Saturday morning Lorelei and I immediately woke up and headed to Starbucks for a coffee to energize us for the day. We hopped on the double decker, public transportation bus to the Black country living museum. The bus was very clean and calm, very different from the PRT in Pittsburgh. I think Pittsburgh needs a double decker bus because the PRT gets very crowded.
We traveled through the city to the Black country museum which was very interesting. It was 1950s day at the museum and I loved seeing all the men and women dressed up in 1950s style. When we arrived we went straight to the mines. We put our hard hats on and started our journey into the mines. The ceiling was quite low so we all were hunched over in the pitch black dark walking through the tunnels. The tour guide had a very strong English accent that I loved listening to. We turned our lanterns on to walk through, but then we turned them off as the speakers explained the history. They have very detailed statues of the coal miners and sometimes I thought their eyes were moving and looking at me in the dark. The tour of mines was very interesting and it blows my mind how they did this everyday especially because of how dangerous it is.
Next we headed to the school that was set in 1953, and this was one of my favorite parts of the day. The teacher was in character the whole time and was very strict which was so funny. I actually had to stand against the wall with my hands on my head because I sneezed really loud and disrupted the class. As well as me, Maura, Angela, and some others were pulled up front because of our painted nails. The class pointed and scolded us saying “Shame on you” over and over again. I found it really interesting to learn that most families could only afford to send one child to school, so that child was normally chosen by their parents if they thought they had the greatest potential. This child then was expected to teach all their brothers and sisters, as well as their parents. We practiced our multiplication and our ABCs backwards over and over again, very loudly. We also sang the Hickory Dickey Dock and Vinny, in our group, had to be the mouse. It was very hilarious and every time the mouse ran up the clock he had to take a stuffed mouse and run it across the room while squealing, towards the clock. Jocelyn got in trouble for not paying attention in the class and he explained the punishments they had during this time period. The options were saying I will not disrupt the class 100 times, a week of detention, or a whipping of the hands. We had a vote for each one and the British folks in the room all voted for the whipping choice, which was kinda funny. The teacher did not actually whip her, but they did a funny reenactment.
We were very hungry and I finally got to try authentic english fish and chips at a fish and chips shop. It was the best I have ever had. The rest of the time in black country we spent walking around and exploring. We stopped at the amusement park, road swings, and played some games. I shot a BB gun and hit the target which I was very shocked by because I have never even held a gun before. There were tons of shops displaying 1950s style music, butchery, hair salon, and chocolate shops. Before we left we stopped at an ice cream shop where the worker recommended rum and raisin flavor. It was definitely a unique taste, but I enjoyed it. It was really interesting to see all the history here in black country and I had a great time.
We hopped on the bus to head back to the hotel and work on our upcoming presentations at BCU Monday. We then ended the night walking to Digbeth. This is a small town with lots of local shops and pubs. We walked around, shopped, and got dinner at are really nice Japanese burger place. It was a fantastic night and I am really excited to go to Oxford tomorrow!
Us in our hard hats ready for the mines!
MMM fish and chips
Digbeth