Japan 2024: Part 2

Welcome back for Part 2! If you missed out - you can read about Part 1 here. 

Day four and our first full day in Tokyo, we went to Shinjuku to pick up some train tickets for the next day, and then wandered around. Sophie had a dream of getting Pokemon display things while in Japan, so Steve looked up an anime hobby store and we trekked there in the drizzle to search for her. Anime in Japan can be quite overwhelming, and all we know or like about it barely scratches the surface of what is available and out there. Sophie was successful in finding some well priced Pokemon so she was pretty happy with her morning. 

We then continued on to Harajuku for an explore around. Harajuku is a bit of a weird place, and the weather continued to be very meh (drizzle rain making for lots of umbrellas crowding the street and making it super hard to move), but we enjoyed it. We'd actually eaten so much for lunch that we didn't feel hungry enough for crepes when we got there, much to my horror. Who comes to Harajuku and doesn't get crepes?! 

The girls spotted a cat cafe they were desperate to go into, so while Steve took them there, I drifted down to a second hand store I'd noticed and found some kimono gear for cheap. I picked up a cool new obi and a yukata there. Trying to moderate and pace myself with just these two purchases; it's only day four after all. In the end, we did stay long enough in Harajuku to grab a crepe before riding the Yamanote loop line back to our place. 

Before going home, I met up with a friend of mine from high school at the train station. It was really great to see him even just for a half hour at a Starbucks before he had to go off to Chinese lessons. I had packed some omiyage (souvenirs) from Australia to give him, but then forgot to bring them with us on our big day. Steve, champion that he is, took the girls back to our apartment in the rain and then raced out again to bring the gifts back before my friend had to go. 

With the rainy weather outside, we opted to stay in for dinner, so I made a round of curry rice for everyone. The local convince store (called mai-basuketto which translates pretty directly to "My Basket") was a bit like a tiny grocery store and had everything we needed. We had been eating breakfast at home too, since our Tokyo place had a mini kitchen. Lots of thick Japanese bread toasted in the frypan on the induction stove and eggs for the girls while Steve and I enjoyed melon-pan and other convince store delicacies. 

The grey skies continued the next day, but we had an early morning and were on the Romance Car Train from Shinkjuku to the Hakone region for the day. We covered a lot of ground this day, and in hindsight would have been better off staying for a night in the district, but it is what it is. Even though we spent most of the day traveling, we really enjoyed things because it was a bit of a slower pace. The girls packed their bags and read books on the longer train stretches and I had a hand sewing project that I was working on too. 

When we got to Hakone, we did a cable car and then a sky rail up and over the mountains to Lake Ashi. At the lake we took a pirate ship ride around which was just so much fun. 

Too bad it was absolutely freezing and we couldn't spend more time outside. Still, just cruizing around the lake was lots of fun. We saw this red torii gate across the lake, but unfortunately it was too cloudy to see Mt Fuji at all. 

They were really embracing the pirate theme at the restaurant on the lake. We had skewers of meat and veg on sword shaped skewers (Rachel wanted to take ours home) and Steve had a beer in a barrel mug. Not a beer to get again, but a fun experience none the less. 

Steve did pick up the first of his souvenirs this day too, in the form of some locally brewed craft beer from the Hakone region, a place called Gora. Carried them home safely and enjoyed them over our nights in Tokyo. 

We made it back into Tokyo around six and met up with Sarah, her Stephen and Hugo for dinner. The cousins were happy to see each other and we had shabu shabu together. This was a really filling and delicious dinner. Japanese places aren't really equipped for "large groups" so we had the kids at one table and the four adults at another. I was a little nervous leaving the kids alone with the hot pot in the middle, but they did a great job of cooking for themselves. 

Rachel and Sophie are pretty used to this meal, since we have it at home at least once a month, and even though Sophie isn't as good with the chopsticks, the challenge of looking after cooking things herself really levelled her up. Us adults had sukiyaki flavour and yuzu (my fav!) as well as the kombu.  Delicious! Home to bed and sleep because the next day (still counting? We are up to day six right?) we went to Disney Sea! 

I love Disney Sea. It's just such a fun place. I love the balance of things to look at and do in-between the rides. I remember there being more shows, but I think Covid must have had an impact on that, which is to be expected. Overall though, we had a much better day here than we had at Universal Studios (though that wouldn't have been too hard really :P).

