Product Description

Jamie Zeppa made a life-altering decision at the age of 24 when she left an academic career to join a two-year teaching programme for young Canadians in Bhutan. Bhutan is a notoriously difficult country to visit as a tourist, and the opportunity to live there was one Jamie could not ignore - despite apprehension about leaving her boyfriend and family behind. The first months were nightmarish and Jamie existed on a meagre diet of crackers and boiled water for fear of catching tape worm or worse. The unpronouncable language, bizarre local customs and basic living conditions all conspired to make her miserably home-sick but the young chidren she was supposedly teaching eventually took her in hand and taught her to cook on an antiquated gas stove: their grateful families gave her fresh fruit and vegetables and Jamie finally discovered that she was surrounded by friends in a beautiful location. Jamie Zeppa has written a book about the difficulties of living within an alien culture, far away from the security of "home". She tells, with humour, of the everyday prejudices she was forced to overcome as a white woman abroad and writes with genuine awe about the beauty of Bhutan.Her assessme

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #14158 in Books
• Published on: 2000-05-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 320 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781573228152
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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Amazon.com Review
As a teacher of English literature, Jamie Zeppa would understand how the story of her journey into Bhutan could be fit into the convenient box of "coming-of-age romance," a romance with a landscape, a people, a religion, and a dark, irresistible student. An innocent, young Catholic woman from a Canadian mining town who had "never been anywhere," Zeppa signed up for a two-year stint teaching in a remote corner of the Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. Despite the initial shock of material privation and such minor inconveniences as giardia, boils, and leeches, Zeppa felt herself growing into the vast spaces of simplicity that opened up beyond the clutter of modern life. Alongside her burgeoning enchantment, a parallel realization that all was not right in Shangri-La arose, especially after her transfer to a college campus charged with the politics of ethnic division. Still she maintained her center by devouring the library's Buddhist tracts and persevering in an increasingly fruitful meditation practice. When the time came for her to leave, she had undergone a personal transformation and found herself caught between two worlds that were incompatible and mutually incomprehensible. Zeppa's candid, witty account is a spiritual memoir, a travel diary, and, more than anything, a romance that retraces the vicissitudes of ineluctable passion. --Brian Bruya

From Publishers Weekly
Zeppa's story is nearly an inversion of the ancient Buddhist tale of Siddhartha (in which a prince ventures from the paradise of his father's palace only to find the suffering and decay that he never knew existed) in that the author, at the age of 22, abruptly leaves a stale life in Canada to become a volunteer teacher in the remote and largely undisturbed Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan. Cloaked in the airy mountains between India and China, Bhutan initially frustrates but eventually captivates Zeppa with its rudimentary lifestyle that forces her to question former values and plans for the future. Though the story line would seem to open itself to cloying romanticization, Zeppa's telling of her clumsy attempts to adapt rings with sincerity and inspires sympathy. She thinks to herself upon visiting a local house: "In one shadowy corner, there is a skinny chicken. I blink several times but it does not vanish. Is it a pet? Is it dinner?" Zeppa's lucid descriptions of the craggy terrain and honest respect for the daily struggles of the natives bring the tiny land to life in a way that is reverent but real. Though she tries to avoid what a friend terms "that Shangri-La-Di-Da business" and grapples with the poverty, sexism and political squabbles in Bhutan that bother her, there is little doubt that she sees the place in a largely positive light and is tempted to remain. In the end, Zeppa's is a lively tale of her earnest efforts to reconcile what she has learned with what she has known. (June)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
Canadian Zeppa turned away from a secure future "to do something in the real world." When the opportunity came to teach in the remote Buddhist kingdom of Bhutan, Zeppa accepted with alacrity over the protests of her xenophobic grandfather and the lukewarm approval of her fianc?. At 22, Zeppa was unprepared for the rigors of life in the Third World. Upon arrival at her assigned junior high school in the tiny tropical village of Pema Gatshel, she was dismayed by the primitive living quarters and her own inadequacies as a teacher. But her overwhelming culture shock was eased by the charm of the Bhutanese and the beauty of the landscape. Leaving her first assignment with reluctance, Zeppa was transferred to a position at a college in the mountain town of Kanglung, became a Buddhist, and plunged into a relationship with one of her students. Her story reads like a good novel; even her youthful na?vet? has charm. Zeppa's deep affection for her adopted home makes this a special book. Highly recommended.AJanet N. Ross, Washoe Cty. Lib. Sys., Sparks, NV
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Customer Reviews

Among my list of favorite books.
Jamie writes a beautiful account of Bhutan & it's people. And although she would like to believe that it is an ideal existence - a shangri la, she soon realises that every country has it's own unique problems. This however does not prevent Jamie from falling in love with Bhutan & the way of life. After adjusting to living with no electricity, no running water, a drastic change in diet, language problems & the local bus aptly named the 'vomit comet', Jamie's mind finally arives in Bhutan. Gradually, through letters to her boyfriend she finds a widening gap between her new life & life in Canada. So much so that on returning home for a visit, she finds her former life to be a complete culture shock & shortens her stay.

Her tales of the school children in the village of Pema Gatshel are both amusing & heartwarming. This is a society where children revere their teachers. Jamies acknoledges that that these children have taught her a lot more than she was able to teach them.

A must for anyone with an interest in Bhutan, the Himalayan region, Buddhism & teaching in a foreign country.

Beautiful Travel Writing
I loved this book. A wonderful example of personal travel writing--a very personal memoir. In addition to beautifully describing the countryside, some of her insights were quite interesting--the lack of privacy in the culture, the obedience to authority. Her appreciation of and eventual conversion to Buddhism helped me really understand in a very different way the nature of this most un-western form of spirituality. I too was a little disappointed in the second half of the book where her falling in love interferes with the very compelling story of ethnic tensions, and I did think the ending was a bit of a cop out. Still, having been to Nepal and seeing just a glimpse of the things she writes about, I think it's a must read for people visiting that part of the world.

One of my favorite books!
I purchased this book without knowing what it was going to be about, and it turned out to be one of the best books I've read. Since I know nothing about Bhutan, I found the author's descriptions fascinating and imaginative. Without knowing anything about the culture or the area, I found that I could picture both the landscape and the people of Bhutan. It is more of a personal story about a young woman's travel into an unfamiliar area and the challenges she faces along the way, in terms of her own cultural background, values, and beliefs, than a story about the Bhutan itself.

A friend of mine was in the Peace Corp and until about a year ago lived on a remote island in Micronesia. While I wrote to her often, it was hard for me to really understand what it would be like to live in a culture so different from one's own. Her correspondence revealed changing attitudes about the culture she was now a part of, her own cultural background, and the way she viewed herself. While reading this book, I felt I could better understand the feelings and attitudes my friend wrote to me about from Micronesia. I think this book would be very helpful for anyone with friends or family living or working in similar situations. I would think it would also interest people who are living overseas submersed in another culture.

As someone who has never lived or spent a great deal of time outside the United States, I felt that I could identify with the author. I appreciated her honesty and ability to convey her feelings and emotions, as well as effectively describe a place totally unfamiliar to me. I would suggest it to anyone!