September 24, 2024 • 44 mins
Episode #69 - In this enlightening episode, hosts Kathy Buckworth and Evelyn Brindle welcome Christine Runstedtler, a resident of The Village of Winston Park in Kitchener. Christine shares her incredible travel adventures, from exploring the arts in Java and Bali to her experiences in China and Thailand.
As a former teacher with over 35 years of experience, Christine reflects on the evolution of education, the importance of teaching the arts, and the value of integrating travel experiences into the classroom. She discusses the significance of extracurricular activities and how they can engage students in meaningful ways.
Tune in to hear Christine's insights on the importance of preserving the arts in our communities and the wisdom she has gained throughout her life. Whether you're a seasoned traveler, an educator, or simply someone who appreciates the stories of our elders, this episode is packed with inspiration and valuable lessons.
Subscribe, rate, and review our podcast on any network and share your thoughts on social media using the #ElderWisdom tag to help others find us.
----more----
The Green Bench is a symbol of elder wisdom. Physically or virtually, the bench invites us all to sit alongside a senior, share a conversation, or give and offer advice.
It challenges the stigma seniors face; the ageism still so prevalent in society. It reminds us of the wealth of wisdom our elders offer and in doing so, helps restore them to a place of reverence.
"The greatest untapped resource in Canada, if not the world, is the collective wisdom of our elders." -Ron Schlegel
This podcast is brought to you by Schlegel Villages Retirement & Long-term Care homes in Ontario, Canada.
#ElderWisdom | Stories from the Green Bench is produced by Memory Tree Productions
Learn more about our host, Kathy Buckworth, at kathybuckworth.com
Learn more about #ElderWisdom at elderwisdom.ca
Learn more about Schlegel Villages at schlegelvillages.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:02):
Count your joys instead of your woes. Count
your friends instead of your foes. Count your
courage instead of your fears. Count
(00:25):
The greatest and untapped resource in Canada, and
in fact in the world, is the collective wisdom
(00:56):
Welcome to Elder Wisdom Stories from the Green Bench. This is
episode number 69. We are so pleased you are here
with us today. And as usual, we have an informative and entertaining interview
ahead, full of wisdom, of course. I'm Kathy Buckworth. And
as always, I have the pleasure of sharing the bench with my co-host, Evelyn
Brindle, who lives at the village of Erin Meadows in Mississauga, just
(01:17):
one of the Schlegel Retirement and Long-Term Care Residences. Evelyn,
Yes. Hi, Kathy. It's good to be back together again.
It really is. And we have such a fun guest today.
Yes, I'm looking forward to that. I'm
eager to hear about our guest's travel adventures today,
(01:39):
especially since we've done
a lot of traveling with our daughter. living for
the last 30 years in Hong Kong.
So we've gotten to see a lot of the world we never expected
to. And it'll be fun talking with
(02:02):
Yeah, I'm looking forward to the travel talks as well as the teaching aspect. I
have a ton of teachers in my family, so I'm really looking
forward to getting into that as well. And before we start, I'd just like
to remind everyone what the podcast is all about. It's the
brainchild of the Schlegel family, and it's long been founder Ron Schlegel's
belief that the greatest untapped resource in Canada, if not the world,
(02:22):
is the collective wisdom of our elders. And today we have
some great wisdom to be shared with us from Christine Runstedtler, who
is a resident of the Winston Park Schlegel Village in Kitchener. Christine
Oh, definitely. And I know she's had a lot
of fun traveling to all the wonderful places
(02:43):
she's been. Traveling
and teaching seem to go hand in hand because you
And I know Christine is standing by right now. So, Christine, hello. Welcome to
We're very excited to have you and I'm going to ask Evelyn
(03:06):
to launch right in because she has some great questions just to
Very well, thank you, Evelyn. And you're a
I'm at the village of Aaron Meadows here in Mississauga.
(03:30):
Okay. Yes, and I know
you're probably enjoying it there. You've been there for
That's right, it's almost four
Great, great. What motivated you
(03:54):
Oh, well, I've always liked to travel, I guess. When
I was young, we did it with my
family. We always took day trips.
