Book Worm

With a new year well underway, it's always tempting to peek behind the curtain of the past year- in what happened and what was learned. Regarding books, what happened was that I finished more than I thought I could, and what I learned was that it's always good to read a book, or take it with you during your day since you'll never know when you will need it to be your companion and friend for those 20 minutes waiting or wanting some needed inspiration. So finally I will share the finished books I read in 2016, and will specifically highlight the ones I read this Fall.

I have my favorites that I read this year, and that really put a spark in me. These included The Blessed Eucharist, The Pioneer Woman, When Breath Becomes Air, Start Something That Matters, Led By Faith, The Diana I Knew, On The Noodle Road, The Introvert's Way, Our Lady Of Kibeho, Traveling To Infinity, White Jacket Required, and Spiritual Lessons along the Camino. Whew. Great titles and books that stirred up inspiring juices that uplifted, encouraged and gave me a new perspective and world to look into. It's always a treat when books can do that for you. :)

Now for the ones that I read this Fall. My goal was to read 8, but I finished 7.
Looking back at the ones I read this Fall, I realized that most of them are spiritual books, which I also found to be helpful and inspiring:)

The Virgin Mary of Guadalupe

This little book was amazing. I learned a lot about the life of Juan Diego and more about the occurrence of The Virgin Mary visiting him. It was also an easy and quick read. Happens to be one of my favorite apparitions of Mary:)






India Calling: An Intimate Portrait of a Nation's Remaking
Right from the start, this book hooked me into a deeper and hidden perspective of the history of India. I found it to be very interesting, as the author was raised with two different cultures, and going back to India as an adult was an interesting and riveting experience for him. I would like to read more books like this.

Our Lady of Kibeho

A very, very engaging and uplifting book about Mary coming into the city of Kibeho, on the Eastern side of Africa. There was so much power and hope in this book, it was difficult to put down. This was also a fast read, and to be honest was a little sad when it was over. Now I can say that I've read all of her books (Immaculee Ilibagiza's). Such a strong, beautiful and inspiring woman.

The Name of God is Mercy 

Another spiritual read! This one was also quite short, and easy to flip through and read. I liked that I read it at the end of the year of Mercy, and overall an insightful and uplifting book.

Travelling to Infinity

I was so glad to finish this long, detailed and heart hooking book! I had been meaning to read and finish this book for sometime, and even bought it for my Mom for Christmas two years ago. I've seen the movie and really liked it. When my sister read it, I was more inspired to read it as well. Jane Hawking is such an amazing writer and storyteller, this too was a page turner. I recall reading 100 pages in a day practically fluidly. Highly recommended.

Make it Messy 

Aww, Marcus Sameulsson. I always enjoy looking at his cookbooks- I got one of them for Christmas this past year! I've also read his other memoir, Yes, Chef. This book was similar to Yes, Chef, a condensed version. It was also nice because I kind of forgot parts of the story, and what an interesting story he has. He's an interesting, creative and inspiring person and chef. 

White Jacket Required

I found this interesting book first at B&N and remembered and wrote the title down. I was inspired by the author's tenacity, passion and determination in the culinary and then later the pastry field. I could relate with some of those moments and situations of quarter life crises and uphill and downhill battles. She has an inspiring journey.

And lastly, right before Fall ended and Winter started, I finished reading Spiritual Lessons along the Camino.

This spiritual read, hence the title, was one I read in preparation for the Christmas season. She decides to go to Spain, to go on a personal and intimate retreat with herself and learns new things about herself, her faith and others along the way. It was a nice and enriching read when the gloominess of December stopped by for a visit.

So, those were all the books that I read this Fall, and this year. I'm excited for all the reading I will do in 2017, and want to read more this year, finding more time for it and covering more subject areas.

Till next time...

Favorite Foreign Words

I've been meaning to pick and write about my favorite words in the languages that I have learned. I would call myself someone who likes to and quickly jumps around from various languages, desiring and seeking inspiration along the way. I will go in order from the language that I've been studying the longest to the one that is the most recent.

The language that I've been studying the longest is Chinese (Mandarin). Winter reminds me of studying this language interest of mine, since I started learning in Winter of 2014. The often cold and dreariness of the Winter weather can get me in the mood to study something inspiring such as a language, and Chinese has been that for me. A word in Chinese which I have easily remembered since the start of learning is 东莞周大 which means California State University East Bay. I've always remembered this, and maybe also because it has to do with how personal my school has become for me. I like to say this word, I think it gives me comfort and I'm proud to say it, knowing that it belongs to me. 

After a year of studying Chinese, I dived into Russian. I liked the sound of it and still do. I think it's a beautiful language, one of the top spoken slavic languages. Unlike Chinese, Russian has an alphabet, yet some look like English letters and others sound like them, and still others look and sound nothing like English. This excited me, and I thought the letters of the alphabet looked cool and exotic. It's been a while since I've studied this language thoroughly and diligently but I know there's still an interest hidden somewhere, and will come out every now and then. The word that I really like to say, and like it's meaning is пожалуйста. This word simply means please or you're welcome. This is one of the words in Russian that I have remembered. It is a very useful phrase but also I really like the way it sounds, it's almost as if it rolls off of the tongue, so gently and elegantly. 

