Monday, June 27, 2011

Interns taking on DC


Thursday 23
     Today is the JMM field trip to the big city of Washington DC. We had to be at the museum at 7:50 so I had to get up at 6:30. I am not a morning person, but Mary picked me up and we headed to the JMM. We all piled into two cars to ride to the Greenbelt Metro station. Mary drove, I navigated in the front and Ryan and Emily held down the backseats. When we got to the station we tried to get day passes but because we got there thirty minutes before they sold them, we could not get them. So, we had to pay prime rates to get on the metro. BOO. By the end of the day I had to pay $15.10 to ride the metro, it sucked. You would think that they would make it cheaper so people would go green and ride it. But that’s the government. I do love riding on subways and trains so it was not a bad trip.
     After everyone had bought their tickets, we were given our scavenger hunt packets to do in our free time. Inside was the scavenger hunt and our paper pal to take pictures with. I got a vampire, which I found kind of funny. But was even funnier was that my fellow Ravenclaw got the other vampire, these were given out at random! The scavenger hunt today will give us house points to go towards the house cup. I am super competitive so this should be fun! I mean if Ravenclaw does not win, I am going to be mad. I hate loosing (just ask anyone who has played a board game with me). The subway was nice. It was crowed, but I like to people watch. When we emerged from the subway, we all split to go do things. We had about 30 minutes till all the museums opened. So, the first things first, we needed to find a Starbucks. Mary, Codi, and I found the closest one and got some much needed caffeine. I got my new favorite Mocha Coconut frap!    
Dexter Tristan Randolf III is ready for the day.

COFFEE TIME!

     Our first stop was Museum of American Indians. When we got inside, we found out that it was Choctaw Week. They were having dances, story telling, and music throughout the day. Mary, Codi, and I went inside and looked around. We looked at the tables that were set up in the lobby. There was a group of ladies giving out little pouches of corn to take home and cook. I asked what you were to cook with it and one of the ladies started to talk to me. She had a very Southern accent. When we walked away, she said goodbye and I said good-bye ya’ll. I thought Mary was going to pass out she was laughing so hard. I had not really spoken that Southern at the museum and she found it funny that my twang came out when I was talking to someone else with a southern accent. It was funny, I guess. They were doing the dances at 10:45 and we did not have to be at the American History Museum till 11:30. We went outside to wait for them to begin. The lady beside me started to talk to me. She was a  Choctaw and had come to see the festivities at the museum. She had actually lived in Tennessee for several years. I love meeting new people. The Choctaw dancers did one dance and then their second one was called the Partner switch. They went around and grabbed people to come dance with them. After this dance, they said that anyone that wanted to dance with them could come up. Well I figured that I was never going to see any of these people again and when was the next time I would be able to dance with Native Americans. SO, I got up and went to dance! It was so much fun! We had to walk/hop around in the circle holding onto the person’s elbow in front of you. There was a little girl behind me and the woman who was helping with the dances told me to hold onto her so she would not go flying when we sped up. That poor kid, I clung onto her arm, there was no way I was going to have that girl fly off and get hurt! That was all I needed to explain to my mentor at the museum. The dance was fun! We started out in a circle and the lead person goes around in a spiral line and twist and gets everyone to move as if a snake is winding its self up. You get tighter and faster as the song goes on. It was great! It will be something that I will remember for a long time.
Posing in front of the American Indian Museum.

The dancers getting ready for the dance.

Waiting for the dance.

Outside the museum. It is supposed to look like flowing water.

Dancing feet

Me getting ready to preform the Snake Dance.

Getting my dance on.

Almost done!


We are excited about finishing the dance! 

