how do you sleep? and in sleep, dream?

i'm getting word-obsessive again.

i finally busted out some of the 10-ish books i brought to hold me over for my first 7 months here this past week. there's nothing like reading to inspire me, open my mind, make me pensive, and just make me see everything --- differently. why is that? i don't know. i guess it's natural to start to relate things in your own life to the books you read, regardless of how different the story from reality. maybe it's just that when you sit down and read, you're constantly thinking and you're just able to go further. today i finished a book i started months ago for an "almost-realized" aiesec book club called the bridge on the drina. hard to find, but if you get the chance, it's an amazing blend of historical fact and its implications in personal lives, cultures, perceptions, politics, religion, etc. very much recommended. i started it in my narrow bedroom in my atlanta apartment, lying on my futon in a sea of blankets - i finished it today, months later, on the top of cerro santa lucia, a small hill situated in the middle of the city, decorated by plazas and a small castle dating from the beginning of santiago as a city, really. the mountians lingered in the distant clouds as i passed the afternoon reading on a bench in a touristy plaza and opened my mind a little bit more - muy tranquila la tarde.

now with some closure for this book, i've decided to invest my next reading efforts in reading a real book (ie not a kids' picture book) in spanish. i feel it's the next logical step in my development of learning the language, really. i love to read. why not? just hoping this next step won't drive me completely mad with frustration as i seek the release and thought-provoking sensation that reading now gives me --- not expecting it to be that easy, ha ha.

it's a big challenge for me though on a personal level, and i'm ready, i think :) after 4 months, i'm proficient enough in my spanish to spend my day chattering with some english thrown in for random words. i work with my team of vp's in spanish for the most part, and am now much better at conversing in english and switching instantly to spanish without the awkward "my brain doesn't want to switch" business going on :) and where did i learn zillions of new words as a kid and all throughout my lifetime of english? books. where did i learn about zillions of new ideas and find lots of inspiration? books. so what seems like the logical next place to turn to really develop myself here personally, professionally, and emotionally? people, of course ;) but also books.

part 2 of the journey starts this week.