Learning to rest

So my "sabbatical" is soon coming to an end. I hadn't planned this to be a "sabbatical" but I have to say that it has been a most wonderful time. I've had time to rest, sleep, read, learn, develop relationships, travel, adapt to Taiwan, cook, clean... I think everybody should take sabbaticals!

So being a Type-A personality, INFJ for Myers-Briggs, Gold on the Four Colours test and probably an Administrator as one of my spiritual gifts here is a breakdown of my Sabbatical in point form.

January 2007

• Exploration and getting to know Taipei
• Hung out with Ray's mom and sister + our friend D
• Apartment hunting
• Sorting through Visa situation
• Job hunting
• Applied for Mandarin classes at Shida
• Shopping for household items
• 

February 2007

• Setting up our apartment
• Adjusting to life in Taiwan (learning garbage system, fighting mosquitoes)
• Getting to know landlady SF and exploring the neighbourhood with her
• Shopping for household items (our cutlery set took the longest!)
• Found church and fellowship to attend
• Visited new school campus and taught a lesson on "measurement" on the SmartBoard
  
• Cooking for Ray and being a good housewife
• Reading lots
  
• Trip to Hongkong, Chengdu, Guangzhou and Shenzhen
• 
• Visit from R in Canada

March 2007

• Started Mandarin class
• 
• Touring Taipei with classmates and building relationships with them
  
• Reading lots, I discovered the Taipei public library
  
• Getting more involved in Evergreen fellowship
• A typical school day
• 9:30 a.m. wake-up
• 9:45 a.m. check e-mail/read
• 11:30 a.m. start heading to class by bus, stop at breakfast stand along the way for sandwich and milk tea
• 12:10 p.m. Class starts
• 2:00 p.m. lunch with classmates around Shida Nightmarket
• 3:30 p.m. walk home leisurely stopping along the way to buy groceries
• 5:00 p.m. read/watch TV
• 6:00 p.m. start cooking dinner OR get ready to go to prayer meeting or Alpha classes
  
• 7:00 p.m. Ray home for dinner
• 8:00 p.m. watch TV with Ray
• 9:00 p.m. garbage truck arrives
• 9:15 p.m. snack time
• 10:00 p.m. shower, read, get ready for bed

• Trip to Kuala Lumpur where we met our friend J

April 2007

• Learning Mandarin rigorously at Shida, started writing essays
  
• Reading lots of books from the library
  
• Several outings with classmates
• Trip to Beijing
• Visit from Ray's co-worker A, friend W from Calgary and N from TO
• 

May 2007

• Started Intermediate Mandarin book at Shida, took Chinese proficiency test
• Preparing to say goodbye to classmates
  
• Still reading lots of books from the library (Shopoholics, Alchemist, Hemingway, Sisterhood of travelling pants)
• Visited the Doulos ship and bought a devotional journal book
• Evergreen Fellowship weekend retreat
• 
• Trip to Singapore
• Visit from K&M

June 2007

• Getting ready for trip home
• Still reading lots!
• School visit to see classroom and get a taste of 2007-2008 school year
• Packing stuff for Taiwan
  
• Trip home (focus: catching up with family, church community, Joyce PS teachers and students)
• 
• 
• 
• Attended TCK-PFO conference in Houghton, New York and met many interesting people, learned a lot about myself, felt more prepared for being in Taiwan

July 2007

• Finished TCK-PFO training
• Reading is going strong! (Legend of Jimmy Spoon, Little house in the Big woods)
  
• Weekend trip with godsons' family to New Jersey & Appalachian Trail
  
• Dinner at Susur's for Ray's mom's retirement. Yummy!
• 
• Returning home to Taipei
  
• Hanging out with J&B visiting from TO with a trip to Hualien and Jiufen
• Prepping for new school year

Feeling like a Sabbatical too now? :)