saturday with host mum at a local matsuri

today was one of the most RANDOM days i've had in japan...
i woke up expecting a lazy saturday, some cleaning, laundry , reading then study...
as it turned out, after doing the cleaning and laundry, host mum asked if i wanted to go to a local autumn matsuri near our house so naturally i decided to go.

after enjoying some green tea and wagashi (japanese sweets made from some sorta bean and red bean,
i saw these beautiful kimonos worn by the performers of Japanese dance.. my host mum randomly went up to one of the ppl working there and asked if they would be able to dress me up since i'd just come from australia and wanted to experience japanese culture. (of course i hadn't said this and didn't expect to do anything aside from admire the stuff at the festival).

to my GREAT surprise, she said it was fine, and did my hair and make up and put on a kimono. now putting on a kimono is NO easy task...there's about 15 pieces of things you've got to put togeher, thread through, layer, tie, knot..etc. etc. so it took around 20 minutes just to get into that thing. make up was very interesting , because my skin was 5 shades whiter and had this bright red lipstick.. strangest of all was the random white streak down the middle of my face? (its japanese dance stage make up..)

more over the kimono i wore was one that japanese brides wear..and i had a huge heavy wig on with another 3 or 4 accessories pinned into it..so my head was very heavy.

after dressing me up, i expected i would just take some fotos and then head home.. but NO. i was expected to go onto the stage, comment in english or japanese about how much i liked japan and then TO MY HORROR sing a song. firstly, my japanese is pretty crappy, so i was like.. oh my GOsh, someone save me. anyway, I just said how much i enjoyed japan, thanked them for putting on my kimono and then sang twinkle twinkle little star in english HAAHAHA.

ironically, tourists wanted to take fotos with me.. even though i'm the one doing the touristy activity? haha... everyone thought i was some maiko from kyoto .. so the benefit of being asian is that you are just accepted as japanese .

after that, the staff there even took fotos of me and printed them out for me to keep! Japanese ppl are soooooooo nice. then the staff also took pictures with me HAHAH.

host mum treated me to some yakisoba and tako sen (which is egg, mayo, sauce, takoyaki all in a crisp outer layer) and oolong tea. i also had the best melon pan today!
now time for some study i suppose...