Sunday, July 10, 2022
By:
This whole week was a journey across the world! Throughout the week we went out to a few events ranging from the July 4th Fireworks to a Japanese Tea Ceremony. I had a really fun time during the July 4th fireworks, waiting with everyone and getting to see a huge spectacle of fireworks and a few new never released fireworks as well! As someone who attends the annual International Pyrotechnic Festival in the Philippines, I had really high standards for fireworks; and the July 4th fireworks didnt fail to impress!
On saturday we went to a Japanese Tea Ceremony which we found out about in the Chinatown AAPI Festival! That was probably my highlight of the week. We arrived at the location which was the Washington Times building even through the rain and highways that we had to cross, and it was pretty cool to see the building and the people in there to greet us! They gave us an introduction to the history and philosophy behind Japanese Tea Ceremonies as well as taught us the proper etiquette and how to make the tea. Everything had a purpose and everything had to be precise down to the strokes to mix the tea and the way the cup has to be oriented. We were surpised afterwards by lunch which we didnt think we would get! During lunch we got to meet alot of cool people and friends of the organizers who came to learn more about japanese culture.
After the tea ceremony I went down to the Wharf to attend the Romanian Culutral Festival; it was a small festival, just like the country, but it was filled with dance and song and of course food and drinks! The romanian wine they had was sublime and if I could buy a bottle I would, sadly they ran out of bottles for sale. Overall, it was really fun getting to see alot of different cultures this week, and hopefully I continue to learn more about other cultures as I explore more of the US and the world.
Justin Andre Avendaño