Rating: 
Summary: life changing venture........terrific book
Review: Jamie Zeppa tells the story of her journey to Bhutan. She was born and raised in Canada, is highly educated,has excellent career prospects, an accomplised,promising fiance and yet her life feels like it is missing something critical. Out of the blue, an opportunity for a teaching position in the far away land of Bhutan presents itself and Jamie accepts the challenge to the surprise of friends and family. Her description of the land and the people of Bhutan, of her love/hate relationship with her experience and her life changing venture is beautifully told. The challenges she faces in everyday living and the transformation that occur are engaging. Her romantic vision of life in Bhutan is contrasted by her descriptions of the conditions the children grow up in. Accompanied by the harsh realities of the poverty that prevails it was amazing to see her hang on to her "rose colored glasses".
Jamie Zeppa examines and experiences a life where the excesses of material goods in the "developed" world makes a sharp contrast to life in Bhutan and asks the question when is enough more than enough. It truly makes you take a look at life and "things" and opens the window for a shifting of priorities.
Her view of Buddism, and the knowledge she shares was also a fascinating aspect to this book.
I loved this book and would love to hear a follow up on her life.
Rating: 
Summary: The process of falling in love
Review: First you look around hesitantly, noticing only the differences. Then you begin to see the similarities, until finally you feel a deep connection and find that you have arrived at your spiritual home.Jamie Zeppa has described this process of falling in love with another land and culture in depth and with such tenderness that I felt grateful to see in words what I have experienced myself. Her writing is beautiful, and she illuminates the place and people lovingly and with vivid details. Her very own personal love story with the man she met there doesn't get in the way at all. Quite the opposite: it seems to be a logical consequence of the changes she experiences in herself and her view of the world as she becomes consumed with life in the Himalayas. So often these kinds of books are overwhelmed by the author's self-importance. Jamie Zeppa approaches her subject with intelligence, exuberance, and humility.
Rating:
Summary: when i wasn't reading the book i was hugging it
Review: i picked the book up in thimpu thinking what a long book, but when i started reading it, i wished it would never end. the reason i bought it was bc the wrapping said jamie encountered prejudice in bhutan, and i wanted to know what bhutanese think of western women. later i realized she encountered prejudice only from the indian teachers she was working with, not from the bhutanese people. the book and bhutan made me fall totally in love with the place and the people, and as relationships go, with all their imperfections, so is bhutan. i.e. complicated and stiring up emotions.
i have been told by friends in bhutan, they where surprised i got it there, bc it was banned in bhutan. just shows how true the book is, and also that the country is opening up.
when i wasn't reading it, i was hugging the book and telling or reading parts of it to my bhutanese friends. it certainly filled my cold nights in bhutan. a very different place, and i have been to some.
thank you jamie for giving me such a wonderful experience, i'm giving it now to my mother to read.
Rating: 
Summary: I was there
Review: I read this book as I traveled for three weeks in Bhutan. I don't think I would have gotten nearly as much out of it if I had never seen the country for myself. While the author does give some description to the countryside, you can never quite visualize the real thing. I find her description of the people, lifestyle, the way they dress, the peace within the people of the countryside was inadequate. She also never admits to her naivete and lack of respect for situations within another culture. It is an interesting read, but made better only because I was there...
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful book!
