There’s a scene in Love Actually where Rowan Atkinson’s character meticulously gift-wraps a present for a time-harried Alan Rickman. Getting a haircut in Oman is a very similar experience. After a few days in Oman, an Islamic country, I realised that it was as difficult to buy shaving gel as it was alcohol. With a…
As well as travel writing, I do a bit of teaching. For the past few years, I’ve been a school leader in a few different places. Recently, I decided that rather than be in committees, I’d rather be in the classroom, so accepted a teaching position at a leading school in Bangkok. In this TES…
It may have been 65 million years since a real dinosaur last wandered around Fukui, but there’s no doubt who still rules in this city. From the giant Diplodocus who greets you at the train station to the white T-Rex statue standing in a nearby field, dinosaurs are omnipresent. That’s no surprise, as 80% of…
Akiko clearly loves her job. Our open-top train ride along the Takachiho Amaterasu railway only lasts 30 minutes, but Akiko puts everything she has into it. As we enter the first of two tunnels, there’s the light show. Akiko theatrically points to the ceiling to indicate where a flurry of disco lights are about to…
Jazu pulls a large leaf from a tree, makes a roll-up with it and then drops into a beach hammock. He’s spent the past hour kite-surfing the waves, managing a few jumps and spins. ‘You’re good at this,’ I say as he lights up. ‘Nah, the wind’s not strong enough today; can’t do many tricks…
I was fortunate enough to win a writing competition recently run by International Schools Network and Harper Collins. The brief was to write about which teacher had the most influence on you. In my case, there were two teachers whose passion for their subjects have stayed with me. If you’d like to read the article,…
Every day Mito Kosei makes the same journey from his home to the Atomic Bomb Dome in central Hiroshima. Once there, he leans his bicycle against a railing and carefully lays out a collection of posters, photographs and documents. And then he waits for the visitors that always come. He speaks to them in clear,…
This week we decided to sign the children up for tennis lessons near our home in Japan. The place is a two-minute walk away and offered an 80% discount on lessons, so I figured we’d drop by and quickly book some lessons. And then the paperwork arrived. We sat for the next hour as I…
I was once in the middle of an interview when the two folk asking the questions started arguing with each other. We were happily chatting about extra-curricular activities, which you’d think is a tough topic to pick an argument over, but nevertheless it happened. It wasn’t even a decent row – it revolved around whether…
Applying for a new job usually means writing a cover letter. And cover letters are hard to get right. You don’t want to overwhelm your potential boss with details about every achievement, but you don’t want to be too modest either. Some companies now prefer a video of yourself, where they can see – and…