Reading

One thing we all do quite a bit of here in Bangladesh is read. I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but Bogra isn't a place with much variety in the way of evening activities. This is more difficult for some people to get used to than others. Having grown up somewhat tied to the farm most evenings, this lack of variety doesn't feel terribly constraining to me. Most Bengali's deal with this same issue by spending massive amounts of time sitting around and shooting the bull (an expression that I have tried teaching some of our staff) with friends and family. I live with two introverts and since two other co-workers recently left, I have new openings for social time in the last several weeks. I've spent a chunk of that time making sure to chat with various members of the staff a little more. That doesn't fill up all the time though, so I've spent a lot more time reading lately.

I've finished off all of the Philip Gulley books my mother sent me. If you haven't read any of them, I recommend them highly as a humorous and insightful commentary on rural communities in the Mid-West. They are nice to have here because they're a connection to home. I've started a book given to me by a friend while I was home. So far it has been an excellent Christian perspective on suffering. I also started up re-reading my favorite book, "The Walking Drum" by Louis L'Amour. I had forgotten how much I love that book and have averaged close to 100 pages a day in it which means I'll probably finish it tonight. This doesn't include the reading I do at my computer before, during, and after work. It is actually quite pathetic how much I still follow sports. I also like to take breaks during the work day to read up on Bangladesh news. In addition to that I also do some reading on statistics, sociology, and agriculture. The best part about all this though, is that it seems from the collection of books MCC Bangladesh has, most people have shared this past time with me while they were here.