As mentioned before, Thursday’s “Feelings” class was dominated by a discussion on a film I didn’t watch as well as an article that I didn’t read because I was working on my paper. That class was followed by an hour break before we reconvened at the IES Centre to travel to the Immigration Museum that we were scheduled to tour. A group of us headed over to a pub that serves fancy nachos during the break. I wasn’t much interested in the nachos because I had already had lunch. I was, after what had transpired that day, interested in a beer and enjoyed a relaxing break before the nightmare that was to come.
It all started with us taking the Northern Line from Holborn to Liverpool Street. Liverpool Street station is HUGE and magnificent. It was really impressive. Then we walked to 19 Princelet Street, which is just off Brick Lane and right on the boundary between downtown and the East End. 19 Princelet Street is an “immigration museum” supposedly, but in all actuality it’s something more akin to an art exhibition space devoted to the topic of immigration.
Our tour began with the guide asking us to look towards the central city and describe what we saw, which was odd enough. Then it was followed by her asking us why the doors were the shape they were. This actually happened. I still have no idea what in tarnation it has to do with immigration, but many things about this place defy logic. Then, we went inside. 19 Princelet Street began as a house but eventually evolved into a Jewish temple, which is apparent when one enters. The space of the room is filled with art projects done by 4th grade students such as letters as the students imagine they might have been written by immigrant children, fake newspapers, and a video sketch of the kids’ interpretation of the Irish potato famine and subsequent immigration to England. Don’t get me wrong. It was cute. For about five minutes. But there is only so much interest that college students are going to have in children’s art projects and the museum staff seriously overestimated that amount.
Ah yes, the museum staff. They were overbearing in an almost creepy way and were careful at all points to make it known to you exactly what every project was and how the kids made it and so forth. Personally, I just wanted to be left alone to peruse the exhibits at my own leisure, but that clearly wasn’t happening. After looking at the first room, the head guide gave us a long, rambling speech that told us…nothing in particular. It was basically a list of what groups immigrated to England and when. I was exhausted, so I fell asleep briefly.
After that, we were led downstairs for another room where we saw a video of children performing a Yiddish folk tale. Personally, I was in a humorless mood and didn’t find it funny, but the rest of the group found the video to be full of unintentional comedy. To be honest, I have to admit that kids simulating an anti-Semitic mob, while it in principal may sound poignant, actually turns out to be ridiculous to the point of near hilarity. Let’s just say that the staff weren’t amused that we were amused. That led to two more rooms full of art before we finally got out of there. At one point, transitioning between rooms, Blake and I were stopped by the guide and she told us that children from Serbia were the first ones to review the museum rather than any journalists. Then she asked us if we knew where Serbia is. Seconds later, she asked us if we knew what Al-Jazeera was. Blake and I were just gobsmacked that she thought we wouldn’t know about Serbia and Al-Jazeera but then we shouldn’t have been surprised. Everything about that “museum” was insulting to our intelligence. The rest of Thursday passed uneventfully. I took a nap as soon as I got home and then got up for our Thursday ritual of Never Mind the Buzzcocks and Beautiful People on BBC2. Hopefully, I’ll get around to writing about TV shows one of these days and can explain those shows.
Friday, I just took as a me day. I was feeling quite ill at this point, which was encouraged by not getting any sleep Wednesday night. I too the opportunity of a free day to sleep in and then run to Tesco for groceries and to the chemist (British for pharmacy) for a multivitamin to make sure my defenses were strong. Saturday was similarly lazy. I managed to get my laundry done, which was much needed and then late in the day decided to take a walk down King’s Road just for something to do. Dan joined me. Inadvertently, we ended up basically walking the route of the Piccadilly line. We went through Hyde Park Corner, alongside Buckingham Palace, along GreenPark and then down to Piccadilly Circus. Upon reaching Piccadilly Circus, Dan and I made it our mission to find an eating establishment. We found Ultimate Burger. Ultimate Burger, while it sounds like a fast food joint, is a sit-down restaurant that serves really fancy hamburgers. I had a minted lamb burger, which was delicious. It was a bit expensive, but it was some place that I had meant to try and was worth a Saturday splurge.
Sunday was also pretty quiet. I pretty much whiled away the day until 6PM and the Bills game rolled around. Sky Sports 3, in preparation for this Sunday’s Chargers-Saints game at Wembley, was showing Bills-Chargers. At least, they were trying to. The power outages at the game stopped that plan and frustrated the hell out of me. I dialed up Field Pass, but my internet was on the fritz, so that was a no go. I tried to go to the lounge with my computer, but Dan was already occupying the only working internet jack. Eventually, I just resigned myself to sitting in the lounge with Dan and he intermittently gave me updates on the games. Still, all things considered I was happy because the Bills won to go to 5-1. I’ll have what’s happened in the last few days in the next post.
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