Been seeing loads of Shakespeare here in London. And it has been delightful. I hope I will get to see productions of all of his plays at some point in time.
We saw 12th Night, the Tempest, and Comedy of Errors all performed by the Royal Shakespeare Company. It was amazing to see Malvolio transform into Prospero in the same day!!
We also got to go to the Globe where we saw Henry the Vth, which was also spectacular. here are some pictures:
The view of St. Paul's walking back along the Millenium Bridge is definitely photo worthy:
Gina learned about a cool church that was bombed out during WWII, however, the walls still remained. Some really smart people decided to make it into a garden by planting trees and vines that would grow along the walls and through the windows. The result is fantastic. It was just a wonderfully beautiful little public park tucked in behind some buildings in an out-of-the-way corner of London.
Allen's post yesterday shamed me into posting about all the crazy things that happened last weekend! ;)
It was a whirlwind and it started last Wednesday at the Google Scholar's Retreat. I was made a finalist for the Anita Borg Scholarship for Women in Technology that Google sponsors in collaboration with the Anita Borg Institute. The retreat was for all the diversity scholarships that Google sponsors, so there were groups that represented Native Americans, African Americans, Hispanic Americans, Veterans, and individuals with disabilities.
A fun place to work, literally, with a slide in the office
I'll admit it was pretty cool to hang out at the Googleplex. We got a previewed look at the Google Glass Project...
Sebastian showing the before and after
And I tried to talk the advice of one of my professors and gorge myself on Odwalla that was "in the building behind the dinosaur" ... sadly, I failed on that mission, it must have been moved. Sorry Dr. Chuck.
Me and Stan the T-Rex
But honestly the best part of the retreat was meeting all the other amazing and inspiring scholars.
My roommate, Amanda
Nicki, Nikki, and Kehontas... Retreat BFFs
I'm really looking forward to keeping in touch with these wonderful ladies. I know they will be doing amazing things in the future ... and I only hope I can be a part of it.
But this wasn't the end of my crazy weekend. On the Saturday after the retreat, I met up with my coworkers in Palo Alto to run a 10k in the Packard Summer Scamper, a race that is apparently a lot more serious than I was expecting - oops!
We did it! Rafae, Lisa, Nikki, and Steve
And we totally finished - in a little over an hour! Which as you can tell from my surprise, that was an entirely un expected outcome. :p
But the fun didn't stop there! It was an absolutely gorgeous day - the clearest since I arrived in SF. So Rafae and I went up to Twin Peaks, which has the best view of the city....
Where's the fog?
And ... the view definitely did not disappoint.
Last but not least, I got to go to the San Francisco Pride Parade. This is one of the biggest Pride celebrations in the country and it was an amazing spectacle to see. It was so bright, colorful, open, and friendly... it would have been incredibly difficult to not be affected by all the love and celebration that surrounded you.
Fabulous!
Believe it or not, I'm in for another amazing adventure this weekend. Tomorrow I'm going to try to rustle up some of my SI friends for a trip to Muir Woods. Then on Sunday, I'm doing a full-day bootcamp to learn the programming language Ruby. Fingers crossed, I'm in for some more excitement.
So it has been awhile since I updated on life here. A few weeks back I went to visit my cousin in Marlborough, Wiltshire and meet her fiancee, David, the dapper young man in the photo below.
While we were there, we decided to go to Avebury Henge, which is sort of like Stonehenge only much bigger and the stones are farther apart (so it's not really as spectacular). BUT, you can walk up to them, touch them, bring your dogs, etc. It's much more accessible than Stonehenge and not filled with nearly as many tourists.
Aunt Lucy and Uncle Harry at the first Stone we encountered. It was so great to see them. We've been really blessed that our paths have crossed 3 summers in a row!
Panoramic of the village and the site. The village just sort of spills into the archeological site. they can't really be separated.
So my friend Amanda, from my NYU days and who has been hosting me in SF, competes in the Bay Area Derby League (BAD for short) and I finally got to see her play in a bout last night.
