Saturday, July 19, 2008

Newport! Black Ships Festival!

It's a Saturday! Basically it felt like a whole day of FUN! We took about an hour ride on the bus to Newport. From there, everyone separated into their own little groups; some went to the beach, to the mall, and some to the festival. I went to the Festival! Accompanying me was Erica E., an Indonesian girl coming from Texas; she is also Meuy's roommate! At first we got lost, but eventually we found a way. Apparently map reading is something I need to work on!
When we finally arrived, I was shown a lot of Japanese culture! From martial arts, to kimonos, to calligraphy, and especially to food, it was all a great site to see. I myself take a kind of martial arts, so the presentations really impressed and interested me. I also really enjoyed looking at the art works! One of the amazing things I saw was candy art! Miyuiki is the artist, and what she basically does is take some of her candy and dye, mix it up, put it on the stick (it looked like taffy), and then with her hands and a pair of scissors, she made it into an animal. I also bought a couple of things for me parents so that was a nice chance too. (SUSHI was the best though!)
When we returned, the main thing that we saw was "Water Fire". It is kind of hard to explain but basically the picture Adriana posted was what it looked like. I did see people dressed like statues though, and that was pretty interesting! Before going back to the dorms, I was able to see a "Capoeira", which is a kind of dance or martial arts game, originating from Brazil.
This day was really full of culture and diversity! Loved it!

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