My Book Exchange

During my first month in Dangila I had my furniture made at a garage that I walk past on my way into town.  Just about everyday I would stop by to say “hi” and check on the progress of my furniture.  The workers there are all about my age and they have turned into great friends.  In fact, seven months later I still stop by several times a week to say “hi” and chat with my friends.  When my furniture was finished back in March and the donkey cart was charging me a ridiculous price to haul my furniture, the guys hauled the shelves to my home free of charge.  One particular friend, Andualem, speaks decent English, and as he delivered my last piece of furniture, he noticed my shelf stocked with books I have collected from friends and the PC library.  He asked if he could read one, and I hesitantly agreed to let him borrow a book.

This is Andualem.

I have to be careful in Dangila because, for all I know, word could spread and a dozen people may approach me tomorrow asking to borrow books.  Such epidemics have been known to spread especially with children and candy!  A couple weeks later no such requests had been made for books, and when I asked Andualem how the book was coming he said something about chapter 2.  I didn’t quite understand what he was saying, so I asked him to clarify, and realized he was saying that he read it twice!  I was so impressed and immediately offered to bring him a new book the next day.  Just about every month since then I have been trading books with Andualem as he finishes them.  He prefers nonfiction best, as I learned when I gave him the first “Harry Potter” book a while back.  After he handed it back to me and expressed to me that many of the words were confusing, I reread it from his view-point and realized that mail-carrying owls and the rest of the Hogwarts world contains vocabulary that a mediocre English speaker wouldn’t be able to decode.  I select Andualem’s books more carefully from now on,  but I am so impressed with his motivation to read and improve his English skills.  Something about this book program I have with him makes me happy knowing that I’m giving him an opportunity to improve his English.