Hey guys! So one of the posts I wrote got posted to the museum's FB page! I send them to the Communications Officer and she (or one of the curators) decides what gets posted.
Woohoo! It's freaky seeing that up all official looking. I almost never post on my own facebook page, much less this.
I'm sure y'all won't embarrass me. :P Hehe! Guess which one's mine...
https://www.facebook.com/greatnorthmuseum

ALSO: I saw a Fiji Mermaid at the museum today! It was being photographed for an exhibit coming up in a few months, and it's insane! It's a young monkey upper body attached to a wooden carved middle and a fish tail, all taxidermied to look like a mummified mermaid. It is FREAKY. It will haunt my dreams. And yet... It's amazing! I mean, this is a crazy bizarre object and I just ran into it in the hallway in my work! I spent about half an hour after seeing it researching it. I had to know why it existed and then I just got interested. It's so cool! I feel like I could spend all my time exploring the stores, and writing stories about their bizarre histories. I just love this job.

So these mermaids were created by the Japanese, and the oldest is kept by Shinto monks at the base of Mt. Fuji and is nearly 1400 years old. Other specimens are kept across Japan in temples and collections, and across the world in oddities collections and museums. PT Barnum of Barnum and Bailey's Circus had one of these! He tricked people, with a fake backstory, and even the "scientist" who found it. He manipulated all the local newspapers into massive publicity over and over in multiple cities. In the southern tour, he nearly caused a riot and a duel! I could go into so much more detail, but to be honest, it's after 8 and I haven't started dinner! I'd better get going

edit: If you're interested, the Horniman Museum tested their Fiji Merman to see how it's made, of what materials, etc. They CT scanned it and DNA tests, the whole shebang! It's a really interesting read! (At least for me. :P Maybe don't read if that picture above freaked you out. <3)
http://www.horniman.ac.uk/collections/unmasking-the-mysterious-merman

<3 Can't wait to be home for Christmas! 8 more days! Ahhh!  xoxoxoxo

I finally have photos! SO MANY PHOTOS!

First, last Thursday, Michael and I went out for a "Thanksgiving" dinner at a local restaurant, a burger place that does sort of over the top "Americana" food, like extravagant burgers, etc.
This meal was ABSURD, guys. ABSURD. It started with a big pile of super spicy buffalo sauce turkey strips. Then a burger and sweet potato fries, but oh that freaking burger. GIANT burger. GIANT. Made with really nice beef. But then, candied bacon... yes, CANDIED. With tons of onion jam and swiss cheese. On a cronut bun. That's a donut made of croissant dough. Yep. I didn't even know that existed til then. All this stuck through with a candy cane. PLUS an oreo malted milkshake (although this was not a milkshake, it was the british version, made with milk, no icecream, which was probably a mercy to the diner's arteries) and THEN a peanut butter cookie with vanilla icecream. However, Michael is allergic to peanuts, and by the end of the set menu (flat price for the whole "Thanksgiving meal") I was stuffed, so we got them to sub lemon sorbet for me and a FANTASTIC brownie sundae for Michael. Absolutely swimming in salted caramel sauce, all of which he ate. I couldn't finish a single of the courses, and Michael ate almost all of my leftovers too! It was unbelievable! I thought he was going to die. Just for an idea of the craziness of the this meal, I took a photo of the burger.

Then, last friday, I helped set up a new display in the Student Centre building! I helped a bit with the display stuff, and found some photos, but it was mostly another curator's work. She and I had to figure out stands for all the strangely shaped objects, and it was so absurd. We balanced things on blocks taped together and weighted stands with other stands so they couldn't tip over. It was like MacGyver! It was pretty fun, though, finding solutions to weird objects.

I took photos while we were working for documentation. The museums likes to put behind the scenes stuff up on the blog and keep records of how things were laid out and what objects went on display, in case something happens.

I sort of forgot to take photos until we'd been working for about 30 minutes. We started with this case. 

Now y'all can see what we do when we arrange an exhibit! 

Caaaaaarefully positioning labels and whatnot. 

One of the MacGyvered stands, this one holding up an Australian Indigenous shield. Christo ingeniously figured this one out. 

Me putting stuff in the case. All red-faced and windblown from going in between the museum and student services building. 

Check out our awesome stands! These were such a battle. Just about every item needed us to track down extra bits and tape things together, or weight them, or pad them, or all of the above. 

Setting up the signs and interpretation panels. 

The display is done! Woohoo! Forgive the giant antismoking poster. 

And THEN! On Saturday I had the BALL! There aren't a lot of candid photos, I think everyone was too busy having fun. It was a great night!

Here are all the pictures Alex (my flatmate) took with his big fancy camera for everyone. It was FREEZING outside where we took the photos. FREEZING! And with an occasional biting wind. The guys were having a good old time, but the girls were all frozen. I think our smiles sometimes look at bit stiff, which it probably our mouths starting to freeze solid. :P

LOOK AT THE CASTLE! Y'ALL I'M AT A BALL IN A CASTLE!

I look a foot shorter than everyone, since I'm the only one not in super high heels. I didn't think how it would look until I saw these lined up pictures. But I ended up hurting my foot pretty badly that night anyway, so it was definitely a good thing I wore the comfy flats. 

My dress was waaaay too big. Dad mentioned to me a couple days before about trying it on, and I definitely should have done. But Michael and Jess (in picture below) helped me pin it on. We needed tons of safety pins, but by the end of the night, I think 4 were left in it. I hope no barefoot guests stepped on the pins on the dance floor or something.

 Michael and me. :3 Isn't his mustache awesome! Hehe :P

And check this out. We were eating in the room used to film the great hall! It's not as big as it looks in the film, but it was beautiful. My cell phone photos don't do it justice.

On Sunday I recovered and woke up to fine that I couldn't walk on my left foot. I was really careful with it for days, and while it's still sore and really stuff, I can walk around and wear regular shoes again. I have an appointment with podiatrist next week, so no worries. :)



I also got to see some of my friends from my course when they all graduated this Wednesday. Michael also graduated and his parents were over, but I got to meet my friends for a little while before I had to go home in order to get up for work the next morning. :P

I hope you guys like my massive picture dump. I had a great, but INCREDIBLY busy week. I felt like I'd been drained of blood by the end of this week. My foot is still pretty painful, and I never really got much of a chance to rest it, with Michael's parents in town and my friends. And sleep was of course in short supply. I'm so grateful for the weekend. I'm going to bed early and sleeping late and it's going to be amazing. :P

Oh AND.
AND.
I GOT MY VISA! I'm going home for Christmas and finishing my degree!!!! It wasn't likely that I wouldn't get it, but I'm still SO EXCITED to have in it my hands and know that my situation is stable for the next year. :) I CAN'T WAIT TO COME HOME! <3 <3 <3 <3
I love you all so much and I can't wait to go home and see everyone. <3 Hugs and kisses! xoxoxoxo