JLPT N5 Victory!

Great news, folks!

I recently mentioned that I had taken the JLPT N5 exam for the second time back in July. My results arrived yesterday, and I can now confirm that I passed.

I'm very pleased to have a wee qualification in Japanese. Obviously, N5 is the lowest level, but it's definitely a nice place to start and great to have a small sense of achievement regarding my time here in Japan. I'll probably attempt to do the subsequent level (N4) in the future, too.

Very pleased, and thank you to everyone who sent me their regards concerning this exam.

Meet Eigo-chan (英語ちゃん) and Eigo-kun (英語くん)!

Earlier this year, I started to develop a pair of mascots for my English lessons at elementary school. I'd like to introduce you all to Eigo-chan and Eigo-kun!

Eigo-chan (英語ちゃん)!

Eigo-chan (英語ちゃん) and Eigo-kun (英語くん):

Elementary school English mascots.

Eigo-chan (英語ちゃん) and Eigo-kun (英語くん) basically both mean "English-friend" as female and male, respectively. Eigo-chan is characterised as a hard-working English student who wants to become fluent. Her brother, Eigo-kun, is a "yankee" - a very negative Japanese stereotype of a troublemaker - and is a terrible student who only enjoys terrorising his sister. The pair are supposed to be marshmallow people.

You might be wondering where the hell I came up with this. The short answer is that I don't really know, but that I initially just drew an androgynous blob with a face during a lesson which evolved into Eigo-chan. With the first character made and being used to explain grammar points, I quickly developed a male version in Eigo-kun, and the characters just appeared in of themselves because of the designs I had made.

While Eigo-kun was always characterised with his stern brow and baseball cap, the students added the ribbon and rosy cheeks to Eigo-chan themselves while doodling on the board after a lesson. I kept those elements ever since. Unfortunately, both designs are frequently met with accusations that they're basically a rip-off of the video-game character Kirby (when in reality they're far closer to Dizzy of ZX Spectrum fame).

Early appearances of Eigo-chan and Eigo-kun.

Eigo-chan lacks her ribbon and rosy cheeks that the student's added in.

Eigo-chan in colour for the first time!

The colours were determined purely by those available for the white-board at the time.

The primary function of the two characters is to explain grammar points. I usually doodle the characters (the basic design makes them quick to reproduce) and affix English sentences to demonstrate certain grammar points. It's a fairly straight-forward and effective strategy which stops all of the grammar explanations simply coming directly from me.

Illustrating some easy grammar points for children.
The children can try to read the sentences for themselves
or read them out loud, depending on the activity.

Of course, the secondary function is purely for entertainment.

Eigo-kun torments his sister.
The text reads; "I don't like Eigo-chan!"

In-between classes, I often doodle little comics of the characters which follow a very basic "Tom and Jerry" gimmick. Eigo-kun is seen harassing or about to terrorise Eigo-chan in some way. Eigo-chan is invariably upset at this. The setups are increasingly elaborate and ridiculous. However, another element is introduced which turns the tables on Eigo-kun. In the examples below, a spiky weight hangs precariously over Eigo-kun (with scissors on the rope), and a bullied Eigo-chan decides to become a body-builder within a week to scare off Eigo-kun. Often I will draw the setup and the kids will draw the denouement, such as in the case of the body-builder scenario below.

Eigo-chan has fallen victim to all manner of abuse at the hands of Eigo-kun.

...which leads to Eigo-kun about to get his comeuppance.
Students often draw their own conclusions to these scenes.

Of course, occasionally some of the more "enthusiastic" kids (usually the kids) may take over and vandalise the pictures somewhat. Often my cartoons are made ever more extreme. In the case below, an unrelated picture of Nessie has been turned into a giant snake. Sometimes this requires a little bit of trying to tone things down somewhat, but usually it's harmless and it's fun to simply indulge.

Note: accusations by students of stealing the Kirby design.

