Katherine Goes Places: Bruges to Ghent

Several other guests arrived yesterday, so I got to interact with a few people over breakfast this morning. There was a couple from New Jersey, and a teacher from Sweden (I meet a lot of teachers when traveling--we must have that in common: curiosity and free time). It so happened that the Swedish teacher recently switched to teaching immigrant children Swedish after teaching traditional classes for 17 years. I shared that I switched to teaching English to immigrant children just this past year as well (although I've kept some of my other classes) and we began comparing notes. Turns out there are a lot of similarities, both with the ennui of our regular ed students and the enthusiasm of our English learners. Her students are all from Afghanistan, and she told me that they come to Sweden by themselves at age 15 or 16 and live in refugee camps. Unlike her other students, they are amazed that the school provides them with paper, pencils, and free education. They marvel that they also get food and tell her all the time how lucky they feel to be in Sweden. She said they love to learn and work extremely hard. A couple of her boys had never had an education in Afghanistan, so not only were they learning a new language, but they were also learning literacy. And yet, she said, they picked it up in a matter of months. A reminder that many of the negative immigrant stereotypes are far from true.

After breakfast, Barbara, the woman managing the B&B for the weekend, gave me a little tour of the owner's private section of the house, which is where some of the scenes for In Bruges were filmed, albeit with the previous owner. Apparently, the film rented out the entire house for about two months. The rooms below are where the "hotel" scenes with the dwarf and the hookers were filmed (I swear, I'm not making this up):

Aside from the In Bruges connection, I just wanted to put in pictures so you can see how beautiful the house is. It, along with the B&B, are actually three houses that the owners combined. I asked if they were on vacation now, and Barbara said no, they own several business and houses and are always working at different sites. That mitigated my envy a little. Yes, they own all this beauty, but they are working so hard for it that they don't really get to enjoy it.

After packing and storing my bags, I headed to St. John's Hospital. Unlike the kind of facility we think of today as a hospital, in the medieval period through the 1600s, a hospital was a place that provided care not only for the sick, but also the tired, the poor, and the travelers--essentially, anyone needing care. They did perform some medical procedures (some of the tools and descriptions of which were on display--just be very very glad you didn't live in a pre-sterilization age), but mostly were there to serve. Oh, and it was run entirely by nuns and priests. Whatever criticisms people might have about organized religion over the centuries (and many are very valid), this is a reminder that the church has also done a lot of good. Fun fact: physicians were the most educated at this time (usually making private house calls, not working in hospitals) and one of the big things they had to study at university to become good physicians was astrology. Can you imagine that being part of medical school today??

Some photos of the exterior and interior, current as well as an historical depiction:

After lunch, I was back on the train. I managed that and taking the tram to the historic part of the city where my next B&B was located. What I couldn't manage to do was figure out exactly which building was my B&B as it was partially obscured by scaffolding and the restaurant that claims space on either side of its entrance. So after circling the square with my luggage a few times, I finally asked someone in a shop and he pointed me to the right door. Worth the struggle, I would say. My suite is massive:

and a view of the castle across the street

Too bad the wireless internet stopped working up there, for whatever mysterious reason. I am now sitting on the staircase to write this. Speaking of which, this is about to become somewhat abbreviated. I'm tired, and another tub soak is calling to me.

I visited the castle across the street, which was great fun. It was raining at the start but the sun broke through just as I was climbing onto the ramparts for some views of the city.