Revolutionary heroes and hippie Bhutanese folks
Greetings and Happy Independence Day to my fellow U.S. flisters!
I feel so accomplished because I actually went out and did stuff today. In the capital, even! Go me! Okay, so I only did one patriotic thing, but whatevs.
I started out at the National Archives because, you know, I'm a librarian/archivist-in-training. Also, they had the only Independence Day events that actually appealed to me. (Not a huge parade person and fireworks are more fun when you're with other people.) Anyway, at the Archives, they had a performance by the Fife and Drum Corps (in Revolutionary costume), followed by a speech by the Archivist of the United States. It was a really cool speech, actually, about how we're not a perfect country but we have the power to change stuff and we can celebrate our independence while having people ride by on bicycles with signs protesting stupid wars and stuff because that's what makes our country what it is. Then some important person who's on a lot of boards and committees read the opening two paragraphs of the Declaration, followed by Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock, and Benjamin Franklin reading the Grievances (Thomas Jefferson was pretty cool), and then some Revolutionary military bloke who's name I forget read out the states and the names of the people who signed for each state. And we got to shout "HUZZAH!" after each state. It was awesome. :P
So that was pretty fun. And then I headed over to Folklife, bypassing the police security checkpoints and crowds because I am awesome and have a Smithsonian staff badge. :) I spent three hours at Folklife, most of which I spent at Bhutan. I started out looking through the monastic art displays (OMG amazing sand mandalas!) and then queued up to go through the lhakhang (temple). Unfortunately, the lhakhang was kind of heartbreaking. So many stupid tourists. They were many and loud and taking pictures like it's a show for them rather than an actual temple. They made me mad, so I left and went over to the archery field, where I fell in love with the Bhutanese guy standing by to interact with people. Seriously, he's so cool. ♥
I spent almost an hour there at the archery field because this guy was so fun and interesting (and also, archery! Arrows zipping by in the background!). At one point he was talking about where the king and the prince had gone to school, and he said the king went to Wheaton in Massachusetts and Oxford, and the prince went to Oxford, too. And then he said that he himself had gone to hippie school (aka Berkeley), at which point the couple standing next to me said they were from California, and the hippie Bhutanese guy asked where in California, and they replied Santa Barbara. I was all, "What?! That's where I'm from! :D" and they were like, "Really? Wow!" Small world, yo. And then the hippie Bhutanese guy said that his favourite place in California was Bakersfield and he totally thinks it should be the Sister City for Thimphu and we Californians were all "..." But he was just joking with us because he's awesome. ♥ And at some point he randomly started singing Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire".
Then he somehow got on the subject of socks and how the Bhutanese all wear Gold Toe socks, and he slipped off his shoe to show us the gold toes. XD And then one of the archers who is also a popular singer back in Bhutan wandered by and our hippie Bhutanese guy grabbed him and got him to sing a verse for us. It was very nice. And then some lady asked if the singer-archer guy was wearing Gold Toe socks, too, and the hippie Bhutanese guy said that if he was the lady had to sing. So the singer-archer took his foot out and showed us his Gold Toes and then the hippie Bhutanese guy told the lady she had to sing, so she started singing "Ring of Fire" and the hippie Bhutanese guy joined in, and then everyone else along the sidelines joined in (myself included) and it was so fun! And then the singer-archer applauded us. :) It was just the best experience and that sort of interaction is totally what Folklife is supposed to be about. Oh, Bhutan, I am so in love. ♥
I feel so accomplished because I actually went out and did stuff today. In the capital, even! Go me! Okay, so I only did one patriotic thing, but whatevs.
I started out at the National Archives because, you know, I'm a librarian/archivist-in-training. Also, they had the only Independence Day events that actually appealed to me. (Not a huge parade person and fireworks are more fun when you're with other people.) Anyway, at the Archives, they had a performance by the Fife and Drum Corps (in Revolutionary costume), followed by a speech by the Archivist of the United States. It was a really cool speech, actually, about how we're not a perfect country but we have the power to change stuff and we can celebrate our independence while having people ride by on bicycles with signs protesting stupid wars and stuff because that's what makes our country what it is. Then some important person who's on a lot of boards and committees read the opening two paragraphs of the Declaration, followed by Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock, and Benjamin Franklin reading the Grievances (Thomas Jefferson was pretty cool), and then some Revolutionary military bloke who's name I forget read out the states and the names of the people who signed for each state. And we got to shout "HUZZAH!" after each state. It was awesome. :P
So that was pretty fun. And then I headed over to Folklife, bypassing the police security checkpoints and crowds because I am awesome and have a Smithsonian staff badge. :) I spent three hours at Folklife, most of which I spent at Bhutan. I started out looking through the monastic art displays (OMG amazing sand mandalas!) and then queued up to go through the lhakhang (temple). Unfortunately, the lhakhang was kind of heartbreaking. So many stupid tourists. They were many and loud and taking pictures like it's a show for them rather than an actual temple. They made me mad, so I left and went over to the archery field, where I fell in love with the Bhutanese guy standing by to interact with people. Seriously, he's so cool. ♥
I spent almost an hour there at the archery field because this guy was so fun and interesting (and also, archery! Arrows zipping by in the background!). At one point he was talking about where the king and the prince had gone to school, and he said the king went to Wheaton in Massachusetts and Oxford, and the prince went to Oxford, too. And then he said that he himself had gone to hippie school (aka Berkeley), at which point the couple standing next to me said they were from California, and the hippie Bhutanese guy asked where in California, and they replied Santa Barbara. I was all, "What?! That's where I'm from! :D" and they were like, "Really? Wow!" Small world, yo. And then the hippie Bhutanese guy said that his favourite place in California was Bakersfield and he totally thinks it should be the Sister City for Thimphu and we Californians were all "..." But he was just joking with us because he's awesome. ♥ And at some point he randomly started singing Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire".
Then he somehow got on the subject of socks and how the Bhutanese all wear Gold Toe socks, and he slipped off his shoe to show us the gold toes. XD And then one of the archers who is also a popular singer back in Bhutan wandered by and our hippie Bhutanese guy grabbed him and got him to sing a verse for us. It was very nice. And then some lady asked if the singer-archer guy was wearing Gold Toe socks, too, and the hippie Bhutanese guy said that if he was the lady had to sing. So the singer-archer took his foot out and showed us his Gold Toes and then the hippie Bhutanese guy told the lady she had to sing, so she started singing "Ring of Fire" and the hippie Bhutanese guy joined in, and then everyone else along the sidelines joined in (myself included) and it was so fun! And then the singer-archer applauded us. :) It was just the best experience and that sort of interaction is totally what Folklife is supposed to be about. Oh, Bhutan, I am so in love. ♥