Without Rain There Can Be No Rainbows
A teacher’s journey to a Maori village launched by death of his dog.
A Multimedia Memoir
By Ryan Chin
Autographed paperbacks and hardcovers, Epub, and Kindle
iPad App coming soon!
New Zealand is home to wave-filled coastlines, meandering trout streams, and the intense Maori culture. For Ryan, an elementary teacher, it’s also a world where animals are loved and lost a brother is gone but never forgotten.
Ryan arrives in New Zealand a shattered and broken man. For years he’s aspired to teach overseas but would never break the bond with his first dog, Toughy. With Toughy’s premature death, though, Ryan finds himself mourning his best friend while booking a flight to his childhood dream destination.
In a new country with no friends and no prearranged job, he finally confronts his brother’s passing, bonds with a class of Maori children in a beautiful and sometimes dangerous land, and slowly learns to love new pets. All the while, he longs for the seemingly unattainable woman he left behind. Mr. Chin, as his students call him, learns what it means to live life “full on.”
In this time of hard turmoil all across the globe, a gentle voice speaks. No timid fare here, no. This is a story of adventure, faith and courage. Courage to see a hard thing through. Courage to take back up a call from passion’s past. Courage to share a man’s passage through loyalty, trial, loss, a re-birth of a dream. And the path back home from travels that have polished the youth into the salted and tried maturity of a man that faced his dream.
So very much of Ryan’s memoir should have been my own. As I read, each step resonates with memories, should haves, and why didn’t “I”?
Ryans manner of expression magnifies the little things so often ignored and shut away as we “get on” with what too often actually
turns out to have been a life “un-lived” and in doing so he gained a life unforgetable.
Treat yourself. Spend a few moments with him, and perhaps once again you will hear the call and realize you have the courage to answer after all.
HI,
I read your post, Mom Is Right Again, (aren’t they always) but wasn’t able to leave a post. When I clicked the ‘post’ button it took me to your blog but not where I could say something. Anyways, I enjoyed reading it. Well done.
Mark
It has been said of other artists in the past, “In the presence of perfect beauty, the only answer is tears.” I must say that this applies to the description of your story and I certainly look forward to reading your memoir. As a retired teacher and one who has felt that deep and abiding connection to my animal friends, I feel your excitement, your love of children and your pain of loss.
Thanks for the comment on my blog!
I’ll have to stop by again and watch your video when I can use my speakers. (It’s 5am here and my hubby might not like that. 
)
Terrific video Ryan! Absolutely outstanding. I will snatch up a copy of this as soon as it hits the shelves.
First off–sounds like an amazing writing project and journey.
Second off–that is an awesome suit and hat! I wish my grandma had left behind more clothes, but unfortunately all I found after she passed was what may be the world’s ugliest 1940s hat. I didn’t even know they made them ugly back then.
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Rain and Rainbows said this on February 14, 2010 at 7:31 pm |
[...] to Lori, three cats, a dog and a 100 year old house. And then there’s the ongoing work on my multimedia memoir (2011 Release Baby!). Somewhere in there I also managed to make a little money doing remodel jobs. [...]