My father could drive for hours and hours and
hours. My mother didn't drive, but he
could drive from one day to the next without any
(04:15):
sleep. So we would take very long day
trips. And I suppose that's what got me
interested. When I was old enough,
I became the map reader. That was always
a function of the children. And
(04:40):
I always had to do that, too. And you learn quite a
I still like roadmaps. I
I think they're a lot more interesting than GPS, but
GPS does help through a lot of. That's true, that's
(05:02):
true. Yeah, we're good. Do
you have any favorite destination that you
Oh, that's that's difficult
because I've been so many places. I
think the most interesting
(05:26):
and different one was to Java
and Bali because we
were escorted by a pair
of brothers who were actually American, but they had
lived in Indonesia for years and years
and knew a lot of people and were
(05:49):
also involved in the
arts. And so we were invited
for private performances of,
for instance, you know, the puppetry, the dance, all
of their arts. And since I like that
(06:12):
Oh, definitely. What an experience to be part of
Yeah, you know, when you travel to a lot
of those places and they're so
welcoming, I have found, and they include
you in a lot of things, you know, sometimes even just
(06:34):
family and having a little cup of tea or whatever,
but yeah, that's one of the wonderful experiences
And Christine, you're not just a traveler, of course, you were a teacher, a teacher
for many years, and you managed to sort of integrate those two loves. What
can tell me a little bit about your journey into teaching and what did you
(06:59):
Well, my journey into teaching, I'm not
sure. I was never one person who
said, I want to teach, you know, from little
up. I didn't know what I wanted to do. But
as time went on and things developed, I
did get into the teaching profession. I
(07:24):
started in, I
guess it was 1961. You
can tell how old I am. And this
was secondary school teaching, mainly
English. some history, one
(07:47):
year of vocal music, but
mainly English. And then I got into teacher
librarianship. This was later on in
my career. So, you know, I put in my 35 years
because at that time it was still the 19th
factor. And then retired after
(08:12):
You started teaching in 1961, I think you said. Things have
changed a lot in the school system. Kids have changed a lot. I
know, I think I read that you are wishing for the return of
some more formal teaching methods. Could you explain what you
Well, for one thing, they better teach them how to
(08:35):
read the written
because they're going to miss out on a lot of things they can't read.
I have not the nieces and
nephews, but the great nieces and nephews who
can't read the little notes I put on
(09:02):
Yeah, the cursive writing isn't being taught really anymore. I think I
Yeah, I think that's a loss as well. I mean, obviously it's
important that... I mean, I took typing in school. Now
it's keyboarding, I guess. But yeah, it's really important to
(09:23):
learn cursive writing. So, you know,
different students have different learning styles, different teachers have different teaching styles.
How are you able to adapt your teaching methods when you're, you know, to reach
Do you mean how if you have a
group, say, of 30 or 35 kids? Well,
(09:46):
you have to hope that the majority of them understand what
you're saying. And
you just work with the others. I
don't think that teachers of
my generation thought that much
about, well, you know, Johnny needs a special
(10:08):
lesson here and Evelyn needs
something different there. We just
hoped that they were getting it, and if they didn't, gave
them some extra help. But
we didn't quantify or
qualify all of these things. We didn't have to
(10:31):
write reports about
how they reacted and what they
did and so on. The reports came when the report cards came
So we know that what brings students together sometimes, Christine, is extracurricular
activities, and I think you were probably involved with those. What
(10:53):
Oh, I think they're tremendously important. But
they have to be set
up so that the students are
aware that they must commit themselves I
remember this was when I was at my
(11:14):
first school, and it was known
for doing Broadway musicals.
