Since the days now mostly consist of me trying to pass the time without going berserk, I think a game plan needs to be in place. I recall wishing to have more time to do other things I don't have time for once I started working again. While I was lesson/assignment planning, addressing student requests for certain things, grading, and designing presentations, etc., I'd wanted to have more time to study Hebrew, Japanese, French... Japanese would be more practical in Taiwan, French would be more practical for the family's periodic work trips to Europe, but Hebrew is what most of my non-American and non-Chinese friends post on FB, etc. Plus I do have a wary relationship with the Japanese language; a part of me, and this is rather silly, rebells against voluntarily studying a language that I would have been forced to learn under colonial rule.
So, language learning. I have Rosetta Stone (good marketing, meh product) for Japanese, and I found a comprehensive and very well done podcast for Hebrew that I may have to pay for if I head into the intermediate levels. Duolingo online for French.
What else....well, swimming/hiking/running are out. But I found some youtube videos that serve as tutorials for toning exercises. I think for a while back in middle school and high school before a surgery, exercise to me was what not eating was for people suffering anorexia. Now that I am forced to choose between this form of helping me feel in control vs. letting my body self-image go to rot for the safety of the baby, there is a psychological/mental process going on that is currently too raw to dwell upon much for now.
So, a little bit of old-fashioned calisthenics via modern technology. Just like bed rest: Can't hurt might help why not.
I'd wanted to master more classic Taiwanese dishes that I never really learned how to cook because (1) my mom or grandmother made them so I didn't have to, (2) the ingredients are difficult to find abroad, and (3) I could usually just buy take-out versions for cheap whenever I was in town. Now's my chance to experiment with (as two examples of what I've done so far) how to make green bean soup with winter gourd sugar via the rice cooker and stir-fried vermillion with numerous ingredients that need to be individually grated, blanched, etc. Multiple steps in prepping and cooking for one dish used to annoy me, but I'm starting to appreciate all the finger work and time I must invest into producing a final nutritious tasty product for the family to eat. Time is not of the essence, and it's a way for me to eat more intentionally after having walked through a series of non-demanding but still helpful activity for rebuilding my decimated physical stamina.
So, cooking. Ordering from local farms with sustainable practices and keeping the fridge orderly with no ingredients left behind.
Declan discovered Uno, a good purchase by Daniel. We played for like two hours straight of Uno yesterday. I should spend more time with the kids. That's a perpetual mantra and guilt, the latter emotion because I get so easily irritated by them. I wish I'm an Earth Mom type that's super nurturing and patient and kind. I know of several moms for whom this appears to be their natural temperament. Sadly, I've always gravitated more towards Captain Von Trapp than Maria in my style of going about life.
So, spending more time with the family. Aside from finding local events and helping to plan outings that way, there are movies, books, boardgames... and with kids and husband, chores as well. Those take time too.
If I just take it one day at a time and not get discouraged about the likely possibility that this will be IT for the next five months for me or bemoan/revisit all the original summer visitations with friends and family that I have now scrapped, I might just make it.
Maybe.
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