The characters have gone down extremely well with the elementary school classes I use them in. So much so that the students now even draw their own little sketches by themselves! Other family members are now also being added, such as their uncle and their pet as pictured below.

Student cartoons of Eigo-chan and Eigo-kun.

It's been a fun little addition to the English classroom and has given a little bit more excitement to some of the activities we do. I've been thrilled by the positive response, and continue to use the characters throughout English lessons. I'd thoroughly recommend any ALT to introduce little sketches or characters like these in your teaching environment. With any luck, they'll love it.

TEFL Teacher Training (AJET Offer)

If you're a JET currently working in Japan, you may wish to take advantage of this offer being promoted by the national AJET group.

http://ajet.net/outstanding-educators-program/tefl-discount-for-jet-participants/

AJET are offering a heavy discount (US$95) for anyone looking into doing the TEFL program with 'International TEFL and TESOL Training' (ITTL). It's a 120-hour online course which typically costs ($295), reduced to $200. For any UK JETs, at time of writing that's approximately £130 instead of £190, a saving of around £60. Not bad!

TEFL is obviously a course to qualify for teaching English in a foreign language internationally. You don't need a TEFL qualification for the JET programme, for course, but for anyone planning to teach in other countries after JET or simply to improve your teaching ability while here, it might be a great opportunity for you to become certified. Considering new JETs arrive with minimal training (or, in some cases, practically none), it might be a real confidence booster - especially for newer JETs.

While I currently have absolutely no intention of teaching in other countries than Japan, I feel like it's a good CV-booster and a real opportunity to improve teaching your own ability. I decided to take up the offer myself, and I'm currently working through 20 units in total. I've picked up a few things already that I've implemented in the classroom environment. So far, it's going well!

For full clarification; I'm not paid by AJET or ITTT to endorse the offer at all. I just felt like it was worth recommending to anyone who may be interested.

"GaijinGav" Katakana Update

Over the past couple of years that I've been living in Japan, I've become increasingly aware that the katakana that was originally ascribed to represent my name was more than a tad inaccurate.Within the Japanese phonetics system, my name was approximated my native speakers from "Gavin" to something along the lines of "Gyaveen" (or "Gyavin" in romaji), so much so that I began to refer to myself as such when speaking in Japanese. Most of the official documents and paperwork represents my name by using this version.

By using the same katakana on the title of this blog, the Japanese prounciation is actually coming across not unlike "Gaijin-Gyavee". Not quite what I'm aiming for, since I'm trying to represent my nickname "Gav".

(Occasionally kids would also call me "Gyabeen", though this is more due to the difficulty Japanese speakers have pronouncing the letter "v" than it is to misunderstanding my name. Although I have seen my name spelt as "Gyabin" more than a few times...)

To counter this, I've started writing my name in katakana a tad more accurately. The new version, "ガヴェン", is far more accurate to the correct sound of "Gavin". In keeping with this, the katakana on the title of the blog has been adjusted to "外人ガヴ" (basically "Gaijin-Gavu", which sounds a heck of a lot more like "GaijinGav" than "Gaijin-Gyavee".

Not so relevant for you non-Japanese speakers, but hopefully it'll help any Japanese readers of this blog to get the pronunciation of my name right from now on!

25th Birthday Fish Fry!

First published: 24 Jun 2013

Tamara and a ridiculous quantity of fish.

Following the very successful dinner I had for my birthday with a small party, my shakuhachi buddy Tamara and her husband Nick were kind enough to host a fish fry party on their rooftop the next day. Tamara had somehow acquired an abundance of fresh fish at a ridiculously cheap rate, and had volunteered to host the event as a continuation of my birthday celebrations with a wide group of ALTs. I was more than happy to oblige!

Takashi, Akane and crew.

Drinking and merriment.

Sayuri, Olya, Matt and I compete to make the strangest face.