About a year ago, my interest for Arabic took off. I soon became interested in this part of the world and this almost scary and daunting looking language. Almost all of the letters connect, and it looks so fluid and flowy. It took some time to get used to writing from write to left, and knowing all of these letters and how to write them. There are a lot of gutteral and airy sounds in this difficult language but it makes the challenge even more present. One of my favorite words in Arabic is صباح الخير, which means good morning. It's such a simple word but this could be the first word you say to somebody and yet it's so important. I like this word becasue of that, and also because of the way it sounds, rolling off the tongue, and with the back of your throat also having a role. 

The most recent language that I've been studying is Hindi, as of early Fall. I enjoy learning this language, it's so different but I find myself immersed in it every time I study it. I want to create goals for myself with this language, since there are so many things to learn and to keep learning and challenging myself is always something good. The word that I really like in Hindi is कोई बात नहीं, which means it's alright or no problem. I feel that I say this word a lot in English anyway and it's a useful word. Soon I will make flashcards for Hindi and will need to start memoriszing more words and phrases. Happy language studies!

School days, B&N nights, and a new language

On my last night of summer I went to Barnes &Noble. Something about going there at night opens up my mind more to the books and materials around me. I feel more inspired for some reason, maybe because I consider myself a night owl. Also, on a week night there are less people, so it's easier to browse and hear the calm, laid back music better. I wanted this post to also be about my Autumn list, a bucket/goals lists this Fall. I havven't fully finished my thoughts on that one, and want to make it good and meaningful, not rushed or forced, since you can always tell when something is rushed or forced. But, I will say that the two things that I did at B&N that night will most likely be on my Autumn list:)

This item will not just be on my to do list for this season of everything pumpkin, plaid and fall sweaters;I also put it on my 24 list that has to do with accomplishing 24 things in my 24th year, so technically I have another 9 months to go if all else fails. So obviously, it must be something important or should I say daring and maybe even an ounce of extremeness. This goal of mine is to learn how to code. Yes, I know, coding. I would not consider myself a sciency, mathematics, computer geek person, or even someone who considers themselves good at it, but I feel that it wold be useful to learn, even just a little. But like I said, I am always up for a good chanlleng and feel that I am determined to get down at least the basics, the jargon and the language. I'm aiming at learning Java or Javascript.

 So that night, I found the technology section and started reading a few compiter sciency books about Java. There was one in partciular that I found to be interesting, engaging and even should I say enjoyable to read? Unheard of, but I admit it to be true. I think this is a good challenge for my artsy, wavy, colorful mind.

The other thing that will most likely be on this Autumn list, that I just made up only a few days ago, is something that I also looked around for at B&N, but was dissappointed to find out that they don't carry any, at least none that I saw. But thank goodness for libraries because I checked out a book on it today! By this point, you're probably anxious to know what this second thing might be, Well, this goes back to my wavy mind, going all over the place at times. So here it goes.. I want to learn Hindi. Yes, the Hindi language. I am interested in knowing how to speak, read, write, the whole shabang. I have been thinking about learning this language for sometime. I guess not a lot,a lot of time if you were to count, but a good enough amount of time for me. I researched to find that Hindi is the 4th most spoken language in the world. I also researched to find that in my language binder, (where I keep all of my foreign language materials), I wrote a list back in 2014 regarding languages I would like to learn some day. I think it is far too long looking back now, but still thought it was interesting seeing again. As you can see, I did put Hindi on the list. :)

 Language is my passion, and Chinese has been on my learning plate for a good amount of time, almost three years. Of course I wont give it up for good, but feel that I am itching for more, to learn more in something else. I have had a good amount of Indian friends throughout my schooling, more than Chinese. I feel that there is a lot of relevance in learning a language such as Hindi. I don't think it's going to be easy, I'm not doing it because of that. If it was, I don't think it would be very interesting for me. I want to be able to watch more bollywood films, dive more into the culture, the food, the music which I really like. To understand things more from that side of the world. I feel that it's so important as a citizen of this country to understand and seek various perspectives. When you learn a language, you can reach so many more people, who either have that same interest or know it themselves. I want to be where that action is at.


So, as I was saying that I couldn't find any Hindi language books becasue there were none, I came across a book that I remember seeing in Anthropologie about a year ago. The book is called Lost in Translation, the point being that some words in various languages aren't always easy to translate. I thought it was super cute the first time I saw it, and wanted to capture some of my favorite words and explanations ones here.

I found this book to be enjoyable as well as very interesting, and even though I couldn't find my Hindi book, I was still inspired by this one. :) Now that school has officially started, and the first being probably the worst and craziest day for parking (I couldn't find anything, zero), luckily a familar face saved the day and showed me a place near campus that worked for a while. The onset of new classes, knowledge, people, expereinces, endevours, schedules and interets is well underway. I had a full day at school, but got to end it with a nice, end of evening glow, just barely missing the final touches of a rich, majestic sunset, 

First day of school!

The workload is well underway, but I feel that my mind, my pen and my feet can all keep up with it in the end. I guess I better enjoy every last minute of it, whether it's reading about globalization, briskly walking with many things and books in my tired hands, but with a prance in my feet and a tune in my ears to let me know that everything is going to be okay, or going to Starbucks and being admist the student life, soaking and drinking in the warm latte that was afforadable only this time and to not get too used to it. Another year. Another journey. Here we go.