Having fun isn't hard when...you live close to a bookstore!

One of my favorite things about my home in Platteville is that we have a great collection of books.  My dad is a librarian so over the years, he has put together a pretty good collection of books. In fact, in many places in the house, you literally have a book within arm's reach.  Watching a soccer game and want to know how many people live in London?  In my house you don't need to consult your smart phone, you only have to pull out the World Atlas that is on the coffee table.  When we go to Barnes & Noble in Madison, we have to set a time limit on how long we are going to stay.  Given this environment, it should not come as surprise, that I developed a liking for reading.  When I was younger I used to read lots of different books but then I went to college and I did not have as much time to read for fun.  I certainly found lots of the readings I had to do for my classes to be very enjoyable but sometimes you would just rather curl up with a book of your choice rather than slog through seemingly endless pages of assigned readings.

Anyway, here in Uruguay, I am finding that I have more free time to read.  I probably spend about an hour of time waiting and riding the bus every day and this is a great opportunity to read.  I brought a couple books with me but books are very heavy so I definitely did not pack a years worth of reading material.  However, I have been pleasantly surprised by the amount of bookstores (and their affordability!)  There are quite a few bookstores in Montevideo and I am lucky enough to have one just up the street.  I walk by it everyday but until today, had never actually stopped to browse.  After I spent a fair amount of time browsing, I found some titles that not only seemed interesting but didn't break the bank.  For 100 pesos, which is about $5 USD, I bought 5 books.  I found 4 short little booklets on the history of different countries in Latin America (these set me back 5 pesos per book) and a copy of Tierra sonámbua (Sleepwalking Land) by Mia Couto, which is a fiction about civil war era Mozambique.

So many books!!!

Part of the YAGM program is learning how to live simply and each month I have a stipend to cover food, housing and other costs but it makes me very happy to know that I will still be able to read and have fun, even without a library card.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lg516PSgG5I Inspiration for this post title