The Fashion Project

So, I've been tagged in the "What's in Your Bag?" thread (thanks Anya!) and now I get to share my enormous school bag with you all. I don't carry a purse anymore, thanks to my workaholic lifestyle. I now carry my school bag everywhere I go, because I've gotten used to having the space for all the little things I feel the need to have with me all the time, and because I usually don't have a day off without a private lesson, and I need to have materials with me for those. Also, if I'm carrying the bag on my day off, it's convenient for shoving in any purchases I make, eliminating the need for a plastic shopping bag, and I can feel good about that. Also I hate having a separate bag for every item I buy, and here in Japanland, they feel the need to separate different kinds of items into different bags. (For example, if you go to a convenience store and buy a cold soda and a warmed-up sandwich, they will automatically put them into separate bags. The same thing will happen if you buy a hot can of coffee and a yogurt.)

But, I digress. Here are some close-up photos of my school bag, and all the things I carry in it:

These are my supplies for the public schools. I go to three different schools four days a week, teaching grades 1-6, so I have to carry everything I need to teach any lesson on any given day. The lesson plans are the same for all the schools, but since I'm only at the school once or twice a week and each school has 2-3 classes of each grade, not every class is doing the same lesson on the same day.
What I carry to do that, is from the top:
-A zippy bag with all the flashcards, stickers, and game materials I need, plus post-it notes and paperclips.
-Pink polka dot bag has stamp pads and stamps, a teacher essential.
-Clear plastic folders divided into Schedules and Maps, Lesson Planning (for future lessons), and This Week's Lesson (for whatever lessons I'm doing that week). I also have a separate folder for each school, with records describing the lessons.
-My notebook on the left, with notes on lessons, from meetings, and other important things, and the textbook for the school district I work for, Sumida. This year, Sumida introduced its own textbook series for the 5th and 6th grades. All the lesson plans follow this text for those grades.

These two little bags follow me into every handbag or purse, because they contain very important papers and those irritatingly necessary items that if you're caught without, you've got to either buy at a convenience store, or go without and suffer.







A close-up of the contents of these items include:
-Tylenol and headache tablets
-SD card adapters
-Hanko (or "signature seal"), mine is pink!
-Ponytail bands and bobby pins, nail file
-Sewing pin (for stubborn scarves), safety pins
-Chapstick, lipstick, folding comb
-The inside of my train pass case, revealing my Pasmo card. It's rechargeable!








Last but not least, a close-up of the other more mundane daily items that I absolutely must carry at all times. If I were to switch the necessities from my school bag into a handbag, these are the items that would go:

-Pencil case with mechanical pencil, wood pencil, black ink pen, red ink pen, eraser. I use them all!
-The singularly most important item ever: my Gaspard et Lisa schedule book. I would wander the streets like a madman without it.
-Under that, my "ideas" notebook, which differs from my company notebook because it contains scribbles about my latest novel ideas.
-Keys to apartment and car.
-Lovely hot pink cellphone with heart stickers.
-Minnie Mouse train pass holder. It was free.
-Embroidered wallet. I bought it in the station for $5. Ha!
-Atrix hand lotion. Teachers must wash their hands at least 7 times a day, so they get a bit dry.
-Best free gift ever: fleece pocket for both hot and cold canned or small bottled drinks. It was a giveaway item that came with a bottle of Boss Silky Black, my preferred bottled coffee beverage. (It's zero calorie because it's just the coffee, none of the yucky fake soy-derivative milk substitute and cancer-inducing artificial sweetener.)

That's it! Now I'm tagging Creative Like a Fox (that's you, Liz), Zaufishan, Sweet Success, and Nova Rusma. Reveal to us your secrets!