木村：いよいよ、来週の土曜日からゴールデンウィークですね。
佐藤：久しぶりに海釣りが楽しめるかと患うとわくわくしますよ。
Waku waku suru
Kimura: lyoiyo, raishuu no doyoobi kara gooruden uiiku desu ne.
Sato: Hisashiburi ni umizuri ga tanoshimeru kato omou to waku waku shimasu yo.
Kimura: It'll soon be Golden Week at last, starting next Saturday.
Sato: When I think that I'll be able to go sea fishing I can't wait. Ifs been such a long time.
Waku waku is an onomatopoeic word describing the feeling you get when something you are hoping for or looking forward to fills you with anticipation and excitement. When you receive a present, for example, and wonder what's inside as you open it, this expression fits the situation perfectly. Nani ga haitte iru no daro to, waku waku shinagara tsutsumi wo aketa (Wondering what was inside, I took off the wrapping with a feeling of excitement).
Golden Week this year is from Green Day, on April 29, to Sunday May 7. May 3rd is Constitution Day, May 4th is a national holiday, May 5th is Children's Day and then there is the weekend. Takusan no hito ga, kitto waku waku shinagara, matte iru no deshoo ne (I expect there are lots of people who are waiting impatiently for it).
Everyone has something that they enjoy and look forward to. In my case, I'm hoping to play tennis in Yatsugatake this Golden Week. I can already imagine it, as I swing my racket back to serve, looking up and seeing the blue sky. Ima kara waku waku shinagara, sono higa kuru no wo matte iru (Already I can't wait for the day to arrive).
The foreign students that I teach seem to be looking forward to their week's holiday, too. For students like them, who have just spent their first month in Japan, it's about the time when the stress of adapting to Japanese life has begun to build up and they are getting tired. But they come in smiling to tell me all their travel plans. "I've bought a ticket for the Seishun 18, and I'm off on a trip around the Kansai area." "I'm going to do a homestay at a Japanese friend's house." Kitto ryuugaku-sei tachi mo, waku waku shite iru ni chigai nai (I'm sure the foreign students must be feeling excited).
One of my friends loves to go fishing. He tells me there's nothing like taking a boat out on the sea and soaking up the sun as you fish. "Wouldn't you like to share a big freshly caught bream sliced up into sashimi?" he asks. Ano tsureta shunkan no koto wo omou to waku waku shite kuru n' desu yo (When I imagine the moment where I catch the fish, it gives me a thrill of excitement). This person is 70 years old, but right now he has the expression of a young boy. And there's something very heart-warming about that.