Bruges City Planning: A Swell Idea

(Scene: Flanders County Pub -- Belgium)

Bruges City Planner: How do you feel about bricks?
Some Guy: I feel good about them. Mostly.
Bruges City Planner: What about canals, lakes, that sort of thing?
Some Guy: Like Venice?
Bruges City Planner: Do you see me eating pizza? No. I'm drinking beer and this is Belgium.
Some Guy: I see...I think a canal or two would be nice.
Bruges City Planner: Good...good (thoughtfully). Ok, I have this idea.
Some Guy: Let's hear it.
Bruges City Planner: What if we built a city almost entirely of brick, with cobblestone streets, sort of windy-like, leading to a market square with some sort of cool statue in the middle being overlooked by this enormous clock tower and the city hall building, along with the windy roads there will be canals, lot's of them and we need to be sure they run under and around as many beautiful buildings as we can...but...wait...
Some Guy: What is it?
Bruges City Planner: Something is missing. I got it. We need to make a huge cathedral entirely of brick that houses something...you know...cool. Got it. Remember that weirdo with the marble block?
Some Guy: He was named after a ninja turtle right?
Bruges City Planner: Michelangelo! That's him. Anyways, he made this statue and we are gonna stick it in the cathedral. Did I mention that it will be huge? Like the biggest or second-biggest brick building ever? Yeah...that's the stuff... (Drinks beer thoughtfully)
Some Guy: Sounds like Italy.
Briuges City Planner: (Angrily) Enough about those noodle eaters! I mean...wait...yeah ok, what about this? What does Italy have in the realm of churchy stuff?
Some Guy: Um...the Pope? The shroud of Jesus and maybe a piece of the cross?
Bruges City Planner: Yeah...we can do better. I know this guy. He can get anything. Remember when my carriage broke and I needed a donkey by 5:30 the SAME day? Yeah he is that same guy. Anyways, I am pretty sure he can get a vial of the blood of Jesus. In fact he can get it by 3:00. When we get the blood, it would make sense to build a church around it.
Some Guy: Even IF you could get the blood...another church?
Bruges City Planner: This is beauty man...But We need to build this soon...some yahoo thinks he can sail to India (as if the world were round). We need to get cracking, so he doesn't fall off the edge of the earth and steal our thunder.

After a brief three hour train ride from London, we found ourselves in Bruges. The town truly is amazing and that city planner knew what he was doing. Here are some pictures:

Pip, Pip. Cheerio, London!

After our 13 hour flight from Hong Kong to London, most of our first day was spent in a jet-lag induced fog. We arrived at five in the morning London time and after a speedy immigration and customs process we were off to our first adventure on the “tube,” London’s underground subway system. This proved to be quite simple (albeit more expensive than we’ve been used to) and we took our early-morning ride with all of our things.

It first dawned on us that we were in England when looking out of the window we saw our first house in a year. I know this might sound strange, but in Taiwan everyone lives in buildings. Even “houses” will take up 2-3 floors of a much larger apartment building. So, not only did we see our first western-style house in over a year, but it was the type you see in movies…tall, thin, brick and in a row of ones all similar to it with multiple chimneys on a charmingly curving street.

We were able to find our hotel with no problems, check in early (thankfully) and decided that we wanted to get to it so we wouldn’t fall asleep. If you know us, you know we tend to be stubborn and cheap and on trips like this that translates to us traversing long distances on foot. Thankfully, we also enjoy walking so this way of seeing a place has always agreed with us.


The first thing we noticed was how grand and how classic all of the buildings and architecture were. In terms of history, Taiwan and England are probably about as opposite as you can be. Taiwan is a young country (technically, it’s not even a country) and just went through their industrial revolution 10-15 years ago whereas England has been industrialized for more than 100 years now. All of the classical architecture in London seems to have a sense of permanence. It’s been here for at least 100 years and it’s going to be here for centuries more. Seeing buildings and the architectural details that go along with them was very pleasing to our eyes as there is not much to compare to it in America or in Taiwan.



We saw Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, the parliament buildings, the River Thames, the Tower Bridge and the Tower of London. Here are some pictures:








After this, our feet thoroughly exhausted, we hopped on the train and went back to our hotel for a little break. As we had started so early it was only about two in the afternoon. Later we bought a picnic dinner from the supermarket down the street and walked to Regent’s Park which was nearby our hotel.

