A Quilter's Paradise

Last Friday, I went to the 2011 Pacific International Quilt Festival at the Santa Clara Convention Center with my aunt.

While waiting for the doors to open at 10a.m., I saw a woman wearing a quilted jacket and other women holding quilted bags or ‘Quilt Festival’ bags they purchased with their admission tickets. They were all ready for the vendors. This was clearly the place to be.

My aunt and I started at one end of the Convention Center and had to be sure not to skip any rows on our way through the show. Six hours and hundreds of quilts later, we ended up on the other side of the building, looking at the last quilts before we’d call it a day.

We even picked up a new project, called ‘needle felting,’ from a vendor. Basically, you take a piece of wool and use a very sharp, thin needle to work the wool into fabric to make your project look more real, or at least a little fluffy. We’re working on Christmas pillows, but the lady who demonstrated the technique to us was working on a beautiful quilt filled with needle felted llamas, foxes, bears, and other animals.

I liked seeing the Japanese quilts in the international section of the show. We also saw quilts from New Zealand, the U.K., and Israel among others.

While I’m not a quilter (yet), I was very impressed by the creativity, time, and patience I know must have gone into creating a lot of the quilts at the show. I don't think you have to be a quilter to appreciate a show like this.

My aunt and I sat down for much needed drinks before leaving the Convention Center around 4:45p.m. 

On the way out, we commented on how we hadn’t even seen the light of day because we got there so early and left so late.

And we were fine with that.

Quilt of 1,000 cranes, created after the March 11th disaster in Japan

How one woman decided to preserve her grandmother's wedding dress - SO creative and beautiful

Our favorite quilt - all hand made

'Hey, I know this place!'

Another quilt made after the earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

Helping hands

'Mighty Departure' - all hand done

A cute kimono quilt

Yes, this is actually quilted believe it or not!

Better Late Than Never!

These are some photos from a BEAUTIFUL wedding I went to in Japan last November. I bought a kimono for the event and got to experience a traditional Japanese wedding for the first time. The bride was one of the teachers at my base school and a good friend of mine.

At one point in the beginning, the wedding party went into a small room with a fancy altar (adorned with fresh fruits among other things) and drank sake out of really cute little cups. The wedding was definitely a highlight of my time in Japan.

Another Tuesday night with Kazumi-san

Every Tuesday night brings something new and exciting at my Japanese teacher's house. When I first started going there, about two years ago, we studied Japanese a lot more than we do now. Recently, we've been spending a good amount of our time together just chatting about things, like what's going on in the news, and showing each other our new hobbies. Last night was no different. Even though the outside of her house is still partially under reconstruction due to the earthquake, and things are scattered around inside, she has managed to make each one of our meetings just as special as before.
 

Rice topped with chicken, salmon, eggs, and vegetables.



Homemade banana bread. Delicious.:)

Dinner.

A 25-year-old bottle of umeshu that my Japanese teacher made, forgot about, and rediscovered after the big earthquake. Umeshu is a Japanese liqueur made from sugar, shochu (alcohol), and ume fruits.

"I Love Shiny."

This is called a "haori" coat. It is a light coat that is worn over a kimono to protect it from bad weather.





September Days in Tokyo

During Silver Week (Japanese holiday from September 19th-23rd) my ALT friend Ben and I decided to go to Tokyo for a few days.  We met on Sunday, but I actually arrived Saturday afternoon and met with some friends from Sophia University, who I tutored in Santa Clara last summer (see picture).  After roaming around their campus, we went out for dinner, drinks, and karaoke-always a good time!  I met Ben on Sunday afternoon.  After grabbing some dinner and getting settled at our hotel, the adventures began!



1) Tokyo Tower was the first stop. Built in 1958, it's 1,091 feet tall, the world's tallest self-supporting steel tower! We skipped the long line for the elevators and decided to walk instead (well, not really-we actually waited in the line for maybe 20 minutes because we thought it was the line for people who wanted to walk, but it wasn’t bad because the whole time we could smell fresh crepes from a small stand that was near the line). We finally managed to find the stairs and up we went. We made it to the first observation deck (about 600 steps). Our reward was a laminated wallet-size card that says “Certificate” at the top with a little blurb about our accomplishment and a funny little animation in the corner. Score…I guess. I wanted to do the climb during the day because I thought the view would be better but I was actually really happy we decided to go at night. The view from the observation deck was amazing and so was seeing the tower lit up. After we made our way back down, we headed to the Blue Note in Roppongi for dinner. I hadn’t heard of this place until Ben mentioned it but I was so glad we checked it out! It’s a small venue where we got a nice table off to the side and watched C.O.E.D. (Chronicles of Every Diva), a Jazz group from Los Angeles.

2) After grabbing some delicious chocolate chip scones and fruit muffins from a small café near our hotel (the Oak Hotel) the next morning, we headed to Shinjuku. Here, we explored the Meiji shrine. The entrance is through a 36-foot torrii (gate), the largest in the country, built from 1,600-year-old Japanese cypress trees imported from Taiwan. After passing through the torrii, we moseyed around the Inner Garden and eventually found the shrine. The whole area was really quiet and peaceful, nothing like the busy Takeshita Dori street we explored after.  I had a maiko appointment at a studio in Harajuku at 2:00p.m. and we didn’t want to be late, so after seeing the shrine (and watching 2 wedding processions there!) we stopped by the Softbank store (the store has a bunch of English-speaking staff and Ben had some questions about his phone so I decided to speak to someone too, just to clarify my plan. I’m not sure if that was the best idea because I discovered that my bill for the first month was about $192.00. Yikes!:/)

This is how my maiko appointment went:

 First, I chose a kimono. There were 60 to choose from, each made up of different colors and designs!  I chose a black one with pink flowers outlined in gold. Next, I selected three poses for the photo session. I chose two standing poses [one with a fan and one with an umbrella] and one sitting pose. Then I changed into a thin, white robe and the intense makeup session began! After tying my hair back, the man and woman who worked at the studio began applying a Vaseline-like base all over my face and shoulders. Next, my face and shoulders were painted white with a huge, thick brush. Then came the white powder, which gave the paint a finished look. Next came the eyes-the man applied black liquid eyeliner to my lids, attached fake eyelashes on top, and smeared a little dab of red paint under my eyes. The red lipstick was the finishing touch. My eyes had been closed for about 10 minutes at this point.  When the man moved away from me and I saw myself in the mirror, I was totally shocked but definitely amused!