May 15

Painting and Relaxation

After the sweets buffet the day prior and the large amounts of walking that we had been going through for the past few days, today was the perfect day to take a small break and rest. After classes we were originally scheduled to watch the Aoi Matsuri (Blue Festival) which passes quite literally right across the street from our church building, but due to a sudden onset of heavy rain, the city postponed the festival from Tuesday to Wednesday, so we re-arranged our schedule and ended up having a free day to do personal excursions, homework, or really anything else that we wanted.

Having just bought the paints and materials to make cards just the day before, I took the time to just sit in a room at the church and paint cards for some of the people that I had met in Kyoto to thank them for letting us stay in their houses. A few of the other students wanted to learn how to make them, so I took out a few hours to teach them the basics of the flowers and stems that I was doing. After a few hours, I had some pretty nice looking cards, and I was pleasantly well-rested!