Obsessions
August 24, 2009
Ok, I’ve told you about my round thing thing. I also have a lost shoe thing, but you have to be my facebook friend to see that. However, since you’re here, I’ll let you in on my newest obsession – a couple of chairs. Coming to Erbil, I know I have little understanding of what’s going on most of the time – I don’t speak the language (Arabic (Iraqi or Egyptian), Kurdish (Sorani, or Bardanani), Assyrian (I don’t even know the names of the dialects around me), German, even British English (ok, I do all right in British English). Let’s not even talk about how hard it is to understand a small-town local community (I grew up in one, I know what that means). It would be the same if I was moving to rural Alabama, or northern California – I’m not from around here.
more than a chair, a metaphor
But the chairs, they are from here. They just sit there, and wait, and people come to them. And as they move around the building that is being renovated for us (so we can share some of the things that we have learned with some of the people from here) they carry some of the story along with them.
This blog is a random collection of thoughts about people I know, places I’ve been and things that interest me. I am a conservator who works with archaeological and ethnographic artifacts and the people who care about them. It’s a good life.
August 24, 2009 at 11:55 pm
Hi Jessie-
Your post reminds me of one of my favorite movies: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2518565066307198534
Hope you enjoy this Quebecois gem.
August 25, 2009 at 11:22 am
Thanks Nancie, I loved it. Beyond the chair similarities, it kind of summed up my feelings about museums as well. Fabulous!
August 25, 2009 at 1:07 am
A lost shoe thing? What kind of creepy things are you getting up to out there?
August 25, 2009 at 11:20 am
Well, my little niece, if you got on facebook, you’d know.
August 31, 2009 at 6:11 pm
[...] logically explain the roundthing thing. I shared one of my newest obsessions just a few days ago (a chair thing). And if you want to see more photos of the chairs go here. I glancingly mentioned my lost [...]