FINALLY I have become an official Smithy volunteer for the National Museum of African Art. EEEEEEeeee I’m so excited and the week after next will be the day I will be manning the volunteer desk all-alone. Hopefully I will be ready but today was a really interesting first day for me. It started off with me not knowing how to get into the building.

All volunteers are required to arrive 30 minutes prior to working their actual shift in order to prepare by reading about building changes and notes about last minute Smithsonian cancellations and turning on the computer and stuff like that. Well I tried to go in through the front door but it was locked since the museum wasn't opened yet. There were no other doors to the building so I was like, “WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?” So I went to the Castle to ask if there was an employee entrance I don’t know about and thankfully the gentleman at the desk walked with me through the secret underground passage through the Ripley Center (yay I know secrets now!). He was so nice about it and I thanked him profusely because without him, I would have been sitting awkwardly outside in the wind waiting for the door to open at 10am.

The building inside is surprisingly beautiful. I don’t know what I was expecting. Maybe because the exhibits are all under ground I thought they would be a bit dark, lifeless, and boring. Well the exhibits are a bit dark so that the lights that are on will highlight each piece but they are definitely not lifeless. Plus the visitor’s desk is actually upstairs next to big windows over looking the garden. It’s a very pleasant environment to be a part of. (P.S. All the plants are real!!!! O.O)

And since it was my orientation I got to volunteer with a veteran volunteer named Angela. She was super nice to me and introduced me to coupon-ing. We clipped them when there was nobody around. Haha! She also let me walk around all the floors so that I could familiarize myself with the surroundings. I didn’t tell her it was my first time at the museum but I think she could tell.

We currently have 2 permanent exhibits on display now: African Mosaic and the Walt Disney-Tishman Collection. You can visit the virtual exhibits online under these links, but trust me when I say it’s better to see them in person so that you can really appreciate the details in the artistry. Something about knowing that someone way back when did all the beading and the carving and the shaping of the art BY HAND blows your mind a little.

http://africa.si.edu/exhibits/africanvision/index.html

In addition to the two exhibits, we also have MathAlive in the Ripley Center basement, which I will get to in another post because that exhibit is just so awesome I can’t fit it in this one (get excited for a post entirely devoted to me geeking out).

But after I volunteered in the morning, our supervisor came to meet me and give me my real orientation. He was really nice too and gave us both Angela and I Ghana chocolate. Apparently the first lady of Ghana came during the week to have lunch with the NMAfA directors and staff (and apparently she brought Ghana chocolate). Sometimes I can’t believe that kind of stuff happens at the Smithy. Like important people come and at any moment you can be at the museum when someone does. O.o!

After my shift was over I was practically starving and grabbed lunch at the National Museum of the American Indian. It is unofficially the best food out of all the Smithy museums (and I must agree even though I’m not allowed to have an opinion). The reason being is because it has unique food that is based on Native American cuisine. I had the buffalo chili with Indian Fry Bread. The beans were a little underdone in the chili but nothing is better than FRIED PUFFY BREAD. YUM! They had many other different types of food too such as grilled salmon, buffalo burgers, and Fry bread with chocolate on top. You can see the menus by clicking on the link below. It’s a little price-y (as are all Smithy foods) but not if you get an employee discount (boo yah!).

http://www.nmai.si.edu/

http://www.mitsitamcafe.com/content/menus.asp

Do I feel bad about the fact that I literally went into the museum, ate, and left without seeing any of the exhibits? Kinda but I expect like 40% of visitors do that there. :-/ There will be other days though! Chances are I might make it a bit of a tradition to go eat lunch there before I volunteer. I would have felt even worse if I went in and got some chicken fingers and fries from the kids menu. You wouldn’t believe how many grown adults went into the Mitsitam Café and bought chicken fingers for lunch. What is wrong with you?! What is the point of coming to the American Indian museum and exposing yourself to culture when you won’t even try the food? I don’t get it. And it’s not like the food was really “out-there” or anything. In my opinion, most of the dishes were “Americanized”. Sigh Sometimes people pretend to be culturally aware but are still really close-minded.

Anyway, popping up later this week will be my post about the new Ripley Center exhibit MathAlive that opened just yesterday. GET EXCITED!!! Also, please post in the comments any opinions you might have about this post. Thanks All!

P.S. Disclaimer, all the images in this blog post came from the interwebs. Next time I hope to take some pics of the exhibits myself.