The other thing that has been really lovely about London is its’ parks. In Regent’s Park, we were amazed by how much space there was, how closely manicured the grass was and just how peaceful and quiet everything was. For a city of ten million people we spent much of the day wondering where all of them were. Or maybe it’s just perspective…after Taiwan it doesn’t feel crowded or busy. We had our dinner, looking out at a lake, enjoying the beautiful sunshine, clean air and scenery then called it an early day and went to bed for some much-welcomed sleep.

Goodbye, Taiwan : (

As we sit here in the Hong Kong airport, awaiting our flight to London, Luke and I are thinking through and contemplating what it means for us to leave Taiwan after making it our home for the past year.

The last few days have been a whirlwind of dinners, packing and goodbyes that have all been much more difficult than we were expecting. Finally, we have a chance to sit and think about how we feel about our crazy, year-long adventure abroad.

Looking back to a year and a couple months ago, we have realized we had no idea what we were getting into. When it came to teaching Taiwanese kindergartners the farthest along our thought process got was, “Huh…that could be funny.” How right and how wrong we were. I have to say and I think Luke would too, that I have never smiled and laughed and had a job as entertaining as this one. The kids are ready for you, every day, whether you’re ready for them and most of the time, hilariousness will ensue.

But, on the flip side, I also have to say I have never worked harder or felt more frustrated at times as I have at this job. We thought teaching English to kindergartners would consist of showing them a few flashcards, singing the ABC song and calling it a day. How wrong we were…but also how unsatisfied would we have been if this had actually been the case? We can both say that we taught kids how to read in a second language and connected with and loved these kids more than we ever thought possible. Much of our sadness upon leaving is leaving these kids that we have grown so close to and felt so much responsibility for over the past year. We will miss them dearly.

Now, rewind to our first day in Taiwan. We landed in Taipei in the middle of the summer. One-hundred degrees and one-hundred percent humidity makes Luke and Katie very dull indeed. Add to that a never-ending hunt through an underground mall for food and you had our first day. Thankfully, things improved, we went through our training, got settled in to our apartment and started work.

Soon after that, we got our dear and faithful Duke (our scooter) and were off to the mountains to explore. This is where we discovered and fell in love with Taiwan’s real and rugged beauty. As soon as you’re out of the cities, there are mountains and beaches and coastlines and beautiful things abound.

We spend almost every weekend in Taiwan exploring the country and seeing how far we could get. With everything being so close and convenient with the train system we found that we could do a lot and can honestly say that we have seen just about all of Taiwan. This is another thing that we will miss…how convenient and how cheap it is to go anywhere in Taiwan.

Another pastime that will be missed will be just walking around and spending time in the cities. Walking around any city provided endless hours of entertainment. Whether we were shopping for funny t-shirts, checking out a temple or just people watching there was always something new/funny/interesting going on.

Of course, it wasn’t all fun and games. We had many moments where we definitely felt like we were ready to go. Maybe it was a difficult class after a particularly sleepless night on our rock-hard bed (yup, not gonna miss that thing). Or maybe it was feeling hungry and just not in the mood to hunt for something new but not wanting to eat the same old thing. Or maybe it was the noise, the crowds, the smells, the stares that all just seemed too much to handle sometimes.

But, as we’ve been saying goodbye these past few days these negative things haven’t taken up too much time in our reminiscing. We have been thinking about the kids, the Chinese staff, our friends, our fulfilling work, the uniqueness of and ease about so many things in Taiwan and how much we have learned and grown since we’ve been here.

All of these things have made this goodbye very bittersweet indeed. Sitting here in the airport, looking around and seeing so many white faces I feel strangely uncomfortable. Like I’m suddenly in a new environment and don’t know quite what to do. I’m sure this feeling will fade quickly as we venture forth into our Europe travels.

But there are a few things from this year that I always want to carry with me:

1) Always be positive, no matter how much fun it is to be negative and complain.

2) Be gracious to everyone, even if you don’t understand what is happening. Kindness goes a long way.

3) Try new things even if they are scary or uncomfortable.

4) Don’t settle for what is easy especially if it isn't fulfilling.

5) Don't get stuck somewhere or in something if you don’t want to be, work can be fun and live your life the way you want to.

Those are a list of ideas that Luke and I have been talking through these past few hours and we are hoping to hang on to them so they won't fade with the change of scenery.

We are comforted to know that where ever we go, Hello Kitty will be there to welcome us with open arms.

