite thing ever ever. I have been listening to the Murder City Devils all morning in the library. I am so in love with myself this morning.
*Both Tyler and Brigette came over last night (again). We went out to Szimpla to meet up with Sasha and a friend of his from Belarus who is visiting for the week. What a blastie.
*Budaman made us wait, but he came through, as usual.
*We actually managed to find a table that would sit all 8 of us. In the back too. We rule.
*Tyler, it turns out, is a sucker for Rock Paper Scissors for Pain. Do you know how long it has been since I have played an honest game of RPS4P? Since I last saw Kasia or Ligaya. It was so much fun. We started playing double throws, two on two, and then at one point, we had an 8 person 1-on-1 table wide game going, with 16 hands throwing at once. There was spitting. There was slapping. It was mayhem.
*Tyler and I have also started on a new social experiment. Sometime around 1am yesterday, we decided that it would be a good idea to sign up for a Hungarian online-dating service, and see who we get matched with. We will be keeping detailed records of all ensuing events. Tyler insists that he can get a diary of random Budapestian dating published in a poli sci journal. Whatever. Its still brilliant.
*Despite being out at the bar till super late and blowing off all my homework yesterday, I actually got to bed about 2 hours earlier than I have any night in the last 3 or 4 weeks. Even though I had class at 9 this morning, I am so super energetic from sleeping more than 4 hours. Holy crap last night was so much fun. I have been wigging out over this grant. I really needed it. But now I dont want to start working again. Its a vicious cycle.
*I have finally FINALLY found a way into iWiW.hu, the invitation-only Hungarian myspace-like online thingy. Did that sentance make any sense? I dunno. But check it out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iwiw
*Bill is coming out in like 3 weeks. I am so F'ing excited. I can't even tell you.
*I just found out about a student conference in L'viv at the end of March. It is actually taking place over 3 days in which I do NOT have friends or family coming into BP, which is nothing short of a miracle. The cost is only 5 euro for participating (did I say
student conference?) which includes accomodation and food. The only thing I would have to cover is travel, which by train to L'viv is about $25. Sweet. I am trying to talk everyone I know into applying. It sounds super rad.
*I totally failed to call my mom on her birthday. It was yesterday. I suck. I made 20 different plans to set aside a time to do it, and something just came up. By the time I got home at lke 10, it was all I could do to figure out where the couch was in my house. Major boo on me. HAPPY LATE BIRTHDAY MOM! xoxo
Labels: Brigette, Budapest, clubs and bars, hospitality club, procrastiation, rabble rousing, Sasha, thin justification for my existace, Tyler, ukraine
Дженіфер! Доброго дняu
Had my first response from the
AIDSalliance in Ukraine today. It is sucking all of my brain power (and my social resources) to read and write these e mails. Why am I not totally 100% fluent in all languages after studying them for 9 months? blah. But its going well so far.
Bring on the grant!
Labels: aids, grad school, ukraine
Glorious Day of "American Food"-like Food
Yesterday, I woke up on the couch in Stephen's room next to Brigette, wondering if Tyler was still asleep with his shoes on in the living room. This has all been known to happen before, and is always a sign that last night was a good night and today will be a phenomenal day. Seriously.
So, I may not have mentioned this earlier, but Brigette brought back a bunch of goodies from Texas after Christmas break. Its fabulous. I love the fact that she is from Texas and knows all the right things to buy. When Stephen is on the phone with parents and friends in Ohio who are sending care packages, he always asks what I want. Brigette and I scream out a slurry of "Oh! Oh! Masa! and corn husks! chipotles! and nopalitos!" Stephen usually tells us to go stick it and to order something that is American and that the average suburban can find in Canton OH. So so sad.
But Briga brought back a few excellent things, not the least of which is a prayer candle with the Virgin of Guadalupe on it, which totally makes me nostalgic for our old house in Portland with the Revelation and Our Lady of Guadalupe themed bathroom (coolest domestic space I have ever had the privilege to inhabit). She also brought back a can of chipotles, and can of jalopenos. So, this morning, for breakfast, we made a huge batch of scrambled eggs with onions and sour cream and jalopenos. And it was SOOOO GOOOOOOOD.
Look, Stephen's camera phone was able to reach out and capture my joy:
(All these images are really low res because my digital is in Berlin with Ben right now, so all we had was Stephen's Razr to capture the moments as they came.)
Brigette gasped when she ate it and said, "Oh my gosh. Its hot. I forgot what hot tastes like. Oh my word I love it. Real hot food!" In Hungary, 'spicy' generally means 'not creamy'. Its a sad state of affairs if all you want is some chili. Marko couldn't even handle a single bite of mild heat. We are just made of spicier stuff I guess. I miss hot, spicy food so very very much. And tamales. I miss those too.
Later in the evening, I tagged along with Stephen and Sanida, who were had plans to go to this Burger place that Petya had found sometime last term. I was skeptical, but this place allegedly had really really good burgers, and even though I don't eat meat, sheer curiosity and the hopes of some honest french fries lured me along on their adventure. We were also able to recruit Zoltan at the library. I mentioned the burger plan to him, and I watched him hover over his feet, eyes glazed over for a moment, then, with a sudden rush of blood to his face, say, "I think I'm going to invite myself along..." Ha.
