August 9th 2015, Sunday ~Ed Byrne Lied to Us All~

Excellent seat; 4th row from the front

Here's the interview if you're interested:

In the show he talked about how Paul Henry and him had a very awkward interview and Paul kept pushing him to talk about his 'one night stand marriage' and using the very sexist term 'putting out'. For comedic effect this was all very exaggerated, of course. 

However, when I checked out the interview it was Ed who first used the term to discuss his wife 'putting out' on the first date and Paul was the one who tried to steer them on to another topic. In fact, Ed even says 'ladies need to put out on the first night' despite constantly being a defender of women's rights throughout his standup.

I was very surprised by this example of Paul not quite being an asshole. But he's still an asshole.

Well, we can't expect much from the entertainment industry now can we?

Dear Future Clare ~3~ First Full Day in Edinburgh

Day three and a bit more action! Enjoy!

August 6th to 8th 2015; Moving to the UK

Edinburgh:

Dear Future Clare ~1~ Leaving Japan

First vlog of my next step in life - moving to the UK.

This first vlog is just a whole bunch of talking but don't say I didn't warn ya!

Here I am questioning myself and what led me to this moment as well as what the hell I'm going to do in the future.

Packing Mastermind ~Tetris~

So, I have done a lot of packing in my time on this earth. My proudest moment is my minimalist packing for 9 weeks traveling Europe. 

With my big move to the UK I will be starting down a brand new road and building everything up from zero again. To go along side that I wanted to make sure I wasn't carrying any more of a burden than absolutely necessary.

It's taken me 3 months and I have been throwing out and giving away copious amounts of crap but I think I have done well. 

This is the state of my packing and how I fit everything in my 90L suitcase. At this point it was 25kgs worth of stuff but I have thrown away even more since and even changed around the packing for better efficiency. 

The best way to pack has to be the use of packing cells though. Use the good ol' roll and stuff technique and you'll save massive amounts of space. My packing cells are from Kathmandu and Loft but you can find them anywhere these days and often for a reasonable price.

Anyway, take a gander below at my packing technique. 

I must say these videos have been super helpful every time I need to figure out where I put a particular item of clothing.

July 31st to August 5th 2015; Leaving Japan

Packed up my life:

Starbucks from my Kouhai:

Kouhai already exhausted before the newbies even arrive:

Israeli food for dinner! I can't even begin to tell you how amazing it was:

With these peeps:

(Plus 2 not pictured)

July 27th-30th 2015, Monday to Thursday ~Last week in a JapaneseGovernment Office!!!~

A coworker made this for me. It's the kanji (chinese character) for 'yume', dream, written using the hiragana (one of the Japanese alphabets) for 'arigato', thank you.

Farewell dinner with my closest coworker, Miyazaki-san, and my supervisor, Sogo-san.

Message card from all my coworkers!

Beautiful bag present from my coworkers.

Chopsticks from my lovely coworker.

I may have treated myself to some family mart chicken (famichiki) and the new Animal Crossing game; Happy Home Designer.

You get to make your own character too!