Elizabeth Skene

Not much to say lately.

Today I was supposed to go to Alexandria to get a tour of the library. I got to the train station at 8:30am, but there weren’t any trains until after 2pm, which would get me there too lately, so I had to cancel. I was definitely bummed, but at least I’ve been able to visit the library twice before [but never behind the scenes]. Lesson learned = buy train tickets in advance.

To make sure today had some sort of adventure, I decided to try to get home by tram. Heliopolis has a fairly extensive tram system, but I’ve never been able to find any information or map for it. It begins at the train station so I hopped on &  had a great ride & it a cool way to experience the city. Although I didn’t make it all the way home & had to grab a cab eventually, it was well worth the 50 piasters [.09 US cents].

A week ago, my friend Dan & I went out to dinner, as he’s left for vacation in the States & won’t be back to Egypt until I’m gone. We ventured to Nasr City to try out El Borg – a four story restaurant famous for it’s fish from Port Said. We had tiger prawns, boori, a soup with a broth that was mostly butter & a variety of salads. It was a delicious meal! Then, walking out, I was taken by surprise by these giant pelicans! Definitely not native to Cairo, but hopefully well kept & fed by fish scraps.

Strange to think that this month would mark the end of our Peace Corps service if we had stayed in Bulgaria. But we didn’t stay. We can home & got jobs & started grad school & I fell apart & I pulled myself together & now I’m in Egypt. It’s crazy the places life takes you & the experiences you’ve been given.

I’ve been giving a lot of though to the rest of my life lately. It’s a little frightening. Here are my conclusions: I can’t live in a city, I need to have a garden, I need a place to put my hammock. Bonus points for being near water. A short commute would be nice too. We’ll see.

Just 3 days left! I’m already 85% packed, but I’ll find plenty of ways to fill my time.

Yesterday will go down as one of the best day I’ve had thus far in Egypt & well worth documenting.

In the morning, Pete, Martha & myself headed to the Pyramids. We took the Metro as far as we could & got a ride the rest of the way with an Egyptian who offered to take us for a good price. We spent 2 or 3 hours walking around, taking photos & soaking in the scale of the Pyramids – it’s so hard to convey just how huge they are in photos. The weather was absolutely perfect – clear skies, fluffy clouds & a refreshing breeze. Although I went in 2007, it’s definitely an experience that’s still just as epic as it was the first time.

In the afternoon they went to get bus tickets & rest & I went home to take a much needed nap. We met back up around 7 & headed down to the Nile for a boat ride. There were 4 of us & we met 2 other Americans who joined us. It was beautiful to watch the sunset on the river & watch the city slowly light up – a wonderful way to spend an hour.

After that we headed to the Swiss Club in Imbaba to watch the football game. It was a great space outdoors, with cold Stella, good shisha, delicious spinach quiche & the game projected onto a big screen. The crowd was a mix of expats & Egyptians, with slightly more people rooting for Ghana than the US. Despite the loss, it was a great time.

Eric & Katie, the Americans we met on the feluca ride, came with us to watch the football game. When we met up with another friend at the club, it was absolutely amazing to discover that they knew each other and had worked together at Brown. It was such a happy & serendipitous moment!

I put up over 60 pictures from yesterday & some from our trip to Al-Azhar park the day before on Flickr.

Only two more weeks left in Egypt.
Too soon.

Today I had the honor of meeting with Barbara Ibrahim, wife of Saad Eddin Ibrahim, a leading Egyptian human rights activist, currently in exile. She, myself & my project mentor met to discuss the acquisition of Saad’s papers and records into the archive at AUC.

It was absolutely fascinating to discuss these records. A large part of the reason the Ibrahim’s want to give them to AUC is that they don’t believe the records are secure in their home. However, complicating this transfer is the fact that Saad has twice been sentenced to prison by the Egyptian government for “tarnishing their reputation” & he is hesitant to return to Egypt – it’s unclear how the university and government would react to AUC accessioning & publicizing this collection. Additionally, my mentor has  suggested processing this collection could be part of my Fulbright fellowship proposal – something I’m incredibly interested in & eager to pursue, however my proposal needs to be accepted by the Egyptian government. Lastly, these records contain a number of security and privacy issues that would need to be addressed, both regarding the Ibrahims & anyone else that may be documented.

Anyways, I’m having trouble summing up a short meeting after a long week about events I’m vauge on when I’m very sleepy & incredibly excited about tomorrow. Really, such a long week, made longer by three days with temperatures over 110 degrees.

BUT TOMORROW!
Pete & Martha, two Peace Corps volunteer friends, are coming to visit!! They’re wonderful & lovely people who I haven’t seen in two years & I’m looking forward to catching up, showing them around Cairo & having an absolute blast.

None of my blog posts seems to make sense lately.
I blame it on the Cairo summer.
I fly home in just 17 days!!

