It’s been a crazy few weeks and being sick for almost three solid weeks hasn’t help make life easier. But it’s been a while since Matt or I have been so sick, so I suppose we’re quite lucky. Our family doctor advised that there’s a nasty virus going around and the best medicine is rest. That’s something I struggle with when sick. Having to actually stop and not do anything? Impossible! Luckily, taking a day off and then working from home earlier this week seems to have finally done the trick.
Today (since it’s technically after 12:00 a.m.) I leave for Halifax and will be travelling to New Glasgow for the first training weekend for my Group Study Exchange with Rotary International. As mentioned in a previous post, I’m going to Taiwan for four weeks in March 2012. Our group of five will be travelling to another side of the world to expand our professional, vocational and leadership skills; all while broadening our cultural understanding and knowledge.
While in Taiwan, I’ll spend a lot of time talking about who I am, my professional and personal history and also discussing my career and where I work. I’m excited to meet with fellow communication and post-secondary professionals from another country as well as other great people connected to Rotary in Taiwan.
This weekend we plan to cover a number of topics that will prepare us for this life-changing trip. One major area to discuss is the standard presentation we’ll do as a group when visiting Rotary clubs in Taiwan. With only 20 minutes and five of us presenting, we’ve divided up the presentation into a few key topics (I’ll cover that in a later post). We’ll also need to talk about ourselves a bit during that 20 minutes… so it sounds like short, bit-sized facts and information will be best. The last thing we want to do is overwhelm our audiences with too many facts or details.
We plan to have a blog dedicated to our specific GSE and my goal is to try and get some videos and information posted before we go to help explain more about this experience. We’ll have a very busy schedule once in Taiwan, but we’re optimistic that we’ll be able to provide some quick updates and photos (and possibly video) now and then to help others live in the moment with us and get that first-hand experience we’re receiving.
There’s so much about the GSE I want to write about, but sleep is beckoning me. I’m at work for half the day and then flying in the afternoon. We’ll hit the ground running around suppertime when we arrive in New Glasgow.
I expect to be exhausted by Sunday evening with a brain full of new information and some new language when we cover key phrases in Mandarin (more language lessons to come thankfully!). In the end though, it’s all worth it. I’m starting on a journey that’s like the arrows up on Signal Hill – I feel like I’m going in many different directions right now as start this adventure, but really I’m heading in a specific direction and the final destination is going to be amazing.
I can not wait to hear about your upcoming adventures. I know you will live every moment to its fullest, and have a lot to tell us about. I still worry that you push yourself a little too far, but pray that God will keep an eye on you and keep you safe.
Thanks Sabrina! I’ve been so busy lately that there are times I think, “wow, am I really going to Taiwan?” Some days it hasn’t quite sunk in. I think this weekend will really hit home and make it all that much more real.
I’m guilty of doing too much sometime, but I always feel like there are other people who are even busier and then I wonder if I’m rather lazy and the few things I do aren’t really that big a deal. A silly way of thinking I know, but sometimes it’s good to slow done. :)
Thanks for your caring words and thoughts. I’ll make you proud!
I have been checking out many of your posts and it’s nice stuff. I will surely bookmark your blog.