So we had done some Broadway
musicals. And then the one year,
it seemed as if the students really
(11:36):
weren't that committed. As the teachers,
we felt we were dragging them out to rehearsals and
so on. We said, this is ridiculous. This
is supposed to be for them, not for us. The
following year, when they said, what
(11:56):
show are we doing? We said, well, we're not. The
teachers have decided to take a sabbatical. And
you go ahead and decide what you want
to do and you have enough experience. Now
some of the senior students had been in
(12:18):
the programs doing these musicals
and plays and so on. So they
did, they chose a play, they're not a musical. I
figured they couldn't handle that, but they chose a
play and they had their director and they had their rehearsals
(12:40):
and they did not badly at all. But
the next year they came to us and said, please won't you
What a great learning experience for them. Well done.
I understand you also took your students, I love the Stratford Festival, I
understand you took your students there. How do you feel that really
(13:06):
Oh, it did. Now, I had a kind of in at
Stratford because as a student, as a university
student, I had worked as a box office girl
at the festival for a couple of summers. And
(13:27):
so I knew a number of the people and
I was able to take smaller
groups up and they would give them tours of
the whole place and let them play
around on the stage and they'd let them take swords
(13:48):
and have sword fights and so on. And
I can remember a couple of the boys, we were doing
Twelfth Night that year and they went
up on the balcony and they are declaiming. And,
you know, this is just something wonderful that they
(14:08):
were able to do. But now in terms of taking students
to the performances, we
used to do that as well. I think I
took, eight bus loads, so what,
eight times 50 would be about 400 kids. Is
(14:31):
my math right? It is. Anyway, we
would go up for the entire day. In other
words, we'd see a matinee and an evening performance.
And between the two, I said,
you know, you're on your own. We're not going to
(14:52):
follow you around or say where you have to go to have
dinner or not. Just don't fall in
the river. And we teachers,
chaperones, went on our own. And I
can remember coming back. We were coming back for the night
performance. and some of the girls
(15:15):
came charging up and they said, oh, Miss
Rundstedtler, Miss Rundstedtler, we saw
Bruno Gerussi. He gave us a ride back to
the theater. And
they were so excited. It was
(15:38):
When you do traveled internationally. Was
Well, as I say, it was with anybody
who, you know, happened to be signed up.
My first international trip,
(15:59):
I think, was with my mother. She
was wonderful to travel with. And as
she got older and not able to do it, then I would go with
other groups. One I
found in the newspaper said they were going to
China. And it was organized by
(16:22):
a man who had worked at the university. And
I phoned them up and it sounded interesting. So that's how I
got going with them. And after that
trip, I traveled. I don't know, three or
four more trips that
he organized, but it wasn't always the
(16:45):
Right, right. And that makes it a lot interesting,
too. Oh, yes. What international countries
did you go to besides Indonesia and Bali,
Well, a lot of places in
Europe. In the east, China
(17:08):
and Indonesia,
Were you there in Thailand you mentioned? Were you
Oh yes. Oh yes, Bangkok. Beautiful city.
Isn't it? Yeah. And then we took
(17:30):
the river cruise up around northern
Thailand. and traveled there.
Very, very interesting, lovely people. And
when we were in China, I think maybe that Peter
may have mentioned this to you. As I
(17:53):
said, we were in China twice. The
first one was 1987 and the second one was And
when we were traveling in the first one
in 80, what did I say? Ninety-seven? Eighty-seven.
(18:21):
Of course, you always have guides to take
you around because there is a language problem. And so,
every place you stop, you have what they call local
guides. And they take
over. And when we were touring the
(18:42):
first time, most of them were university
students, some of them graduates, and
a lot of them asking us if we could arrange
for them to come to Canada to continue their studies. It
was very interesting. And they taught so
(19:03):
freely. about their country, what
they didn't like about it, and, you know, this
is terrible and we're going to change this, to
the point where I said should
you be talking like this to us? Can't
you get into trouble if somebody overhears what
(19:25):
you're saying? Oh no, they said, it's
all changed now. It's never gonna be like it
was. We're not restricted. We can
do anything we want, say anything we want. Well,
then we came to, Tiananmen
(19:45):
Square, 89, I think
that was. You remember that when the students were revolting and
they brought in the tanks and so on. Then
when we went back to China in 91, the
atmosphere was completely different. They
(20:07):
were still very polite, very knowledgeable, but
they didn't talk as freely to us
as we had had in
the previous trip. So finally,
when I got to know the one guy,
you also have a country guide who
(20:30):
goes around with you. And when I got to know him
a little bit better, I told him what it had been like
on the first trip. And I said
to him, I think things have changed since then.