Here’s a picture of one of my favorite things here – fresh juice. So delicious & so cheap [a giant cup of mango juice is about 75 cents]

Friday night, in an attempt to cultivate some interest in football [mission not accomplished], I headed downtown to watch the game with Dan & a new friend, Liz. We watched at Johnny’s, a pub on the Le Pancha Nile riverboat in Zamalek. Very overpriced & a little too fancy for my taste, we were still able to enjoy the game & conversation in the air conditioning.

After, we decided to walk back downtown, with a quick stop at the Cairo Tower. I really want to go up in the tower, but I’m really having a hard time justifying the 70 le entrance fee. I made do with photos from the outside, instead.

We then walked across the Qasr el-Nil bridge, through Midan Tahrir & back to Midan Talaat Harb [where Dan lives.] We spent an hour or two in a cafe, got ice cream & then I headed back to Heliopolis.

I’ve tried write an introduction to this video, but I can’t find the right things to say & I’m too privileged to make pithy remarks . It’s about Palestinians watching the World Cup projected onto the Israeli separation wall.

Last night I laid in bed, unable to sleep. It didn’t really help when, at 1am, a wedding party came down our street, car horns honking nonstop, parked in front of our apartment & set off fireworks in the middle of the street. I’m happy for them & love the enthusiasm, but it didn’t really lull me to sleep…

Now it’s nearly 10am & 90 degrees & the forecast is mid-100s all week. Yikes.

Here’s to cold water, fresh fruit & the luxury of air conditioning!

Two days ago I saw cherries at the store! I bought a big bowl, soaked them in a vinegar rinse, scrubbed them with antibacterial soap & I’m now enjoying them [& will hopefully not be getting sick from them]. This the first time I’ve had cherries since Bulgaria, when Joel’s host family had trees in their yard. I don’t understand why, since Americans are so intent on planting trees & shrubs & other things in their yards that it’s not something useful like fruit trees.

Krupnik cherries

This past week has been probably the business/craziness/stressful week since I’ve been here. Thankfully, the weekend is close & hopefully I can find some time to relax, unwind & prepare myself for an awesome last 3 weeks.

I can’t believe I leave in 25 days! It’s only now thatI’m getting on my feet  and getting my cultural bearings – I’m not ready to go back so soon! However, I AM ready to start running again – it does wonders for my body, my mental health & it’s a chance to be alone, enjoying nature.

This past week I’ve been lucky enough to host another guest – Mariyana, my language trainer from the Peace Corps came from Bulgaria & stayed with us for the week! It was SO amazing to see her again after two years, to help her explore Cairo & to use my Bulgarian again. She went home yesterday afternoon, but we had a great time while she was here. Bonus was the music in the cab ride to/from the airport – Elton John, Eminem, Shakira & Daft Punk. Nile.fm plays all the hits!

Melnik with Mariyana & Rozen, 2008

World Cup fever has definitely come to Egypt! Personally, I know nothing about football & I don’t much care to learn, but the excitement is contagious! Every cafe I’ve been to lately is showing the games, with all chairs facing the tv & all eyes captivated. A cafe near our house even put up flags from all different countries. Even when I’m not watching the game, I know when one’s on from the cheers coming from the cafe across the street.

Managing a Twitter account for the RBSCL has been really great, not only in terms of promoting the library & sharing information about other libraries & archives, but I’ve learned so much about  from the Egyptians I follow [the tweeps, if you will]. Right now I’ve been following the story of Khaled Said – a young man who was beaten to death in a cafe in Alexandria. There’s a good summary of the story here & [quite graphic] photos & info here.

The photos make my stomach churn, but in a way I think I needed to see them – just hearing “beaten to death” sounds terrible enough, but without something to anchor my perception to, it’s hard to imagine what that really means. The photos, the face, the story – they give it gravity. The good news is that the government has agreed to a new autopsy.

Unfortunately, this isn’t an isolated event in Egypt – abuse of power, torture and police brutality are a fact of life here. That’s what inspires me so much about the people I’ve come across on Twitter – they don’t stop fighting & they don’t give up.  If only I had something more to contribute to this cause – I feel so inadequate & useless. As it is, I’m afraid to go to a protest because I’d probably be arrested, which I’m not opposed to, but I’d like to be able to speak Arabic first. Anyways, you can check out my “Egypt” list on Twitter & see for yourself.

I signed up for an informational webinar on research Fulbrights & have been emailing with a UM professor about auditing Arabic next year. Even if I don’t come back as a Fulbright scholar, or even at all, I think Arabic will serve me well. Also, I’m ready to be fluent in a second language [Bulgarian really isn't all that helpful].

Wow, I apologize for such an un-eloquent post…
At least tomorrow’s Thursday & then it’s the weekend, which will be full of lots of rest & possibly a trip to the beach.
Ciao!