the last one to leave was Simon the sick. much fun dragging his heavy heavy luggage to the airport:) and the taxi driver was also very engaging in conversation about unlimited speed in German autobahns.



but at least we found the cows that had disappeared from the Boston downtown long time ago... well, two of them.



the skyline is beautiful from terminal E, where all European airlines operate... Alitalia, Lufthansa, KLM, British Airways, Air France etc...



no snow in Boston for Christmas this year. it seems it all got delayed in Denver:) but the frog pond is full of people from dawn and after dusk.



in Boston Common on Christmas' Eve i found some protestors against the Izraeli wall and for the independence of Palestine. surrounded by homeless people and not politicians who make the decisions they were, though...



then i walked through the financial district, that was occupied by a crazy crowd of last minute holliday shoppers...



and back to the airport i went... exactly a week had passed from Simon's departure from terminal E and Deivis arrived with lost of gifts from the good old Lithuania.

the first semester at Brandeis ended exactly two hours and thirty four minutes ago when i handed in my last paper on Levi-Strauss' analysis of art. still difficult to believe... and not so easy to find a place... to decide what to do... i guess i could just go and sleep for a week. enough what to dream about. and my body really really needs rest. however, i have also printed out a bunch of texts about activist research and politically engaged anthropology, about doing fieldwork in dangerous places and reflexive social analysis. and, of course, i have some books to read...

but what were the last couple of weeks like? in my calendar they have all been marked red and circled because as long ago as september i knew these would be the days of hell. four papers in two weeks or so... it had seemed impossible and i was determined not to sleep at all. however (and here the story begins), on Tuesday afternoon, that is, when only two days and three nights were left till the deadline this Friday, i still had two papers to write and one to finish, which means that those last two weeks that were supposed to be dedicated to lonely nights typing my thoughts met a different fate. why? good question...



first, because of Sony Playstation 2. i had never played any computer or video games and the like before (except racing cars or changing the appearance of NBA players) and did not mean to, but one evening Schini just gave me one joystick and the game began. it was "Tekken". awful fighting game. the next to come was FIFA soccer, where Italian honor had to be defended even by such an unexperienced player as i am. so... we played every evening, before and after dinner, we even stayed late at night as i wanted to learn the special Xiaoyu moves from Schini, my teacher:) actually, the first time the "Tekken" box was opened, he stayed till five or six in the morning! later Stephan explained me "World of Warcraft", which they always play with Schini. but i will at least not join this... although i loved the "South Park" episode about it.



the last TGIF on Friday was at Heller school. i had not known that it is the third best school of social policy in the U.S. after Harvard and University of Michigan. Stephan met some new girls - one from Iran and another one from El Salvador. Quan got to know Mei-Mei... and i was awoken from casual daydreaming by some consultant from Uganda. don't remember anything about him because i think he was listening more than talking... expert in consulting.

we also watched a bunch of movies... usually, these were "Friends" or "South Park", "Futurama" or "Simpsons", sometimes stupid dating shows on MTV, during the Thanksgiving break, also a lot of old James Bond films. the last night before Stephan and Schini left we even watched "Batman Forever", since the vote was not in favor of more intelectual "Bolivia" or "Singing in the Rain". in fact, we did watch "The Doors" with Tathagata and Seyit after the Germans left and maybe more movie nights are yet to come. they are good for winter nights.



well, the majority of Germans left... Uli flew home already a week ago and Simon doesn't count as he has spent all this time in bed with a terrible virus called mononucleosis. he could not talk, he had to sleep while sitting and... finally they cut him with a scalpel so that now he feels a bit better and can breath more freely. we have been trying to take care of him as much as we could... with soups, movies, magazines, papers...



everyday (and i am not joking about that) around seven or so i used to leave Highland street to go to grad housing. and every night i used to come back with the last shuttle at two o'clock... or not come back at all if the shuttle did not come or i missed it. when a couple of days ago with Tathagata we were going to "Hannaford's" and passed my street, i thought "oh, i used to live here". indeed... recently i have spent more time in their place than in mine.

not only for video-games and movies... we also learnt. Schini was solving math problems even the last evening (because he didn't do that before, Simon remarks:)...



we with Jong-Hyun were taught to play Bavarian cards - "Schafkopf". i also learnt some useful German words from Stephan, like "ich bin uberfressen", "von dir lernen heisst siegen lernen" and the bad word for Uli which I have no idea how to spell:) Tatgahata learnt how to open beer bottles the German way... we with Quan also managed that but need way more practice... getting Germanized:) and getting boyish:) you would better not know what engaging conversations about hegemonic masculine society, the stupid girls or German social system we have!



