The Greater Middle East laying before the Himalaya mountain range in Central Asia. How come we don’t know anything about that part of the world but we know what Heidi and Spencer are doing right now? What the freaking hell. It’s so wrong and annoying and… just lame. Or is that just me?

I’ve read two novels set in said region and a travel book about different countries of the Greater Middle East. Currently, I am reading Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin which is an astounding read explaining how Mortenson built over 60 schools in rural and often volatile regions of Pakistan and Afghanistan, which provide education to over 25,000 children, including 14,000 girls, where few education opportunities existed before. Said he, “you can drop bombs, hand out condoms, build roads, or put in electricity, but until the girls are educated a society won’t change”.

My mom was actually the one who pointed out to me that I’ve been subconsciously interested in the Greater Middle East; reading books and watching shows on televison. Granted, the books I’ve read so far are not many and certainly not enough to even begin to portray the area in the right light, cover all its history and political conflicts. Obviously not.

I think, I’m also more interested in the people there and the culture. All we ever hear is about Western countries intruding and how the war is processing and that women are oppressed (except in a handful of major cities), kids don’t have schools, religion is an extremely important factor, the winters are rough and so forth - which are all interesting things to know in itself - but we never hear about the people who maybe live out of reach of the war - yet still terrified and influenced by its aftermath.

More importantly, we never hear about anything in detail or about everyday life and we can never be sure whether what we hear or read is actually true, or still true. It seems as though no source is qualified enough to deliver actual information without shaping and forming it to their own preference.

It’s enraging.

Countries such as Pakistan, Aghanistan and Kazakhstan which are of course well-known around the globe for mostly awful reasons and the lesser-known small countries in between are incredibly interesting and fascinating to me.

I’ll be in Dortmund tomorrow because my friend N has to go there for a study/apprentice interview and I’ll be her Shoulder To Cry On and there’s a huge bookstore there that I just love. I could spend days in there and I’m just going to look through the rows and rows of pretty new books and endulge in the New Book Smell until she gets back from her Lunch With The Boss. I’m going to try and see if they have more books on Central Asia there, and not just typical travel books. Also, I’m going to try not to come up with Capitalized Names For Certain Phrases anymore.

Picture source: here. 

To keep my balance during this crazy time in my life, I have been doing more reading than ever lately.

I finished Three Weeks with My Brother by Nicholas and Micah Sparks a little while ago and if you ever wished that you could cry more often because of a book, like, actually cry your eyes out while reading in the true meaning of the phrase - this is the book for you. If you ever wondered, what hope and strength and friendship and love really are - this is the book for you. Or, you know, it’s also fitting if you’re just looking for a good read.

This book, I swear, took me two days longer to get through than it should have since the words would regularly blur before my eyes because I was crying actual tears, I was sobbing; bawling. Not a pretty picture, I can tell you that much. Honestly, though, Three Weeks with My Brother is a beautiful book. So, to say the obvious, read it.

Since I was all cried out and emotionally unavailable for a few days after reading this (as, you may be aware, is the case after reading anything by Nicholas Sparks) I went on to try something more matter-of-fact-ly and factual. Which doesn’t really hit the nail on its head, I must admit, because most of the information in Jon Stewart’s America (The Book) have been altered for the sake of argument and humor.

Still. America (The Book) is a good read if you’re interested in the United States and its history and politics but it doesn’t aim to teach you stuff. In the contrary, it demands a wide knowledge of its reader because if one doesn’t know the facts, how is one supposed to appreciate the sarcasm? So yeah. It’s a little difficult at times and I’m just scanning through the fun graphics and pictures as of now…

Alternatively, I finally started reading New Moon by Stephenie Meyer and I’m so happy with it. I had hoped that the sequel would be just as awesome as the original Twilight and it is. Mini wave in celebration of the author! Or not.

I had tons of time on my hands during the traffic jam yesterday and made it halfway through the book. There’s no doubt that I will purchase the third book, Eclipse, as well.

So… What have you been reading? Any recommendations?

I’ll be going to Maastricht and Aachen this Friday with my mom to look at apartments. She’s still convinced that I have to rent a room within a 50-feet-radius of the Arts and Social Sciences faculty which I have come to realize is an ridiculous attempt to cut back on one luxury (size of living space) while totally indulging in another (smallest possible distance between living space and university).

I don’t mind a one-hour commute from Aachen into downtown Maastricht and back again because I have books and my music, both of which I prefer spending most of my time with, anyway. So really, why would I pay hundreds of euros to live right there in the inner city, walking distance to the faculty building? What happened to saving as much money as possible because, hello, I have not as of yet joined the workforce and therefore I RUN ON A TIGHT BUDGET?

My mom, somehow, had me believe in this vision of hers where I’m riding my bike to uni each morning at nine, after having had breakfast with my tenant, a likable old Dutch lady. Basically, a vision of me living in the 70s where these things happened and kids didn’t need DSL and an actual bathroom.

Well, I have a different vision. One, where I have my own place with an actual shower and a tiny kitchen and connections to the outer world that are more technically advanced than the payphone around the corner, where I get up at six in the morning to take the train across the Dutch/German border into downtown Maastricht and walk to uni, past bakeries at which I buy scones every morning. And GUESS WHAT, THIS VISION FITS MY BUDGET.

Convincing my mom is no easy business, though. She always ends up accusing me of not listening to her when in actuality, I have listened, evaluated, and decided that, no, maybe only this once, my way is the way to go.

On a different note, I finished Jane Eyre this morning. What a shame that Hollywood has totally ruined these kind of corny endings for me to the point where, subconsciously, I’m always thinking BOO WHAT A LAME HOLLYWOOD ENDING. Only to realize that, no, Jane Eyre came first and is actually a great book.