Posts tagged ‘friends’

January 4th, 2011

High Five for the Mitten

Sunday I went to the movies for the first time since seeing The Darjeeling Limited at the Michigan Theatre in 2007. After reading all the books this summer & catching up on the movies over the semester, we saw the first half of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I’ll tell you that my initial motivation for this is the beautiful Emma Watson, but I’ve really come to enjoy the books and the depth & creatively they hold. I’m definitely excited for the last movie.

Yesterday was my first day at the new job & it went swimmingly. It felt great to get in & to get going – I’m really looking forward to being there. Joel & I had dinner at Sidetrack when I got home, the perfect ending to most any day.

This past weekend was an annual event worth highlighting – MITTENFEST.

This 4-day music fest is a fundraiser for 826 Michigan, a nonprofit writing & tutoring center with ties to Dave Egger’s original 826 Valencia. This year they raised about $15,000 for the organization, which is really incredible. This was our second year attending [Fields of Industry played last year, too].

Mittenfest V was held at the new [& lovely] Woodruff’s after the untimely demise of Savoy. Even though there wasn’t space for two stages as planned, Woodruff’s is a lot more cozy, classy & I think it was a much better venue overall.

We went two nights this year – Thursday when Joel played in Fields of Industry & Saturday when good friends Natural Monuments & Secret Twins played. Unfortunately we had to miss our buds Long Whisker on Friday because we were setting up for the party [but they came over later on].

Fields of Industry at Mittenfest V

Natural Monuments at Mittenfest V

I think that for both Joel & I, the best part of the festival wasn’t seeing so many of our friends on stage, but that the entire bar was filled with friends. We’ve been in Ypsilanti just over 2 years now, but we’ve gotten to know so many different people in different social circles through different ways. Saturday we could wander around & we were guaranteed to run into someone we know. This was especially meaningful now that we own a house here – it further solidifies our love for the community & our investment in it.

This is my last free day before work & the new semester start up in full swing, so I need to go tackle a giant to-do list.

Cheers to a beautiful 2010!

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October 7th, 2010

It’s officially fall

Alright, this week has been absolutely crazy. Here’s a blog post I started last Sunday. However, it’s almost Friday & I’m sick & too tired to rewrite it all, so just pretend it’s a lazy Sunday afternoon. :)

Fall has definitely come to Michigan. This afternoon a group of us went to an apple orchard and, when we got home, we discovered the landlord had turned the heat on. There’s a frost warning for tonight, so I brought in all the plants from the front porch [& replaced them with pumpkins I got today!]. There’s a loaf of sourdough in the over & I’m on the couch, under a blanket, cuddling the kitty & reading reports about archival management software.

Orchard outing!

Best pup ever!!

Four years ago, Joel’s family had an exchange student, Niklas. Since then, we’ve visited he & his family in Germany, they’ve come here a few times & we wish we could see them all more. Niklas just finished his first semester of med school in Berlin & came to the States for an internship this summer. He’s stayed in Jackson with Joel’s family, but we’ve been able to visit a lot. He leaves on Thursday & I’m bummed he’s going to be so far away again.

Niklas & I

My good friend from school, Purdom, gave birth to a really cute baby boy this week. We visited them in the hospital & I even held him! [I'm quite afraid of babies]

Welcome, Lawton!

[Back in present time]

Updates to come:
more information about the archives events the SAA board has been planning
a description of a National Endowment for the Humanities grant proposal I’m writing
a re-cap of what sort of cold this sore throat turns into
photos and descriptions of all the apple goodies we make
stories from our house-hunting adventures

Until then,
xoxo.

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July 13th, 2010

HOME

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.

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June 27th, 2010

Walking through the desert & floating down the Nile

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.

sphinx

giza

giza

giza

giza

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.

feluca ride on the Nile

feluca ride on the Nile

feluca ride on the Nile

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.

USA/GHANA @ the Swiss Club

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.

al azhar park

Only two more weeks left in Egypt.
Too soon.

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June 24th, 2010

Sensitive records, Bulgarian friends & mango juice

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]
fresh juice

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