It's sunny out today, and this morning I took a brisk walk to school. Today is going to be the last day of having truly nothing to do because classes begin on Monday and there's a chance I might get invited to one or two of them (wouldn't that be weird). I actually got one of the new oral communication text books today. It was handed out to the other English teachers ages ago, but it wasn't deemed necessary to give me one.

Yesterday I went to the hospital to get a measurement for an arm brace. The doctor was talking to me about it on Wednesday and he advised me to go in the following day to check one out. He didn't tell me, however, that they retail at 3 man (150 sterling) and that after the Japanese health insurance discount it would still fetch 8000 en (40 quid). The guy who was there to get me all fitted up scribbled the numbers on a piece of paper and looked at me. I said kawanai (I'm not going to buy it) and he began to look uneasy. I know in situations like this, where something has been arranged without the price being mentioned, it's just polite to fork out the money instead of refusing the goods. But yesterday I told the guy straight. "Money is non-existent" I said in my best Japanese, and after philosophising over my statement for a second or two he got the picture.