With no less than fourteen (!) big fish and a buffet of additional food people had brought along, everyone was very well-fed. Most people shared fish in pairs, with myself naturally doubling up with Angie. They were pretty damn tasty, though I'm not sure what the exact name of the fish was! The night was initially fairly rainy, but luckily Tamara and Nick had assembled a parasol, and the rain disappeared fairly rapidly. iPhones were hooked up to the speaker system for music, and I was greeted with more gifts from more friends. There was drinking aplenty until the early hours (upon which we moved onto the Amazon bar in town).

 Angie and Lily.

Duck-face blues.

I'm not a fan.

Shit gets real. Too much duck-face.

One thing worth noting is that everyone in our foreign community is now desensitized to eating fish with the heads attached. Back home, this would be a big source of contention for a lot of people in a lot of Western countries. Here, however, the habit has become so habitual that it doesn't garner a moment's thought. It's interesting to note the horrified reaction many folk (mostly girls, I have to admit) have when I show them photographs of the fish we eat here.

Matt enjoys his fish.

25th Birthday in Japan

First published: 23 June 2013

For my 25th birthday this year, I decided to have an intimate birthday celebration with my English club, only a few of my close friends and special people I'd met during my two years in Japan.

25th birthday celebrations!

My birthday luckily landed on a Friday this year (May 31st), we opted to have dinner at 'Sanuki Shoukudou', enjoying an all-you-can-eat feast of various dishes. The restaurant was staffed by many former students who had now graduated; a bit of a surreal experience as they all came over to say hello!

I was joined with my girlfriend Angie, and my good ALT friends Arran, Stephen, and Luke, as well as members of my English club and some teachers, students and their families from my various schools. It was a lovely way to spend an evening, and I was treated to a series of birthday gifts - including a home-baked cake by Hanyama-san!

Birthday bantz!

Making a birthday wish.

The highlight of the evening was undoubtedly when the restaurant staff dimmed the lights and read out a speech my English club had prepared for me... in Japanese! Luckily, there was an English translation provided and was handed to me for me to understand. A lovely gesture. Arran also kept the evening entertainments alive by challenging various competitors to arm wrestles... which he consistently won! 

Major kudos to Stephen Branston (from this video), who cycled all the way from Ayagawa-cho to Kozai over the course of the evening, arriving mid-meal to join the festivities. He had been held up leaving work, and it took him well over an hour to get to us. I really appreciated the effort he made, and he even arrived bearing gifts. What a guy. As a Canadian, I reckon there be something in that maple syrup!

A slice of birthday cake all for me.

After the meal finished, we all stood outside for about an other hour of conversation. For Hiroko and Luke, the next day would be the Shimokasai Junior High School sports day, meaning an early rise despite the copious amount of alcohol. Luckily for me, the next day was a lie-in. Despite intending to get up early (and possibly make it along to the sports day!), I didn't wake until around noon. There was just a bit too much alcohol in my system for that! I also felt fairly sorry for Stephen, who would have another long cycle back home...

A very big thank-you to everyone who came along and gave me such a wonderful birthday evening this year!

The Bench Press of Doom

Oh God...

I'll preface this post simply by saying that I may be a bit of an idiot.

During my first few months in Japan (back in Autumn 2011), I was regularly attending the Konami Sports Centre gym with fellow ALTs Arran Chambers and Edwin Davies (from England). The three of us would go a couple of nights a week for weight training purposes, and we had quite a bit of fun! The problem was that it was also a tad expensive, and for most of us travelling back and forward was a bit inconvenient. Arran found a gym closer to his home, while Edwin decided he wanted to focus more on his Japanese study. I found myself going solo, and so, I cancelled my membership, looking elsewhere to find exercise.

A good deal seemed to come my way in the form of a equipment being sold by someone who previously owned a gym. As the gym was closing down, the resources were being sold off privately. I was introduced by Justin Bussies to the seller, who I agreed to buy a multi-purpose bench press / weight-lifting unit from. I figured it would pay for itself in no time on the money I'd saved in gym membership alone. It arrived while I was in Hiroshima, and I came home to... this at my front door.

Damn you, Justin.

