a slow process of catching up

There’s a lot to get myself straight with before I can just get into a rhythm here. I’m feeling a little overwhelmed in my first six months here. Not culturally, though I am dealing a lot more with the culture this time than last time (in a Taiwanese-run school dealing with very small children who are really too young for school and their parents is drastically different than an American-run school dealing with just school-aged kids), but just overrun. I’m working a lot, which is great for the pocketbook but terrible for my desire to do things other than work.

There are outlets – kung fu, friends, food, drama, Rock Band. Some of those things are consuming the artist, though. I’ve barely taken out my big camera in the past two months, instead using a little hand-held that is always with me (though this has proved helpful in other aspects). I’m not doing anything with my photos – after 12 hours out of the house, I just find myself wanting to read, maybe watch a TV show, rather than sort and apply and upload. I hope that Chinese New Year will help me overcome some of this by allowing me to catch up so that it doesn’t seem like such a daunting task.