Monday, May 23, 2011

What am I reading now?

 I have a habit of reading every night before I go to sleep.  This is where my Kindle comes in handy, as I usually read with that in bed.  I set up a big pillow, and make myself comfortable while I read.

Oh, and the music.  I have a radio/cd player with remote control on the dresser and I usually set it to turn off after 40 - 60 minutes.  I figure I can read for a while and then turn off the light, and as the music is going, I waft off to sleep.  It works for me!!!

What music?  Mostly it is the ABC Classic radio, however sometimes I might play some jazz or Chinese music.


Last night it was the ABC - I had finished off Xinran's "What the Chinese Don't Eat" - I love all Xinran's books and this one was very enlightening.  It is rather amusing as I can relate so much to her stories as she tries to explain some of th Chinese culture that we 'westerners' find difficult to understand. 


I started on another one last night (and found 30 minutes to read it this morning) - again on my Kindle. It is called "Silent Tears - A Journey of Hope" by Kay Bratt, about the time she was a volunteer in a Chinese orphanage.  It is hard to comprehend that the Chinese often do not have any compassion.  I know that when I was negotiating at one stage to teaching nursing subjects in China, to encourage Chinese students to help fill the big shortage of nurses in Australia the issue of "compassion" was discussed. We were to do some basic training to enable them to come to Australia to complete their training, but it was very difficult for them as they did not have a 'natural' compassion that westerners seem to have. In the end, the program that I was considering working with ended.  (Some political issue.) Reading the words from Kay Bratt's book, give some indication of what we were dealing with at that time in terms of the students.  South Australia, at the time was recruiting from China for their aged care facilities, but the program did have some problems.

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