Job hunting & looking around

It was super hot and humid yesterday, and there was a downpour several times, like ones in the tropics!  I turned on the AC in my mother's room and worked there since it was unbearable in the living room! 

I was hoping that it would be cooler cos the temperature is lower, but the humidity offsets that.  A couple more weeks till the weather is nice...?

I started looking for a job in data science, interenational students' offices.  I'm interested in working in a global environment!  And what I'll do may not really matter...?  But I'm kinda hesitant to move away from research, just because I've done it for many years.  It's the concorde effect.  What could be an alternative?  That's another question that I'm wondering for a while now.

I also met with a recruiter at a human resource company to discuss potential positions I could apply for.  Here it is the job hunting process again~~  I just need to be patient and wait.  I sent my CV to a research consultant company, so I hope to hear back from them, too..! 

 

Home sweaty home..

It's so hot and humid!!  It's expected, but it's almost like being in the tropics.  The problem is that my dad doesn't like having the AC on during the day (it's the hottest time in the day, isn't it??), so the whole unit is hot.  There's wind that helps, but still sometimes it's not enough.  Oh I've been reminded of what it's like to live in Kyushu and what it's like to live with someone, both good and bad.

The good thing is that I don't have to cook and food is delicious, and it's nice to have someone to talk with.  It's a quiet neighbourhood.

I edited my article, updated my resume and CV, and took some history course classes.  I feel like to learn some more data analysis skills, but I'm not sure which one to start with.  I'd rather know which one is useful because there are so many programming languages and softwares out there, and each one takes a long time to get used to.  But maybe not.  I could start a random one and start playing with it.  That experience will perhaps be useful sometime in the future..?

Pandas-olympics-themed sweets I got at the airport.

 

 

Flying home and settling down for now

After 2 weeks + 2 days in Narita, I flew back to my hometown.  It was a beautiful sunrise at 5:30 after a thunderstorm. I will miss this hotel.  This was way better than a usual shoebox business hotel.  There was a service to ship packages from the hotel as well as shuttle service to the airport!

On the way to the airport, I saw a few other similar hotels like Hilton and ANA in the mountains. There are no shops or supermarkets within walking distance, so it'd have been very inconvenient to stay there for a long time (unless you have money to order UberEats or something every day!).

My flight was kinda crowded... not full, but the front half of the plane was almost full, and the middle seats were empty in the rear half.  I got a lot of sweets as a Tokyo souvenir as my mother asked me.  I'm glad some shops were open.  

Then I came back.. took a PCR test again for free!  I couldn't believe how smooth it was.  There's much more improvement in the system compared to last year, when there was no testing either when arrived in Japan or my hometown.

So.. that was very smooth.. My father picked me up at the station, and I was settled.  We did some DIY to build my temporary office like carrying some shelves around and making a nice table .  It was actually fun.  It's still surreal that I'm back here in Japan.

The sky was beautiful!   

 

Last day of quarantineeeeeee

Freedom day 2!  But same as before, I just spent my whole day staying at the hotel, migrating my files to my harddrive, and replying to emials.

I packed my stuff again and shipped them so that I won't have to carry them by myself!  Shipping service is a lifesaver.  But I had to reorganize my baggage due to weight limit.  It's really A LOT OF STUFF that I have carried all the way here! Plus, 16 boxes sent by sea.  International moving is no easy job.  Every time I pack, it makes me feel that I won't travel again because packing is such a hassle.  But once I pack up and travel to new places, the effort is all worth it. 

Today's wallpaper!  A deer-like animal letting two birds perch on its face and mess with it.  So cute...  I had a large TV just next to my desk and was able to use it as a second monitor. 

UP!!! Day 3

I don't have a lot of photos for day 3 because our main activity was kayaking and I stored my phone in a waterproof bag.  My friends took a lot of pics though!

Kayaking was fun!  We went very close to Pictured Rocks, and went through some holes formed by the rocks on our kayak.  We were excited as it was our first time to kayak.  It was a lot of work to row a kayak!  We took some time to figure out how to change directions and how to speed up.  It was all fun and made me use a different part of my brain.  We were paddling for good 3 hours.  We saw a shipwreck underneath, too.  It was funner than taknig the cruise.  You can take a closer look at things by yourself.  I'm thankful to my friends who suggested we should go kayaking as it's not something that I'd actively consider if I were just by myself.

It was really a long drive to go back. 6 hours in total.  My travelmates took turns to drive on the highway.  It was still somewhat scary to drive on a highway, though it was OK to drive in the city at night (not a great feeling, though!). 

長いドライブだったけど、いろんな話もできて楽しかったなー   友達と旅行ってやっぱり最高だな。一人では距離的に行けないところだったので、一緒に行けてありがたかった！ モーテルもすごくいいところだった。もう１ヶ月前なのか。懐かしい~~

Hawaiian chicken salad

 

Laundry, piano, and data migration & Cleland Wildlife Park

Quarantine finished, and I am free to do the laundry, use the microwave, and play the piano in the foyer of the hotel.  It feels great. 

I played the piano for the first time in a few months.  It's therapeutic.  I feel like I want to continue learning new songs.

Since I will lose access to MSU OneDrive, I had to move all my files to my hard disk.  It has SO MANY FILES!!!  OMG it's not ideal to make so many files, though unavoidable.  It's such a pain to copy one by one (too many folders inside folders make it just impossible to copy in one go).  I created so many files because I had unlimited storage with an MSU account, but now that I am unaffiliated with MSU, I need to keep my files on my own hard drive.  It's somewhat risky to have data in a portable hard disk drive.. a cloud storage is the best, but what can I do?  When I start as a freelancer, I should invest some money and establish a secure file storage system on my own.  A good reminder.

Making space for my hard disk drive and found some fond memory of Australia.  Cleland Wildlife Park, South Australia

 

The last day of 'quarantine'

Today's Windows desktop!

Hot and humid Day 3

It has been dangerously hot and humid for several days now.  I gave up on morning walks, and just instead take evening walks.  Even after sunset, I sweat after walking for 20 min or so.  It's good as they say I should exercise until you sweat and/or your heartbeat is risen.

Article almost done

I edited my article on studying in graduate school abroad.  There are more things to write every time I edit them.  Just like my dissertation, I should draw a line and mark it done.  I hope to regain some writing skills as I realized that my Japanese language skills has been declined.  I cannot write as sophisticated work as I used to before!

It's necessary to read a lot in order to write well.

To do: migrate my files

I need to migrate my files on MSU Onedrive and Google Drive!  I will lose access to it soon!  I was surprised that I already cannot access to MSU Zoom a day after summer semester ended!  By the way it was nice to talk with one of my labmates for preparation for her comprehensive exams. Helping each other is beautiful.  I value independence, but it's also OK to ask for help. 

I'm excited to be able to do the laundry tomorrow!