Stay or Go?

It's not surprising international students are faced with a dilemna after they complete their studies and work programs abroad. After reading a Washington Post article about chinese students confronted with the need to stay (who will take care of parents when they leave?) and pursuing a career abroad (personal fulfillment with career), I'm struck with the similarity with Filipino sensibilities. I also found it interesting how the parents felt their kids would have made a better life in China (contemporaries who stayed have a car, house and families already) if they stayed on instead of working in the US.

We discussed this in a previous section (Ch. 9B What to do After) if you want to read more about the considerations for leaving or staying: Therese Ng's essay about her decision to return to the Philippines and an interview with Carmela Navarra, Constance Uy and Paul Avinante about their decision to continue living abroad.

Here's the link to the Feb. 4 issue in the Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/04/AR2008020403219.html?sub=AR

Following the Filipino Student Abroad in 1866

Universitätsplatz 12

In a visit to Frankfurt, my husband suggested a sidetrip to Heidelberg. Jose Rizal used to live in this little university town. From what we gathered, Rizal lived in Heidelberg when he was an assistant to Dr. Otto Becker.

We only had the afternoon to see Heidelberg, thinking it would be enough to see the whole place. Our Frommers Germany handbook had so little to say about the town, the only three star site was the Heidelberg Castle. So an afternoon seemed enough to see one or two landmarks where Rizal visited.

It was a dark damp day but it didn't diminish the quaintness of the town. They had a main shopping street exclusively for pedestrians and cyclists. Being a Sunday most of the shops were closed so we had to content ourselves looking at the window displays. Especially frustrating was the abundance of bookstores - it remains a university town after all - that we couldn't visit.

With the http://www.knights-of-rizal-bonn.info/Rizal-in-Germany/HG.htm as our guide. We visited Universitätsplatz 12 (where "To the Flowers of Heidelberg" was composed) and Bergheimer Straße 20 (Former University of Heidelberg Eye Clinic) where Rizal practiced ophthalmology under Dr. Otto Becker.

We didn't get to visit Wilhelmsfeld where Rizal wrote the last few chapters of Noli me Tangere. It also has a park dedicated to him by the Knights of Rizal in the eighties. It's supposedly a 25 minute drive from Heidelberg. Imagine how Rizal used to walk that distance!