Alright so this is Day #17, Post #24 and I'm almost caught up. Maybe once I catch up on one of the easier days I can explain more about this program/ the people on this trip with me :) But les start right now real quick with Nick who is pictured above. He is the man. Along with Brad (who is AMAZING AS WELL OMG) they lead this program and I work more closely with Nick because he leads the Ishinomaki Laboratory group and I have learned a lot from him. He is very easy going and wise and his visions in the arts is incredible and I appreciate all the opportunity to express myself.
So this is wooden pig was made for the upcoming Reborn Art Festival and Parco-san who led this project was very interesting. Today was the first time on the trip that I heard of the term "kami sama" which relates to deity/ sprits. The whole idea was that there are spirits and living life in everything (the wood, rock, grass in the forest for example). After 2011, people who lived in the mountain areas moved away and such spirits are not receiving the sort of loving that it had before when we used to interact a lot more with the forests. This was a really interesting idea and I was really happy to hear his views on the people's faith during these times. But yea the whole project was really cool and I'm happy and grateful to have been a part of this :) I chopped the wood pieces that are hammered onto the pig and oof it was satisfying but tiring xD I think I got burnt so I'm a day late but I'm gonna go buy aloe cream I think to see if I can help this before it gets worst lol.
Here's some group pictures from this day :) The first one was with the pig and the guy next to me on the other side of the pig is Parco-san :) So today was also Rhianna's birthday and so to celebrate we went out to bowl! It was a lot of fun and I did okay the first game but by the time I finished the second game (which went badly haha) I was so tired). Side note: during our lunch break up in the mountains Nick bought a cake for Rhianna's birthday and it was a really sweet surprise for her :') so thoughtful~ But yea after that we went out to eat (pictured to the right) and it was really fun! The food was amazing and we went to the skewer place that I talked about a few days ago~ After that a few of us got together and partied a little more and it was a hella good time. Went to bed at like 4 am and you could see the sky getting brighter out the window xD Yea it was a really eventful day and I LOVED IT~