Review: I just finished reading this book, and thought it was wonderful! It was especially good to read because I just recently moved to Romania and am going through some of the same experiences that the author discribed. Culture shock, language, trying to teach students without the words to communicate with them (I haven't had anyone tell me that their birthday is "It is rice and pork," yet [p. 43], but I could definitely relate to that story!), all of these are common struggles in a new land. One of the best parts of the book for me was the way the author managed to combine a description of the history of Bhutan and her own personal experiences. I love reading history and culture books, but reading about history by experiencing it through someone else's eyes made it all come alive again. I loved how Zeppa brings the reader slowly through ever-spiraling circles deeper and deeper into the culture. The way she carefully described her arrival in the country, her original culture shock and despair, and the gradual love she gained for her new people are very well-crafted. It gives the reader the chance to experience the same gradual love of Bhutan, its culture, people, and landscape. She also managed to do so with a good sense of humor, laughing about things such as rats having a Rat Olympics while she was trying to sleep, or the reverse culture shock of having sliced bread after so many months in what originally seemed to her to be extremely spartan living conditions. I've read many travel books and memoirs, but I have to say that this is one of my all-time favorites. I also appreciated the author's honesty, both about the good and the bad decisions she made and things she experienced. Here I have to take issue with some of the other reviewers. In fact, I have to wonder if they've ever lived in a country besides their native land (as well as wondering how they would fare with the Rat Olympics, lack of electricity, unfamiliar food, and lack of connection to their first native land). I found Zeppa's description of culture shock to be extremely accurate. As humans we have the built-in characteristic of believing on a certain fundamental level that the way we know things is "right". Living in other cultures can change that to a certain degree, but it never goes away. Some days (especially in the beginning) you wonder why you ever decided to come to this stupid country and when the next plane home is. Other days you love this wonderful new country, can't believe you ever lived anywhere else, and can't imagine why anyone would ever live life differently than people do in your new home. Most days are somewhere in-between. Through a great deal of work you can try to view both your old and new cultures objectively, but this is very hard. I felt that Zeppa did an amazing job with this; she was definitely not perfect, but she wrestled with her decisions before making them and remained constantly open to new ideas and interpretations of what she saw, which is more than most people can do. To me, this was one of this book's main strengths. I loved this book and would recommend it to people interested in learning about another culture. I would also recommend it to people who are going to be living in a new country to give them an idea of what culture shock can be like. Although most culture shock won't be as severe (Canada to Bhutan is one of the biggest cultural changes available on our planet at the moment), this is still an excellent view of what adjustment can be like. If nothing else, I know that I will remember this book so that when my culture shock gets worse ("I don't understand what she just said... This new climate is hard to get used to!... Why do they do things THAT way here?" etc.) I can know I'm in good company.
Rating:
Summary: Yes
Review: That's the word I saw in my mind. I visited Nepal last year, and I've read that book just now, and Jamie Zeppa's story remembered me the fresh air, the wonderfull children's smiles...
It's quite better than a photograph album.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful book on a very special place
Review: Jamie Zeppa's book is a true gem. It not only paints a very delicate portrait of country few people have been able to visit (I was fortunate enough to travel there), but it also paints one of the best portraits I know of someone who experiences the change travel and different cultures bring. In all of this Zeppa manages to combine great commitment and true participation with shrewd observation. Finally, Zeppa manages to paint the bigger picture by focusing on the small: places, relationships and individual people. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful story of a wonderful place
Review: Having just returned from one year in Bhutan, I felt the need to comment on a book that I read before I went there. Jamie does a wonderful job of capturing the spirit of Bhutan. Since I was going there as a volunteer, I found that the book was great preparation for my journey. I heard that the King of Bhutan has read the book and found that it helped him understand the role of volunteers in his country. But I also found that it is a very human and honest story. Some people may not like the level of personal honesty that is in the story, but it makes it really come alive to me. I think that any story told with this level of honesty will seem to some degree self-centered. But the story is really about Bhutan and Bhutan shines here. She truly shows the complexity of the political situation and the gentleness of the people. Bhutan is really one of the most magical places in the world. We need more stories like this one.
Rating:
Summary: Good sense ot journey
Review: Jamie Zeppa provides a straightforward and pleasantly introspective account of her teaching position in Bhutan, a step into the unknown for the Canadian English major. Her transformation from frightened stranger to staunch defender of the Bhutanese lifestyle (and Buddhist religion) in the face of her negative friends and family is predictable. However, at no time does it seem forced or unnatural. Rather, Zeppa's sincere appreciation for the Bhutanese lifestyle comes through clearly. What I find most memorable in her story is the fact that she acknowledges Bhutan's shortcomings. Yes, they have a more simple way of life that is rustically appealing; but the resulting poverty and manual labor is heinous. And like every Western nation Bhutan struggles with national identity and racism. Also, the students are both silent and unwilling to question authority, something the Western students do to excess. Zeppa considers these flaws openly when deciding in which culture she would prefer to remain. This is a thoroughly enjoyable read, with impressive and straightforward information interspersed with meaningful opinions. The only shortcoming I feel is the abrupt ending, where following her marriage to a Bhutanese native we find that Zeppa and her spouse found unexpected differences leading to her spending more time in Canada than planned. Perhaps providing details on this aspect would require too much prying into Zeppa's life; in that case of course I do not fault her for omitting such details.
Rating:
Summary: Honest and Personal tale of one Individual's Experience
Review: Although this is one young woman's experience during her time there and experienced through her filters - I found it very honest, enlightening, entertaining and full of insight. Culture, history, physical geography, language, and more are all brought to life in her writing. It is as much about Jamie as it is about Bhutan. Her experience in Bhutan is only her experience, but is by no means irrelevant. I laughed outloud several times and underlined many well-written paragraphs to re-read and ponder later. One of the best "travel books" I've read on places I've been.
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