Knowing we wanted to spend most of the day there and the evening for the lights and fireworks shows, we thought we would take it easy in the morning and arrive later than the opening time. I'd been keeping an eye on the wait times on rides the previous two days via the app and it seemed to be pretty manageable and consistent, so we didn't feel that it would impact us too much to get there closer to ten than nine. 

In the end, we were up and ready to go, so we arrived just after nine anyway. We'd read that you weren't allowed outside food in, so we didn't pack, but we wish we had. Not that the food inside was outrageously expensive, but it would have been nice to have some healthier options to snack on in-between the meals (like the carrot sticks and apple slices I'd been taking on our previous days). 

One of the best things for the girls about Disney Sea was that they got to see their cousin Hugo again. Having other people there with us really did make the day easier and more fun. The kids could spend lots of time in line without complaining when they were all together, because they entertained each other quite happily. Having extra people also meant it was easier to split up and do rides and not have to worry about looking after kids so much. Disney Sea also has a great fast pass type system for rides and often a single rider line so you can skip queues pretty easily, or at least make them significantly shorter. 

I remembered the Aladdin area being really fun, but lots of it was closed sadly. I'm guessing they are preparing to re-design it for another Disney brand (Encanto maybe?) We spent loads of time in the Little Mermaid section because there is this excellent playground there with loads of things to explore and the kids just had lots of fun playing together. Sophie told me we could have left the three kids there to play for days and they would have been happy. 

There was a main show at 7:15pm that was staged on the main lake/water area in the park. They put out four huge barges that lit up and people danced and sang from, as well as a main light/screen/fireworks thing in the middle and the pirate ship from Peter Pan sailing around too. Everything lit up and hearing the classic Disney songs is just so fun. The girls had a great time, even though I was singing along to most things. 

That show ended up being so great we didn't really bother hanging around for the 8:30 fireworks, but just decided to head home. It had already been a long day for us and the kids and we had enjoyed ourselves immensely. 

Our next day was a chilled morning at home and then onto the train to visit my homestay family. I was so excited to be seeing them after 18 years. Steve had seen my homestay dad in 2017 when they met up in the States, and we had seen Kana in 2013 when Sophie was born, but all of them together - and my homestay mum and brother - it had really been a long time! 

We had such a delightful lunch together. My homestay dad was just the same, joking with me about how we had brought such horrible weather and now the BBQ plans had to change. 

He and Steve cooked outside while my homestay mum, Kana, the girls and I chatted inside and ate all the food. Sophie was delighted about how much meat there was, and Rachel couldn't wait for the veggies. 

The girls were a little shy at first, but they warmed up when my homestay mum produced a pack of origami paper. They quickly set about showing all they could do and creating origami to fill the whole table. My homestay brother, Yuta, dropped in briefly with his two girls (3 years and 1 year old). They only live a few mins walk away, but his younger daughter wasn't a happy camper, so they left again. It was a little weird to see a guy I remember mostly as a fairly awkward 15 year old come in with two children (wearing the baby carrier and everything!). Changes everywhere!

After we ate, Rachel showed off her balloon animal making skills and impressed everyone. Then my homestay family's lovely, if somewhat excitable, golden retriever, Amelie, came out to show us her tricks. She was very good and delighted the girls, but did take a while to settle down. 

Then it was suddenly over and we had to think about going. I had mentioned that we were not super prepared for the cold weather (no singlets for the girls and only a thin jacket for me), and that we would need to stop at a Uniqlo tomorrow to fix things. My homestay family immediately insisted on driving us to get decked out at their local Uniqlo, which was very handy. Then they drove us to visit another friend of mine who lives in Abiko. 

Saying goodbye was so sudden again and it really made me miss my Japanese family so much more. Even though I knew our time would be short, it had been so wonderful to be together again. 

We had dinner with my friend Michiko, who made us some delicious karaage which was sadly hard to eat because we were so full from the BBQ lunch we'd had. Again, it was beautiful to spend time with a long time friend. I've seen Michiko slightly more frequently than my homestay family because she's made a couple of trips to Australia in the last 15 years. She has unquenchable energy and love for life. 

Back into Tokyo with us on the train (I don't think I could ever get sick or riding on such efficient modes of transportation) and to bed for another night. 

Can't even remember what day we are up to of the trip, but it's now Sunday which is exactly a week after we left Australia. We enjoyed a sleep in and another great breakfast of eggs and toast. This was the last day of catching up with friends of mine from when I lived in Japan 20 years ago. 

