Jill Dobbe is an international educator, travel writer, and published author. She writes books and articles about her experiences living and working in schools and countries around the world. The interesting sites she has seen, the unique places she traveled to, and her many experiences, good and bad, prompted her to start writing. Originally from Wisconsin, USA, she currently lives in her seventh country, Honduras, with her husband, Dan, and her Yorkie-Poo, Mickey. Jill has two adult children who also feature in many of her stories about living abroad. Ali is an international teacher who teaches in Honduras and Ian is a doctor living and working in Michigan.
While working as an elementary principal, Jill writes travel articles, reads obsessively, shops for cultural artifacts, works at scrapbooking, photographs the beautiful people and countries of Latin America, and muddles her way through the Spanish language. Jill loves her life as an international educator, and on those days when the electricity is on, the internet is working, and there is hot water, she feels she is living her dream.
Jill is the author of two books: Here We Are & There We Go: Teaching and Traveling with Kids in Tow and Kids, Camels, and Cairo. These books are meant for adult readers and she writes a little about the school and the students, but also the places they visited.
Here We Are & There We Go
188 Pages Book Description:
A heartwarming travel memoir filled with temper tantrums, disorienting jetlag, and zany, once-in-a-lifetime family adventures. Who says you can’t travel with kids? Dan and I find out we can do just that as we set off with our two very young kids, first to live and work on an island far out in the Pacific, then on to the continent of Africa with a few stops in between. Armed with strollers, diapers, and too much luggage, we travel to over twenty-five countries throughout a ten year span, while working together as international overseas educators. After surviving typhoon Yuri, almost being mauled by lions, and, being nearly shot by a presidential guard, we happily endure all of the good times and bad, while living life to the fullest. A decade’s worth of experiences and lifelong memories remain with us, as we return to the U.S., now with two teenagers in tow, and begin to experience our very own version of reverse culture shock.
Traveling across the globe to work in an international school in Cairo, Egypt, was not exactly the glamorous lifestyle I thought it would be. I cherished my travels to the Red Sea, delighted in visiting the Pyramids, and appreciated the natural wonders of the Nile River. However, I also spent days without electricity or internet, was leered at by rude Egyptian men, breathed in Cairo’s cancerous black smog, and coaxed school work from rich, apathetic students.
Why the heck did I do it?
So I could experience the unexpected, explore the extraordinary, and bask in the thrill of adventure!
Whether you’re a traveler or not, you will be astounded at this honest and riveting account of learning to live in an Islamic society, while confronting the daily challenges of being an educator in a Muslim school.
This week’s First Line Friday is another Kim suggestion!
Walter the cook killed himself in his little bedroom downstairs, just a few hours after saying good-night.
Lucy Acosta’s mother died when she was three. Growing up in a Victorian mansion in the middle of the woods with her cold, distant father, she explored the dark hallways of the estate with her cousin, Margaret. They’re inseparable—a family.
When her aunt Penelope, the only mother she’s ever known, tragically disappears while walking in the woods surrounding their estate, Lucy finds herself devastated and alone. Margaret has been spending a lot of time in the attic. She claims she can hear her dead mother’s voice whispering from the walls. Emotionally shut out by her father, Lucy watches helplessly as her cousin’s sanity slowly unravels. But when she begins hearing voices herself, Lucy finds herself confronting an ancient and deadly legacy that has marked the women in her family for generations.
Author: Michelle Muto
362 Pages Published: October 31, 2013
Reviewed By: Kim Kim’s Rating: 4 Stars
Description from Amazon:
Siler House has stood silent beneath Savannah’s moss-draped oaks for decades. Notoriously haunted, it has remained empty until college-bound Jess Perry and three of her peers gather to take part in a month-long study on the paranormal. Able to talk to ghosts, Jess quickly bonds with her fellow test subjects, who have their own “gifts.” One is possessed. Another just wants to forget. The third is a guy who knows how to turn up the August heat, not to mention Jess’s heart rate…when he’s not resurrecting the dead. The study soon turns into something far more sinister when they discover that Siler House and the dark forces within are determined to keep them forever. To escape, Jess and the others must open themselves up to the true horror of Siler House and channel the very evil that seeks to hold them in.
Kim’s Review:
This was a good Halloween read that I listened to on audio. The story was interesting and I enjoyed the setting. Siler House is the kind of place that I enjoy dragging my husband to and then chewing on his ear about all the little historical details. There’s even a grave site . . . whoa!!! Overall, it was a pretty simple read. There was a small plot twist that was a bit predictable, but I still enjoyed reading it. I did get a little annoyed with the two girls. Allison was whiny throughout the whole story and even though she was right about somethings, she was still really annoying. And Jess’s naivety was supposed to be something that Gage found attractive, but I found ridiculous! I get that not all ghosts are bad. But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t bad ghosts, and the way Jess refused to even consider the possibility is part of the reason they all found themselves in that creepy position.
As for the audiobook, I wasn’t thrilled with the narrator. Her voice was a little grating and her characters weren’t always clear. This is not a read for younger readers. There is language and adult themes, but thankfully nothing too explicit. This is a great book for anyone looking for a scary read.