30s and Thinking

I visited Queenstown and Milford Sound from October 29th to October 31st.  Itinerary 29th October 10:55 am: Departed from the Auckland Airport 12:45 pm: Arrived at the Queenstown Airport 1:30 pm: Arrived at the centre of Queenstown 2:00 pm: Having Lunch at  Fergburger 2:00 pm to 4:30 pm: Hiking Tiki Trail to  Queenstown Ultimate Viewpoint 5:00 pm to 6:00 pm: Walking Around the  Queenstown Gardens 30th October 7:30 am to 8:00 pm: Milford Sound Tour organized by Pure Milford Sound 31th October 6:30 am: Watching the morning view from  Lake Wakatipu Viewpoint 9:00 am: Visiting  Arrowtown 11:30 am: Returning to the center of Queenstown 2:00 pm: Taking a rest at  Frankton Beach Playground 5:30 pm: Departed from the Queenstown Airport 7:20 pm: Arrived at the Auckland Airport The Main Cost The Flight Ticket: 115 USD for the round trip from Auckland to Queenstown The Accommodation: 263 USD for 2 nights The Round Trip Tour from Queenstown to Milford Sound: 2...

I met my friend from Chile for the first time in a while. I can always have a good time talking with her. I heard from her that she got another job and has got busier than before. However, she does not look nervous and rather enjoys her daily life. I hope she continues to enjoy her daily life.

I’ve decided to return to the basics to improve my overall English skills—specifically, by repeatedly reading refined sentences. Recently, I’ve struggled to find the right words and expressions, so I’ve been trying to write and speak more. However, I’ve come to realize that the most important foundation is accumulating accurate sentences in my mind. Without a solid understanding of language structures, it’s difficult to form a variety of expressions with confidence.

I've been focusing on rest since yesterday because I’ve felt deeply exhausted. The fatigue seems to have built up over time and was likely triggered by the release of pressure after work. Over the past two days, I’ve slept for a total of 20 hours.

The rugby match between Japan and Australia took place yesterday. Japan almost pulled off an extraordinary upset against the two-time World Cup winners in the first meeting between the teams in the Japanese capital. Although Japan eventually could not win this game, I expect Japan to perform well on the European tour starting next week. Reference:  https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-10-25/rugby-union-test-wallabies-japan-updates-live-blog/105934092

I woke up at 6:00 a.m. this morning, just like any other day. But today marks my final working day in New Zealand. I plan to express my heartfelt appreciation to my boss and colleagues. It feels a bit surreal—I almost expect to return to the workplace next week as usual. But, I know this chapter is closing. I’ll never step into my current role again.

One month ago, I was discussing the handover of my role with my colleague and boss. Time has flown by—now the new staff member has already settled into the environment and taken on the tasks with confidence. I miss my workplace, but my mind is gradually shifting toward the next chapter awaiting me in Japan.

Last week, my flatmate gave me a beanie cap he had picked up at a souvenir shop. He’s a little shy, but I genuinely felt his kindness. He even prepared one for my wife, which touched me deeply. I can easily imagine that he brings joy to everyone around him and always looks out for his friends. I feel truly lucky to share a home with someone so thoughtful.

Through deep reflection on my interests, strengths, and past experiences, I was able to clarify what I truly want to pursue in Japan. I’ve submitted my CV to several organizations and have already participated in interviews. Although I wasn’t able to advance to the final stage for various reasons, the process helped me gain confidence in my career path.

I have only five working days left here in New Zealand, and I still can’t believe I’ll soon be leaving my current workplace. I’m deeply grateful to my boss and colleague—without meeting them, I would have never learned about the car industry or had the opportunity to experience customer service in an international setting. I’ll continue doing my best throughout this final week.

Yesterday, Japan's second team faced Australia’s second team in a rugby match. I had expected both sides to score several tries, but the final score—7 for Japan and 71 for Australia—was shocking. Given the recent progress of Japan’s top team, this result highlights the significant gap that still exists between the first and second squads. I hope Japan can cultivate more depth and develop stronger players ahead of the 2027 Rugby World Cup.

I have come to realize the importance of grammar, especially when sending an email to a customer. Of course, I am still not perfect about grammar, but I try to create sentences as accurately and clearly as possible. This is because one of our primary duties is to help customers purchase the right car parts with confidence.

Last night, I had my first online interview with the university I applied to last week. The recruitment process consists of three steps: CV screening, an online interview, and an onsite interview. I was fortunate to have passed the first stage, which gave me the opportunity to speak with them. During the interview, I was able to express my ideas and enthusiasm. However, I’m uncertain whether I’ll be able to proceed to the final stage. This is partly because I’m unable to attend the onsite interview, and I’m not sure if my personality and career background fully meet their expectations. For now, I just have to wait for their response.

There is one thing I’m always careful about when teaching someone: not reacting with anger, even when they make mistakes. I try to explain clearly why those mistakes are problematic, without denying their personality or past experiences.

Everyone who comes here on a working holiday has probably thought about this at least once. Of course, it's hard to define exactly what level of English proficiency is required. What I can say is that I'm gradually getting used to different accents and intonations by taking advantage of opportunities like meetups and volunteer events. Although I don't attend these regularly, I try to join when I have enough energy. I also often listen to BBC World Service podcasts, where people from various nationalities discuss the latest global news and trends together.