but social activities were not everything. i also had responsibilities in class... a presentation on Chilean nation and student protests and the opening of the second exhibition of the southern Sudanese paintings from Kakuma refugee camp in Brandeis library (check out the website, which we made ourselves - http://www.brandeis.edu/projects/sudan_center/kakuma_exhibit/).



and on Monday again i went to Providence in Rhode Island. i was supposed to talk to one professor at Brown and i did, but the conversation lasted only twenty minutes, while i spent the whole day going there and back. anyway, i like Providence the same as i like Boston, so i enjoyed walking around the old streets and new skyscrapers with a cup of hot English tea in my hands.





these were very happy days. i had absolutely no time to write my papers, but i suspect that it doesn't affect their quality... one day with Uli we went to the science library, but otherwise i was not that hard-working. for the Armenian-Turkish negotiations of the Genodice i got an A and for time and space in Nuerland - an A+. still three more evaluations to come, but i don't really care any more. i have finished my PhD applications and whatever will be - will be. i really want to study more. but i really want to do many other things as well... so it doesn't matter too much. just i have absolutely no idea where i will end up next year... maybe living in Switzerland? or Sudan? Mexico? or Lithuania? in any case i know where i will be in winter a year from now. Bavaria! real white European mountains!



besides these sunny mornings and clear moon nights, one rainy day i realized how much all of my friends mean to me... it was Friday, i was angry and sad... i was walking in the rain for some hours, first with Luis, then alone... no umbrella. just me and the rain. but Stephan continued to call me every half an hour insisting that i have to come to his place. although i was sitting there speechless and still sad, it felt better. happiness through tears:)

tears remind me of onions... we also cooked a lot... Stephan taught me how to make delicious spaghetti with cream salmon sauce. Quan saved me from cold with some very spicy Korean soup. we ate Chinese. and we ate Indian. Tathagata prepared chicken curry for us, which was so good that i still get hungry whenever i rememeber it. we ate lots of American cookies as well... and we went shopping to Boston yet again, this time Stephan and Uli were looking for presents while i bought lots of nice sweaters and a skirt... and a terribly expensive Brandeis pullover, which i had always wanted. also... i got two enormous books for just twenty dollars each. Salvador Dali and Cosmos... unfortunately, i had no more money for an ancient maps atlas... but i hope some will be left till i get the scholarship.



that is it. final hugs so sad... and Uli, Stephan and Schini are in Germany. Seyit is moving out of Charles river and will live quite close to my place. Tathagata is leaving for Florida with his friends. and Simon will hopefully head for home on Sunday. we will meet next year... long time to go... i miss them already so much:) too much!

some more photos of the last days... http://picasaweb.google.com/ieva.jusionyte

dieses mal schreibe ich auf deutsch (stimmt, simon?), also entschuldigen mir bitte die nicht verstehen können... das Thanksgiving in USA ist eine grosse sache, die alles geschlossen war und alle leute wurden nach hause gegangen. ich wurde eingeladen zu abendessen mit der armenischen familie im Cape Codd, das die schönste strandstadt in Massachusetts ist, aber ich blieb mit Seyit. wir haben truthahnsandwiche und tortellini gegessen und wein insieme mit arto getrunken. ruhiges und cozy Thanksgiving.

freitag paßten wir james bond auf bis vier morgens, schlief ich wieder an den Charles River appartments und heute am mittag Jong-Hyun kochte uns Südcoreanisches mittagessen. danach wählte ich eine andere weise nach hause umzugehen... durch den kirchhof. ein schönes wetter dort heute war, sonnig und ruhig, viele eichhörnchen und gänse um die grabsteine durch den fluß.















auf der anderen seite des flusses ist die berühmte Waltham uhrfabrik...

ich bin niemand und werde auch niemand sein.
jetzt bin ich ja zum sein noch zu klein;
aber auch später.

rilke

shopping friday. from cambridge and the harvard's bookstore to downtown boston for hats, gloves, shoes and jackets.









when the department of state gives me my fulbright money for the next month, i will go back... :) now bronchitis requires me to stay in bed as much as possible... with evans-pritchard and paul farmer.

