Elizabeth Skene

After about 22 hours of travel, I arrived back in Ypsilanti around 5pm last night. Some quick unpacking was followed by coffee from the Ugly Mug, beer from the Corner Brewery & lots & lots & lots of hugs & catching up & giving of gifts. Today I went to the lake with my best friend, scrubbed the kitchen & bathroom, am about to go grocery shopping & then it’s off to more hang outs.

It’s been an absolute whirlwind, but being home is wonderful & every bit as good as I remembered.

Also – it rained today!!!!!!!!! It’s the first time I’ve seen rain in about 3 months & there was thunder & everything. Really, it was nothing less than magical.

That’s all for now – just wanted to give an update that I’m safe, sound & happy to be back.

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]

Lance, of New Archivist, has been so kind as to have me as a guest blogger with a post about my Alternative Spring Break experience at the National Library of Medicine this past March.

Even if you aren’t a U of M SI student, there’s information for organizations — you could host an SI student next Spring Break! –, for those interested in medical archives/librarianship — they have a great fellows program — or anyone who wants to learn more about volunteering.

Check out my post, but also be sure to browse through the other posts there – there’s a LOT of great resources for those of us who are [or hope to be] information professionals.

PS – The title ‘na gosti’ [на гости] means ‘to have, or be, a guest’ in Bulgarian.

Familiarity & longing:
these two themes have been rolling around in my mind a lot lately.

Does one follow the other?
Do I long for things that are familiar, or do I start longing for something else once things are familiar?

This week Andrea, a fellow Bulgaria Peace Corps Volunteer, posted a blog about following Sofia Daily Photo & the mix of feelings that surface. In many ways, I can relate – there’s something about seeing pictures of Bulgaria, reminiscing, reflecting & reliving that experience that I can’t describe. But is it only the sense of familiarity I had with the city of Sofia that makes me long for it?

Anyways, I’m learning to coexist with both feelings – the familiarity I have walking down my street, hailing a cab, buying bread, the longing I feel for green grass, swimming in a lake and laughing with my friends. I’m also learning that while I’m here I will long for home, and when I’m home I’ll long for Egypt, much the same way I find myself longing for Bulgaria.

I suppose what it comes down to is that I’m incredibly lucky to become so familiar with life in so many different places.

My apologizes for being so rambly & inarticulate today!

This week I started reading The Story of Edgar Sawtelle & it’s really good! [400 pages so far in 2 days!] I recommend it to everyone, especially those who have ever shared a connection with a dog [although it’s much less recommended if you’re overseas, far, far away from your beloved pup...].

I guess I just wanted to share those thoughts.

Perhaps those of you who have lived overseas [or not] might have better descriptions/explanations/experiences you want to share?