(sorry for the lateness of this post)
Yoshio and Tamiko came over to our apartment on Wednesday. We all hurried to clean up the apartment, and put away all of our school shrapnel. One of the many nice things about a small house, is that it takes a very short amount of time to clean.
We talked for a long time, particularly about our school work. Aunt Tamiko is very interested in our homeschooling system. We also showed them pictures of things we kids like to do. Mom showed them pictures of Elias’ Eagle Scout project, and pictures of my past shows. They were very interested, and we had a great time together! We are going to have lunch with them and Nozomi’s family on Saturday.
Thursday Mom made Elias’ edible love letter, spaghetti! Mom makes INCREDIBLE homemade spaghetti sauce! We all enjoyed a taste of home, eaten with chopsticks.
Thursday evening we took the train to Hon-Atsugi, to try out a free, weekly Japanese class. We got there early, so we stopped to have dinner nearby. Bayus says, “I squish your head!”
The sunset was lovely.
The Japanese teacher was very kind, and we laughed a lot. We are definitely beginners!
The Japanese class was held in a kind of mall, and we enjoyed some window shopping after class. Mom found an amazing craft store, with adorable fabrics that were (of course) different prints than we’ve ever seen at our local stores. Mom and I did a lot of squealing 😛 Dawn B., we will look for Sashiko fabric next class.
There was also an entire section for making kimonos! It had two walls devoted to the special fabrics, a display for the flower decals, and a section for all of the accessories. It was super cool!
They also had a section devoted to needle felting!
I found a second hand store, and found this gorgeous jacket for only twelve dollars! It was very plastic however, and therefore just the slightest bit to small. I am now on the look out for a cute, brown, leather jacket.
Oh yeah, one other thing happened on Thursday… an earthquake! It was a very small earthquake, and no one was hurt, so it was pretty cool. I was sitting on our makeshift couch, doing school, when I noticed I was sliding back and forth. I have apparently been a part of many earthquakes, but I did not feel any of them, so this was my first earthquake. It was really exciting, and then Mom told us she wanted us to watch some earthquake videos on Brain Pop. That brought our excitement down a little bit.
Ok, sayonara my friends!
-Hannah
Love the fabric pictures! Thanks!
Our pleasure! The fabrics here are squeal worthy 😀
I love getting to follow along on your journey! Thank you for the updates and for the laughs. 🙂
We’re here all night! (no, seriously. The main portion of our day runs during your evening and night)
I cant decide what was more exciting…the awesome fabric or the earthquake!! Being a California girl myself…earthquakes are so yesterday, so I vote the fabric!! Amazing prints, bring it all home please!!
Mom would gladly honor your request… Dad is the party pooper that brings our attention to suitcase space. He can quickly convince me when he threatens to leave my clothes behind to save space 🙁
“School shrapnel!” What an apt description. I love it! And I like calling a person’s favorite food their “edible love letter.” May I quote you??
Thank you, and absolutely 🙂 I would be honored. Just be sure to mention my name 😉
Hannah … I had to laugh when I saw your descriptive term “school shrapnel”! I never heard shrapnel used that way. Great word picture, and funny too! The fabric store is amazing! A kimono section … of course … yet so different to our eyes. And what in the world is needle felting? I thought of the bigger earthquake I heard of not to long ago in Japan, were you near it? I might find out as I am catching up after camping, and then unloading and cleaning out the trailer so it can be covered for the Winter! I love seeing all your faces and the things you share!
Needle felting is popular in the United States as well (among crafters), but the books that Mom found were very cute 🙂 Needle felting is an art form, consisting of stabbing (with a special, needle felting needle) a large amount of wool roving (this is the sheep wool, after it has been carted, but before it has been twisted into yarn), over and over again. The stabbing makes little knots in the roving, and after hours of stabbing yourself, instead of the wool, the wool will begin to stiffen in you dried blood, and depending on where you stab the wool, you can make different shapes. (My Mom says that I have to clarify, that you are not actually supposed to stab yourself, or draw blood)
No, we were not in a larger earthquake. This earthquake was the largest earthquake that we have been in so far.
Thank you so much for reading!
Hannah … you are too funny!
I am glad you understand my sense of humor 😉 Thank you soo much for reading along!