My Sunday routine back in college could not be considered exciting; my day usually consisted of long stretches in the library and making lists about the endless tasks needing completion. Much of the day was focused on the future-I rarely took any time to slow down and be appreciative of the moment.
Thanks to a tea class, now my Sundays in Kinmen look a little bit different. They are not wholly focused on preparation and anticipation; rather, they provide time for reflection and enjoyment. Along with two other ETAs, I spend two hours every Sunday drinking tea in a beautiful traditional house in Shuitou. I initially hesitated about signing up; how could I spend two hours every Sunday just drinking tea when I need to prepare my lesson plans?
My addiction to tea quickly eclipsed any doubts. I am glad it did. I was wrong because we do not just drink tea-we learn about different kinds of tea, their properties, and the ceremony and sequence of sharing tea with guests. My tea classes have also been an extremely needed lesson in mindfulness.
Our tea instructor plays traditional classical music in the background, and if you listen closely, you can hear the sound of the instruments alongside the bubbling of the water boiling in the teapot. Before each round of tea, you are invited to smell it before tasting. The sights around you are beautiful and soothing: artwork adorning the walls of the traditional room, and various tea instruments arranged symmetrically around the table. In these moments, I feel very aware of my surroundings. I think this kind of awareness has been helping me to centralize my thoughts and priorities-there is a time and place for everything.
Today, we are inundated by distractions on the internet, especially when I am far from home and many of my friends and family live on the other side of a computer screen. However, I have realized that in order to get the deepest experience out of all of the things that I need to do, I need to focus on just one thing at a time! This means no cleaning my room while skyping my mom, and no reading the news while planning lessons for school. Instead of spreading myself thin over many activities at once, believe it or not, tea has taught me to focus my energy into one activity at a time.
Furthermore, spending two hours drinking tea is not a waste of time-because the clarity and peace of mind that it gives me makes me more focused when I sit down later in the evening to write my lesson plans for the week. There is a time and place for relaxation, too!