90 days to...

March 31, 2018 6:57 AM

What can I accomplish in 90 days in Japan, with a car, without my baby, during the hours of 8 am to 7 pm? I am all over the place inside, help me focus!

I have been given a gift, that is at least how I am going to look at it. I have a 90 day contract for childcare Monday-Friday for up to 12 hours (closing time is 7). For various reasons it is highly unlikely that the job I thought was going to happen will come through, same for any meaningful work. (I am a land use planner/historic preservation person living on a military base in the middle of Japan.) So this is my shot, no job, no baby, and not pregnant so I can do things. What should I do?! I need fun and far fetched ideas that I can really make a big dent in or accomplish in this window.

Things I've considered:
-Half marathon training (Whole marathon?). I could probably get through a 10k without bumping up on a time limit right now, so I could ramp up the distance and speed.
-Get strong! I have access to a basic kind of free weight gym and a pool. Also, all the Les Mills Classes
-Learn more Japanese
-Lose 15 pounds which would put me into the skinniest grad school range. I've lost 40 lbs since living in Japan and am now 20 lbs under when I got pregnant.
-Hike
-Figure out how to keep the house straight (Almost 39, haven't figured that yet)
-Make art. I used to love encaustic, too dangerous for babies, but alone?
-Get back into papermaking. (I have no idea how to google for that in Japanese.)
-Look for online consulting gigs in earnest

I think I could really use some kind of suggested schedule for actually making sure that I DO something. Its a real reach for us financially to pay for three months of childcare with one income so I'd really hate myself if I just didn't make the most of this. I've always worked, now I can't really, with or without my baby I've got to figure out to be an adult without an outside imposed schedule. How would you structure your day if you didn't have to go into an office or ensure another person's survival?

(In case it informs your answer, I live a five minute walk from a train station and can get to Tokyo in 90 minutes. Its about a 30 minute walk to the beach. I drive here and am comfortable driving. I live in Zushi/Yokosuka area)

posted by stormygrey to Grab Bag (4 answers total)

I am certain you will receive other useful answers about how to spend your time and cool projects you could do, but as someone who just set up another new apartment, I think I am getting pretty good at figuring out how to keep the house straight. If that is something you want to accomplish during your 90 days, it will probably take a few days at most, maybe a week if you have a large house or need to acquire organizational things. I would approach this one room at a time, from start to finish, and I would:

1. Look around the room and figure out what the issues are. Lighting, storage, clutter, decor, furniture, etc. What needs to be done to make it a functional, comfortable space? Are there specific issues that prevent it from being the best [bedroom/living room/kitchen]? If there are things you can change/add/adjust, make a list of these things. If there are structural reasons why the room sucks for [X/Y/Z], think about whether there are things/ways you could work around that. Often during this step I find that the things I want to do most are just things I've been putting off for a while (little things like hanging a picture or fixing a closet door.)

2. Make any adjustments necessary to the room, whether it's re-arranging furniture, adding in storage, de-cluttering a space, adjusting the lighting, finally putting a 3-way outlet splitter thing into the plug to make the wall outlet more useful, fixing the squeaky door hinges, hanging pictures or shelves, etc. Do the things on your list from step 1 that you can do. For any structural issues, see if you can reconfigure the room/furniture to make it work better for you.

3. If de-cluttering wasn't a big part of your step 2 in a room, do a sweep of the room and see if you can pare down the amount of stuff in the space. (Maybe you don't own a lot of things and this doesn't apply, but if you can pare down it will help for step 4.) Recycle or donate the things you can, toss the things that can't be passed on/salvaged.

4. Clean every room from top to bottom. Spring clean. Work your way from upper shelves and corners down to eye level then down to the floor. Dust everything off, wipe everything down, and then clean the heck out of the floors.

If you do this room by room, your house will be in order. To keep it that way, you need to establish whatever guidelines for yourself that you think will work. Some examples:

- if you buy a new [item], an older [item] must go
- everything has a place; if it doesn't have a dedicated place, create one, and then when it needs to be put away, put it where it is supposed to go instead of on the kitchen table or on the stairs
- figure out whether you like to clean a little bit each day or do a weekly clean and stick to it; once it's a routine it's super easy to keep everything tidy and clean

I've just set up my new home and by doing everything room by room I've been way less overwhelmed, more motivated, and able to get everything done faster because I'm not getting distracted by things in other rooms.

Enjoy your sabbatical!
posted by gursky at 8:09 AM on March 31, 2018

Hello fellow historic preservation professional! How about spending a small part of your day volunteering as a citizen archivist? You can help transcribe and tag digital documents in the collections of the US National Archives. You can choose a record type that interests you or might be useful for researchers...like the US Coast Guard logbooks. It would also be a good way to bridge the gap in your resume.

https://www.archives.gov/citizen-archivist
posted by Preserver at 9:31 AM on March 31, 2018

Explore the coastline. When will you have a chance to see the details of an area like this again. Drive one direction to the coast and meander slowly along for a couple hours depending on what you run into, no hard plan. Use google maps to give yourself enough time to get home that day, then start again from about that point. Take a camera.
posted by sammyo at 11:07 AM on March 31, 2018

Almost every park in Japan is accessible through the Japan Rail system, so I would highly encourage some day trips! The 10 best National Parks in Japan
posted by yueliang at 11:11 AM on March 31, 2018