So, the burger place is called "Gyros es Burgers" (original) and is just be Keleti Palyaudvar. I was astonished by what they offered. They had a menu of like 20 different burgers with bacon, cheese, fried egg, goose liver, cabbage, mushrooms, anything you could think of. They even had one called "fitness" which was a burger doused in every drippy, oily, cheesy thing they had, but with out meat. And here's the kicker. They even toasted the bun. It totally kicked the In n Out Burger grilled cheese sandwhich's ass.
Stephen and Zoltan each got a burger called The Lenin:
And I don't even remember what Sanida got, but it was gone fast.
This place also had Lowenbrau
which is totally not that great, but which I will forever defend as the only reliable beer in a can in this city (take that Borsodi!).
The food was nutritionally useless and totally good. Stephen and I trucked home after this, curled up around our pot bellies, and watched Twin Peaks. And it was a very good day.
Course, I am failing to mention the long hours of work I pulled during the day and after all this nonsense that had me up till nearly 5 am. I am really starting to stress about the phenomenal amount of work I have to stay on top of. Its kind of blowing my mind. But I am meeting with Yuriy (Юрій!) tomorrow to go over letters that I am sending out to harm reduction clinics in Ukraine, and Russ has been schooling me on how not to freak out over this grant, which I have no idea how to even start, and I got my funding for April, or at least some of it. 200 Euros is better than no Euros, and thats enough to float me through April for my field work. So, things are happening, just not in a very steady or timely fashion.
Ok, enough of this. I got stuff to do....
Labels: Brigette, Budapest, CEU photos, food, procrastiation, Sanida, Stephen, thin justification for my existace, Zoltan
No, I dont actually have any idea what I'm doing...
I think I have been talked into applying for a grant.
A big one.
I need a cohort. Who's with me?
Labels: grad school, rabble rousing, t, thin justification for my existace, ukraine
Cultural Explosion
Ok, I'm sorry I have been neglecting the blog. I have been super busy. Super crazy busy actually. I don't have any cool new pictures to put up. I don't even have that many new stories, unless you count my response papers on Latour and Althusser (which I choose not to). But here's a short run down of things and goings on:
--I have a second reader. Its Alexandra, and I am pumped. She has already given me a stack of books for the weekend and is interested in working in the sociology of deviance into my thesis. Sounds rad. I think this thing could turn out to be really cool.
--My thesis was officially greenlighted by my advisor. He actually said it was a great project. I rule. And am, therefore, definitely going to Ukraine in April.
--Ola and Asa and I are working on a term-long ethnography project with the radical right in Budapest. We have been going to a lot of rallies and protests and talking to people who are really excited to tell us all about ancient Hungarian runes and how sad the Transylvanians are that they can't be Hungarian nationals anymore. Our department gave us notarized forms that recognize us as students from CEU who are present at these demonstrations for academic and social research and are in no way affiliated with the groups that are acting there. It may be the coolest thing I have ever been given. I feel official. It has a permanent home in my passport now.
--Brigette has started her thesis fieldwork already, and is meeting with ex-pat women from the US. She went to a gathering of 50 or so blonde, American wives-of-diplomats in Buda this morning. They served rice crispy treats, and little cubes of cheddar cheese with tiny american flags on toothpicks stuck in them. There were free manicures and massages all around, and one of the ladies got hair extensions done, for what she called "the trophy wife look." These ladies apparently throw one hell of a toga party at the end of the year, that involves a whopping 20,000HUF ticket price and costumes that are rented from the Budapest Opera. We WILL find a way to go.
Look Ma! Content!
This little one is in training.
--Its Stephen's birthday tomorrow. We are co-opting Teddy's party to celebrate, which I am delighted about.
--Monica is our new housemate. Did I mention that I have a new housemate? We do. She's super sweet, and just moved here form Bucharest to work in accounting up north somewhere. Her parents are visiting for the weekend and are staying with us in the apartment. I forgot about this fact, and was totally surprised to stumble in this morning from a night out to find a 50 year old Romanian woman cleaning fish in my kitchen. Stranger things have happened, but still...
Maybe she could learn something from the ex-pats.
We have so much culture to offer, don't we?
Minor Updates
% ls
Desktop Bookworm Movies Music Procrastination
% cd
% ls
Desktop Bookworm Movies Music Procrastination
% crap
tcsh: crap: Command not found.
% mkdir thesis
% cd thesis
~/thesis % man topic
no manual entry for topic
~/thesis % man 'research module'
no manual entry for research module
~/thesis % crap
tcsh: crap: Command not found.
~/thesis % ls -l
dr-------- 1 dept 2343 deadlines 01 Jan 2007
-r--r--r-- 3 dept 4793 proposal.txt 15 Jan 2007
~/thesis % cd deadlines
~/thesis/deadlines % ls
proposal researchgrants design youradvisor
~/thesis/deadlines % cd youradvisor
~/thesis/deadlines/youradvisor % who
absentee1
~/thesis/deadlines/youradvisor % whoami
screwed1
~/thesis/deadlines/youradvisor % cat *advisor > list1 | sort
~/thesis/deadlines/youradvisor % cat list1
still the same absentee
~/thesis/deadlines/youradvisor % CRAP!
tcsh: CRAP!: Command not found
~/thesis/deadlines/youradvisor % cd
% find 'thesis'
find: thesis: No such file or directory
% obviously
tcsh: obviously: Command not found
% killall grant_deadlines
No matching processes belonging to you were found
% yes there is!
there
there
there
there
screw!
there
there
there
q
% gah!
tcsh: gah!: Command not found.
....sigh.....
% open /procrastination/Labels: grad school, procrastiation
