Always being right...

It's a real curse to always be right.
As expected, I got a letter informing me that I would not be receiving the Monbukagakusho scholarship.

I'm still a bit mad about the committee and what it focused on (such as, my not focusing only and exclusively on Japan), and my own failure to explain my plans and motivations better.

And I'm really mad at those rejection letters: You are supposed to learn from your mistakes, but you are never told what motivates a rejection.
Then again, I met a former classmate recently. She is now also studying (or rather, soon finishing) teacher training in one of the subjects in which she had earlier received her master's. Why the switch to a different kind of career? She had been working unsatisfactory jobs, applying for a research project, only to be told that she were a woman, and the persons responsible thought they shouldn't pick a woman for that project since it were in Sicily. - Wow, a case in which you know what was the fault. Very helpful knowledge, that.

I still haven't learnt about the China application I should already know something about. In the meantime, I'm getting older, soon I won't be in a position to apply for another post-doc scholarship because too much time will have passed between then and when I received my doctorate, and if I applied, I guess they would tell me that I didn't have enough research experience. Still, I'll be trying.

Now - well, tomorrow, actually - off to Altmünster for the Bergmarathon. As I said before: Something that (also) takes stamina and perseverance, but at least is not contingent on what other people think of you, but on yourself. Let's see how far I get there...