The doorway was covered in gear, and it took around about an hour to (somehow) get it all back inside (bearing in mind that I'd just returned from a trip to Hiroshima). It was a bit of a nightmare, and in the morning I very quickly realized that my flat was far too small to store it. Over the next few weeks, the unit was assembled with the help of Rainer Wessels, but the two of us ascertained that what we had created was almost unusable in the small space I had.

Despite my best efforts, getting use out of it simply wasn't practical, as it dominated the floor space of my small flat no matter what arrangement I tried. Feeling a bit stuck, I tried to find a seller among the ALT community (to no avail). I decided to wait it out and try again in the summer community when the new JETs arrived, but again, no one was interested. I eventually learned to live with it, and simply found myself stacking books and such on top of it without even giving it much of a thought. Most of the visitors to my flat were shocked by what they saw dominating it.

With the arrival of the new year, I made a renewed effort to get rid of it. Due to the sheer size and weight of it, I discovered I had to pay to get rid of it through the official city garbage disposal, and without a car (or a Japanese driving license) I had no way of giving it to a seller. Shipping was out of the question due to the sheer weight and price involved, and I was still keen to get a buyer locally. I had some interest from sole local second hand retailers, but ultimately nothing panned out. I didn't want to lose any more money on it, and so eventually, I decided to cut my losses and simply offer it for free to anyone who wanted it. Again, almost no interest - especially since almost nobody could come and pick it up.

And there was I, stuck with it in my flat.

These weights took up considerable space under my bed.

Finally, in March, salvation came in the form of my good friend Junko (who often comes to my eikaiwa). Junko's friend (who goes by the nickname "Johnny" despite being Japanese) was looking to get back into shape, and she'd told him about the bench. He came around hoping to pick it up, on the condition that it would fit in his house. Knowing the severe space limitations I'd had myself, I was really hoping he'd be able to take it.

Junko and Johnny popped round with some of their friends on a Sunday afternoon, and - luckily - Johnny confirmed that it would be perfect. Angie and I helped lift all of the gear into their cars, slowly disassembling the unit piece by piece. As the room began to gradually clear, I was amazed at how much space I'd suddenly began to claim back. At last, when the final pieces were packed away, I had my room back - and I couldn't believe I'd lived in such a confined space for so long. I inevitably made a loss in getting rid of the bench, but I was more than happy just to get my living space back. It felt like it had tripled.

Angie and I spent the rest of the afternoon with Junko and her friends at Rie Karato's house, where we spent the afternoon drinking tea and practicing origami with the kids. It was a nice little end to a horrific year-long saga of self-imposed boxing-in.

Cakes and origami.

I suppose all's well that ends well, but I learned a very important lesson; never invest in anything unless you're certain you have the space for it!

Christmas & Hogmany 2012 in Scotland

In December 2012, I once again made my way home to Scotland. I couldn't resist spending another Christmas with my family and friends.

I'd done the same thing a year earlier, and this was my second trip home since leaving for Japan. I was feeling pretty excited. The last twelve months in Japan had been the longest time I had spent out of my home country in all of my life, and I was keen to get back home and to reconnect with everyone I missed. Again, I made this a three week trip.

The long-journey was the same as it always was coming back and forth to Japan. The huge flights are actually fairly enjoyable to me, though, since I fly using BA and I love watching all of the free films available on their entertainment units built into the chairs. Of course, as always, I was shattered by the time I finally arrived at Edinburgh Airport (though, naturally, I'd stopped to have a pint of cider while at London Heathrow). I once again met my parents, who swiftly drove me home. It was great to see them again, and my mother had dinner waiting for me as soon as I stepped through the doors. The house was stocked up with supplies of all my favourite foods, and I was buzzing for the three weeks ahead.

As a pleasant surprise, a package was waiting for me upon my arrival; a copy of Dancing Meurtes, a book written by my friend Danny Blackwell who I hadn't seen since he left Japan in July. I helped proof-read the book earlier in the year, and had offered some suggestions during it's development, so it was great to finally hold a copy in my hands.

