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January 2, 2024

Catching up!

What a whirlwind it has been! I attribute my lack of updates to "travel brain," in which I am feeling very disconnected from real life. I am doing all the things I've set out to do, but they are in a bubble, isolated from the real world. This is probably in large part because I have no grounding force here: I'm on my own, all decisions have to be made by me, and there's no one to do me any errands or favors. I have no routine and my time has been extremely flexible. But nonetheless, let's catch up!

Berlin

The interviews in Berlin ended up being wonderful. I had a German/IS interpreter for my discussion with museum staff, and just as in Ottawa, they hit a lot of the points I was expecting them to hit. The same goes for my work with deaf participants, of which there were two. As I expected, it was more an "interview" structure than a discussion or focus group, but as both participants work in the museum field, it made for a really great conversation where - once again - they confirmed a lot of my hypotheses. It feels really cool for that to be happening. Obviously I have all these ideas, but I can't just use my own opinions, I have to get outside confirmation for my research. And it's being confirmed!

Extremely blurry photo of Meredith at the Berlin Wall, taken at night.

This night picture was much worse, but I wanted to share it with some enhancement, because this is the Berlin Wall on Bernauer Straße.

Amsterdam

My arrival in Amsterdam was delayed three and a half hours due to Deutsche Bahn issues and the weather, but I made it. I love Amsterdam, and I really wish I had scheduled more time for it. I joined a free Dutch Sign Language (NGT) tour at the Dutch Resistance Museum, and while I don't know NGT, I picked up about 40% of the content in part because I could read along with the exhibition text in English (the tour focused on the Cas Oorthuys exhibit). I also paid €80 for an International Sign tour at the Van Gogh Museum, which was fantastic - it was 1:1 and I understood 100% of it. I suspect it's quite unusual to drop that kind of money on a private tour alone, but it's part of my research!

Meredith is in a pink room, standing at a bar petting an orange and white cat.

I got to see Prikkiedik again! I love this cat. Thank you PRIK staff for always being so wonderful!

London

I was a bit hampered by the 25th and 26th being holidays, but I knew that was coming. I managed to find one museum to visit on Boxing Day, at least. This was definitely the easiest stop of my trip, because I had a wonderful, cozy home base at my friend Mindy's (🩷🤟🏻) and I didn't have to navigate anything in a foreign language. As expected, well-funded museums like the Science Museum did a great job with accessibility and inclusion, and lesser-supported places like the Museum of Brands did not. I wish I could've stayed much longer in London, too.

Meredith poses with a traditional red telephone box.

I borrowed Mindy's coat for some of my walking around, because London was twice as warm as I was expecting. I didn't need a big winter coat at all on this trip! I wish I hadn't ripped my leather jacket the night before I left - it would've been perfect and so much more convenient.

Buenos Aires

I've just finished a couple of days of trotting around town, and my first interview is tomorrow, with the staff at Museo Casa de Yrurtia. Buenos Aires has been a challenge for a lot of reasons, but mainly because English is not spoken much. I think I've settled in enough, though, to feel confident about tomorrow! Or at least that's what I'm telling myself, right? 😉

Meredith smiles next to a statue of a cartoon character who kind of looks like a horned version of Woodstock, from Peanuts.

How have I only taken one selfie in three days?! I think that reflects my stress level - it's crowded here and I don't want to stop to take pictures. My buddy here, though, is Clemente, a character from Carlos Loiseau's comics.

That's it for now. Next update will almost assuredly be after I am home. I'll put a reminder on my calendar!

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