Tags: interviews, Moldova, Chisinau, fieldwork, ill, PhD
Date: 24 September 2007 13:09:52
I'm having a bit of a funny old day today. I've just had some good news from HD which has made me very happy and improved the day enormously though, so that's good.
Yesterday the Man Flu got worse again and, having felt OK on Saturday, I spent all Sunday morning in bed groaning and feeling miserable and not quite daring to stand up because my head was spinning. But because I had lots of interviews today, I had to get up to prepare, and what would normally take me a couple of hours ended up taking more like 7, and when I finished I realised it was time for bed! So much for a day of rest.
Today's interviews have been sort of OK, and sort of not that great really. I reckon they would have been fine if I'd done them towards the start of fieldwork, but now I'm in my last week here, I'm really struggling to be arsed with it. I found the first one OK, and thought the second was in the same building (actually it was just up the road, so I went to the wrong office to start with, which didn't put me in the best mood ever. I'm getting quite tired of trying to locate buildings which don't have numbers or obvious entrances or have ambiguous street signs and which all look the same as the next building. It's a wonder I've ever found any of these people, let alone interviewed them). The second interview really was a case of "well I'm here so I'll do the interview but I honestly can't be doing with it and I'd rather be in bed" so I don't think the interviewee was that impressed with me, but I felt too ill to care. I then made my way (by dint of quite a bit of a walk and then an unknown bus) to the third, only to find that a. I couldn't find the building (same reasons as before - no number, no street sign, all look the same) and b. when I phoned the person to ask for directions it turned out she was in a totally different part of town (she had told me the right address, but I had written the address in my diary from a photocopied business card which was clearly out of date). So I had to hot foot it across town and get a taxi (which was a rip-off - I could have got half way to the airport for the price he charged, grrr, but needs must) and was only about 2 minutes late, but I was all sweaty and flustered, and my interviewee had even worse Man Flu than I did so didn't get the impression she really wanted to talk to me - because it was too painful as well as because I was probably smelly and gross - and croaked her way through it with me spending the whole time praying that the dictaphone would pick up her whispers. I'm sure it's fine, but if she hadn't been in a hurry (and ill) and I hadn't been flustered and kicking myself for being stupid and not checking the right address, it would have been much better. I have another interview this evening and then will be catching up with my one expat friend here as this is our last chance before I leave. Which will be good, but to be honest all I really want to do is go to bed and sleep for a week. No chance of that though - too much to do!