Monday 5/17: Flower Arrangement

Monday was a fairly low-key day. The cultural activity was flower arrangement, which is pretty difficult. You didnt get a vase, you got a flat tub-like thing of water, with a spiky square in it that you stuck the flowers into. It was hard to get the smaller flowers, like the baby's breath, to stick. Also, there is a certain pattern/zen to the arranging that I didnt achieve. However, I think my arrangement came out OK for the first time. Ive never really had to do flower arranging before.

This is my last week in Japan, and I started packing on Monday. Figuring out how to fit in all of my souvenirs into my backpack will be quite a challenge. I also want to pack my laptop since itd be heavy to carry around, slow me down at security, and I cant use it anyway so itd just be useless. However, I barely was under the 50 pound limit coming out here, and I think I may have bought enough stuff to push me over the limit, so I may end up having to take the laptop with me anyhow.