Oh, yes, he said, we have
to be very careful what we do and
(20:51):
what we say. And in fact,
as we progress through the country, the second one
was east to west. The first one had been north to
south, but we were as
far, about as far west as we could go and still
(21:13):
be in China. And I'm sorry, I've forgotten the
name of the city, but anyway, we had to stop there
so that the proper licenses could
be issued, that we could go so close
to the border of this. It was one of the
stands, you know, Uzbekistan. Anyway,
(21:39):
I thought, okay, well, we're all going to have to go get something
stamped. No, it wasn't us. It was
our guide. He had to be approved to
go. They didn't care if we went and got lost in the mountains or
went over the border and so on, but they kept track of
him. And he said, you know,
(22:02):
I've got a wife and baby at home in
Beijing. and yet they are suspicious
that I'm going to try to leave the country. So
there'd been a complete turnaround in
the way that they were now living.
(22:22):
The pressure was
back on, which was sad. It
Yeah, very much so. I've seen quite a number
of tour groups from China coming
into Hong Kong and then going to Macau and
the security around them. I mean,
(22:46):
even when they'd stop and give a smile to
the child that was with us, the guards
would come right up and make them move on.
And so, yeah, that has changed considerably
and even more so now, especially in Hong
Kong. Did you ever
(23:10):
incorporate your travel experiences into
Yes. Interesting. I
told Peter about this situation. This
is after I had started
into the teacher librarianship, and I was the
(23:32):
teacher librarian at the school. And
the geography department,
yes, it was the geography teacher. He would bring
his students down so that I could
tell them about my trips. And
(23:54):
for one year, where the
heck had I been? It was somewhere with camels. Maybe
it's where we may have been in Africa or in,
yes, in Northern Africa. And I
had been telling them about the camels and I just said
(24:18):
to them, you know, you've heard of the straw that
breaks the camel's back. I said, well,
I think that came from the noises the
camels make, they sound as
if they're complaining. And
I kind of made the camel sound.
(24:48):
Well, anyway, then they all got back to work on
their... But anyway, then another student
came in about 15 minutes later. He'd been called to
the office, so he was late coming. And
he came up to me and he said, Ms. Rundstedler, will
you make the camel noise again? I wasn't here
(25:11):
for it.
I think most of it, where
most of the integration came through what
the teachers asked me to
do. Again, when we were
(25:33):
traveling in Western, we were
going to be traveling in Western China. And
there's nothing but sand
out there and just all different, All
(25:57):
different kinds of deserts. I
think of a desert as a kind of homogenous layer
of sand in some place. Well, they have deserts
within deserts. And one
geography teacher had asked me, he says, collect
(26:19):
when you stop different places? Can you collect sand
for me?" And I looked at him and I said, sand? And
he said, oh yes. He says, it's quite different in different places.
So, if you could, you know, collect some of it, I can use
that in my teaching. So, this
(26:41):
was back in the days when we still used film
and we had the little canisters that held the film. So,
I would take a canister, fill
it with sand, label where we were and the date
and so on and seal it all up. And
(27:02):
By the time I got back to Canada, I had quite a few of
these. And he was right. The sand was
quite different in different places. I hadn't realized this
before. But anyway, when I got to
the customs, somebody in
the group said to me, you're going to be in trouble. I said, why?
