almost there

i have done, gasp, 22 interviews. i have another scheduled for this afternoon. the plan was to do 24 adn we are almost tehre. the whole experience has been hectic. running around from one end of the city to the next. talking to women, meeting them, meeting sketchy men who are their contacts, waiting, waiting, being turned down at the last moment. it hasn't helped that i work almost on call, there is hardly a schedule, i am told to go somewhere on the spot. these are the circumstances of ethnographic work with a marginalized population, i know. tohir and jonbek have been working nonstop to find contacts adn they have been complaining nonstop as well. jonbek kept making 'jokes' about how he no longer sleeps at home and tries to score interviews in the middle of teh night. it was not funny because listening to ladies talk about horny tajik men, i often find myself wondering who their contacts are adn how they know these women and whether they keep their phone numbers for later. taht is certainly their business. i thought he was kidding, about working nights, until he mentioned something about not sleeping at home for the last 3 days. where do you sleep? friends' places that are closer to the office. tohir, who is the shittiest driver known to drivers, worse than my mother, was complaining yesterday about the work while we were driving to an interview. he complained about being turned down adn then, he said that what bothered him the most was the fact that girls would tell him to f..off and he, being a second top person in teh tajik community adn an academic, woudl have never imagined such a thing. that's when i stopped feeling bad for him. he wasn't frustrated because interviews are hard to find adn the project and our works rests on these contacts. he was upset because some whore dared to put him down, cursed him out. i wanted to respond, but struggled to translate 'lesson in humility'. it's ok, they are cursed and put down all teh time, now it's their turn.
today, i met a sex worker, who for the first time in 22 interviews, admitted that she liked her job, joined sex work ebcause she WANTED to. this reminded me so much more of the work i did in germany, when women--sex workers--were not victimized, were not to be felt sorry for. this was legal, it was their profession. the problem is, here, in Moscow, i do feel bad for these women. they are forced into this work because they can find no other job and because their kids are hungry at home. yesteryda, during an interview with the cutest little 23 year old, i asked what was the hardest about starting this work? she paused,..'well, i mean, i was a virgin'. adn i felt like a complete asshole. i wanted to let her go, to tell her taht she doesn't need to talk to me, that it's ok and i will not bother her with my stupid questions. she was not talkative, so after very short responses to all my questions, she left. interview time: 11 minutes. tohir came running wondering what was wrong. nothing, she just wasn't a good story teller...what else is there to say? today, after we talked to hte proud sex worker, tohir paid her for her time (we give them money for the interviews, not a lot) and handed it to her, saying that this is her honest earning. what a jerk, i wanted to scream at him--all of their work is honest earning. they are not stealing, they earn their money, even more than you do, even though you complain about it more. i dont know i think i'm just tired of running around like a crazy person, sitting in trains, asking the same questions. now i have to transcribe them all..and remember to save :)