But first - the volunteering to set up the track! This is an entirely volunteer organization, so anything that needs doing they have to do themselves. The event was being held at Craneville Pavillion in Richmond but it was BYOT (bring your own track). So we loaded up the UHaul truck with the plastic tracking that the ladies use on such occasions (since there isn't a dedicated track in SF) and began the laborous process of putting it all together, literally piece by piece.
Laying out the floor
What can't these ladies do!?
Track is all laid out
Setting up the lines and barriers
The finished product in use
I could try to write up all the rules of bouts (the pack, the jammers trying to lap the pack, penalties, etc) but its probably best if a professional explains it. See the video below for a brief intro of how the game is played.
Amanda - excuse me, I mean Cass, as in Cass Warfare, her derby name; which is literally what all of the other players know her as. Anyway, Cass plays for the Oakland Outlaws.
Oakland Outlaws warming up
Enthusiastic crowds are the order of the evening at derby matches I've learned. And it is pretty common to come with homemade signs cheering your favorite players on. Below is the sign of one of Cass's teammate's boyfriend's (mouthful!)
Go Sinnocent!
It was like a giant party: there were food stalls, vendors of all sorts, merch, bar stands ... you name it. And I was really super impressed with how many very enthusiastic fans there were in the crowd (myself included).
The ladies in black, unfortunately, didn't win their bout, but they didn't go down without a fight.... quite literally in some cases
But, despite the loss, these women are all still friends (or maybe frienemies?). Yeah, emotions get riled during a game, but they all mix together in the all stars league or the traveling team. They are competitors and teammates... and maybe most importantly friends.
All smiles!
But honestly, that camaraderie really blew me away. We had been joking on our way to the bout that derby girls would have their own A League of Their Own style reunion 60 years from now and reminisce about the "old good days" --- but there is something truly remarkable, I think, about a bunch of women doing traditionally masculine things (hard-contact sports) but doing it in their own unique way. Maybe their more like the Greek Amazons, a tight knit collection of warriors.... It is very hard not to feel inspired by them as you see them racing around the track
Newest derby girl? Probably not......... yet?
That said, I'm probably not ready yet for the commitment to derby. Cass commits between 10-15 hours a week to practice, team meetings, setting up and helping at bouts, etc.... and I just don't think I have that time to commit right now. But it really makes me happy to see women making roller derby a fun and fascinating sport to watch.
It has been an eventful week in London. On Monday I went to Anthropology in London Day at UCL which was really fun. I particularly enjoyed panels on materiality and labor, which had obvious resonances with my work. Then on Tuesday I went to ANOTHER conference at UCL, this one on India, specifically organized around the theme of "veneration."
When I left that conference, I discovered that someone had clipped the cable on my bike lock, stolen my rear wheel, and left another perfectly good rear wheel behind in its place. So I reassembled the bike with the "new" wheel and rode home perplexed.
I dropped the bike off and then walked down to the Globe Theatre to meet Gina for an awesome production of Henry V.
Our "seats" were actually standing room, but we had gotten there so early that we were actually touching the stage. It's fun to be a peasant. At one point I almost got taken out by Henry's cape!
For the most part, the band seemed to play "period" instruments, though I noticed many of their drums had synthetic heads - not impressed - just kidding. They were all very talented performers.
Walking back across the Millenium Bridge with St. Paul's in the distance.
Action shot of Gina trying to take much better pictures of St. Paul's than I could with my point and shoot.
THEN, on Wednesday I got a fun email from Jan Sota, the mother of Ben, the founder of the Zany Umbrella Circus and old friend of mine currently living in Hawaii. So she and I went to the British Museum to go look at old relics of colonial conquest. It was quite entertaining.
Here is photographic proof of that.
I also met some of Gina's co-workers at the Museum and can attest to the fact that her badge is legit and not faked. She does in fact work there and it is not part of an elaborate ruse.
Tonight! Frankenstein starring Benedict Cumberbatch. Tomorrow! Meeting the Jonckheere's for a trip to the British countryside.
