East - In Eden

A Smart and Funny Travel Memoir about the Adventures of Bulgarian Immigrants in New Zealand. If you're thinking of visiting New Zealand, you live in New Zealand and want a chuckle and a few good locations to check out, or if you're just curious about the place, definitely pick up this book. The author covers tons of topics with a fantastic dose of humor, without bogging down the reader with dry facts. She talks about the history of the country, the legends of the Maori people, the weather, the tourist spots--both well-known and off the grid--more about the weather, the people, the food, the flora and fauna, the funny customs, the weather--and still sprinkles a good bit of her family's adjustment from immigrating from Bulgaria to settling down in this new, eclectic country. Surviving New Zealand in characteristic Eastern European style, laughing out loud through mishaps and failures, while helplessly falling in love with the 'Land of the Thousand Rainbows', the 'Most Beautiful Rainy Hell', the 'Land of Relentless Biscuit Eaters' - Aotearoa, the 'Last Eden on Earth'.Observational humor and eye for picturesque detail, the book is a treasure chest for cultural adventure seekers, a kaleidoscope of events, places, and feelings, which are about to culminate in the ultimate wisdom of love and acceptance, not preached but experienced. You laugh and learn. The narrative thrives on the comedy of random circumstances, cultural misunderstandings, and personality clashes. The thrill of exploration, fueled with the occasional adrenaline boost of extreme tourism, moves it at a brisk pace. The author, against her better judgment, goes jet-skiing, zorbing, sledging, and blackwater rafting, slides down dunes, drives over rollercoaster mountainous roads, climbs a glacier, and swims with dolphins. All these feats are narrated with the self-deprecating humor of the reluctant adventurer, but also with the sharp intellect of the professional engineer."e;Our life in Aotearoa was a challenge and a lifetime adventure, a love affair and a hilarious comedy (with just the tiny bit of drama) in a land, regarded by the rest of the world as the last Eden on Earth. This book is my humble attempt to tell the story of our hardship and joy, suffering and fun, the mundane and the extraordinary, the adventurous and the banal, that we faced during our six years in New Zealand. It is about the friends we found. The cliches we wrestled. The wonders we witnessed. The people we met. The lessons we learned. The country we reluctantly, but helplessly, fell in love with. About New Zealand - at the end of the world."e;Izabela Shopova is a Bulgarian-Australian travel writer and content creator.