Some sad news, though; I would not have access to my car this time at home. My sister had been using the car in my absence, and it had broken down to a significant engine problem. Being quite an old car, it wasn't worth it to repair it, and there was no point in buying a new car simply for my three weeks at home. As such, I was resigned to being dependent upon lifts and perhaps borrowing my sister's own can when it become available... or, I would have, if her car hadn't similarly broken down during my time at home. Bah!

I was also keen to see what the state of the high street in my hometown of Kirkcaldy would be like. Over the past twelve months, many stores had been closing as part of a general trend of store closures across the UK, and I knew that Kirkcaldy had been particularly badly affected. In addition to losing a McDonalds (!), the HMV store was gone, as well as many smaller retailers that could no longer afford to operate. When I saw the town with my own eyes, it was clear that the area had taken a hit, and sadly wasn't showing any sign of turning that around.

Still, despite all that, I still had a lot of positive things to enjoy.

Notably; the food!

On my very first day back in the country, I found myself very quickly getting a fair amount of admin in order. First off was heading to 02, and getting my UK iPhone converted from a monthly contract service to a pay-as-you-go account. My contract had still been in effect during my last visit home, and I'd kept it going until the end of the contract (since the cancellation fee was roughly equivalent to keeping the contract going until its natural end). Now, of course, it had expired, so I immediately found myself trying to get that sorted out. After months of pointless back and forward with the 02 online help service (where they had sent me the wrong SIM, not responded to my e-mails or simply just shown a fair amount of incompetence), the worker in the Kirkcaldy store instantly sorted out my request within around three minutes. Just goes to show you there's no real equivalent for face-to-face interaction.

That same day, my father had a burning desire to take me to the hospital, for some odd reason. I had no idea why until we arrived, and I discovered that he wanted to buy me a coffee at the huge new Costa coffee shop which had opened up inside (as an aside, the newly extended Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy certainly looks impressive, and I'm quite proud to have those facilities in my local town). We spent a fair bit of time just catching up, and I felt very content just to be home and spending time with my father.

Equally, my mother and I visited the Rejects store in St. Clair street, which always has a wealth of Christmas decorations for sale at this time of year. It's all very tacky, but that's part of the fun, and we took several photographs of our favourites. As always, we also made our way to the coffee shop on one of the upper floors (this is a recurring theme with my family; in case you haven't noticed, even in Japan, we quite enjoy visiting coffee shops).

Naturally, there was plenty of socialising to be done. I had lunch with Stuart (my best friend from high school), and popped in to see Alice (of Map & Key fame) at her work in Waterstones (complete with Santa-hat).

Lunch with Stuart.

Irn Bru. Made from girders.

There were constant pub visits and social engagements, just like last year, and I managed to see a few faces that I didn't mange to the year before. Of course, I also made my way into my old university town of Stirling to catch up with fellow film-maker (and photographer-extraordinaire) Mirek Csubaszek, as well as spending time with Lawrie Brewster and Jon Finnegan, who I'd worked with a lot on various film projects before leaving to come to Japan (and who offered me a sneak preview of an early cut of the Lawrie's new film Lord of Tears).

Another new tradition was with Adam Durcatz, a fellow ALT who travelled home for Christmas to Edinburgh. We had met the previous year in Edinburgh for dinner and whisky, and we continued this year, with drinks and political discussion aplenty. I really enjoy our time together, so it's bizarre that I've seen him more times in Scotland now than I have in Japan!

Back in Edinburgh.

Haggis fritters.

Without a car, I was heavily dependent upon lifts from my parents and public transport to get around, and I must admit I found it fairly restrictive. Getting back from Stirling in particular was a nightmare, with a bus journey to Dunfermline which took over an hour (and required a bonus lift from my parents). It must be said that public transport in Scotland is simply not up to the standards of Japan.

