Friday I had the whole day off from work, thanks to the staffing company and my school who had arranged for a certain number of days off to keep the numbers round on my contract. I get a flat rate every month, so no problem for me, but I did miss out on the school music recital. Instead of going to attend on my own time, I was a little selfish today and enjoyed the time off.
Kuniko was up early and off to work, but she has a field trip with her students to Kyoto to make traditional Japanese sweets. She is going to go out drinking with the teachers from her school afterwards, so I had the whole day and most of the night free.
I did a little cleanup around the house and caught up with some TV shows I had downloaded, and then I got dressed and headed out the door with the idea of taking a little hike down by the ocean. I got off the train at Maiko station and walked under the Akashi bridge and along the seaside. The weather was great and I could enjoy the sun and the breeze. Since it was a workday, there weren’t many other people around. I walked past one of the really fancy wedding places near the bridge and at the bar there was a crowd of waitresses having a meeting. They all watched me as I walked by, so I waved hello and they all waved back, giggling.
Just past Maiko and before Tarumi they had built a rather large beach with imported white sand. It looked beautiful, and I sat in the sand for a few minutes and took in the ocean views before continuing. I went past Tarumi and the outlet malls and made it almost all the way Suma before turning around and taking another route back. It was a very peaceful walk covering a lot of distance.
I had a dinner of okonomiyaki (with shrimp and pork) and chased it with a couple of different beers, and then I started making cocktails out of vodka and apple/grape juice. I drank those until I ran out of vodka, and watched “Real Genius” on TV. Before long Kuniko was headed back and so I went out to meet her at the station. She had made some really beautiful candies, and we took lots of pictures of them before eating them. She had a pretty good day with her students, and she went bar hopping with a big group of teachers in Kobe after they got back. Her boss paid most of the bills, so everyone was very happy to drink a lot. It’s officially the weekend, now.