Haruka was probably my closest friend from my time at high school in Japan, since we were in the same class and caught the same train to school each day. I haven't seen her since she came to our wedding in 2008, so it was really great to see her and meet her little four year old son, Toru. 

We met at a big park in Shinjuku, which we thought we could just walk through, but with Cherry Blossom season in full swing, the park was actually ticketed access only! We stood at the entrance reading the sign (both English and Japanese) that told us all the tickets were sold out for today wondering what we should do, when a group of obaasan (grandmas) walked past and told us that since we had kids with us, we'd be able to get in at the main gate. Knew we had those kids for a reason!

Anyway, we trekked down to the main gate and the security guards there saw our kids and waved us through. We adults still had to buy tickets, but the kids got in for free. Once in, we walked around admiring all the stunning flowers. The weather was finally warm and sunny (after four days of cold and grey and rain) and it was a beautiful day. 

Rachel was pretty happy trying to find all the different types of blossoms listed on the information flyer we got. Sophie was happy when I was catching Pokemon. Haruka's little boy, Toru, ran around everywhere asking "Where will we play?" which was pretty hilarious but understandable since there was no playground anywhere. We only stayed for about an hour or so before we knew it was time to wander out and find somewhere for lunch. 

Haruka told me that Toru didn't love rice, but would eat anything noodle related, so we ended up at a spaghetti place. Sophie was pretty happy to eat something not Japanese for a change, and it was delicious pasta. I had asparagus and bacon while Steve had a carbonara. Girls and Toru had spagbol. Rachel used her last two balloons at the restaurant to make a trumpet turtle armband and bird on a swing for Toru. 

All too soon time to say goodbye, so we wandered off to explore a bit more of Shinjuku (also known as "find the second hand kimono stores".) I found a good kimono place pretty quickly and got a few things (I think a haori, yukata and two packs of fabric off-cuts (one for Rachel!)). The girls got bored so Steve took them for a little walk up and back the street. I think we ended up finding one more hobby store for Sophie to get some more Pokemon in before we started feeling like needing a break. 

We did see Godzilla doing some roar-ing above the buildings of Shinjuku on the hour. 

Then I ended up taking the girls home and Steve took a train to explore Akihabara (Electric Town) for a couple of hours. This was the first time we really split up, and since we only had one wifi, it was somewhat risky, but we were pretty confident with the trains (particularly the Yamanote Loop Line) and the way home at that point that it was fine. I needed to do some washing and spend some time at the coin laundry drying everything anyway. 

We had dinner that night at a Katsu restaurant near our local station that was delicious, and let the girls explore the 100 Yen store there where we picked up some fun Japanese things. 

Last full day in Tokyo and we hit Asakusa early in the morning. Again, early was the right choice to miss the crowds. It did get busy pretty quickly, but we spent a couple of hours there eating lots of street food and just enjoying looking around at all the old-new mix of things that is Japan. 

Rachel's favourite thing was these candied fruit (like a toffee apple, but way more fruit options. I would rate the strawberries!) and Sophie loved the detour we took to find her some curry pan (curry bread) that turned out to have surprise cheese in it. 

I left Steve with the girls for a bit to visit another kimono shop and came back with my first ever hakama (skirt/pants to wear with kimono), a men's obi and some obi-jime. The shop I went to was hard to find on the third floor above another random shop and a sukiyaki restaurant. The guy inside was also very disinterested in me which was a complete 180 from the excellent service I'd had in Shinjuku the previous day. Still, a successful shop.

While Sophie was eating her curry-pan, Rachel and I looked in the shop across the street and she made a purchase of a small wooden cow daruma. The one in the shop was sitting on a flat cushion that you could also buy, but Rachel told me she could just sew her own, especially since we'd gotten fabric from the second hand kimono store and I had my housewife with us for the trip. 

After that, we walked over to the Skytree tower, even though it was booked out and we couldn't go up, it was still a fun walk and interesting to see. The walk over was fun too, because we found more cherry blossom trees and walked over a bridge, so we got to watch the blossoms falling into the water for a bit too. 

I think lunch that day was in a food court type place with lots of different places you could get food. Steve and I had tempura and cold udon noodles, Rachel got a bowl of raw salmon on rice and Sophie had karaage. 

We went to the Pokemon Centre in Skytree, and while the girls lingered for a long time, Sophie especially considering purchase options, we walked out without anything. 

