Growing up in a family with conservative ideas and relatively strict parental guidance, I never really got acquainted with the TV until my late teens. In a family where swearing is a taboo, TV is off limits, going out of the house is a nono, afternoon siesta is a must, touching the other person when saying sorry even if you don't want to is mandatory,...you get the picture. Almost everything that a child could enjoy was prohibited or if allowed, only for a limited time. I saw my mom as a killjoy when I was young..My six siblings and I found ways instead to amuse ourselves.
Adventures were endless. But that's another story. It was in this kind of environment in my first decade on earth that I fell in love-with books. I spent hours alone in the old library of our school which nobody visits. No cards were required, no maximum books..in short I had accesss to any book I wanted in that old library. It became my sanctuary. Books ranged from biographies of people like Louisa May Alcott, Pocahontas, Jane Adams to other hard bound books..It didn't matter to me that those books were too heavy and were printed in small font and that the English is a little different. I thought every ten year old reads like I did back then. i was surprised when my classmates called me a liar when I casually told them I read this and that. My adviser even told me that it's not good to tell a lie. BUT I wasn't.
I found my ally at home when my oldest brother announced that his school awarded him with cash for borrowing the most number of books in the entire university. I was not the only bookworm. If I am a booklover my brother is even more so. His school has the biggest library (Henry Luce Library @ Silliman). It made me feel a lot better. At school I sometimes have to pretend I enjoy books for 10-year-olds which I felt have too few pages to be enjoyable. I secretly visit the old library but when my best friend starts looking for me I hurriedly mark the page and play with her. Going to school gave me something to look forward to..finishing another book.
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