Week 1, part three, 4th of July (continued)

 

After the Parade which ran from mid-morning until mid-afternoon, we grabbed lunch, came back to where I'm living for a few hours out of the sun, and then headed to the Capitol building, specifically, to the West lawn where we knew the annual concert and firework display would be taking place.

 

 We left hours early because we knew it'd be insane, and we also spent an hour passing through security check points.Whilst we were in the queue (or LINE, because Americans don't seem to understand the work queue) they test-fired the cannons on the Hill. Luckily they warned us beforehand, because it was like standing next to a industrial-sized firework, the air seemed to vibrate, and given the current anxiety over terror attacks it would have been enough to have me leaping over fences and running for the exit, had I not already known it was going to happen.

 

I should mention that before we went out again, we watched an event of epic proportions on the television. It was the annual hot dog eating competition, held on Coney Island, New York. What amazed me was not just the amount of food consumed (the winner ate 69 hotdogs in 10 minutes, including the buns and everything) but the amount of coverage it got. Wimbledon, by contrast, was a sidenote, displayed in a tiny bar at the bottom of the screen, right under where the "dogs per minute" rate was recorded for each contestant. Watching men stuff their faces with hot dogs, whilst being drapped in their own flag, and justifying their activities as "FOR FREEDOM" and "to reprsent the struggle for human dignity" has got to be one of the most bizarre things I've ever watched. But I didn't turn it off.

 

 

Once inside we found a place to sit, amongst thousands of other people, and were able to listen to the likes of Neil Diamond, Barry Manilow and Darren Criss, in a free concert which was broadcast live, nationwide. Before the concert, the national anthem was played, and complete silence fell over the lawn. It was one of the most uncanny things I've experienced, considering there were so many people, who at once got to their feet, held their hand over their heart, and recited The Star Spangled Banner. No one moved. Everyone stood. Grown men cried. This was nationalism in its most pious form.

 

Fireworks followed the concert, to the tune of Thaikovsky's 1812 overture. The fireworks themselves exploited into more little stars, red, white and blue. There was even a good attempt at spelling out USA with fireworks, which was at least discernible.

 

 

Finally, as we left the fireworks we admired how nice the Capitol building looks when it's lit up at night. It's almost so grand it's almost intimidating, but at the same time it's strangely familiar. Either way it's so iconic we had to photograph it.

Week 1, part three, 4th of July

 

"America's Birthday", complete with a special edition "flavor" in Baskin Robbin's ice cream parlour. Being British and observing the 4th of July is a strange experience in itself, but it seems especially ironic as a history student. However, I still found the events of the day extremely entertaining, and even more enlightening for being an "outside" observer on the scene. We decided to watch the Independence Day parade along Independence Avenue, close to the Washington Monument. Shops were closed, street sellers had set up to sell American merchandise, ice cream, hot dogs, and other fast food. Roads were closed, Metro stations full, and there was a general carnival atmosphere around the Capitol.

 

There was a heavy military element to the parade, with all parts of the Armed forces represented. I would say the soldiers and other army personnel attracted the loudest applause, and once again I was reminded that this nation's identity comes very much from their historic debt to their troops, who helped to win independence.

 

There were also colourful floats like these, someone said that they were supposed to represent each state, and I think this was somewhere rural, maybe Kansas, if had a lot of balloons on it and then some fields.

 

The American Eagle

 

One of many marching bands. Each "College" here has it's own colours and marching band, especially to perform at sports matches, which are taken at least as seriously as academia, and in some places more seriously. I think this is one of the biggest contrasts between U.S and U.K tertiary education.

 

More interesting floats. The people holding up the giant Tweety bird balloon had a routine in which they ran in a circle to spin the balloon, whilst keeping the strings untangled.

 

At first I thought that this was just another case of flag overload. Actually each flag on the float is one of the individual state's own flags, carried together with the flag of the United States on top. I don't think I knew that each state had its own flag, although the Italian states etc. have their own flag, so I probably just didn't think of it.

 

 

The stars & stripes are a central part of the parade. Strange, in Britain, although the flag is seen at events, e.g. Diamond Jubilee (some Americans don't know what the word "Jubilee" means, I guess that should have been obvious, but I found it an amusing concept to explain to them, that people should celebrate being ruled over by a monarchy) or the Olympics, it would never be a central focus of celebrations. Apparently (if my American housemates are being serious) it is illegal to leave the flag out in the rain, or to set it on fire, or to leave it on the ground for  more than 3 days.

Week 1, part two

I took this photo because to me this house IS the stereotypical English idea of an "American" house. It has a porch with lights, trees in the "front yard" and of course, at least one American flag. Even the white pillars give a kind of colonial look that I associate with the U.S.

 

So the next few days were spent getting to know the local area, where the nearest 7-Eleven was (an American supermarket, which I am told is usually found at "gas stations").  Finding ordinary supermarkets in Washington D.C is surprisingly hard, I think it's like going to Mayfair or Westminster in London and looking for a corner shop.

On Wednesday I managed to accidentally miss my own field trip to the National Art Gallery, which was disappointing. I got sent an email telling me to go to a certain Metro stop at 10:30am, instead of gong to work. Sadly, I hadn't checked my email in the past 12 hours, and so here's the day I had at work instead;

I arrived at around 9am and walked into my department and the space that interns are given to work in. My supervisor didn't look suprised to see me, but the Head of Interns did, and said something about an art gallery. At the time I was reading something about the Cold War, and, having only vaguely heard what he said, presumed that he just liked art, and was advising me to go to the gallery at some point. (To be fair he does have some kind of art work by Jan Van Eyck on his desk, even though it was facing away from me and the captions were in German or Dutch, I recognised the painting as one in which I had quoted in my Prelims, for my Nature & Art in the Renaissance exam. I suppose this also indicates may have missed some vital information during my briefing)

Lesson learnt; if you don't hear someone properly, just say "excuse me?" It'll be awkward for a minute, but otherwise you could miss something important, like a trip to a National Art gallery.

Anyway, time passed and I remember thinking "I'm such a dedicated intern. No one else came in, but I did". I met some interesting people, including a brother and sister who live permanently in the Navy Yard in which the museum I'm working at is based. At lunch I ended up having a long conversation with the permanent staff in the lunchroom, which ranged from England and the royal family to baby names, names in general and history. We all gently correct one employee who thinks that the Great Fire of London happened in 1066.

In all honesty, I still don't regret going to work. I suppose this demonstrates the persistence of the Oxford mentality. I've spent the last few days at work shadowing tours of the museum, and helping six year olds make Cartesian divers. My knowledge of American history has probably increased 100% in the last three days.

 

It's not just the date of Gettysburg (1-3rd of July 1863) or the identifying of famous quotes (“the only  thing we have to fear is fear itself", from Franklin D. Roosevelt's inaugural address). It's finding new places in unfamiliar places and trying to understand contemporary American culture.

 

This song is popular with the young Americans I know here, can't tell if it's a recent trend or because of the Independence Day celebrations;

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1gX1EP6mG-E

 

In addition, I've discovered that even animals with the same name can be different animals in different countries, I present;

 

A Red Robin (American)

 

 

 

 

and, what people in Britain would recognise as a Robin, clearly sparrow-sized and with a different coloured beak.

 

 

I was incredulous when people told me the birds I kept seeing here were robins, and only a fair amount of Google image searching could resolve this (completely friendly) dispute. Anyway, all's well end's well, because we were both right.