It's really hard to win with summer weather. If it is not sunny and too hot for human comfort, it is cloudy and cooler but also closer to the dew point and therefore humid beyond belief. Either way, I need another shower.

Also the rain is getting annoying. My rain boots are great most of the time but kind of hot and sweaty right exactly now, and not so practical for if I am going to be out and about most of the day. Sandals get wet soles far too fast and then my feet slide out of them. I wore sneakers through the typhoon and had to endure much squelching and wet socks. In other words, my search for the perfect rainy weather shoe continues. I am currently eyeballing these ones. They are spendy but get good reviews and apparently Keens last forever. Also, Hirofumi is going to deposit some money in my account next week which would cover the cost. Oh look, I appear to have new shoes. How did that happen?

Of course, if I actually do click "order", I am pretty much guaranteeing that the rain will stop for the rest of the summer. Which is also kind of an incentive.

Good news on next year's holiday front...Masami and Stu want to go to Scotland in June, which means a two week holiday. I know Andrew was really digging the one week holidays we've had this year so I was a bit worried we were going to have a repeat. The tricky part will be picking a destination. I've been promising a visit to Australia for a while now, and I would like to go before LIz's baby starts university.

In the meantime I still have to figure out holidays for this year. My next week off is in late September, right around my birthday. I'm currently eyeballing Thailand, although the tickets are a bit pricier than I would like. I don't particularly want to spend a week in Bangkok so I'm looking into Chiang Mai. It is not a beach area but I could go to elephant camp again and take a Thai cooking course and fill in the rest of the time with massages. This will depend on what kind of ticket I can swing, but at least once I get there general costs go down.

The holiday after that is right around Halloween. A good friend is getting married that weekend and she has invited me to the after-party in Yokohama. Once that has been taken care of I'm contemplating another visit to Seoul. It's a good vacation spot for shorter trips, and then I could also borrow Paul or Laura's kindle and read the fifth Game of Thrones book. Oh, and also get around to going to that pottery village I've been meaning to go to for a year, but mostly reading. (Of course, I have still to mention this idea to either of them.)

Then I've got nothing until December 24th. I'm assuming we'll get the first week of January off to bring that holiday to two weeks, but I don't want to make plans until that's been confirmed.

Really, what I need is for my parents to finally win the lottery and then generously give me a large lump of cash so I can just take off and travel for a year or so.

I'm not really sure what's going on with the weather. Normally the day after a typhoon is crystal clear, the sort of day that makes you glad to be alive. Today was just more clouds and then it rained again. Huh? On the other hand, it is delightfully cool and since anything less than 95% humidity basically feels like 0% humidity at this point, fairly dry. I'm just lounging about, shivering in the gentle cool breeze and marveling at how quiet my apartment is without the fan running.

I was supposed to go see Harry Potter this weekend but Tomoko couldn't get a babysitter so we have pushed it up a week. It's for the best, really, as I will get paid next week and this weekend will be better served by lying low and not spending money. I am making a bit of extra cash lately by doing Skype lessons with Hirofumi, the Sasakis' eldest son, although we have not really discussed how exactly I am going to get paid. Maybe I will just get an envelope with cash in it? Actually, that's how I get paid normally. Sometimes the envelope has a smiley face and "thanks!" written on it.

It's a teensy bit wet out there.

It's nice that Tokyo is close enough for an overnight visit but the cost of the shinkansen is a bit painful. Still, I went this weekend for a 24 hour stay as Paul and Laura came over for a long weekend. Shockingly, they chose to spend their time in Tokyo visiting fellow embassy friends rather than come to Hamamatsu. I know, I know, I don't get it either.

Their friends were kind enough to let me crash at their place Saturday night too. Because they are not lowly English teachers, I got my own bedroom rather than being relegated to the couch. Big comfy bed, air conditioning, two lovely dogs to play with...I am wondering how I can get them to adopt me.

Sunday I left them to their Tokyo adventure and headed off to Andy's for rather a lot of sangria and cheese and Star Trek. Despite all the booze and cheese and nap-inducing heat, I somehow managed to get myself back to Hamamatsu before the last bus. There's a typhoon approaching so I am using the current marginally cooler temperatures to get some housework done. I still need frequent breaks in front of the fan but at least I am not actively dripping sweat. And now it is time to tackle the living room floor, I think. Whee!

I'm not sure if I can refer to something that has only happened twice as an annual event, but this was our second ever MI School bbq. All week the weather promised rain and doom but then it cleared right up and it was sunny and hot. Masami and Stuart were especially relieved as they had already ordered all the lamb and hamburger and assorted other foods and were otherwise looking at a very full freezer for the rest of the summer. The same as last year, I managed to avoid all cooking/cleaning duties by supervising the children down at the creek, which had the added bonus of being refreshingly cool. The only downside to that was that the boys wanted to go play before I had quite finished eating (or drinking my beer! Priorities, guys!), but Masami brought me a hamburger later, so yay. (She actually held it out to me while I took bites, as my hands were covered in dirty creek water by this point.) Liam was determined to catch a fish using only a length of packing rope and a plastic cup and that went about as entertainingly as could be expected. I got home a little after four and have been completely useless ever since. I did think about going out for ice cream but could not even muster up the energy for that, which is a sad state of affairs indeed.

Just in case you've missed them, photos from China can be found here, here, and here.

Not included in the commentary is the story of how I hopped on the metro on Tuesday morning, promptly went in the wrong direction, did not obsessively check the stops to make sure I was going in the right direction, realized my mistake 25 minutes into the journey, and ultimately ended up at the airport at 9:15 for a 9:25 flight. The look I got from the ticket guy was justified, but in my defense my experiences over the past few days with China Eastern had led me to believe that this might not actually be a problem. And because I had bought my ticket from a discount shop it was non-transferable, which meant I had to buy a whole new ticket then and there, and it cost as much as my original return ticket. Good times. Luckily for my peace of mind, Beijing was worth it. Incidentally, I do not really recommend trying to see all of Beijing in just a little over two days. You will be too tired even for foot massages, which you will need like you have never needed one before.

Now it is back to the humdrum of daily life, although at least daily life is more affordable on a long-term basis. I spent a lot of money, is what I am saying. It is so easy to do while on vacation. The money doesn't look like "real money". It's totally play money! Spend it like mad! I enjoyed having clothes made for me. I was particularly impressed by how one man took a picture I had printed off the internet and gave me an identical dress in return. Magic!

It is rainy and cool tonight so I shan't even miss the air conditioning. Off to bed, I think. I went swimming for the first time this year today and that fact is making itself felt.