Yesterday saw us take in a visit to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage museum as well as a partial tour of the campus, which should've happened on Monday, but got rained off by a slight rainfall.
When I say a partial tour, I do mean partial, none of us could frankly be bothered to be taken around the campus being told that the Commons was accommodation, when we knew that as we'd been staying there for a week already. I tagged along with everyone for about 20 minutes before we all did a tactical withdrawal from the tour, to give ourselves some free time before our excursion later on in the day. On the plus side from the tour, I took the opportunity to take some photos of the campus.
We then left to go to the Cowboy Museum, funnily enough, a museum dedicated to the Cowboy. Again, this could've been really really interesting, had it not been for the really really really really dull tour guide we had. It was almost, to an extent an art gallery, dedicated to the cowboy, in that virtually everything there was a painting or sculpture of some sort. However, there were some awesome sculptures, such as this one, situated just inside the building:
Pretty Epic in my opinion.We must've been under the command of this tour guide for about two hours, being told about how such and such a person was called this because he was so laid back. It really wasn't the greatest tour I've ever had. But Beggars can't be choosers at the end of the day.
Some wise words from Flick, when asked what we wanted to see next, saw us all heading towards the gift shop, and more importantly the exit.
When we got back, we had around an hour to get changed and ready to go out for our first all-American experience meal at a place called Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill. This place is basically a steakhouse. And the portions are HUGE, and for what you're paying for, really fairly priced. I mean, a 20oz Rib-Eye steak with 2 sides costs a mere $32.99. But then again, it's not quite as impressive as the 72oz steak challenge in Amarillo, which if the person eating it succeeds in an hour of less, they get the steak for free. Crazy!The food at Toby Keith's was pretty amazing, Having gotten a liking for shrimp at Owen's BBQ the previous week, I opted for an 8oz steak with grilled shrimp, and wow was it good. I've never eaten so much in my life before, so much in fact that my plate still had quite a bit of food left on it.
Having stuffed ourselves to bursting point, we all went back, got changed and for some really stupid reason, having just eaten the worlds biggest dinner, decided to go and play volleyball. One of our student mentors, Isaac, came along too, to show us how the game is really played. I believe he was on the winning team during every game.
With everyone heading off to bed, a few of us stayed outside for a bit to play some basketball with the volleyball, was pretty good fun. Before we headed in for bed, a few of us went to check the score of the NBA finals, having gone down to the last game. Needless to say, the favourites won it again, with the LA Lakers taking the NBA title. Good times in LA!
Ok, so going on to today. Today we went to Red Earth, a Native American gathering within Oklahoma City. I was looking forward to this trip immensely, with the immense culture difference that would be present. Having left at 0930, we arrived at the convention centre with plenty of time to spare before the parade. I wish I could put all of the pictures of the parade up on here, but I think I took around 200 alone during it, so here are three of my favourites.
The parade was, a sea of colour, far from the stereotypes portrayed in Westerns. And as the parade moved by, it did become apparent to me just how there is such a huge number of overweight people in the USA. Just about every single float was throwing some kind of candy onto the floor around it for the kids to pick up; whilst some were throwing things such as Frisbees into the onlooking crowd.
With the parade over, we went inside the Convention Centre where there was to be a demonstration of Native American singing and dancing from some of the different tribes that were represented there. Before we actually got into the centre however, Scott introduced us to his tribal chief, who allowed us to have our photos taken with him, and invited us down to where they're from for a couple of days on the trip. I don't know if we've got the time, but it would be such a cool thing to do.
The singing and drumming was really relaxing, as the dancers in the middle of the stage did their thing. What with all the bright colours and plumage, it made for quite a spectacle. However, after a while we decided to go down to the exhibition hall, where there were a multitude of different exhibitors around, selling everything from artwork, to arrows and the like. As we wandered around the centre, a familiar face from during the week sprung up as we saw Harvey Pratt, the forensic artist from the OSBI with some of his artwork on show.
All I can say to his stuff is wow! So realistic, but then again, I guess being a forensic artist does help big time when doing portraits. Unfortunatley, his pictures cost a huge amount, possibly due to him being such a famous artist with some great pictures, so I was unable to buy one, what with the cheapest picture weighing in at a fairly hefty$75, but it was fantastic if not on the small side!
Having left the convention centre we then proceeded to part two of the days adventure, seeing the group split up with most of the boys going to watch the England vs. Algeria game, whilst the rest went to the mall to go shopping. Having actually missed the game due to being downtown when it was on, the Dean and her husband kindly recorded it to us, meaning we had to keep ourselves in an environment where no score could be relayed to us at all. Much in the same way that had had to have been done last week after James' game (I should add at this point, that he had won his final game of the season). The less said about the game the better.
When we got back from the deans house, most of the guys went out to play football on the football pitch, where we were joined by a guy named Victor whom we introduced to the concept of Wembley. Basically an all vs all game where to proceed through to the next round you needed to score just one goal. Victor gave us all the run around with his tricks but lacked the finishing touch, and just as the girls arrived with the volleyball ready for the day's games. Having played volleyball, and basketball four of us went over to the commons, where we played pool for about an hour, with a couple of Americans, the banter between us was immense.
I can't really think of much else to say, about the last couple of days, it's been immense fun in parts and some of it is best forgotten. However, what can be said is that at the end of the day, life goes on, and it's far too short to hold grudges.
I shall love you and leave you now, as I really should shower and get dressed.
Before I go, I shall leave you with my favourite quote in hawai'ian.
E Hookumu Maua Ka Hale Puni Maua Ohana Me Ka Pumehana A Me Ka Oiloli Kealoha
No comments:
Post a Comment