Reading

It was a hectic week here, but there was a small highlight - seeing David Sedaris read earlier this week. If there's one thing I love, it's being read to - it's like storytime all over again.

I can't remember a time when I didn't love reading, but there were a few years there, where I did less of it somehow...and another few, where I was so busy trying to learn other languages that I somewhat abandoned my own. Once we were really settled in our last apartment, we started to slow down a bit, with more long lazy weekend trips (that were more than just an extra day or two in a foreign city where one or both of us were for work)...this is really when I started devouring books again - just for fun, pleasure reading.

Anyway, somehow I didn't read much Sedaris until just a few years ago, when This American Life started to be broadcast on the English speaking radio station in Switzerland. Then I was hooked. Among other things, he really captures the expat experience - languages classes, and all. I love the article he published in the New Yorker earlier this month and was thrilled to hear him perform a version of it this week. Let me tell you how much I can relate. When I had a crazy eye irritation, I was told to put a black tea bag on it...and when I was worried about dizziness, my trusty physician reckoned I just needed to eat more salt at lunch. I've enjoyed a house call, and miss the quiet approach of our local doctor...and the not so gentle hands (or humour) of our dentist.

Yes, there are things I miss, but others that are better. The small local bookstore around the corner, for instance, the local library and author readings like the one I went to this week. I'm not complaining...