Rita Golden Gelman

It's taken me years to write this review. This book made a considerable impression on me, but one the author probably didn't intend. For years I had dreamed of a life where I could travel all the time. I'm the only one I know that when I go on vacation, I'm never ready to go home. I just want to hop on another plane or train and go off to see the next place!

In college I studied abroad and traveled around Europe and Russia. At the time I read this I was working for a government agency and show more had finally managed to get myself in a good position where I could try for a place in my agency's international division.

For so long I had wanted to have a career that would let me travel around the world, spending weeks and months in far off places, and when one project was done, pick up and move on to the next. And I was almost there.

Then I picked up this book. I was so excited when I saw it - finally someone who was living the kind of life I wanted to have! But when I finished reading it, that life seemed like just an empty shell. There were no deep, lasting or real connections made with people. I just felt hollow inside. Maybe this wasn't the kind of life I wanted after all. I did end up going in a different direction in life. 10 years later I did end up interviewing for a job in that international division. I thought it ironic that I would have done anything for that job 10 years before, but now I didn't really want it. And I was indeed relieved when I wasn't offered it.

It's the connections we make in life that make it worth living. show less

You know, I consider myself a smart guy -- did well on standardized tests and graduated college -- but I was humbled by how much I learned from this little book for kids. (In my defense, I was a history major, never pre-med or the sciences.)

FOR REFERENCE:

Contents: What Is a Hurt? -- Bee Sting -- Black-and-Blue Mark -- Bump -- Burn -- Cut -- Eye, Something in It -- Goosebumps -- Mosquito Bite -- Nosebleed -- Pins and Needles -- Splinter -- Stitches and Scars -- Don't Stop Here -- Frequently show more Used Words and Their Meanings show less

The year is 1986 and Rita Gelman and her husband are on the cusp of divorce, just as her last child leaves for college. Rita takes a trip to Mexico to find herself, and essentially, never comes back. Rita's passion for living in other cultures is awakened and she begins traveling from country to country, living minimally, and relying on new social connections she makes along the way. In most countries, Rita stays just long enough to develop friends and connections. Once the native people show more have finally embraced her as "family" Rita moves on to the next adventure. Rita's goals seem to be writing and publishing just enough that she can maintain her nomadic lifestyle and becoming accepted by the native people in each culture despite the odds, including her own lack of preparation.

This was an interesting book about different countries, their cultures, and social rules, however, something about Ms. Gelman's approach to her lifestyle rubbed me the wrong way. While I understood the basic anthropological principal about not altering the culture you are observing, I felt she tended to use this idea to her benefit to justify her avoidance to contribute or make positive changes in the cultures she visited. It was particularly hard reading about the children who were starving with distended bellies and her rationalization that she could give them money to feed the children but it wouldn't help the family in the long run. Her desire to live minimalistically and with people who allowed her to stay with them with only minimal (if any) compensation seemed opportunistic and at worst, parasitic.

While I enjoyed learning about the people, I was not as big a fan of the author's traveling methods. I also felt sorry for her kids, who basically lost their mother to the world, just when they were starting to branch out as young adults. show less

This has got to be one of the best autobiographical books I've read. Ms Gelman shared such wonderful stories of the people that she met in her travels and gave me such an insight into the culture and traditions of the countries that she lived in. She's such an inspiration and she's made me realize that if I want to really live my life, I have to stop sitting on the fringes. We can all take control of our lives and sometimes paddle against instead of drifting along with the current.