It’s Monday afternoon and I have finished my two morning classes and I don’t have another class to teach until tomorrow morning. I teach sixteen classes each week, just slightly more than my Chinese colleagues, but less than the other foreign teachers. Americans make up most of the other foreign teachers with a couple from Australia added into the mix. The Australians live across the hall from us in our old apartment. My wife and I are the example that is always held up to the other foreign teachers about how it is all supposed to be done. Staff turnover is almost 100% every year. The only exception is one young man who came partway through the year last year.
But, this post isn’t about foreign teachers. When My wife got back from her class, she saw me meditating in the spare bedroom on the upper level. Without disturbing me, she took this photo. She knows that meditation is vital to my well being, and she knows that I meditate while nude. This photo was an implicit acceptance of that. And that acceptance means everything to me.