and so the story continues... rainy thursday morning i headed to the brandeis health center, but there i was told to go directly to the hospital. and so i did... again fifteen minutes in the rain with my aching foot. to hope street. what a coincidence to have a hospital on hope street... up the hill i went... and to the urgent care center i came... it was just before nine o'clock and it had just opened. unfortunately, my voice had deteriorated and i could not speak at all... just whisper loudly.... i was asked to sit down in the waiting room, had to fill in several forms about the current state of health and all the dozens of previous illnesses i had. of course, i marked as negative all the questions, i have never had any important disease, as far as i can remember... only wrote that "in my childhood i used to be allergic to some antibiotics, however, there is no evidence of which exactly". this statement made my lithuanian doctor laugh, but we'll reach that later... so... first i was taken to a male nurse. he checked my pulse, measured the temperature etc., then i was taken to the receptionist who registered me to the hospital, opened my file, copied my insurance card and marked that i complained about my right foot (by the way, the nurse made a mistake and first everyone thought that i have an injured left foot, not the right one). then yet another woman came and took me to have my foot x-rayed three times. and then i was seated in one room and was told to wait for the doctor. and the doctor came. his name was mark. his grandparents lived in vilnius but left lithuania under the tsarist rule and came here... what an encounter! he was so nice to me and then boasted to the whole personnel all around that "me and ieva could have been neighbors". funny doctor. good doctor. he told me i have tendinitis, which is an inflammation in the area of the tendon. usually joggers get this weird disease, but i haven't been jogging for a while... maybe i walk too much and the shoes are not that good... anyway, i was ordered to stay off feet as much as possible for at least three days, recieved a box of medicine and an interesting black shoe which prevents the foot of being bent. i thanked with the big efforts to raise my voice so that everybody could hear me... and i went home... in the rain... this hospital is one of the hundred best hospitals in the u.s., so i imagine what the cost will be for this treatment... but they did not ask me anything, i think they sent the bill directly to the insurance provider. and i sincerely hope that they cover it all. i suspect it to be several hundred dollars. if i hear nothing from them, maybe next week i go back to see my lithuanian doctor and ask about the other health problems i might have... coughing and the running nose... but my voice has returned:) and tonight arto will take me to the turkish-armenian dialogue meeting at harvard.

i still have the sheet my doctor gave me with all the directions about taking care of my foot... the last prescription was "see u in vilnius (voruta) at jogaila's house or king bathory's near the vilnia and neris rivers"...

happy halloween-birthday ieva & uli! we made the pumpkins... the jack'o'lanterns... this was a collective marvel... uli cut the nose and the nice eyes and i made the smile:)



seyit and simon played the guitar and sang... pumpkin number two.



tathagat resting on the floor near another pumpkin...

all in all the birthday was just fantastic! we went to sleep today at four or maybe five in the morning and the room was completely messed up. we also got the coupons to go to eat lobster at the prudential tower in boston, which has a marvellous view over the city... today, unfortunately, i have lost my voice totally... and after a week of neglecting that my foot is ok, i noticed how swollen it really is and tomorrow will visit the hospital for the first time. i hope that doesn't cost all my money... we'll see how fulbright insurance works...

i must be in a parallel reality of books and assignments... lost in the papers... monday was at harvard department of anthropology meeting professor herzfeld, wednesday films at brown 224 - "un chien andalou" and "the couple in the cage", friday - two-hour long interview with one of the lost boys of sudan... incredible story. a miracle of life. and saturday meeting ksenia, hanan, diego and roberto, the other chilean studying physics, who arrived from new jersey for a weekend... crepes with nutella like during the good old italian days... tea and some more tea... one panetone (incredibly italian, i remember on christmas the supermarkets are filled with these huge sweet "things". i bought one for my neighbor upstairs who saved me by opening my shut door on christmas' eve... mmm... memories)... anyway... i finished my first two papers. first one on the origins of inequality in aristotle, hobbes, rousseau and marx. and another - the museum as the playground of knowledge and power, which was on the "balance and power: performance and surveillance in video art", "the body worlds" exhibition and the armenian museum... of course, foucault, gramsci, lacan and bennett. we'll see... now it all depends on the grades... as i have NO IDEA what my professors are expecting. but i did what i could. although not too much...

i am under pressure for posting some pictures of my home... so here you go.





i live at 26 highland street in waltham, which is part of greater boston and if you just turn left to the prospect street where many latinoamericanos live and where i had my hair-cut at a dominican (as far as i remember... ) hairdresser's and then reach the main street, it goes all the way directly to watertown and cambridge without any place which would mark the end of one neighborhood and the start of another. actually, if you go up the hill near the maths department (the brandeis campus is on the other way from highland street on the south street), you could see the boston skyline. it's 20 minutes by bus or commuter rail or car to downtown.



highland street is mainly wooden houses. even the condominiums are wooden and not cement. ours is a two-family house which means that it is has two appartments or two houses attached to one another. our appartment has two floors, the first one being a kitchen, a dining room and the living room which are all connected (no doors, i like it!), the second one - three bedrooms and the bathroom.



i live here with two friends - john from ghana who found this place for us and arto from istanbul who is actually armenian.





