Photo shoot?

OK, so today I pretty much felt like a model.
We went to a hairdresser and got all dressed up in a rented kimono.
I brought my kimono to wear in Japan, but... Well, we didn't consider that it's a summer kimono.
This one below is a winter kimono. A whole lot thicker and heavier, with multiple layers.
We went to a shrine with a couple of the venturers and leaders and took some photos.
It was kinda fun.

So, that was that. It was great fun, being dressed up in traditional Japanese clothes.

I'm kind of upset that I won't have a chance to wear mine, but I suppose there's not much I can do about it, with less than a week left. Maybe on Friday before I pack I can put it on and show it off to my family! 

After that, we went back to the salon and I got changed again, and they took all the many, many... many pins out for my hair. I guess that's what happens when your hair goes past your hips. 

Then we went out to have Udon for lunch!

ooh, it was good...

I love udon if you can't tell!

We were going to go home then, at about 3:00, but Utayo suggested going to see a nearby Bukeyashiki (Samurai manor). The Hikobe family manor is a samurai manner that has been opened as a museum. 

I wish I could have taken photos for this, but they aren't allowed...

I LOVED this!

My favourite class at school was Ancient History. It was hard and drove me insane at first, but once I train my brain to work the right way for the class, I fell in love with it! Seeing the way culture, architecture and methods to anything have changed over time is fascinating to me. It also helps that my mind automatically makes connections.That part's just natural. So I tend to compare and contrast everything I learn to things I already know, even if they don't seem to make sense to other people. I tried explaining what I was learning about Emperor Claudius to one of my best friends and ended up rambling about everything I'd learned before to give her context for my comparisons. I don't even remember what I said, but it involved Greece, Egypt and I think I threw in Mesoamerica in there somehow...

Naturally, she had no idea what I was on about!

But Ancient history was the best class in grade 12, hands down. Maths was challenging, English was hilarious, Music was a frustrating kind of fun, Science was fascinating, and Japanese through distance ed was pretty much suicide before I dropped it (not to say that it's a bad class. I still encourage people to learn languages and my classmates flourished in the Distance Ed setting, but with my selection of classes being Authority, and not being very good with stress, I was getting flat Ds, so that class was chucked out the window to save my other classes), but nothing really stretched and exercised my brain quite like Ancient history. 

So, being back in that setting, with a direct descendant of the samurai that once lived at this manor teaching me about the architecture and traditions of the Samurai age was like coming home early. 

This has confirmed my suspicions.
Be proud Mrs Ryan! I have the travel bug!

Not just any travel bug, mind you. I want to do what Mrs Ryan did, and travel the world looking for places of historical significance. She always told us that, no matter how much she told us about these places and times, we could never truly appreciate it until we saw it with our own eyes. Now, I want to see it all!

I'd lost the spark for history over the past month or so, but now I'm as determined as ever! I know my passion lies in this topic and is part of the reason that what I want to do is be a Tour Guide. I know that Australia doesn't have much Ancient history, or, at least, none that I've been allowed to learn, since I don't have aboriginal heritage, but I love to not only learn, but share that knowledge in a practical setting. I used to think that this meant I wanted to be a teacher, but after a while, I realised that a classroom setting isn't for me. And this trip to Japan has solidified that!

When I teach, I need to be out among the things I'm teaching about. When I finally saw real artefacts from the mid 14th century right in front of me, or when I was shown the old weaving machine and told how it actually works, I knew that that's what I want to do with my life! 

I want to teach, and inspire in a way that is impossible in a classroom. I feel like I'm finally absolutely certain with what I want to do with my life

This trip to Japan has helped me find purpose.

So to anyone on the fence about joining SISEP, I am telling you now that this kind of experience can change your life! You never know what new passions you'll find, or old passions that will be rekindled. You may only realise here how much some ordinary parts of your life mean to you.

I'm not promising that you'll find your purpose while overseas like I have. This is certainly an extreme that I never expected. However, you may be pushed in a direction that interests you. You may find out that you love animals, or children and decide to be a teacher or zookeeper. You may try a new art style and find out that you're good at it, or learn a new instrument. You might suddenly find that you enjoy activities that you used to despise like I did. My school was never big on casual sport, so unless you were in to win, you just didn't do it. It left a sour impression of sport in my mind for 5 years, but now I'm inviting my friends out to play basketball when I get home! I'm already working on an exercise routine to keep me active. 

You never know what you'll discover about yourself when you travel overseas, especially in an exchange program like this, where you can meet so many wonderful people who can help you learn about and discover the country you're in and yourself.

So, that was my thrilling day. And I think this was the first post that didn't have sentences starting with Anyway or Well. I'm proud of that!

But seriously, I'm knackered! Got school tomorrow too. Last day!

Then on Wednesday, we go out skiing and come back Thursday night. Friday will be packing and a bit of family time, then Saturday I'll pack the last of it and hop on a plane to Australia!

But first I need to work on that report...

But I want to go to bed...

Also, one last thing before I sign off for the night, if any of the people reading this tonight, an idea for what to use instead of Word would be great!

I may have lost access to Office...

Yup.

OK, Goodnight again! I'll be home soon!