I’ve been realizing how much of my day has been spent reading these past few days. If I consider all the news, emails, books, manuscript proofs, Swedish lessons, etc., I’m guessing that at least 80% of my day is reading. Remember, I even read on the exercise bicycle (which is common in my former USA gym, but I’m the only one here).
The exceptions to reading are (beyond the basics of sleeping, cooking, eating, cleaning, biking, grocery shopping), on Thursday, I was invited over for fika at my co-worker, Elin’s apartment. I had given her some cardamon from Tanzania, and her husband, Andreas, made a cardamon cake. They have two special needs kids, and the youngest, Ruth, is fine with me holding her on my lap. It was a nice afternoon fika on a beautiful afternoon on their patio.
I did do a little reading on IMDB (The International Movie Database), because we started talking about the historical novels by Vilhelm Moberg, who wrote about the immigrants from Sweden to Minnesota. There was a TV mini-series made, that Eric and I watched our first year of marriage. In the book, the main character is Kristina. She is from the area that Andreas comes from, Duvemåla in Småland. Then I learned that there is a musical, written by the two men from ABBA, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson.
The other exception is the Swedish conversation with Lennart on Friday morning. However, we did some reading too. He showed me a book that he picked up at his last Swedish language talk time with the refugees and immigrants.
A teenage Afghani refugee, Ali, wrote a book about his experience, The Angel and the Sparrow. Lennart suggested I read aloud and then translate a few sentences at a time. It is a good exercise as the Swedish isn’t too complicated, but it is a bit harder to read when choked-up. Lennart and I both had to wipe away a few tears. The first chapter describes how Ali is talking on the phone with his mother, who is back in Afghanistan. He doesn’t want her to worry about him, so he tries to fight through his heart in his throat, but he misses her so desperately. It was beautiful to hear his love for his mom. How important it is to hear the stories and connect with the humanity, not just impersonal statistics or news headlines. Next week is chapter two. I’ll keep some Kleenex handy.
Lennart is also helping me check the translation on a handbook I have for inductive Bible study methods that I will be using this fall. I check a rough Google translate draft, but Lennart helps refine it. He also shared the book of exegetical methods he wrote in Thai for his students. It is wonderful to have a tutor who understands the discipline!
The last non-reading, or less-reading, thing in the past few days was streaming the movie, “Yes Man,” with Jim Carrey. My recent visitor, Kathi, said it was funny, and it was a good diversion.
Today, I was reading church and mission history of Latin America. Fortunately, the weather was at times absolutely perfect, with sunshine filtered through light clouds to make the skin warmed but not hot!
With blessings,
Beth