Now it was my turn to adventure on my own while Steve took the girls home for the rest of the afternoon. I went off to Nippori to visit Fabric Town. 

It was actually very strange to be there because after a very busy Asakusa and Skytree, which were both packed full of tourists, Nippori was practically empty. The fabric stores had customers, both tourists and locals, but it was comparatively a ghost town. I had fun looking through the fabric and trying my best to be reasonable about things. 

One thing I did find was that I'm not great at shopping by myself for fabric, because I like to have someone else's input. Good thing that I had the wifi, and when Steve got back to our holiday place, he also had wifi. Though the fabric was so cheap, compared to Australian prices, I was pretty careful about the purchases, knowing that we still had another week of carting all our luggage around and whether I liked it or not, fabric is heavy! 

My only disappointment here was that I couldn't get any kimono fabric. I found only once place that had a potential bolt, but it was on the more expensive side. Steve was advocating for me to get it and have no regrets, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I left with some pretty fabric and hope for our time in Kyoto to deliver a bolt of kimono fabric for me. Stay tuned for what I make with the pretty pretty fabric!

Our last night in Tokyo we had dinner from mai-basuketto again. Sophie was feeling pretty over the choices (since the only onigiri she would eat was the plain rice, I can kind of understand her being over that food choice), but we found some frozen gyoza for her that I cooked up on the stove at home. Whew! Here is a photo of Rachel with her choice.

Yes, she had a bowl of raw salmon for lunch, and also raw salmon and king fish nigiri for dinner. I think she could live here quite happily; just saying. 

We spent the night repacking and shuffling bags around. Our purchases (mostly my slowly growing kimono acquisitions and fabric) had warranted a reshuffle of the suitcases. We had strategically packed two duffle bags in our suitcase for this purpose and one of them came out now. I'd be hoping to put it off, but it was the right choice to balance things out and make sure nothing was too heavy. 

The next morning we'd be off on an adventure to another part of Japan, but I think this post is probably already long enough, so I'll sign off until then. Thanks for reading! 

Japan 2024: Part 1

I'm thinking this will need to be two or more posts, or people will get sick of the travel stories and photos. Also, it's going to take me a while to get everything down and all the photos in place, so parts is probably what we will do. Get excited! 

It's been 16 years since Steve and I were in Kyoto for our honeymoon. 17 years since I was in Nagoya on Mission Megumi with Power to Change (then called Student Life or Campus Crusade). 18 since Steve and I visited Tokyo together. 20 years since I was at high school in Chiba, and 21 years since I first visited this beautiful and unique place called Japan. 

I'm not sure how the years have racked up so quickly but Japan has such a strong hold on my heart and I was so excited to be finally planning a trip back. There was lots of research and planning. The somewhat devastating news that the Japan Rail Pass most commonly used by tourists to travel the length and breadth of Japan was increasing in price (nearly double!) definitely changed some things. 

We talked to the girls all the time about our plans, the places we were going to stay and let them see the accomodation on booking.com when we had it locked in so they knew what things were going to look like. It was a tricky balance of managing expectations though and we did have some talks around how not to get lost in a busy train station and what to do if that did happen. 

I had a hugely busy term one at work, so very suddenly, Japan was here! We were packed with our suitcases and ready to head out the door on Easter Sunday morning. Two weeks in Japan here we come! My excitement was almost uncontainable. Rachel was quickly sick of me randomly exclaiming "Going to Japan!" 

When we got there, actually morning we left, I chose to turn Facebook off on my phone and actively be present with my family for the trip. We didn't take too many photos (well, I mean we did, but not the "insta-worthy" ones that people line up for), we didn't spend time checking emails or messages. It was so fabulous to have the screen break and I wish I were better at doing it more often. 

The first day of getting there seemed to go for ages, We left home just after 8am, and arrived at our first accomodation in Osaka at 10 Japan time, which is 11pm here in Australia. I have to say, I do love a check in process that is type in the code they gave you to directly access your room and don't talk to anyone. We just had a small single room with tatami floors and futon since it was only two nights. Just the smell of the tatami and lying on the futon was enough to fill me with joy after a long day of travel. Japan!

