Wander I Must...

"Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have..."

Fri, 10 May 2013 23:55:53 +0700

“Make your own Bible. Select and collect all the words and sentences that in all your readings have been to you like the blast of a trumpet.”

- Ralph Waldo Emerson (via likeafieldmouse) (via royalghetto)

-Alexander Sattler

Fri, 10 May 2013 23:43:18 +0700

-Alexander Sattler

"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the..."

Fri, 10 May 2013 23:26:28 +0700

“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.”

- William Arthur Ward (via travel-quotes)

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Sat, 23 Feb 2013 07:22:33 +0700

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Fri, 14 Sep 2012 13:19:41 +0700

Taken from the island of Koh Chang in the Gulf of Thailand,...

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:28:16 +0700

Taken from the island of Koh Chang in the Gulf of Thailand, where my Canadian and I just spent an AMAZING week.

Amazing. I usually know when people here are talking about me....

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:27:22 +0700

Amazing. I usually know when people here are talking about me. Mostly I know just if they say the word “Tay” hah

Hi, I was just looking at the list with book you've read in 2011 (I made it to 50 too!) and I saw that 'Life of Pi' was on it. Recently I had to read that book for school, and I really hated it. So i was curious about your opinion.

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:37:40 +0700

I will admit that I had an incredibly hard time getting through it. It took a very long time. There were parts where I was hooked and parts where I was tempted to skim. I did think that the ending was pretty interesting but in general, it definitely wasn’t my favourite book.

"Me: Xin Yee, why are you angry? Xin Yee (3 year old Vietnamese/Chinese Malay girl): I don’t..."

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:21:26 +0700

“Me: Xin Yee, why are you angry?
Xin Yee (3 year old Vietnamese/Chinese Malay girl): I don’t want to share. That’s MY cookie. That’s MY choice!!”

- My classroom

So I haven’t posted in forever but I am going to try to...

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 16:19:05 +0700

So I haven’t posted in forever but I am going to try to post a bit more for my last 7 months in Vietnam…and I’m going to start with one of my accomplishments for 2011. I decided that because I won’t be able to do a lot of pleasure reading in grad school, I wanted to read 50 books in 2011. In fact, I read 66 and here they are…message me if you want recommendations!

Popular Fiction

The Sense of Ending

Life of Pi

The Confessions of Edward Day

Freedom: A Novel

High Fidelity

Blonde Roots

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl who Played with Fire

The Girl who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest

Shantaram

A Long Way Down

Dystopia

The Hunger Games

Catching Fire

The Mockingjay

Divergent

When She Woke

Biographies and Memoirs

I’m Not Myself These Days

American On Purpose: The Improbably Adventures of an Unlikely Patriot

Things I’ve Been Silent About

Wishful Drinking

Bossypants

Just Kids

Classics

As I Lay Dying

The God of Small Things

The Quiet American

Religion

The Siege of Mecca (NF)

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit (F)

The Poisonwood Bible (F)

The Convert (NF)

The Trouble With Islam Today: A Muslims Call to Reform in Her Faith (NF)

War and Genocide

Human Cargo (NF)

Eva’s Story (NF)

The Gendarme (F)

Stay Alive My Son (NF)

Suite Francaise (NF)

Bare Feet, Iron Will (NF)

Warchild (NF)

Sarah’s Key (F)

First They Killed My Father (NF)

The Sorrow of War (F)

Psychology

Sybil Exposed (NF)

All of Me (NF)

Mad In America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill (NF)

My Lobotomy (NF)

Weekends at Bellevue (NF)

Look Me in the Eye (NF)

Other Non-Fiction

In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror and an American Family in Hitler’s Berlin

The Devil in the White City

Slave

Sex Slaves

Give Me My Chocolate or the Turtle Dies

Chick-Lit

The Lady of the Rivers

Boy Meets Boy

One Day

The Finishing Touches

Swept Off Her Feet

Cocktails for Three

The Little Lady Agency

Little Lady, Big Apple

The Little Lady Agency and the Prince

40 Love

Baby Proof

Love the One You’re With

Something Blue

Something Borrowed

Spoiled

NF= Non-Fiction, F= Fiction

November 11th is Veterans Day and Remembrance DayDuring the past two years, the US military has...

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 10:26:05 +0700

November 11th is Veterans Day and Remembrance Day

During the past two years, the US military has lost more men and women to suicide than it has to combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. [Congress.org]

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Thu, 20 Oct 2011 12:00:47 +0700

"In [the refugee camp], Sophie explains, depression is described by a curious phrase, brought by..."

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 13:17:00 +0700

“

In [the refugee camp], Sophie explains, depression is described by a curious phrase, brought by Liberians from home. Any profound lowering of the spirits goes by the name of “open mole,” meaning the fontanelle, on the crown of the head where the skull does not fuse shut for some weeks after a baby’s birth. In later life, as Sophie’s patients tell her, this hole can open once again and let in depression.

Sophie’s treatment is simple. She asks an herbalist attached to the clinic to cut the patient’s hair, clean the head, and rub in herbal potions; she herself provides paracetamol and counseling. But what she really does is listen. Behind every open mole, as she is very aware, lies a terrible tale of rape, loss, violence. As the story unfolds, the mole is felt to close. The day comes when the patient appears proudly in the clinic to announce that the gap has gone.

”

- Human Cargo: A Journey Among Refugees by Caroline Moorehead

One of the best examples of the culturally sensitive therapies I’m interested in.

"Early in July 2003, a young Iranian used a knife to try to hack himself to death in Bigg Market,..."

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 11:57:10 +0700

“Early in July 2003, a young Iranian used a knife to try to hack himself to death in Bigg Market, just in front of [his immigration lawyer’s] offices. He left a note: ‘You have to kill yourself in this country,’ he had written, in large scrawled letters, ‘to prove that you would be killed in your own country.’”

- Human Cargo: A Journey Among Refugees by Caroline Moorehead

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Wed, 05 Oct 2011 14:08:05 +0700

bethechange-intheworld: The Principles of Non Violence by...

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 14:03:16 +0700

bethechange-intheworld:

The Principles of Non Violence by Martin Luther King Jr.

I love your blog. I am now following you. Would you take a look at my blog about global education and consider following me?

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 13:22:30 +0700

Thanks! Your blog is great! I’ll definitely be reading it!

"4 year old student: You know why I love you Miss Betsy? Me: Why? 4 year old student: Because I like..."

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 15:56:38 +0700

“4 year old student: You know why I love you Miss Betsy?
Me: Why?
4 year old student: Because I like your face.”

One of my students grandmothers told me that I am going to have a wonderful future because I have...

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:58:16 +0700

One of my students grandmothers told me that I am going to have a wonderful future because I have small, lady-like, soft hands…sometimes I love Asia.

VietDon: Who won the war?

Tue, 27 Sep 2011 15:55:00 +0700

VietDon: Who won the war?:

My thoughts exactly…(although in my Canadian’s words)

vietdon:

In the United States they call it “The Vietnam War”, here in Vietnam, they call it “The American War”. Who won this war (if you want to be technical though it wasn’t actually a war for the United States because of a technicality with Congress)? There are still many Americans that think they won…