During my trip to Europe I was fortunate enough to visit many great friends in Europe, bringing back many memories: I met friends from my year in HK in London; I met my Californian friend Loni (who I met originally during my semester abroad in Bayreuth, Germany) in Lund, Sweden; I met my Swedish friend Maria who was an exchange student in Norwell in Gothenburg, Sweden; I met my Norwegian friend Jostein who was basically my big brother during my year in Austria in Oslo, Norway; I met my German friend Tobias (we also became friends during my semester in Bayreuth) in Munich and was lucky enough to convince him to travel with me to Zurich, and I met my host family and friends in Klagenfurt Austria where I lived for a year nearly ten years ago. Essentially, I relived my life in 3 weeks while eating some really delicious food. Enjoy my pictures!
http://picasaweb.google.com/soniatsiu/Europe2009#
Friday, June 5, 2009
Thursday, May 21, 2009
"I Pay My Taxes With Pleasure"
"I pay my taxes with pleasure"
said a Norwegian friend to me
as we sat eating our freshly baked sunflower seed bread
with a garlic cheese spread
on a bench
overlooking the beautiful city of Oslo.
My friend, a doctor in training earning a greater than average salary, was in the middle of describing Norway's social welfare system. His younger sister, earning close to the Norwegian minimum wage of (approximately) $18 an hour, nodded her head in thoughtful agreement.
Here were two unlikely candidates-a high tax paying doctor-to-be and a teenage girl working as a sales clerk at a retail clothing store in between being a student- telling me why paying Norway's infamously high income taxes did not greatly bother them.
Of course, paying these taxes ensure greater fairness among the Norwegian people, to begin with. Furthermore, paying such high taxes allow for things like government sponsored maternity/paternity leave (together, new mothers and fathers can take in total one year of leave still earning around 80% of their base salary while staying at home with their newborn. They also have the option to save up this time to spend with their children up until the age of 10).
More to come on this...
said a Norwegian friend to me
as we sat eating our freshly baked sunflower seed bread
with a garlic cheese spread
on a bench
overlooking the beautiful city of Oslo.
My friend, a doctor in training earning a greater than average salary, was in the middle of describing Norway's social welfare system. His younger sister, earning close to the Norwegian minimum wage of (approximately) $18 an hour, nodded her head in thoughtful agreement.
Here were two unlikely candidates-a high tax paying doctor-to-be and a teenage girl working as a sales clerk at a retail clothing store in between being a student- telling me why paying Norway's infamously high income taxes did not greatly bother them.
Of course, paying these taxes ensure greater fairness among the Norwegian people, to begin with. Furthermore, paying such high taxes allow for things like government sponsored maternity/paternity leave (together, new mothers and fathers can take in total one year of leave still earning around 80% of their base salary while staying at home with their newborn. They also have the option to save up this time to spend with their children up until the age of 10).
More to come on this...
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Off to Europe!
I'm off to Europe on Friday for a few weeks- I can't wait to see my friends, some of whom I haven't seen in many years!
A quick post to share another interesting article I read: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/magazine/03european-t.html?_r=1&em
Essentially, maybe the really high taxes we associate with socialist countries in Europe aren't as bad as some Americans think... enjoy!
A quick post to share another interesting article I read: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/magazine/03european-t.html?_r=1&em
Essentially, maybe the really high taxes we associate with socialist countries in Europe aren't as bad as some Americans think... enjoy!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Classroom learning environment
And just so that you can appreciate what are classroom was like for the high schoolers in learning our song (see post below), here are some pictures:
Our classroom:
During our lunch break (yes, I was nice enough to let them take a break)
Our classroom:
During our lunch break (yes, I was nice enough to let them take a break)
"Music Videos" from China Trip
Last summer I went to an orphanage in China, and taught some kids English. We did this through songs, having the kids repeat after us, etc. With four days to go, we decided we would put on a talent show at the end of the two weeks. Since I was given charge of the high schoolers, I decided to teach them something a little more challenging than what the younger kids were learning... only then, I had to figure out what! I finally decided on the song "Lean On Me" because it was the only one that I could think of that was slightly more challenging and whose words to the chorus I knew- Enjoy! And if you've ever done karaoke with me you'll know how impossible it is to get me to sing- imagine me belting out the lyrics of this song to this huge group of kids about 100 times (I'm telling you, pure dedication)...
And apologies for not putting these gems up sooner:
And apologies for not putting these gems up sooner:
And some of the younger kids with some kiddy songs:
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Fair education opportunities
Another interesting article, this one from the WSJ: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123604286020215187.html
I've probably written something about this before, or I've told you in person my feelings about fairer education opportunities. Personally, I want my kids to have the best education in the world. But I also want that kid down the block whose parents earn minimum wage to have that best education too. I know it's nearly impossible, but it seems like a worthy cause to advocate... Let's figure out a way to make educational opportunities at least slightly more fair, especially for these youngest kids.
I've probably written something about this before, or I've told you in person my feelings about fairer education opportunities. Personally, I want my kids to have the best education in the world. But I also want that kid down the block whose parents earn minimum wage to have that best education too. I know it's nearly impossible, but it seems like a worthy cause to advocate... Let's figure out a way to make educational opportunities at least slightly more fair, especially for these youngest kids.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Sweatshops article
Great article by Nicholas Kristof a few weeks ago about sweatshops: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/15/opinion/15kristof.html?em.
I meant to blog on it back then but haven't gotten the chance. What he says is so true (it always is, I love his pieces)- essentially, while we as Americans should be concerned about the welfare and working conditions of people in poorer countries, it doesn't mean that we should aim to bring down the sweatshops. In many countries they do constitute a better living standard than could be achieved doing something else.
I meant to blog on it back then but haven't gotten the chance. What he says is so true (it always is, I love his pieces)- essentially, while we as Americans should be concerned about the welfare and working conditions of people in poorer countries, it doesn't mean that we should aim to bring down the sweatshops. In many countries they do constitute a better living standard than could be achieved doing something else.
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