Jen has sensed our mood quite intuitively, and invited us out to a few social outings: once for a relaxed lunch and then for a similarly enjoyable dinner just recently. It's been good to catch up and have a chat about life and times, and start to feel a little more integrated into our family and community.
Upon some reflection, we've realized we've changed in the past couple of decades away in Asia, and our family and friends are probably unaware of this change. Gaining a whole new professional and social group wasn't easy, and the transient nature of these groups didn't help us establish long ties during our time in Taiwan. Many, many of our preciously won close friends moved away for other jobs in other countries and gradually, we cloistered ourselves in an ever-shrinking circle of confidants, or increasingly, relied on each other. Our introverted tendencies have been highlighted and strengthened by this over the years, along with cultural and language barriers preventing us from forming many meaningful relationships with citizens of our host country at this time.
I suppose the upshot of all these events has meant we have become very self-reliant and almost fearful of large events (we certainly don't regard them as enjoyable) and we've also become overly sensitive to "interrupting" people's lives. We're not working now, and we don't know or understand the particular day-to-day travails of our friends and family, so we tend to avoid "inviting" ourselves into their realms. Silly? Perhaps, but it has felt the right and comfortable thing to do up till now.
Our daily routine is amazingly relaxing and enjoyable in every way, however. We walk up the coastal paths and hills and walkways at a great clip for an hour, and I am swimming/body-surfing every day as well. We're feeling fit and healthy and finally, also starting to feel very relaxed, and not experiencing little pangs of guilt that we're not working! My frozen shoulders are looser and pain free, and as the smaller swells of summer approach, I'm increasingly looking forward to experimenting with some short forays into the surf with my board.
As the holiday season approaches rapidly (everything seems to happen "rapidly" these days: the weeks just flash by!) we are looking forward to re-connecting with some teacher friends as their long, stressful year winds to a close and they get some summer respite with easing of Covid and travel restrictions. Chris and Val are nearing the end of their packing and sorting and selling and moving and both settlement and moving days are looming large. Cass is going to visit them today, but has no prospects for "helping" as all the work has been done. By early December, they'll be ensconced in their new home just down the road...
We're slowly getting a renewed appreciation for everything on offer in the city and it's wonderful. We've visited just a few restaurants and we're eager to visit more, we 've visited some of the new attractions and of course, we can't get enough of our azure coastline, one which we immerse ourselves in each day.
Cass is nearing the end of Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall trilogy: it's been a gargantuan read, and one which she's just about "over"! I've read the very latest instalment of the always entertaining Reacher series by Lee (and now Andrew) Child, "The Sentinel" and am currently reading "Snow" by John Banville: I squirm with envy at his effortless prose and vivid description...how does he do it?!