I also made a point of getting myself to a couple of local sports matches this year, which I had neglected to do during my last visit. Popping along to a game of my local football team Raith Rovers with Neil Ingebrigsten (against long-time rivals Cowdenbeath) was gratifying, even if the result wasn't in our favour (we lost). I also made my way to the Fife Flyers, our local ice hockey time, but sadly they were equally beaten by the Braehead Clan. Oh dear. At least I got to spend time with Ross Cunningham, my old uni flat-mate and now the official videographer of the Fife Flyers club (as the producer of Fife Flyers TV).

Fish and chips after the football.
Neil and I enjoyed these while watching the (frankly bizarre) film 'Iron Sky'.

Fun at the Flyers.

Other excitement involved a trip through to the German Christmas market in Edinburgh with Stephanie Scade. This market is one of the highlights of the Christmas season in Edinburgh, although they're of course fairly common around most city centres at Christmas (I mean, I even found one in Osaka). I think the one in Edinburgh is especially fitting, though, as the atmosphere of the city is already very old-worldly with it's Georgian architecture and cobbled streets. Steph and I spent a lazy afternoon drinking Glühwein and eating chocolate and cream waffles. Year on year, it always feels very "Christmassy".

We also popped into the huge Jenners department store to see their huge X-Mas tree, which year on year never fails to impress as it reaches up through several floors of the store.

Jenners Department Store.

An amazing Christmas tree. This photo really doesn't do the scale justice.

Christmas Eve lead to the traditional high school reunions in Wetherspoons in the Kirkcaldy High Street. Always a blast. This year I made the slightly unfortunate mistake of breaking my friend Tara's camera by accidentally dropping it. Whoops. Otherwise, it was a great night catching up with friends.

Reunions and soft-focus.

Iain gets a little too excited.

This was also followed by a very pleasant end to the evening at my friend Kitty's flat, where she'd baked a host of cupcakes for a few guests. We stayed up until the early hours debating international politics (mostly centred around China). A fine way to round off the festivities. Kitty also gave me a lovely Christmas present: my very own Nessie toy!

Cake time.

Christmas Day followed the usual family traditions; presents in the morning, a big dinner in the evening, and scratchcards and board-games. Tragedy struck, however, when it was discovered early in the day that our turkey for Christmas dinner had gone off in the fridge. Disaster! Not being safe to eat, it had to go into the bin, which was a terrible waste. For the first time ever, the centre-piece of Christmas dinner was a ham joint. By no means the end of the world, but it was still a little disappointing.

Traditional Christmas.

Christmas was still a lot of fun, though. The day was saved just by spending time with family and receiving some lovely and thoughtful presents from my loved ones (and, in better news, we got a free replacement turkey from the supermarket the very next day).

Andy Mitchell and I continued our new Boxing Day tradition of heading to the cinema, this time to see The Hobbit in 3D. It was... well, disappointing would be the best way to describe it. I'm a fan of the book, and this really isn't the best place to talk about why I thought it was such a flop. Nice to see Sylvester McCoy (one of my all-time favourite Doctor Who actors) in a big release, though. That 48-fps nonsense looks mince, though. Absolutely unbearable, and Peter Jackson's off his head if he thinks that's the future of cinema.

Post-movie analysis with Andy Mitchell.

Hogmanay this year was full of highlights.

I made my way to Glasgow, where I reunited with fellow Kagawa ALT Richard Kinsella (who I hadn't seen since July), around five months since he'd left Japan and returned to Scotland. The two of us got together at a cafe in the East End named Ubiquitous Chip (which showed up in a list of BA's top five places to eat on my in-flight magazine).

Former ALT Richard Kinsella.


An Aberdeen Angus steak for lunch.

This lunch would be taking the form of dinner for me, too, so we decided to go all out for it. We ordered some pretty fantastic lunches between us, as well as indulging in dessert. I ordered an Aberdeen Angus steak, though I have to be honest and say it didn't hold a candle to the Kobe beef steak I'd had around a month earlier. The two of us chatted at length for some time about his experiences after JET; what it was like settling back home and his new working life. It was a great insight into what to expect when I finally did the same thing myself. It also felt great to have a connection between both worlds; feeling connected via a natural bridge between both Japan and Scotland.

