Tag: Diverseathon2021

#Diverseathon2021: Only in India: Adventures of an International Educator by Jill Dobbe

Only in India: Adventures of an International Educator
Author:
Jill Dobbe

Published:  August 2, 2018
230 Pages

Reviewed By: Jessica
Dates Read: November 27- December 4, 2021
Jessica’s Rating: 4 stars

Book Description:

“We’re moving to India!”

Travel along with two international educators who take the leap and move to Gurgaon, India, to become principals at an Indian/International school. Excited by the opulent marble hallways and the grandness of the school, they quickly learn it lacks even the most basic supplies, like chalkboard erasers. The couple, however, make a go of it and ultimately adjust to the dizzying day-to-day life of Indian society where sacred cows stop for red lights, women wear glittery saris while planting rice, and dreadlocked sadhus go about renouncing all their worldly pleasures.

Part memoir, part travelogue and part tragic comedy, readers will marvel at all the couple has to endure only to end up leaving the school and India abruptly, without even so much as a Namaste. Despite a catastrophe or two, their go-with-the-flow attitudes and kindred senses of humor help them to endure the overwhelming bustle of India, while recognizing and appreciating its distinctive allure.

Jessica’s Review:

I read Jill Dobbe’s previous memoir of living in Cairo, Egypt titled Kids, Camels, and Cairo several years ago. Having been to Egypt, her writing brought me right back to Cairo and those wonderful memories of my family trip I was on with my aunt, uncle, mother, and sister.  That was to be my final trip with my uncle as he passed from lung cancer just two months later.  Needless to say, I looked forward to reading Only in India and taking a trip without ever having left the house! 

Jill and her husband left Cairo and then India was their next destination in their teaching adventures.  India is not on my bucket list, but I have seen Bollywood movies, movies in general, and tv shows taking place in India and enjoy all the colors that are present.  I honestly do not know much about India, but reading Dobbe’s memoir I definitely learned about the country, culture, religions, and history.  I now definitely want to see the movie Gandhi that stars Sir Ben Kingsley, it is sad to say that this ignorant American did not know about the circumstances of his death.

The memoir actually starts at the end of their time in India when she and her husband had to suddenly leave due to visa issues.  As I read of her time in India, I enjoyed going on her journey of remembrance with her, as I ‘experienced’ India for the first time.  There are definitely huge culture differences and she shows us the culture shock experienced by her and her husband.

It is written similar to a diary, so the memoir is honest and full of their experiences, good and bad while also seeing how the Dobbe’s react to certain situations.  They are presently living in Honduras, so I look forward to a memoir that takes place there, so I can journey to another country I have never been to! 

I have had this memoir on my kindle for a few years, but just now picked it up.  I read it as a part of #Diverseathon2021, and this month’s prompt is a book set in India. December’s Host is Natalie @ One Sleepy Reader and she is hosting at Instagram and You Tube. She is also be having a giveaway: See her You Tube and Instagram pages for information on the giveaway.

For full details on this year long read-a-thon, please click here.
And don’t forget about the awesome GRAND PRIZE at the end of the year. Click the link here for that information.

If you are interested in travel memoirs or teaching in foreign countries, I definitely recommend looking into Dobbe’s books. I wish it had not taken me this long to read Only in India, but there are so many books and not enough time!  She has one more memoir written that I find myself wanting to read!

Only in India: Adventures of an International Educator is recommended!

Purchase Links:
Amazon US
Amazon UK

#Diverseathon2021: December’s Host and Prompt

We are in the final countdown for #Diverseathon2021: Tomorrow is December 1st and that means our final host and prompt. This year really has gone by very quickly.

For December the prompt is: A book set in India

December’s Host is Natalie @ One Sleepy Reader
She will host at Instagram and You Tube.

**She will also be having a giveaway: See her You Tube and Instagram pages for information on the giveaway.

For full details on this year long read-a-thon, please click here.
And don’t forget about the awesome GRAND PRIZE at the end of the year. Click the link here for that information.

What am I reading in December for #Diverseathon2021?

Only in India: Adventures of an International Educator by Jill Dobbe

Book Description:

“We’re moving to India!”

Travel along with two international educators who take the leap and move to Gurgaon, India, to become principals at an Indian/International school. Excited by the opulent marble hallways and the grandness of the school, they quickly learn it lacks even the most basic supplies, like chalkboard erasers. The couple, however, make a go of it and ultimately adjust to the dizzying day-to-day life of Indian society where sacred cows stop for red lights, women wear glittery saris while planting rice, and dreadlocked sadhus go about renouncing all their worldly pleasures.

Part memoir, part travelogue and part tragic comedy, readers will marvel at all the couple has to endure only to end up leaving the school and India abruptly, without even so much as a Namaste. Despite a catastrophe or two, their go-with-the-flow attitudes and kindred senses of humor help them to endure the overwhelming bustle of India, while recognizing and appreciating its distinctive allure.

What are YOU reading for this final month of  #Diverseathon2021?

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#Diverseathon2021: November’s Host and Prompt

This post is a couple of days early, but it’s time to talk about November’s host and prompt for Diversathon: The host is ME!!!  It’s finally my turn! At the beginning of the year when Diverseathon was announced November seemed so far away, and now it is almost here…

For November the prompt is: A book set in Iran.
November’s host: Me: I will host here and also on my Facebook page and Instagram.

**I will be having a giveaway: A $20 e-gift card to the bookstore of your choice. All you have to do is read a book set in Iran and share what you thought about it on social media. **Be sure to tag me in some way so I see it!**  Previous Diverseathon hosts are welcome to join in on this giveaway.  This giveaway will last for the entire month of November with the winner being announced on my Instagram.

What am I reading for November for #Diverseathon2021? It will be two very different type of books:

-The Stoning of Soraya M: A True Story by Freidoune Sahebjam
-Lost Boys by Darcey Rosenblatt

Book Description:

Soraya M.’s husband, Ghorban-Ali, couldn’t afford to marry another woman. Rather than returning Soraya’s dowry, as custom required before taking a second wife, he plotted with four friends and a counterfeit mullah to dispose of her. Together, they accused Soraya of adultery. Her only crime was cooking for a friend’s widowed husband. Exhausted by a lifetime of abuse and hardship, Soraya said nothing, and the makeshift tribunal took her silence as a confession of guilt. They sentenced her to death by stoning: a punishment prohibited by Islam but widely practiced. Day by day sometimes minute by minute Sahebjam deftly recounts these horrendous events, tracing Soraya’s life with searing immediacy, from her arranged marriage and the births of her nine children to her husband’s increasing cruelty and her horrifying execution, where, by tradition, her father, husband, and sons hurled the first stones.

This is one woman’s story, but it stands for the stories of thousands of women who suffered and continue to suffer the same fate. It is a story that must be told.

**This is one I read years ago.  The book itself is banned in Iran and there is also a film based off this true story.**

Book Description:

It’s 1982, and twelve-year-old Reza has no interest in joining Iran’s war effort. But in the wake of a tragedy and at his mother’s urging, he decides to enlist, assured by the authorities that he will achieve paradise should he die in service to his country.

War does not bring the glory the boys of Iran have been promised, and Reza soon finds himself held in a prisoner-of-war camp in Iraq, where the guards not only threaten violence—they act upon it.

Will Reza make it out alive? And if he does, will he even have a home to return to?

 

What are YOU reading for #Diverseathon2021 in November?

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