One of my favorite things to do is to organize my things. This is probably one of the reasons I don't mind moving around so much. Today I had the chance to spend the day with one of my favorite things to organize... my books. I have had an odd attachment to my library for years, and it was heart ripping to leave many of my books in Chile. In seminary, I was overjoyed to add volume after volume to my slowly growing collection. It was the one thing I let myself spend money on without feeling guilty. I could buy any book that was required for class. That has now left me with quite a collection of books. I parted with 30 or 40 books. I gave them to good homes. The rest of my library, a good 50 to 60 volumes are now sitting in boxes in my dad's garage. I went through them today, pulling out the ones that I want to read in the next few weeks, and the few that made the semi final cut to my suitcase for Korea. How does one choose from so many treasures? THere are some books that I love deeply (especially my Edersheim) but I know that they are too big and heavy to carry over there with me. And when I am honest with myself, I probably won't use them there over the next year. If I end up in Korea long term, I can send them over. But for now, I tuck them into their boxes for safe keeping. For someone who doesn't have many belongings and seems to be on the less materistic side, I love and treasure my books. They are in many ways, my guilty pleasures.
I live near a long thin park called Parque Forestal. It's really quite a nice park and it has a long stretch of a lane for riding bikes or jogging. And since I have a fear of riding bikes in this city, I jog. It's really pleasent. I usually listen to radioDisney on my mp3 player and jog along to Jonas Brothers, Beyonce, or Julieta Venegas. Great stuff. Yesterday on my jog I noticed that the trees were beginning to change. Fall has finally arrived and I am glad for the change. But as I was jogging through the falling leaves, I began to think about how much I like fall. And I had this special moment when I realized that I want to be here in Santiago, jogging through this park for many falls to come. After the past few weeks of cultural adjustment being a little more painful than normal, this was a nice thought to have.
Comments
I'm excited to hear about your time in Korea and keep me posted on what you're reading.