As many may know, Japan is taking the Corona outbreak quite seriously and have recently closed their borders to a lot of countries for a while. This is just perfect timing for the upcoming MEXT students I am sure, haha, they must be thrilled! I am still in a MEXT-scholarship group on Facebook so I often see people writing about Corona and how they don't know how they will be impacted. This is the time when people are supposed to be coming to Japan to be greeted at the airport but I wonder if everyone was able to arrive safely or if the borders closed before that happened? And if they can't get to Japan now, will they get to go later instead? It's intimidating enough without corona to go to a completely new country to stay for the next 3-5 years or more, so it must suck for the international students affected by this.
There is actually a package in Japan that was supposed to come for me, I've paid a lot of money for it, but I think it was all in vain now, since its been stuck at a Tokyo post office for 2 weeks now and it may be there for a lot longer. Long enough to be forgotten or misplaced by someone. So I think that is probably money down the drain. That's the small way I am affected by the situation in Japan, haha. Do not send packages in the middle of a pandemic!
I've been talking to my friends in Japan, things are fine mostly, some are worried and some aren't. Groceries and toilet paper are sometimes still hard to find in some stores apparently (there was a warning about a complete Tokyo shutdown or something a while ago which spooked people). At least in Japan people are more likely to use masks than here in Sweden, which is probably good for them, bad for us. In my opinion Sweden should make it mandatory to wear a mask when going out (or at least when in train or bus or w.e), like some other countries have. If everyone has to wear a mask it wont be awkward anymore! You wont seem like the worried freak, haha.
For me, I had to make a trip to my hometown a while ago but since coming back I have been staying at home almost every day. I stocked up on a little more food so that I don't have to take a trip to the grocery store as much as I usually do. When I "had" to buy some material things I ordered them online instead of going to the store, even though I really want to go to stores. I just want to go anywhere that is not here in this apartment, in this area. But I feel like every time I am on the bus, some person is there coughing and that isn't great. Being sick it not something I like, and in the middle of my bachelors thesis, getting sick may mean I don't get to graduate on time, so I am trying to be careful.
Being home as much as I am I will probably be fine, but I am worried about my parents who do not seem to care a lot about corona, and they can't work from home that much, so they will be more in contact with people. Hope they are careful.
So what am I doing to stay sane during corona? Not much, really. So far I've done basically nothing, working on the thesis, sure, but apart from that I have been procrastinating a lot. I want to prepare for my job which will start in like 2 months now, but when I think about doing anything productive I just shut down. It's hard to get into it when you haven't had to do anything for quite a while. But I have to try. Trying is all I can do.
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