Day two started and it was my birthday. I was in Japan! Couldn't be happier. We had decided to beat the plane fatigue by facing the day head on and going to Universal Studios Japan. I had talked to a dad from school who said that it was totally worth it. To be honest, I'm not sure it was, but maybe it was timing. We were there right in the middle of school and uni holidays, as well as peak tourist season. There were so many people at the gates just getting in. It was only a half hour train ride, so the early morning wasn't too much of a problem and we were there at 8am, but with the tens of thousands of other people as well. 

The first thing we did was get our time slot for Mario World. You can't push that button on the app until you are there in the park, so we pushed it with everyone else as we surged through the gates and got our time: 4pm. It was going to be a long day. 

There was some stuff to do, but I'll be honest, it was all a bit overrated. The ride queues were easily two hours, so while Steve and Sophie suffered in the parking-lot line up for the Backdrop, Rachel and I wandered around the more "kids area". We waited 40 mins for a ride but mostly took photos with random things around the place and found our first beautiful sakura tree to appreciate. 

The best thing about Universal was the random stunt show we went into at three in the afternoon. There was so many stunts with stuff on fire, people-zip lining across and falling into a "lake" from dramatic heights and being "shot at". It was all in Japanese, so our understanding of it was limited, but there was lots of hilariously dramatic hair flipping from the heroine and people doing all sorts of punch ups, escapes and jet skis making everyone in the front three rows wet. Fun! 

Eventually it was time for Mario World, and I will say they have done a good job with it. The way everything moves really does make it feel like you are in the game. Stacks of stuff lights up too, just for fun. They were selling armbands at an additional cost of $50 for some extra experiences, but it was such a rip off we didn't get one. Girls are on the fence about whether or not we made the right choice there, but I stand by it. 

Coming home, we stopped at the convince store for some cup ramen and karaage to eat back at our place along with a slice of cake and red bean mochi to celebrate my birthday. Everyone was happy to be in bed that night. 

Day three and we were off to Himeji to visit the castle. One slight delay to take a photo with this random cow seat that we passed by on the way to the station. Rachel and her affinity for cows continues well into this trip. 

We left pretty early with all our stuff and took the train down, before leaving our big bags in the coin lockers at the station to pick up on our way back through. Steve got to share his love of Grape Fanta with the girls as they found a vending machine with the special drink. The way that the girls got so good at finding Grape Fanta in a vending machine at a glance was hilarious. 

Himeji is as picturesque as ever. The walk up the main street to the castle had lots of shops to look at and lunch options to consider and we were at the gates right after they opened. I was glad we were there early, because when we left the lines were much longer. We missed most of them and really enjoyed exploring all the levels of the castle. 

The girls had their cameras and were having fun finding the "sharingann" symbols on the roof tiles. The day was clear, if a bit bright in the sun and the sakura blooms were getting underway in the trees around the castle. People were picnicking down under them, and we saw a number of people taking family portraits with their small dogs dressed in various outfits. Strange new trend maybe? We also took some funny photos out the front of the castle. 

Walk back there were a stack of market stalls set up, so we had lots of street food snacks and then lunch before making it onto our shinkansen. 

These trains are so amazing - super fast and so frequently running. There is no other way to travel long distances in Japan. More space on a shinkansen than in an airplane. We did see Mt Fuji through the windows as we sped past, though the day was pretty grey.

We managed to navigate our way through a train change at Tokyo station about 5:30 in the evening and then a long-ish (15 min) walk through the streets to our new home for the week. Our place to stay in Tokyo had a toilet from the future that opened automatically when you opened the door to the room, and emitted a strange glowing blue light. It was cool, but also strangely noisy when you are trying to go discreetly in the night and not wake up anyone else. Otherwise the place was small, but had what we needed. More tatami and futon to sleep on, a small kitchen and even a couch to lounge on too. 

We had another convince store dinner that first day since carting all the big suitcases around didn't make anyone feel amazing, and the girls were still catching up on sleep. I'm going to leave you here and continue on with Tokyo next time I post. Let the Japan recaps continue for as long as possible! 

Travel Pillow

April held some pretty exciting travel plans for us, so as part of the fun, I made a travel pillow. 

I used a tutorial from this blog, which was a great starting point, though I found the end product a bit long/big when I tried it on. Then, I even when to the effort of pulling out all the stuffing and making it smaller before I finished it, which is the kind of thing I would have never thought I would do. 

I added a clip on the front, since I remember from our last big overseas travels that the one we borrowed had one and it was so useful. Not only did it mean that I could clip it on and sleep on it without it moving too much, but also made it so easy to just clip on to the strap on our bag. One less thing to carry when I'm juggling bags and kids at the airport. 