I’ve almost handed over my role, and I’ll now focus on helping him handle customer inquiries. I still have 9 working days left at my workplace, and I want to share as much experience and knowledge as possible with him.

I wrote down some sentences I could not catch exactly while listening to a podcast uploaded on the BBC World Service. Can you walk us through what happened to this girl? She was allegedly given the plastic surgery as a gift from her mum for the 15th birthday. Her death certificate says that she died from excess fluid in her brain, causing it to swell from a respiratory illness. A boob job could actually be quite problematic further down the line. If there's nothing wrong with you medically, but you just want to change how you look, that's where this law would come into place. <Reference> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHvtHW8fnSk&list=PLoGkLSVGiQujlggbqDjDNdIkn2MygskQ0&index=6

Today, I joined one of the running communities for the first time in a while. I saw that dandelions are blooming in the field near the meeting place. It is a sign that spring has arrived and summer is around the corner. I was very happy to see it.

I’ve had several moments where I felt completely exhausted. When that happens, I’m often exposed to an overwhelming amount of information and concerns, which trigger waves of extreme highs and lows in my mood. These fluctuations can be detrimental to my mental health. That’s why I believe it’s important to prioritize rest—regardless of whether anyone is pushing me to keep going or making things harder. Sometimes, stepping back is the most responsible thing I can do for myself.

My working holiday is coming to a close. I have both feelings, happiness and sadness. The former is that I can see my wife soon, and the latter is that I have to leave my current room. I will make every single day count.

Today, I took sick leave for the first time due to sudden itchy rashes that appeared on my arms, legs, and stomach. I visited the hospital last night, but the doctors couldn’t identify the exact cause. Based on my symptoms, one doctor suspected that insect bites might be responsible. In any case, I felt it was important to rest and take care of myself.

I started handing over my role to the new staff this week. Although I understand that he is nervous about communicating with customers, especially when talking over the phone, I need him to remember everything within two weeks. So, I am asking him to respond to their inquiries by himself first; I will support him if he struggles to handle it.

Last night, I applied for another institute just before the deadline. I happened to find the one only 2 days ago and knew that the deadline for submitting CV and some documents was yesterday. Additionally, the format was established, and I had to answer numerous questions. That was why it took around 4 hours to finish everything. Although I was a bit tired, my emotional state is not bad. I will go to my workplace anyway.

As I mentioned in my blog yesterday, I've identified something I'd like to try. Also, I may have been stuck to traditional and general perspectives because I felt like I might as well leverage my major at university. However, I recognized that there are many ways I can utilize my experiences.

I was talking with my wife about my next step in Japan. Recently, I have felt like many things are stuck in my mind because I am really worried about my career. However, through our discussion, I was able to make things clearer than before. What areas can I leverage my strengths in? What kind of work style is suitable for me? Based on these two points, I could find the direction I should move forward.

Now we can get instant feedback as we post or write on a social networking service platform. Also, social medias help us find a much larger audience than I could ever imagine, or probably whip up myself.  But I suppose that it makes us subject to writing by committee, doing what people want to hear rather than what I truly want to express. If you have recently felt exhausted by others' comments, it may be better to keep a distance from SNS.

I wrote down some sentences that I struggled to real aloud smoothly. The average length of a hit song in the UK was above four minutes. In 2019, the year that TikTok achieved mainstream popularity, it dropped to three minutes and twelve seconds, which is the lowest it has ever been. Now we're seeing a bit of a change, a bit of a pushback against that. But songs are still, even now, a minute shorter than they were thirty years ago. And how short are some of the shortest ones? Songs really have been compressed. TikTok has changed the way that people structure songs as well as the length of songs. Reference:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VJJb6eZWqM&list=PLoGkLSVGiQujlggbqDjDNdIkn2MygskQ0

I wrote down some sentences that I struggled to read aloud smoothly as I did yesterday. Technology always drives change in music, going right back to the days of people listening on cassette and seven inch singles. You know the - on the vinyl, the longest song could be was three minutes, because that was how much space you had before it compromised the sound quality. With streaming, there's been a pressure to make songs shorter because Spotify has something called the skip rate. If you are listening to a song and you just go, 'I'm fed up with this, next!', then that counts against the song in the algorithm. There's an imperative to make the song short so that people stick around right to the end and get a boost. Reference:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VJJb6eZWqM

I wrote down some sentences that I struggled to read aloud smoothly. You asked her how long a pop song should be. She fixed me with this steely gaze, and it was a kind of withering look, as she said, 'the perfect length for a pop song is how ever long the artist wants it to be.' "She fixed me with this steely gaze" She looked at you with a firm, intense, maybe slightly intimidating expression. “Steely” suggests coldness, strength, or seriousness. "It was a kind of withering look" Her gaze made you feel small, embarrassed, or silenced. “Withering” implies that her look was so sharp it could make someone shrink emotionally. "The perfect length for a pop song is however long the artist wants it to be." She’s making a bold, possibly defiant statement. She’s rejecting the idea that pop songs must follow a fixed formula (like 3 minutes). Instead, she believes artistic freedom should decide the length.