After the cruise, I had SPEAK test and find my English ability still have room for improvement. I was really shocked because the score indicated that I had almost no improvement in the last year.
Currently, I feel the necessity of going back to basic. I should check my pronunciation and basic grammar in my speaking English. However, I am not disappointed so much though I have to practice so that I can teach to English speakers. The most important thing for us is to continue learning and practice. If you wanted to become professional, you have to learn a lot in your whole life. No professional stops studying.
No doubt, my PhD in USA is the biggest challenge for me. However I am really satisfied with this chance. I can come here and I have a lot of experience because of it. The choice beyond the border was done by me. I came here all the way from Japan because of my trial and error which I decided to do. The sense of choose must motivate me for the rest of my life.
The difference of culture in USA and Japan for me so far, is the attitude for graduate education. Currently, most of the Japanese students who study science or engineering go to master degree. That is the basic standard if you want to apply good companies. It is almost impossible to get good job without master degree though it become opposite if you have PhD degree.
However, if you were in US, only a few people choose graduate school just after their undergraduate. Moreover, a lot of people come back from companies. That is the biggest and even shocking difference for me. Even middle aged persons choose to study as a PhD student. That is unthinkable except for medical school in Japan. On the other hand, I envy the society in USA because people respect PhD. In Japan, if you obtain PhD, you have difficulty in finding jobs because you are regarded as a person who does not have an experience in society.
Another biggest difference is that the equability. In Japan, only a few women choose geology or geophysics. Female PhD candidate is unthinkable. However, the rate of gender is almost the same in US. The situation reminds me of the "unknown" bias for us.
If you ride on an airplane of a US airline, both of genders of flight attendants can be seen. However, almost no male flight attendants are working in Japanese airlines. In Japan, we tend to think particular jobs for particular gender.
Of course, such unknown bias does exist even in US. For example, only two female professors are working in our department. The difference is just the endeavor of people who work a lot for establishing the equability. I respect the custom of the US not because of the fact itself but also the process until they reach it.
