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When Nick and I got back to Oxford, we had serious jetlag. It's a 7 hour time difference from Salt Lake to England, plus the red-eye flight, plus the stress of dealing with my dogs. So, we stayed in bed until 4 or 5 the day we arrived. And until noon about every day after. We had a couple friends over for dinner, but mostly just relaxed after our 10 day trip to the US. I made my way back to Lithuania, where I was in the jetlag trap for at least another week. It was just so dark, with sunrise around 8:45 and sunset around 4:00. Somehow I never made it out of the house until after dark, and I started to feel like a vampire. (And I haven't been this pale since I was an infant, I swear!) Also, this is a really warm winter, and there's been hardly any snow. It's been right around freezing for the past two months (aside from a cold snap here and there), and lots of rain, which makes one loathe to go outside day or night. Still, it was good to catch up with my friends back here in Vilnius. I started my much-anticipated knitting circle, since that's about all I was doing anyways. I got a really good deal on some beautiful yarn thanks to a mix-up at the register and was making a sweater. I made it to the gym a few times, but just couldn't get into a good schedule of waking up early. Finally January was over, and the daylight was up to 9 hours (8-5). It was a really rough month, and I never thought the darkness would affect me this way. It took great effort to get out of bed, and I even made a little nest on my couch that I lived in for a few days. Maybe it would have been easier if there had been classes, so I would have had something to force me out of the house.
Mardi Gras came, and my friend Cass had a bunch of people over for pancakes. I've spent the past two years making a few hundred pancakes for the Slavic department's celebration of Russian Mardi Gras, so I manned the stove for three hours. I was starting to come down with another cold, and wasn't really in the mood to meet members of the Lithuanian art community. The next day I really felt awful, and spent the next couple days in bed with a bit of a fever. I'd already planned to celebrate Chinese New Year, which was this week, and had done the shopping. I had everyone over for dumplings and noodles, which was lots of fun. I was doing a good job of just resting, instead of going out when I'm sick. Saturday I went over to my friend Ada's to help her with a translation project and we had some leftovers. I started to get nauseous and left. I couldn't even make it home before I threw up. I ran the rest of the way home, quickly changed into some comfortable clothes, and spent the next two hours in the bathroom. I was sweating ice water and getting really dizzy. I called Ada to come over and told her I had to go to the hospital. I'd been vomiting for two hours and felt like something was seriously wrong. Our friend Rona came and drove me out to the Baltic American Clinic, where they treated me really well. The thermometers are even in Fahrenheit (my temperature had dropped to about 94 degrees). I spent the next four hours with an IV drip, and then got some antibiotics. I just watched cable, and finally got some sleep. In the morning they redid my blood test (and finally gave me something to eat and drink -- I was dying of thirst). I got to go home, where I spent the day on the couch drinking gatorade and gingerly eating saltines and listening to NPR podcasts. I was tired, but felt much healthier from the moment I got the IV in me.
The next day I was feeling even better, and went to see a concert with Rona. There was a little reception afterwards, since it was an American male a capella group, and we met the singers. It turns out they're all pretty young and were really nice. We decided to join them for a late dinner and show them where to spend the last night of their European tour. We went out dancing, which was a lot of fun, although I probably shouldn't have been out so late after being so sick. I still made it to my class the next day. I'd missed most of the first week from being sick in bed, and discovered we had some new students. There's an older woman who claims to be from England, although her name is distinctly Russian, as is her appearance. She likes to talk and ask questions in class, which wastes a bit of our time, so I'm somewhat hesitant to talk to her myself. Her Lithuanian is pretty good, which makes me wonder what brings her to Vilnius and why she's taking classes. I just hope she's not a linguist who wants to talk shop with me.
Things are finally starting to feel like they're getting back to normal. I met with the two professors from my institute two weeks ago. I needed a letter for my application to extend my Fulbright, which they were happy to give me. I also got some great pointers on materials the institute has that I can use for my research. The meetings were really positive and inspiring, which is just what I needed to get back to work after all my illnesses and seasonal depression. Nick came to town that weekend, and we had a nice, relaxing time. We went out with some of my friends on Saturday, had brunch with my friend Tony on Sunday, and saw a movie on Monday. He managed to get his work done, and I was glad to have someone to cook for (I've been pretty uninspired in the kitchen since my trip to the hospital). The day he left, my good friend Ryan came to visit. He used to live here, and moved away this summer. He's now living in Kiev, so hopefully I'll get to visit down there before I leave. We went out on Friday and Saturday, and had a nice time catching up. Now it's back to business as usual for the next month, then I'll get more visitors!
Meeting with the Fulbrighters at the American Center:
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| | Posted 2/25/2008 12:26 PM - 47 Views - 0 eProps - 0 comments
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