my room is the smallest one, but at least it was furnished when i got in. and the pictures on the walls make it cozy. dozens of smiling friendly faces... from vilnius, santaka, greece, bologna, miami and boston. unfortunately, like in italy, again no nice view from the window... and no sun or moon... just another house. i should first come and look my room in the "eyes" next time before signing the lease... and i have been thinking about moving to cambridge, but i feel so homish here that i'm hesitating... i love cambridge that much. but i also feel at home here already and i don't feel like leaving mi companeros di cuarto.





in the basement which has a separate entrance, separate kitchen and separate life all in all lives vimal, he is from india and has been here for quite a while. he brought us some cookies yesterday and hepled to arrange the internet when "comcast" guys did their worst. we also have a small yard and a terace but we don't use it as the doors to it is broken and the landlord (who is definitely of italian descent) has not fixed it yet.



(this is not my house:))

so, postcards and letters very are welcome at:

26 Highland street,
Waltham, MA 02453-3441,
the United States of America

it was a week ago that i met the first indian. i was on my way back from the market, on the prospect street. as usually, i didn't press the button for the green light trusting the drivers, and, i did not have time to realize what had happened, but there was a truck just in front of me and an indian sitting in it, watching me. that moment expanded into eternity, the time stopped, it was just his face that i saw. and then i crossed the street and did not look back, but the image will remain in my memories. i don't even know what indian he was... might be a hopi or cherokee, or maya, or inca. they still live here, in this world, the same, but different, inhabiting the world which obeys other laws then they do. several days ago in the "new york times" there was an article about the U.S. - mexico border, where the tohono o'odham nation lives wandering freely from one state to another. they can move across the border without their passports because it is their land. but the authorities are concerned about the increasing flow of mexican immigrants and the drug mafia and want to build a big wall in arizona. the indians will not accept that. and the government is not going to do anything without first getting their permission. a state in a state, one world intruding into another, two distinct orders overlapping and living side by side without conflicts.



but conflicts do arise in mexico, in chiapas, which is near the guatemala border and where the maya live. at class we were discussing the zapatista movement all week. the professor brought some movies from the independent media project in chiapas and made a presentation on the use of revolutionary symbols in mexico... its art... from the time of zapata and his eyes... and one guy showed us a small zapatista soldier which he carried in his bag. "zapaturismo" is expanding... the small zapatista soldier is a fetish. yesterday at "au bon pain" in harvard square i was trying not to attract attention to my red-covered marx and engels reader. the chapter on commodity fetishism was so far the most interesting part of marx i have read... maybe except the letters to his wife and to his companero that were reprinted in "nemunas". marx is different here, writing about the secrets and mysteries. we look at the social relations of men, but we see the objectivity of the products... we think they have intrinsic value, they are alive, they are magical, to use marx's words. i remember the old days when my parents tried to persuade me not to believe in commercials by saying that "coca-cola" or "l'oreal" are not better than other sodas and shampoos, but they cost more because of the publicity. although my parents don't like marx, they do agree with him on commodity fetishism. but today i found out that a "fetico" was a portuguese word for a small nkisi figurine that was used in rituals by the bakongo tribe in west africa. it was an object acting as a person. like in yesterday's open lecture my favourite professor was talking about the silver and the minerals in mexico's mines. minerals get their names, people make tatoos of the particular shafts where some precious stones are discovered, they travel through places and people and collections and acquire more and more value. they live forever and they live progressively, whereas the mines die... like a living organism with veins under the ground. never before had i heard of the anthropology of time. "rocks of ages: mexican minerals, time and the concept of resources" was the title of the lecture which i expected to be about archeology, but it wasn't. anthropology is the play between the strange and the familiar... you can write about a tribe in papua new guinnea and so make the strange to be familiar, or you can analyse capitalist economy or the community of the subway, and so make the familiar the strange. it's always the wonder and the will to explore.



today is rosh hashanah, the jewish new year, which counts to 5767 from tonight. and "the new york times" is full of enormous greetings... the space in the paper bought by "macy's" and "bloomingdale", and some other big companies which want to give at least some respect for "the others" before beginning the christmas' mania. but my friends at the anthropology department didn't know about it as none of them is jewish. being in this school maybe they should at least give us some sheets of information to understand the "strange". like with the flags of nine eleven which many foreign students misunderstood. neither did the nice driver of the night shuttle that brought me home from cambridge last night know anything about it. but now we feel it. the friday parties are cancelled and all the cafes are closed, people are going home... for new year... and i'm staying and feeling more and more at home. not only in boston, but also in the department. studying here is like being at the seminars of the "invisible college", day and night. it is knowledge that matters to me.