On holiday!

This week following, I'll be on holiday! One whole week of futzing around doing nothing in particular - it will be wonderful. For the past two nights I've been out drinking; Saturday night was a party arranged by my manager and the staff of another school, so we all went out for yakitori* and nomi hodai**, and Sunday I was going to go out with a friend of mine, but plans changed and I ended up at the bar by myself... until I was invited over to a table of other gaijin, and I passed a nice three hours talking with our assorted bunch and having drinks bought for me. Not bad. Tonight I'm going out with some other teachers to a bar I've never been to; it should be a good time.

Other than that, my plans for this week include going fishing (with my coworker), going to the Nagoya Aquarium (with friends from church), and going camping and all-night Bon dancing (with pretty much everyone I know - it's dashed popular).

It's nice to be able to sleep in and not do a whole heck of a lot, I must say. Oh, and before I forget, I've decided to trash the whole imperative of saving money: it's just not working, and I think I'll be a lot happier if I'm not worrying the entire time. Sure, I'll send money home when I can, but it's not going to be such a big thing anymore for me: I can already feel myself breathing easier.

Speaking of which, it's been cloudy and slightly rainy for the past two days, and it's wonderful. The temperature is actually bearable, and last night I got a full eight hours of sleep for the first time in about ten weeks. Ahhh. I hope it keeps up!

*It's where you grill your own beef and then stick it into a lettuce leaf with kimchi and various other condiments and then eat your lettuce sandwich. Delicious!

**All-you-can-drink.