Last night, after some careful consideration, I decided to skip today’s day trip to Oxford. As we are nearly at the end of the forum, I want to spend every second of my time with my new mates. For this reason, this blog might seem content dry compared to previous ones. However, for those keen on seeing me visit Oxford I will spend a couple of days there after LIYSF ends. Thus I will make a bonus blog post for everyone in which I talk about my time in the city at great lengths.
Okay moving on, I started my day trying to catch up on some sleep. Setting no alarm I slept until noon, which was nice. I never sleep that late back at home, but after countless nights of getting only 4-6 hours, I needed all the beauty sleep I could get. Next, Issie and I decided to get breakfast at a cafe a couple of minutes away from our current home. We were both so excited to have eggs benedict but after a couple bites, we quickly lost our appetite.
Photo 1: Breakfast in London
Since Issie had maths homework and I was behind on blogs we decided to sit down in the park and get some work done while enjoying the fresh air. I got one or two of these blogs done, but Issie got nothing done since she was obsessed with filling my hair with as many leaves as possible.
Photo 2: My leaf crown
As the evening approached we needed to prepare for the Traditions of Home event tonight. I practised my nut bush dance, as the Australians asked me to join in; Issie’s prep, on the other hand, was much more time-consuming and significant to our cultural exchange.
Since Issie is a Palawa woman she was able to share some of the unique culture of Aboriginal Tasmanian people. Carefully applying a special dirt called Ochre on her face and arms, the combinations of lines contained intricate meanings that I was fortunate enough to learn about first-hand. Here is a photo from the flag-bearing ceremony with this traditional body art applied.
Photo 3: Flag-bearing ceremony pre-photo
After a short dinner intermission, the Traditions of Home event began. When it was time for the Australians to perform Issie introduced their dance with a greeting in Palawa kani and the time for nut bushing began. I was too busy dancing so I didn’t get any photos of the actual event however, after the ceremony I took some pictures of the performers hoisting the Australian Aboriginal flag.
Photo 4:The Outback photoshoot
Though a slower-paced day indeed it was in no way any less special to me. As usual, I returned home for the night filled with a happy, but heavy heart. Every day is a blast here and it’s all ending way too fast.
– Connor