(27:25):
He says, that sand. I said, well, it's all sealed and
so on. But he was right. They pulled me out
a line and said, come over here. And
the lady who was looking at my declaration, I
had put down that these were
the vials of desert sand and
(27:46):
this for a collector and that they
were all sealed. And she
looks at me and she says, what is this dessert sand you're bringing
back? I refrained from
giving her a spelling lesson. But anyway,
I explained that this was sand that a
(28:09):
teacher was going to use, and all the little canisters had
been sealed. And she
said, a little crestfallen because
she realized what she had said. She
wanted some dessert. Oh well, as long as you're not going to sprinkle it
around the rose bushes. I said, no,
(28:31):
no, this is going sealed as it is to the
teacher. So it was
funny, but she was certainly protecting Canada because
of course you're not supposed to bring in anything like that unless
Well, one thing you could bring back, of course, is your experiences and your learning to
(28:51):
the classroom, which is is so invaluable for kids. I know I've traveled with
my kids, especially when they were younger and tried to visit historical places
that fit with the curriculum, you know, so they could really sort of see, you
know, history come to life. I took my kids to
the Churchill War Rooms in London, and we had just previously been through
the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. So when we got to the Churchill War
(29:13):
Rooms, my son, who was about 10 at the time, said, I
think they could have done a better job with this display. You
know, and he didn't realize that it was real. So
yeah, taking, you know, taking them with you when you can, but
also bringing back those learning experiences in the classroom is really invaluable.
And what's also invaluable, of course, is that you sat
(29:35):
on the green bench at the Kitchener Public Library and
shared your wisdom with the community. What was that experience like
Well, I'm not sure that I shared a whole lot of
wisdom. Oh, I'm sure you did. Well,
we were there for a couple of hours and
(29:57):
the first hour we talked
to a few people who were in the library.
One couple was interested in knowing about the
homes where we lived and so on. Unfortunately, there
weren't a lot of people in the second hour. We more or
(30:19):
less talked to ourselves, within ourselves, but
Yep, you can learn a lot amongst yourselves.
The green bench is a physical representation of people coming together and
sharing wisdom. Why do you think that's important to have that symbol?
(30:41):
I don't know because I, for
the longest time, didn't know exactly what they meant by the green bench.
And what it was supposed to do. Like, when I'm talking
to people, I don't feel that I'm, well, except
my nieces and nephews, I don't
(31:01):
feel as if I'm instructing them, you know, or
showing them my wisdom. We're just talking. I
find it a bit presumptuous to say that I'm sharing my
Well, you know, even today, the facts you've been sharing about, you know,
(31:22):
we used to use paper maps and, you know, used to let the kids go off on their
own in Stratford and things. These are social history, you
know, pieces of wisdom that get lost sometimes. And it's always, I think, very
interesting for people to hear about how
life was, basically. And, you know, you were sharing wisdom sometimes
without knowing it. We don't realize what other people know. And I think that's what
(31:45):
Oh, thank you. I
like talking to people to hear what
they did and how they reacted
Well, you have such an interesting story to tell with both your travel and
your teaching. So while we're talking here, you said you weren't sure
(32:07):
what the Green Bench was. This is obviously part of the purpose of this podcast, is
to share wisdom and to invite people to the Green Bench. So as
we're chatting here, we like to pull out pieces of wisdom
from our guests, and I promise this won't be painful. But I'm just wondering
what key takeaway would you like the listeners to this podcast to
remember about the importance of teaching and the arts?
