If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
I wrote on twitter that I’m having woes with the UK tax office. I’m trying to apply for certain benefits I’m entitled to like child aid. But not having paid any tax for the last 4 years is making it difficult. It’s as if I didn’t exist to them. And to a certain exent I haven’t.
Even though I’m English and was born in England, I’ve had to answer questions like:
When did you first come to the UK?
Who supported you?
Did you keep in touch with friends and family?
How did you keep in touch with them?
It’s very bizarre and is worth thinking about if you ever decide to go abroad with an eye towards returning one day.
My two year old daughter lied to me for the first time today. She wanted to have a look at the bath we were running behind closed doors. So she told me she needed to go to the toilet and then when we went in merely stared at the running water.
I didn’t expect her to lie to me until she reached 4 or 5. I am in shock.
How about this photo of an insect I found hiding in an orange tree in my garden in Japan? It allowed me to get really close and take a lot of photos.
Eventually I must have got too close as it discovered it had wings and flew off. This surprised me so much that I dropped my camera on the pavement and scratched the LCD badly.
Still I`m really happy with this shot and my new insect model. I shall call him George and hug him and squeeze him. If anyone knows what it is, I`d be very interested to know.
I had a job in England which didn`t start until June 30th. I had the keys to my new appartment and it was near-impossible to find temporary work for only 3 weeks so I came back to see my family in Japan. Actually I came back two weeks ago but I`ve been quietly humming happily in the meantime.
The first time Isabelle saw me after 2 months, she was afraid of me. She hid behind mum and wouldn`t let me come near her. After about 2 hours, she came to like me again. Mainly through slapstick routines -　she loves them. I`m a bit worried though - I`m breeding her to like violence. She`s an introvert and fond of violence which means I`m bringing up a psycopath.
The visa for Mrs Quaisi was sorted out. It meant filling in a 17 page form, providing a small mountain of documentary evidence, giving them 500 quid and waiting a mere 3 days for the application to be confirmed. That`s Japanese (or maybe English?) efficency for you.
Now we`re sending off clothes and toys by ship to the new flat in England and trying to tidy up four years of life in Japan into small suitcases, boxes and bags. On the plane into Japan I brought a nearly empty suitcase and bag so that I would have more space to carry on the return flight. Between me and the wife we have 60 kilos allowance. I don`t think it`s enough.
I really love being back in England. Things that others hate, I have come mostly to love or tolerate. And there are plenty of things different to Japan:
Trees
Grass
Parks within walking distance
Tolerable warmth
Conversations I can understand
The general sense that I know how to do or get something I want
I can read everything
Of course my family are thousands of miles away which is a great discomfort but what I really like is how we are finally becoming self sufficient or getting on the path to self-sufficiency. I’ve got a lovely little flat and a job and it’s up to us to succeed or fail. It’s the first time in a long time that I’ve been in this position and although it’s a little scary, it’s very liberating and empowering.
And it’s all finally coming together. Readers of my twitter page, will know I found a job in Bournemouth. I’m near to signing a contract for a two bedroom place nearby. And I’ve filled in and photocopied countless documents to fulfill the visa application requirements for Reiko which I’m sending off to Japan tomorrow.
All going well, I should see her pretty soon. And I can’t wait.
I’m having lots of interviews and finding that the people who interview me are looking positively at my time teaching English in Japan. After analysis, I can agree. There are stories about teachers who come back to their country four years behind other graduates in their career. Personally I found I had more transferable skills coming back than I had when I left there. Especially:
Presentation Skills: Teaching a lesson is a 45 minute presentation which I did 5-8 times a day.
Leadership Skills: Leading up to 40 students through activities.
Teamwork: Experience of working in a cross-cultural team.
The thing I got the most out of it is LEARN JAPANESE!!!. This skill alone sets you apart from 98% of the other jobhunters on the market. You should be aiming for at least level 3 of the Japanese Language Proficiency Test. Each level up you pass, there are 4, the greater your ability to get jobs where you can use that skill and the better your time in Japan will be too.
I’m entering my second week back in England and I’m starting to get used to it all again. I’ve had a couple of setbacks - I still bow when I say sorry and I’ve walked into an office and said, “Konnichiwa”. On the whole it’s all flowing back.
4 years is a long time. Friend’s faces have changed - getting longer, wider, losing hair, gaining hair it’s very disconcerting.
And the food. I’m eating much more heavy food - roast dinners, fried breakfasts and fish and chips. I walked into what used to be a fish and chip shop and found I’d walked into a Chinese. I asked them if they did fish and chips and they did but it wasn’t great. I played pitch and putt with my friends and afterwards we went to a proper fish and chips restaurant. I had a pea fritter too which was heavenly. It all was. Rule of thumb: If you put it to your mouth and you don’t semi gag on the vinegar, you haven’t put enough on.
I’m having daily conversations with Reiko and the baby through Skype. If I didn’t have that, I think I’d go crazy. It’s great seeing Belle on the videocall and we can chat through it discussing jobs and other business.