I also managed to squeeze in a wee coffee with my pal Meesh (and her boyfriend Ross), though we were both short for time as we were rushing off to different parties in Glasgow. Meesh had bought me a box of shortbread as a Christmas present, but tragically I forgot to pick it up with me when I left the coffee shop. Whoops. Sorry, Meesh! She was still happy, though, because I gave her three bottles of a peculiar Japanese grape juice she likes named Fute Fute Jelly (it has a strange "jelly" texture which I can't say I'm a fan of).

Subway travels.

A peculiar moment occurred when, as we were taking the Glasgow Underground subway (known as the "Clockwork Orange"), I stumbled upon another JET who was home for Christmas; Mikaly Papamichail. I guess it really is a small world. He seemed to be doing well, though there wasn't much time for chatting as we all very shortly found ourselves going our separate ways.

Small world.

This year's Hogmanay party took place at Stirling Uni legend Greg Christensen's flat in Glasgow. Greg had since begun working for the Daily Express newspaper (poor guy), and had moved into a flat in Glasgow with fellow Stirling Uni alumni Andy Heron. I was the first to arrive out of all the troops, but before long the flat was filled with old and familiar faces from my days at Stirling University (as well as two additional South African visitors to Scotland who were with rugby player Ross Doneghan).

Hogmanay Party.

Ring of Fire. Deadly.

We enjoyed drinks right up until midnight and the bells for New Year's. Greg's flat offered a sensational view of the fireworks over the city, and we saw several flaming paper lanterns being lit and drifting gently into the sky to welcome in the new year. This was followed by a night out in town, where - as you can imagine - drinks were enjoyed by all.

Admittedly, the next day we were all feeling rather worse for wear, as demonstrated here by my filmmaking buddy Skippy. Such are the perils of New Year merriment.

Andy Heron confuses coffee grains for instant coffee.

In the last few days before my departure, I also finally had an opportunity to complete the principal filming for a two year old short film I'd worked on! Originally started in 2011 and written by my friend Andy Mitchell, the filming for Random Text was put on indefinite hold when I went to Japan as the lead actor became unavailable and we were unable to finish in time before I left for Japan. It felt great to finally finish getting all of the shots we needed. You can read all about my adventures filming that particular project in this blog post on my film blog here. Big props to Lewis Wake, Stephanie Scade and Hazel Macdonald who helped out on the day!

I also had a chance to get together with a few of my other filmmaking friends from university to record an audio commentary of sorts for my short film Fatal Attractions. Here's the link.

Relaxing with Graham, Bryan and Steven.

Two nights before I had to head back to Japan, a few of my friends got together at the Styx bar and nightclub in Kirkcaldy for a final night out. I was finally able to reunite with my university flat-mate Michael Wilson, and we played several rounds of pool with (again) drinks. The evening then made it's way to the local 80's bar Blue Mondays, which was certainly an interesting venue. We were the youngest people there! Aside from a few drunken clientele who were being a tad obnoxious, we had a damn good time.

Pool shenanigans.

A Scottish Raith Rovers flag. Pretty exceptional.

Banter in Blue Mondays with Craig, Neil and Kitty.

On my final day in Scotland, naturally most of it was spent packing (as always). I was fortunate enough that the new laptop I had ordered during my time at home (a MacBook Pro) arrived the day before, only just in time for my departure back to Japan! My family treated me to a farewell dinner at the gorgeous Balbirnie Hotel, and discussed their plans to come out and see me in Japan again in April 2013. The evening definitely had an air of finality about it, but the company was warm and it solidified my feeling that I would always have a place to call home.

Farewell dinner.

The day of my return to Japan came before I know it, and there were several people who I still hadn't seen even after two visits. Once again I got on the plane at Edinburgh Airport, waving goodbye to my family yet again, but feeling far more confident that I'd done before. I knew I would be seeing my family again soon.

Farewells at the airport.