Out With the Old, in With the New...

For me, kindergarten is a vague memory involving finger painting, naps, a nice teacher and those really fat pencils that you can hold in your fist. As you saw in our post about the performance, quite a bit more goes on during kindergarten here. Besides the performance, for many children at our school, they have been going to "kindergarten" for three to four years. So are they ten years old when they finish? No, they just start going when they are three.

So for three years (with one week long break each year...summer vacation? What's that?) the students in Elephant class climbed their first scholastic mountain and on August 1 they completed that journey with a graduation ceremony. Naturally this involved a series of long and complex practices, loud speakers, dancing and lots of singing. Why? You might be wondering. I was wondering the same thing, so during one of the planning meetings I was bold and asked. The response was very simple: "During the ceremony, we want to make the students' parents cry. We want them to cry so much, because they are so happy." Got it.

The final day in kindergarten began on July 31 with the students arriving in the morning loaded with sleeping bags, swim suits (complete with matching swim caps and goggles), squirt guns, two changes of clothes, a blow dryer (yes each kid had their own), towel, toiletries (including hair products), two sets of pajamas, two pairs of shoes, a set of dress clothes, a pillow and a night light. That's right folks, we are having a sleep over.

After a full day in class, the students enjoyed a special fried rice meal (including fish bait, clams and sea cucumbers) then changed their clothes into their gear for the impending water fight. This chaotic event was held on the small lawn in front of the school (the very same lawn that all the parents would sit on during the ceremony on the following day). It was fun, friendships grew closer and new ones formed. Teachers dumped buckets of water on their "favorite" students and a good time was had by all. Like all events of this kind, the clean up took 4x longer than the fight itself.

Each student bathed, then had their hair blow dried (with their personal dryer), then various skin creams were applied and the pajamas were put on. For 45 6 year olds, this took about two hours. At this point it was almost 10 pm (yes all the teachers all still there) and it was decided that the students should participate in a rousing pillow fight. But didn't we just shower and its like 100 degrees in this room? Too late. This lasted all of one minute, the strong preyed on the weak and many cowered in fear. In hindsight, this was not a good idea. Thankfully it wasn't mine.

I left around 10:30pm, went to bed and went back to school at 8 to help get the kids up and dressed for the graduation ceremony at 10. After applying all the makeup (even the boys) and various hair products, each student got in their new clothes (purchased just for this event), then put on their graduation cap and gown. I can't tell you how hot it was in that room. The kids were nervous, the boys were fighting and water poured out of them all faster than we could get it into their bodies again.

Once the parents arrived, we went for a tearful "walk of memories" around the school and to my suprise (I am pretty cynical I suppose), many of the students began to cry when they realized this was the last time they would walk these halls. One of my students had been at this school everyday for the last 4 1/2 years.

Next we proceeded onto the outdoor stage (sitting in the soaked and muddy water fight battlefield) for the presentation of the certificates. This involved each student climbing onto the jungle gym then going down the slide, running through the mud then bowing at the reception of the gift. Once each class finished this, the teachers had "ceremonial tea" with the students as a sign of mutual respect. Next two students were chosen from each class (yes that is the valdivictorian and the salutitorian), and they presented a gift to the students in the younger classes.

Once this finished all the "graduates" gathered on the stage to sing an English song to their parents, followed by a Chinese song. During the Chinese song, space was made for each teacher to give a speech to the kids and parents. These speeches were fairly emotional, particularly for some of the Chinese teachers as they have been with the same class for 3-4 years. I was moved by this (I am such a softy), when I realized just how capable and smart these kids really are. It is difficult not brag about them, but I will simple say that there were some of the most intelligent people I have ever met in that group of 6-7 year olds.

Once this finished, the English teachers stood in front of the kids and led them in one final "excercise time." Of course it was so ridiculously hot (as it was almost noon), that several of the kids felt sick and many of the parents rushed inside to bring water out for their singing and dancing kids. More gifts were given and more speeches were made. Then, suddenly it was over.

At 12:15 the ceremony was over. At 12:45 the new "Big Classes" were set up in the now vacant rooms. The shelves that were emptied with the students leaving, were then filled again with the necessities of the other students. As each "graduate" left they were also given their new books and materials that they would need for class. Afterall, school starts on Monday.

So after all that, here are the graduation pictures of Elephant class (yes these are the "official" school pictures and yes those are guns):

Thank you Elephant class for teaching me so much.