I was supposed to receive a care package from Leigh today with all sorts of fun things in it, but it hasn't arrived. I'm so sad. Even though I know exactly what is in the package I was so looking forward to this little "surprise" and a box filled with things from across the pond. Right now the only mail I receive is for my work or my immigration papers, so when I do get personal stuff it's a really happy day.
Hopefully today will perk up though. I only have one lesson to teach this evening at 17:00, then I'm going to see a play that my Canadian Counterpart helped put together with our favorite supervising teacher. Starting tomorrow I need to pack and clean for my week away at Taize and maybe make some preliminary plans for day trips during the second week of this holiday.
I'm not completely sure that I am ready for my Taize experience. When I first learned about the retreat I was 17, had recently moved in with Leigh and still had very close ties to my church family in southwest Virginia. Since then I have finished college, finished law school, gotten married, separated then reconciled and have moved across the ocean. I'm not saying that my faith has waned, though I believe it has to some extent, but I am saying that today my life is significantly more complicated than it was before.
So now I am questioning not my faith, but my emotional capacity for such intense religious experiences. Even more, my comfort level with discussing my faith as it is today because it has been so long since I have been in a position to have those conversations. However, my faith is telling me that for these very same reasons there is no better time for me to open myself up to this experience. I need to gather my courage and dive headlong into it, try to relax and learn as much as possible during this time. If all goes well I will return home feeling spiritually refreshed and ready to face the next stages of my life.
In addition to the obvious benefits to faith of this retreat, I will get the chance to walk around Macon for a few hours on Monday and the following Sunday. Hopefully I will get to taste some local wine and shop for yummy Dijon mustards and the like. Leave it to me to turn every outing into a shopping trip for local goodies!
Speaking of holidays, I am now in a position to finish all of my plans for my 4th and final holiday in April, Spring Break. So exciting! On top of that, my Canadian Counterpart and I have decided to vacate our apartment at the end of March and live on campus for the two weeks we'll be homeless in France before heading west to our respective next [temporary] homes. This will save us each about 430 euros, which is downright fabulous. On top of all of this I am get so excited every time I remember that my dear friend Jescy is coming to visit in just a few weeks' time. So much happy to combat just a bit of disappointment.
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