Photo page 4

Photo Page 4 — Moving on from All Nations

November 2004

Other photo pages:March 2004 April 2003 (only in Dutch!) November 2002

Asia, Spring 2004 — We spent four weeks in Yangon —formerly Rangoon— the capital of Myanmar —formerly Burma— teaching English lessons and absorbing the sights, sounds and smells of Asia before a brief rest on a Thai island en route back to the UK. Although Peter has been to South East Asia before, this was a first for Kelly. Some impressions include the colourful longyi-skirt and top combinations worn by most of the women, the fruit and vegetable stands lining the streets, the variety of interesting fried food available including locusts and animal intestines, markets like rabbit-warrens, the beautiful intricate traditional carvings, the golden domes of the pagodas, the frangipani blossoms spiralling out of the trees, and the wall of 40 degree heat that faced us each morning as we walked out of our hotel lobby. Teaching English was a good experience, the students were motivated and very polite, we could also spend time with them, and we learned a lot ourselves. We really enjoyed our time in Myanmar and our interactions with the friendly people we met.

temple roofs
The south entrance to a major temple

streetside teashop
Our usual lunch haunt in Yangon

street market
The ubiquitous market-on-the-street

Term 3, April-June 2004 — The summer term at Easneye brings with it a proliferation of wildflowers along the footpaths and hedgerows, although it also brings with it a proliferation of deadlines for assignments. This term was the busiest of the year for Kelly and Peter as it included the addition of two longer, independent research papers each for them, two visits from overseas friends, replacing and fixing cars, preparations to leave England and move abroad and a multiplicity of goodbyes as dear friends scattered to all corners of the world. It was great to celebrate the successful achievement of our BA degrees with our classmates and the completion of our rich years as students at All Nations before moving out into a less known future.

Punting in Cambridge (photo: Jillian)

receiving degrees
Our tutor celebrating our degrees

pool baptism
Peter's dream: becoming a 'baptist'

Summer 2004 — 'Nomadic Summer' for us, it included thousands of miles of travel, several countries, and rich encounters with friends and family. Scotland, England, The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Germany, France and Switzerland... it sounds like a lot of exciting adventures but many of these we simply passed through, and highways look similar in all of these countries! We climbed mountains in Scotland, England, Sweden and Switzerland... and inadvertedly even made it to the highest point in The Netherlands! We played with nephews and nieces and had some great times with Peter's extended family whom Kelly really enjoyed getting to know better.

up at Arthur's seat
Up at Edinburgh's mountain

on the rock in the lake
Our swimming spot in Sweden

Hinging a hatch with Pappa

Holland's highest point

Transatlantic transition — October was spent largely in Groningen catching up with friends and preparing to move to Canada. The last two and a half weeks before we left carried meetings every day but two! Our encounters with people had the intense quality of hellos and goodbyes all rolled into one. We chose to embrace the cost and invest in our relationships with people in this short and precious time when face-to-face encounters were possible. We are thankful for the advances of technology that allow us to keep in touch with so many of our friends around the world but it is not the same as a presence-to-presence encounter. 3 November 2004 was a very long day for us—over 24 hours— and marked our move from the 'old' world to the 'new'. Vancouver welcomed us with sunshine and coloured leaves that glowed with a spectrum of yellows, golds, oranges and reds. The day after we landed we decided to take advantage of the beauties of creation in this place and walked the 10 km sea wall around Stanley Park, as an introduction to Vancouver. We are currently greeting life here with less intensity than we farewelled The Netherlands, but are looking forward to having the opportunity to see people and places that Kelly hasn't seen for a while and, in many cases, Peter has never seen.

Family Volleyball in Drenthe

Peter's siblings
Goodbye from Amsterdam siblings

Stanley park picnic
Picnic in Stanley Park, Vancouver

Top of page

If you have any comments about this website, please go to the Information page.