I've been lying to my friends about my travel plans

I work as an English instructor at a university in Japan. When I first started the job, I was promised a lot of summer and winter holidays off, so I've been telling my friends and family that I can spend those holidays as I please.<br><br>The reality is that they are just regular semester breaks, and there's no holidays. I don't have any paid vacation days either.<br><br>I'm just so embarrassed. I want to cry. I feel like an idiot.