(32:30):
Well, I hope that when
you say the arts, and
I'm, of course, located in Kitchener. I don't
know where you guys are, but I'm
in Kitchener. And we've had some
terrible blows to the arts. First of
(32:52):
all, our symphony orchestra, which has
been a standby for years and
years. and suddenly
just vanishes. They just pull the rug
out from under them. We have a museum that's
teetering on the brink. And
(33:15):
somehow we have to make
evident to our basically industrial
city, we've always been known
for the industry in kitchen. This
(33:37):
is important. It
started, I think, because
of the large German population which
settled in this area. The
place was known as Berlin, obviously, at
(33:58):
one time. But they also were very
much involved. They'd have their sanger fests and
so on. They were involved in the arts. So
they brought that along with their industry. I'm
not sure that that's happening now with the
(34:19):
blooming of all the technological
and digital age and somehow
the arts are being forgotten. I
hope that we can stop that and
(34:39):
And, you know, you're taking students to Stratford and us making
sure that we take our kids and grandkids to performances is
really important, I think, to keep that going. I know you have the Center in the Square
in Kitchener, don't you, where they put on some performances. So,
yeah, I totally agree with you that this is going to have an effect on the
(35:02):
Yes, unless we get the
arts back. Now, the Center in the Square, was
built largely for the orchestra
and the organizations that
would put on shows. Now, they bring in shows. Unfortunately,
(35:25):
that's what they're doing now to keep it
open. They're just bringing in road shows, which
is fine. It introduces
people to certain kinds of arts,
but to have it here, to
(35:46):
have the ability
to join in. I mean, there was the
junior orchestra. My brother
played in the junior orchestra when he
was in high school. and other
(36:06):
young people have, and that's how they got in. Then, of
course, they had the Junior Orchestra, a
whole entity in itself, aside
from the Senior Orchestra. So,
it's giving your young people, a
(36:29):
chance to get into it. A road show doesn't do
that. That's true. It comes in, it performs, it
leaves. But there's not
That's true, and so many of these programs aren't
even available in school anymore. It's
(36:54):
So much of music has been cut, you're right.
Yes, and art, paintings, the
history of all of that as well, which enriches
every person's life. And we keep
losing more and more of that. I totally agree
(37:15):
with you that we need to get back to
I have to ask this question, Christine, just before we wrap up, because I
know you were an English teacher. I'm a writer. I'm a big reader. What
was your favorite book to teach and why? Oh
golly. That's a tough one, right? Like your favorite niece or nephew. There was
(37:41):
And if you're also thinking what kind engage
(38:01):
the students. Books like
Lord of the Flies, Death
of a Salesman, those
you could get to touch the students because they
were within their scope of
(38:25):
life. They knew what salesmen were
and so on. And they knew how kids
could fight so that friends became enemies.
And those
were not the only good ones, but they just spring
(38:47):
to mind because I remember we were
doing Death of a Salesman. I
was doing it with a four-year class.
I was teaching back when there was the screening, the five-year,
the four-year, and so on. And the four-year was
(39:07):
supposed to be relatively non-academic
and not terribly interested in those kind of
things. That was the theory. It wasn't really the truth.
But I was having students
read certain parts of the play. There's
(39:28):
one day we were at the part where Willie,
the salesman, is just so frustrated. And
he, everything is coming at him
suddenly. He's not selling as he used to. His family
keeps nagging him about things. And
(39:51):
he starts to say, shut up, shut
up, shut up. And
the student who was reading that part was
one who would always choose a backseat in
the room and very rarely volunteer
anything. He would answer if you asked him, but
(40:15):
didn't seem engaged. But something
about that got to him and he just, he
did it as if he were on stage. And
later at noon hour, the teacher
who had the room next door came up to me and he
said, you know, what's going on over
(40:37):
in your room?" He said, I could hear somebody yelling,
shut up, shut up. And it sounded so desperate.
And he said, I came out there and walked up
the hall to your room. And he says, there you are
sitting on the desk looking, you know, calm. So
he decided I wasn't being attacked. So
(41:00):
he didn't come in. And I told him, I said, what
you have just said, I am going to tell
that student, you know, in front of the class, because he
did such a marvelous job. He was so
engaged. And you would never think that of
a student. And he'd had, I mean, he hadn't had any rehearsal. I
(41:22):
just said to him, you know, well, you read this part today. but
somehow he got into the whole stream
Well, I can't think of a better way to finish this episode. What
a great story and what a wonderful teacher you
(41:51):
I ran across a quote that I think is so typical
or really shows you. that
travel is the only thing you buy that makes you
richer. And it certainly has been enriching
for your life and also for all
(42:11):
of us here today. And you've
certainly given us a lot to think about and
to enjoy. Thank you so very much
Well, thank you. I've never heard that particular quotation.
It is so apt. Isn't it? Yes, I
(42:34):
definitely think so, and it really typifies you
and your experiences. Well, thank you so much.
Well, I can't believe it, ladies, but we are at
the end of another episode of Elder Wisdom Stories from the Green Bench.
