Elizabeth Skene

Summer sabbatical

Elizabeth — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 23:12:36 +0000

In the past week I’ve been home, I’ve gotten more sunshine & fresh air than I have in the past 8 months combined. I’ve spent very little time online, a whole lot of time with friends & even more time reading [I'm onto the 3rd Harry Potter book!].

Because my days are pretty dull [but lovely - lake/friends/bike riding/reading/working/family/running/etc] & I want to spend as little time as possible on the computer, I’m declaring this a summer vacation from blogging & Twitter!

I’ll let you know if anything really big or important happens, but until then: ciao!

HOME

Elizabeth — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 22:21:16 +0000

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.

Towards a conclusion

Elizabeth — Thu, 08 Jul 2010 21:54:03 +0000

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.

The end is near!

Elizabeth — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 20:02:34 +0000

This post has been started no less than 4 times.
I’m never good at times like these:
Tomorrow is my last day at AUC.
This time next week I’ll be back in Michigan.
As much as I’m very much looking forward to being home, it all makes me a little upset too.

A month of summer before school starts, complete with a music festival, a week in Florida, a camping trip [I hope], some weddings & lots of quality time with my husband, dog, cat, friends & family.

Instead of attempting to say anything profound, insightful or ridiculous, I’m instead leaving you with this music video. I’ve listened to Beruit a lot [A LOT] this summer & his voice will always remind me of long rides through the desert. Additionally, this is one of the most creative videos/performances I’ve ever seen, with beautiful acoustics.

Well it’s been a long time, long time now
Since I’ve seen you smile
And I’ll gamble away my fright
And I’ll gamble away my time
And in a year, a year or so
This will slip into the sea
Well it’s been a long time, long time now
Since I’ve seen you smile

I can’t wait to come home, see your smiles & give you hugs.

No related posts.

Three things before Thursday

Elizabeth — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 17:09:50 +0000

Three things today.

1 – I brought my camera to work yesterday & took pictures of the archive. You can see them all at the RBSCL Facebook page [become a fan while you're at it!]. I’ll be taking pictures of the library & reading room soon.

Not posted is an ultra nerdy picture of me in the archive, wearing my UM archives shirt. #irule [hash tag revolution!]

2 – The band that Joel has been playing with for a few years now is releasing their new album this weekend, but you can listen to the entire thing online for free right here!

3 – I’m debating if I should read the Harry Potter series this summer. In 2003, I read book 5, but nothing since & I really don’t remember what happened in them. And I think I maybe saw the first 2 movies? Everyone seems pretty into them & it’d give me a boost in my 50 books in 2010 challenge. Thoughts??

This forth thing is a bonus, since I don’t want to un-alliterate the title of this post.

Book shelf porn! The archive view is best, for full screen action:

Now I’m going to go take a bath & continue reading The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao.

Walking through the desert & floating down the Nile

Elizabeth — Sun, 27 Jun 2010 15:09:41 +0000

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.

Sensitive records, Bulgarian friends & mango juice

Elizabeth — Thu, 24 Jun 2010 21:57:22 +0000

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]

Na gosti: a guest blog

Elizabeth — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 15:37:57 +0000

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.

Futbol & sunset walks along the Nile

Elizabeth — Sun, 20 Jun 2010 07:19:52 +0000

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!

Before the webinar, technology & archival captions

Elizabeth — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 18:11:59 +0000

It’s Thursday!! It’s the weekend!!
My exciting plans tonight involve attending a webinar & I have some time to kill before then, so here’s a blog post!

Digitizd has a really interesting post called How Is the Internet Changing Us? that nicely summarizes some recent articles on the way that the Internet is changing our attention spans & the way we consume information.

I absolutely love this article by Peter Bregman in the Harvard Business Review – Why I Returned My iPad. It perfectly sums up my love/hate relationship with technology. It’s too easy, it’s too gratifying, it’s too instant. In my drive to be ever productive, I lose something:

They are the moments in which we, often unconsciously, organize our minds, make sense of our lives, and connect the dots. They’re the moments in which we talk to ourselves. And listen.

To lose those moments, to replace them with tasks and efficiency, is a mistake. What’s worse is that we don’t just lose them. We actively throw them away.

I’m already so distracted with a laptop as it is, I don’t need a phone, an iPod with applications or an iPad to waste all my time with. This is a good reminder to spend intentional time sitting, in the grass, watching the clouds roll by & contemplating whatever my brain brings me.

I’m doing better in my 50 books in 2010 challenge. I’m up to 15, which is still 10 behind for where I should be by the end of the month, but I’m slowly but surely making progress.

The National Archives is holding a photo caption contest – it’s being judged by none other than the Archivist of the United States himself AND the winner gets 30% off a purchase from NARA’s online store. My husband saw my tweet about it & submitted a caption of his own. If he wins this, he’s going to be the very bestest husband in the world [one step up from his current position as 'best husband in the world']!

Time to sit back & experience my first webinar!
Have a good weekend, all!