Sweet Sixteen

This place is home away from home :)

Home sweet home!

Pitt Rivers

I spent the morning at Oxford's Pitt Rivers Museum (http://www.prm.ox.ac.uk/), which is possibly the coolest museum I have ever visited.

It is really well laid out, with everything anyone could possibly want. Rocks, Fossils, Corals, Bones, Dinosaurs, Birds, Plants, Insects (live, dead, fossilized)... that's only in the natural history part...

You can walk through that to get to the anthropology section, which is filled with random curios from all over the world. Basically it is an entire building filled to the brim with everything I've ever been interested in.

The exhibit outside is an incredible art installation that features tropical trees that are basically "Ambassadors of the Rainforests". Obviously I love it.

Rainforest ambassadors

The tree stumps are massive (notice the small child in the picture to the left) and raised up on concrete plinths.

The idea is to use these "Ambassadors" as a forum to discuss rain forest conservation and raise awareness about these important issues.

Plaques explain what tree species they are and how they are used locally, internationally and commercially.

I couldn't help but wonder what types of invasive bugs were brought into the country in these installations. Sigh, can't get away from my honours project. 

Polar Bear mnom mnom

Beautiful Ceiling!

Pearly Whites for my amchara!

You feel like you're in a greenhouse because the vaulted ceiling is made of glass so it lets in a beautiful amount of natural light. 

Rowr

I found Hedwig

The building itself is incredible. Each column in the museum is a different stone and topped by a different carving of some kind of plant. There are also busts and statues of famous people everywhere.

The museum doesn't seem to bother with 20th century lighting...

 I spent so long there looking around that I was almost late to meet A and her friend K for lunch. A wanted me to meet this woman because she's a mediator who also runs training here in the UK and is looking at setting up a course in the next little while. The woman is wonderful and gave me some great ideas of where to look for programs and courses that focus more on environmental conflicts.

I actually found a three week intensive course that sounds like exactly what I'm interested in learning about, but I missed the application by ~3 weeks. It starts the day after I finish my TEFL course and is run through UNESCO in the Hague. Stupid timing. It sounds fantastic. Damn.

Also, all of these courses are sooooo expensive. I need a corporate sponsor. "This sticker is dangerous and inconvenient, but I do love fig newtons." Anyone? Anyone?
HA. Maybe I can convince the enemy to sponsor me... BP? I'll pitch it to them tomorrow.

http://www.prwatch.org/node/9091