Thank you so much, Christine, for sharing your stories with us
today. We learned a lot. On behalf of myself and Evelyn
(42:56):
Brindle, I'd like to thank you for giving us the chance to share
these stories with our audience. If you're listening and
you're joining us for the first time, the good news is you have
68 other episodes to listen to. We'd love to have you subscribe to
our podcast, of course, if you already haven't done so, but
we'd also love to hear your words of wisdom on social media. Please
(43:18):
do using the hashtag ElderWisdom, which will also help
others to find us on this green bench. And we do love
a review and a rating on the podcast as well. You
can easily find it by going to ElderWisdom.ca and following
the link. Take a look at the Elder Wisdom Pledge against ageism
while you're there, and please think about signing us. Thanks
(43:38):
again for joining us. I'm Kathy Buckworth, and along with Evelyn Brindle,
we look forward to sharing some more elder wisdom with you on the next
Elder Wisdom, Stories from the Green Bench, is
brought to you by Schlegel Villages, a complete continuum of
(43:59):
care, offering independent living to long-term care,
celebrating and honoring the wisdom of the elder.
Count your joys instead of your woes. Count
your friends instead of your foes. Count your
courage instead of your fears. Count
(00:25):
The greatest and untapped resource in Canada, and
in fact in the world, is the collective wisdom
(00:56):
Welcome to Elder Wisdom Stories from the Green Bench. This is
episode number 69. We are so pleased you are here
with us today. And as usual, we have an informative and entertaining interview
ahead, full of wisdom, of course. I'm Kathy Buckworth. And
as always, I have the pleasure of sharing the bench with my co-host, Evelyn
Brindle, who lives at the village of Erin Meadows in Mississauga, just
(01:17):
one of the Schlegel Retirement and Long-Term Care Residences. Evelyn,
Yes. Hi, Kathy. It's good to be back together again.
It really is. And we have such a fun guest today.
Yes, I'm looking forward to that. I'm
eager to hear about our guest's travel adventures today,
(01:39):
especially since we've done
a lot of traveling with our daughter. living for
the last 30 years in Hong Kong.
So we've gotten to see a lot of the world we never expected
to. And it'll be fun talking with
(02:02):
Yeah, I'm looking forward to the travel talks as well as the teaching aspect. I
have a ton of teachers in my family, so I'm really looking
forward to getting into that as well. And before we start, I'd just like
to remind everyone what the podcast is all about. It's the
brainchild of the Schlegel family, and it's long been founder Ron Schlegel's
belief that the greatest untapped resource in Canada, if not the world,
(02:22):
is the collective wisdom of our elders. And today we have
some great wisdom to be shared with us from Christine Runstedtler, who
is a resident of the Winston Park Schlegel Village in Kitchener. Christine
Oh, definitely. And I know she's had a lot
of fun traveling to all the wonderful places
(02:43):
she's been. Traveling
and teaching seem to go hand in hand because you
And I know Christine is standing by right now. So, Christine, hello. Welcome to
We're very excited to have you and I'm going to ask Evelyn
(03:06):
to launch right in because she has some great questions just to
Very well, thank you, Evelyn. And you're a
I'm at the village of Aaron Meadows here in Mississauga.
(03:30):
Okay. Yes, and I know
you're probably enjoying it there. You've been there for
That's right, it's almost four
Great, great. What motivated you
(03:54):
Oh, well, I've always liked to travel, I guess. When
I was young, we did it with my
family. We always took day trips.