This travel pillow was made with a pillow case that matched the doona I used to make this dress back in 2018. I took the time to unpick the cute label and reuse it for authenticity. I figured since I was going to sleep on it, using pillow case material was the best thing. I can't say I ended up using it too much, and I would definitely revise the shape for next time, but this served the purpose on our overnight flight home last week, so it's a win.

The Tragedy of Harmony Day 2024

Usually on Harmony Day, I just bust out a yukata or kimono. It's easy, it's beautiful and I love it. This year, I felt I wanted to do something a little different. The school I'm at has a largeish population of students from India, so I thought it would be cool to wear a saree. 

I've got a saree, which I've worn before (see here), but it's very sheer, so not really 100% suitable for a school. Also, I've since learned that red is a very "bride at a wedding" colour and now that's mostly all I hear this saree screaming at me when I take it out. I'm hopeful I'll wear it again, since it is beautiful, but not really right for Harmony Day. Luckily there is someone in Salisbury selling saree and I was able to get a lovely cotton/silk blend one. 

When I bought it, I did ask if it was ok that I would be wearing it, wanting to be respectful to other cultures. The lady I bought it from assured me that anyone seeing me wear it would just think it was beautiful and be happy that I had taken the time to wear it. She did also check that I knew how to put it on properly. 

The most exciting thing about buying the saree, was when I found that the length of fabric actually comes with a section that is designed to be cut off and made into the blouse to match. So cool. My original plan had just been to wear a t-shirt underneath, but I came home more delighted than ever knowing that not only did I have a beautiful new saree, I also had one that allowed me to do some sewing. 

I watched a few tutorials on saree blouse sewing on YouTube and examined the blouse I already had before making up a pattern and giving it a go. I was pretty happy with how it turned out, though I could have cut the neck line at the back slightly lower. 

Then I practiced putting it on. Just like with my yukata and kimono, wearing a saree takes practice. Once you've got the hang of the pleating, most of it is very straight forward. This saree has a beautiful hand painted section on the palla, which if I were wearing it the ordinary drape style, I could have loose on my arm for people to see. Even with it wrapped around, it's beautiful. 

For those still bothering to read this (somewhat long and uninteresting post), I'm wearing this in a reverse mermaid style drape. It had the most coverage and was most practical for a full day of teaching. 

Fun times!

Rachel actually helped me take these photos and she amused herself in between taking photos of me by taking selfies and then photo bombing every chance she could. 

Kids! 

Now that you've read all this way, I bet you are thinking "where is the tragedy?" and getting ready to accuse me of misleading click-bait-esque titles. Stay with me friends, the tragedy is that I did not get to wear this beautiful outfit on Harmony Day this year. Despite my organisation, I was pretty terribly sick come the 21st of March and I spent the day (as I had the previous day) lying around the house in pain. I'm glad I had practiced wearing the saree and thus have these photos, but actually wearing it to an occasion will have to wait for another time. 

Greek Heritage

Harmony Day, celebrated in March each year, is when schools encourage their students to celebrate their heritage. It's about recognising we are different, but that together we can all be a part of the same community. I love it. It's a glimpse of the world that God wants for us - every tribe, every tongue, every nation, coming together. 

Previously, the girls have worn yukata since I have so many on hand, but this year they wanted something a bit more about who they are, rather than just another culture that we also love. Luckily we have Greek heritage, and the girls (particularly Sophie) are super into Greek myths and legends, mostly thanks to the Percy Jackson book series. 

So I offered to make them a Greek costume, and when I stumbled across this post/tutorial on Make it Love it, the girls were on board. I did specify that I was probably only going to make the dress, though they still have dreams they will get a cape, bow and quiver too.

To the cupboard and the plethora of bedsheets I've been given to find what would suit a Greek costume. Turns out I had plenty to choose from and quickly transformed them into some flowing gowns. The girls chose the trim from my stash so no purchasing anything for this project. 

After we were finished though, Sophie told me nervously that she wasn't sure she wanted to wear it after all. Not that she didn't love it, but talking with kids at school, she'd noticed that many of them weren't going to bother dressing up. While I'm sad about it, I know the reality that when kids get to grade 5 and 6, they are somewhat less excited about things that could bring potential embarrassment. I did however, specify that since I'd made this costume, if she wanted something for halloween, or book week in August, that this was likely to be it. Sophie was happy with that and hopefully some of her friends will decide that costumes can be cool so she feels comfortable wearing it then. We shall see. 

