It’s funny how work always gets in the way of the things I want to do.

The last few weeks have been very busy for me. As an English teacher here in Japan, I had to prepare for our special Christmas lessons at school as well as other End-of-Year activities. I think every educator knows that preparation is key when you’re in the teaching field. It’s not the actual day or event that matters, it’s the hours spent making sure you plan for the lesson and also the things that can go wrong.

And believe me, things went wrong. Because our Christmas lessons were so far beyond our normal classes, I missed a couple of steps that I was supposed to do. My kids went through personality changes when their parents became involved. Angels became devils and vice versa. Time management went out the window. Discipline was non-existent.

Holy cow, it was such a madhouse at the school.

But at least everyone had fun. That’s the main point.

I was also fully prepared to accept that no matter how much you plan and prepare for things, there are always uncertainties to be unaccounted for.

It’s just a factor of life. You just have to lean into these uncertainties.

With that said, I am now free to enjoy the next few weeks of my winter break. I will be spending most of the time catching up on blogs, books, and podcasts. I also need to get into this Christmas/Holiday spirit. Ironically, I’ve had to put it in the back of my mind. I was on full work mode (no fun until I finish!) and didn’t even think about the holiday spirit as I was prepping for our Christmas lessons.

So on the last day of work, when I said good-bye to my last student, I cracked open a bottle of champagne…

is what I would like to say, but I ended up crashing in bed. I was just exhausted.

That’s one more thing I need to catch up on. I need to rest and get some proper sleep. I don’t think I can face the long winter months without properly resting, especially since we will not be getting as much sunlight as I hope.

I’m also going to take the time to really think about next year and what I want to do. I went to an information session for the PhD program and had to re-think a few things after learning some new stuff about what it’s going to involve. I also have a new tax situation to think about. I am also worried about my husband and his work situation.

Now that I have time, I wanted to take this opportunity to just dive into these issues without the distraction of work. I am lucky that my job allows me this–I am always grateful for the mid-year breaks we get from teaching. It gives us time to focus on things that don’t have to involve work. In that sense, it’s a vacation.

And of course, I also hope to do something fun, like travel and visit places I haven’t been to before. I’m also ready to enjoy the holiday food and drinks–but I really hope that I won’t over-indulge because that will be another issue I have to deal with in the New Year.

Anyway, work is done! Hooray!