     We had to get to the American history museum for our tour and talk with one of the employees. As we were walking across the mall, we met up with Mary D and Emilie. I stopped to take a picture of the capital with my paper pal (his name is Dexter Tristan Randolf III, but his friends call him Humuhumunukunukuapua'aAHM and waited for our tour guide to come. Our guide had to get us these nifty orange badges in order to go to the boardroom to talk to us. She was in charge of education and programming. Ryan and I were interested in her talk because its what we want to do. I felt bad for all the collection interns because I am sure they were board. After talking to us, she took us to see the American Flag that flew over Fort McHenry during the battle during the War of 1812. It was cool. I was a little disappointed about our tour. I was hoping for a backstage look at the Smithsonian, but all we saw was the flag. I mean what is the point of getting this bright orange badge and not being able to go down into the bottom of the museum and see where they keep the stuff. I thought about seeing how far my badge would get me but I did not want to see what the inside of a federal prison looked like. Mary, Codi, and I did go and see the First Ladies dresses. 
Flowers in the garden. 

Thinking rabbit

Trying to cool off

Making a wish

OMG ITS A BUFFALO! 

         We had about an hour and a half before we had to meet at the castle. Mary and Codi wanted to go see the National Archives. Inside the National Archives are the Bill of Rights, US Constitution, and The Declaration of Independence, and the Manga Carta. YES! As a history nerd, these were some papers I needed to see. But as it was lunchtime, I wanted some food. Mary and Codi were not hungry so I grabbed a hot dog and water at a stand outside the AHM. Was it safe to eat?? Yup, it was good, salty, but pretty tasty. We walked to the archives; it was a short walk down. When you first get into the Rotunda, you pass the Magna Carta. I stopped to look at it. SO NEAT! It was written by Edward I in 1297. I mean think of all the people who have seen it? The power that it held. It was awesome! As we waited in line to see the three big American papers, the dad from the family beside me started to talk to me. He and his two daughters were from St. Louis and were visiting DC. We had a good conversation about St. Louis and DC. They were really nice and the dad was funny. We finally got to see the papers. As we were waiting in line to see the Constitution, I started to talk to the guard (me talking to a stranger in line, never). She told us all the things that were interesting about the document. There were several places were words had been inserted. The bottom of the first article has also been removed. I said that that was the part saying that women were the supreme beings. That made the guard laugh. Also, fun fact a man and his son (between 13-16) were the ones to copy the Constitution. They were paid $35.00 dollars at the time. That is about $40,000 dollars, WOW! Before I could stop my self I said, I bet the son was like “OH BOY now I can buy that buggy I want!” I had everyone laughing. I also pretended to be Canadian, because I was trying to get closer and I w said eh, which made Mary ask if I was Canadian. I was tempted to pretend to be British looking trying to get points for my house. But I thought that might get me arrested. After seeing the documents, we headed over to the castle to meet up with our group.
The National Archives

Little Robot man I found on the back of a street sign.

Pretty Flower

     On the way to the castle, we went through the Hirshhorn statue garden and another small garden beside it. The statues were interesting, but again I don’t really get modern art. The small garden was pretty. I really liked the flowers. We then met at the castle to go to the metro to head to the armory. We were meeting the women in charge of the National Guard Museum at the Armory. In front of the Armory there was this really, cool set of buildings. They were different shapes and different bold colors. We don’t know what they were for, but they were cool! Once inside the Armory, our guide talked to us about her job. She had been hired to completely redo the entire museum and create a new one. She also talked about how after coming to the museum she realized how bad of shape the museum collections were in. But that is one thing that you have to deal with when working with museums. The collection had not been worked with for several years. But they are working one cataloguing the collection and trying to restore some of the objects. It was neat. But it was sad to see the state of the collection. We did get to go down to the basement to see the cars and the cannon.  We saw the old staff car from the 1940s and we got to look inside a brand new Humvee.  
Standing up with the Humvee

The interesting building near the Armory.
     It was now time to go back to Baltimore. We got on the metro and headed back to the Greenbelt. It was a long day! So tiring. I was supposed to go to Fluid Movement practice, but we did not get back to Baltimore till 7:10 and practice was over at 7:30. I made dinner and chilled out. I was exhausted. I finished watching Merlin season 1. I really like that show. It’s goofy, but so addicting! Off to right again!  

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