These were very straight forward to sew, Rachel's was trimmed with some random satin bias binding in my stash from who knows where, and Sophie was trimmed with self made bias tape left over from my tragic Harmony Day costume. You'll have to come back another day to read about that. I'm not over it yet. 

Majikarp Bag

Sometimes and idea is kicking around for a long time before anything happens with it, and such was the case with this Majikarp Bag. Sophie's birthday was coming up, and I had leftover orange fabric from making my jumpsuit for Steve's office Christmas Party. Perfect timing. 

I'd actually wanted to make Sophie this bag for a while, knowing she'd love it. Additionally, she often needed a bag for jiu-jitsu, but I put off making it, since I didn't have the right fabric on hand. 

All that had changed after the jumpsuit, and so with, I think, two weeks to go before the birthday, I set about making the bag as stealthily as one can. 

The bag itself was just a very simple drawstring situation, though I wanted to line it so the inside looked every bit as beautiful as the outside. I looked at a few reference images of Majikarp Pokémon online and then did a bit of sketching and planning. I used leftover orange fabric (from the aforementioned jumpsuit) some random white which was a bedsheet and yellow fabric that was still remaining from a friend's wedding table cloth set (that they gifted us before 2010 when I used them as impromptu curtains after we first moved into our house and in other places like these Madeline Costumes in 2016!).

I padded the fins to give them a bit of structure and then put all the pieces of the outer bag together. Just had to sew some fin details on in black before sewing the whole thing up. 

I was lucky enough to have the cord for the drawstring in my stash thanks to random donations from people over the years, so I didn't even need to go to Spotlight for anything. Very happy with the end result, which I photographed late at night when I finished while Sophie was asleep. 

Sophie loves her Majikarp bag and now uses it regularly as her jiu-jitsu bag. It's big enough to fit her water bottle, snack and book easily. 

Bean Bags

Teaching Japanese this year, I wanted to promote this relatively new subject with an all grades cultural festival day. I had been planning it for term two, but the deputy organised for a group of Japanese students to visit the school in the last week of term one and asked me to move it forward. 

So I did. With Japanese students here, it made sense to make it a mixed Australian and Japanese cultural day. This worked well, because it meant that for a first time event, teachers weren't being asked to do completely new things all day, but a mix of things they were familiar with and other new things. 

Anyway, one of the activities I have planned is a Japanese game called たまいれ (tamaire) which translates as "ball in". It's a game where you have a basket on a pole and then the kids throw bean bags in. The team with the most bean bags (or the team that does it in the shortest amount of time) is the winner. You need roughly 100 bean bags per team, so I asked the sports teacher how many we had. 

She said we had about 25 without holes in them, so I asked if we could order more. I was relieved that she ordered them early, because I'm an organised person and it makes sense to me to have everything ready to go three weeks in advance. I was less relieved when she told me she'd ordered 50. This was a fair bit short of the minimum of 100 I had said we needed, but unfortunately those 50 bean bags had cost $400, so there was no way to order more and still have any money left for the rest of the year. 

What is one to do, but solve the problem with sewing. 

I looked through the material I had in my stash for something sturdy enough to become bean bags and found two of the blue stripe curtains that I'd made when we first moved into the house. You can read about them here if you are really interested. These were not in use anymore, so I figured they would make great bean bags. 

Cutting them out was incredibly satisfying, because I could snip and rip. I watched/listened to the Emma miniseries while I did it and ended up with 240 squares of fabric to make into 120 bean bags. It took somewhat less time than I anticipated to actually sew the bean bags, and I did bother to snip the corners to make turning them out easier. 

Both girls helped me to turn the bean bags, and I did a huge chunk of them in church listening to the sermon one Sunday morning. Then I came home and filled each one with 80grams of rice which happened to be on special at Coles that week, making it the most cost effective thing to fill them with. 

Ten hours of work and $20 in materials (only the rice, since the material was recycled), and I'd estimate that these would have cost $300, which is considerably cheeper than the 50 we ordered for school. Mine are also environmentally friendly, since both the cotton fabric and rice inside will compost when we are done with them. 

Not a bad effort for one weekend and now, I can rest easy knowing the bean bag toss station on the cultural festival day has more than enough bean bags to function as it should.