Breathe To Read

Breathe To Read

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

Read The World - Bhutan - Beyond The Sky And The Earth

Book: Beyond The Sky And The Earth
Author: Jamie Zeppa
Pages: 320
Book takes place in the country: YES
Author is from the country: NO - (but she lives there part time)
I have visited: NO


This is my 143rd read for the year

Just for the record - I do not read a book a day.  Sometimes I get a few short books in a row and that catches me up to where I am blogging a book a day.  But not reading that quickly.  I stick to about 100 pages a day in the main book I am reading (sometimes I have time for a little more, but often not).  I read more than one at a time.  My 2nd book I usually read 25 pages a day (but may read a little more if I can't help myself).  I listen to audiobooks while I shop.  I still read to my kids.  I don't blog on the weekends.  All of these catch me up on the blog quickly.


This is the story of the author's time living in Bhutan.  In the 1980s, Jamie took a leap of faith and left the comforts of home in Canada - along with a fiance - and decided to take a teaching job in Bhutan. For two years.  She would be home only once a year during that time, but she felt she needed to explore and try this.

At first, Jamie was very homesick.  Within a few weeks, she felt she had made the biggest mistake of her life, and was going to try and return to Canada.  She was living basically in squalor in a third world country, and it was more than she bargained for.

What she didn't see coming was the help she received not only from the other expat teachers that befriended her, but the Bhutan people themselves.  Some of her students taught her how to cook on her propane stove so she would stop eating just biscuts.  Her students would come to her house at all hours around school - wanting to help, wanting to keep her company, and soon Jaime began to feel at home.  She opened up her eyes to the beauty of the country around her and realized there was no where else on earth she wanted to be.

I really liked this book.  It is very well written and an intriguing read.  I am always impressed with the teachers who take the leap to teach English in these very remote, third world areas, and fall in love with not only the area, but the people.  I have read several of these stories for this challenge, and each one has been better than the last.  I love to watch how real they explain the situation from the beginning - explaining exactly what it was like for them and how out of their depth they felt.  

We moved to Switzerland two and a half years ago on a leap of faith.  It was the biggest decision we have ever made for our family and we felt out of our depth for awhile living here.  And this is one of the richest countries on the planet.  We still struggle being outsiders here - I cannot imagine how it felt in a place like Bhutan.

Great read.  Highly recommend.  Glad I found this book.

Stars: 4 1/2




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