My father could drive for hours and hours and
hours. My mother didn't drive, but he
could drive from one day to the next without any
(04:15):
sleep. So we would take very long day
trips. And I suppose that's what got me
interested. When I was old enough,
I became the map reader. That was always
a function of the children. And
(04:40):
I always had to do that, too. And you learn quite a
I still like roadmaps. I
I think they're a lot more interesting than GPS, but
GPS does help through a lot of. That's true, that's
(05:02):
true. Yeah, we're good. Do
you have any favorite destination that you
Oh, that's that's difficult
because I've been so many places. I
think the most interesting
(05:26):
and different one was to Java
and Bali because we
were escorted by a pair
of brothers who were actually American, but they had
lived in Indonesia for years and years
and knew a lot of people and were
(05:49):
also involved in the
arts. And so we were invited
for private performances of,
for instance, you know, the puppetry, the dance, all
of their arts. And since I like that
(06:12):
Oh, definitely. What an experience to be part of
Yeah, you know, when you travel to a lot
of those places and they're so
welcoming, I have found, and they include
you in a lot of things, you know, sometimes even just
(06:34):
family and having a little cup of tea or whatever,
but yeah, that's one of the wonderful experiences
And Christine, you're not just a traveler, of course, you were a teacher, a teacher
for many years, and you managed to sort of integrate those two loves. What
can tell me a little bit about your journey into teaching and what did you
(06:59):
Well, my journey into teaching, I'm not
sure. I was never one person who
said, I want to teach, you know, from little
up. I didn't know what I wanted to do. But
as time went on and things developed, I
did get into the teaching profession. I
(07:24):
started in, I
guess it was 1961. You
can tell how old I am. And this
was secondary school teaching, mainly
English. some history, one
(07:47):
year of vocal music, but
mainly English. And then I got into teacher
librarianship. This was later on in
my career. So, you know, I put in my 35 years
because at that time it was still the 19th
factor. And then retired after
(08:12):
You started teaching in 1961, I think you said. Things have
changed a lot in the school system. Kids have changed a lot. I
know, I think I read that you are wishing for the return of
some more formal teaching methods. Could you explain what you
Well, for one thing, they better teach them how to
(08:35):
read the written
because they're going to miss out on a lot of things they can't read.
I have not the nieces and
nephews, but the great nieces and nephews who
can't read the little notes I put on
(09:02):
Yeah, the cursive writing isn't being taught really anymore. I think I
Yeah, I think that's a loss as well. I mean, obviously it's
important that... I mean, I took typing in school. Now
it's keyboarding, I guess. But yeah, it's really important to
(09:23):
learn cursive writing. So, you know,
different students have different learning styles, different teachers have different teaching styles.
How are you able to adapt your teaching methods when you're, you know, to reach
Do you mean how if you have a
group, say, of 30 or 35 kids? Well,
(09:46):
you have to hope that the majority of them understand what
you're saying. And
you just work with the others. I
don't think that teachers of
my generation thought that much
about, well, you know, Johnny needs a special
(10:08):
lesson here and Evelyn needs
something different there. We just
hoped that they were getting it, and if they didn't, gave
them some extra help. But
we didn't quantify or
qualify all of these things. We didn't have to
(10:31):
write reports about
how they reacted and what they
did and so on. The reports came when the report cards came
So we know that what brings students together sometimes, Christine, is extracurricular
activities, and I think you were probably involved with those. What
(10:53):
Oh, I think they're tremendously important. But
they have to be set
up so that the students are
aware that they must commit themselves I
remember this was when I was at my
(11:14):
first school, and it was known
for doing Broadway musicals.
So we had done some Broadway
musicals. And then the one year,
it seemed as if the students really
(11:36):
weren't that committed. As the teachers,
we felt we were dragging them out to rehearsals and
so on. We said, this is ridiculous. This
is supposed to be for them, not for us. The
following year, when they said, what
(11:56):
show are we doing? We said, well, we're not. The
teachers have decided to take a sabbatical. And
you go ahead and decide what you want
to do and you have enough experience. Now
some of the senior students had been in
(12:18):
the programs doing these musicals
and plays and so on. So they
did, they chose a play, they're not a musical. I
figured they couldn't handle that, but they chose a
play and they had their director and they had their rehearsals
(12:40):
and they did not badly at all. But
the next year they came to us and said, please won't you
What a great learning experience for them. Well done.
I understand you also took your students, I love the Stratford Festival, I
understand you took your students there. How do you feel that really
(13:06):
Oh, it did. Now, I had a kind of in at
Stratford because as a student, as a university
student, I had worked as a box office girl
at the festival for a couple of summers. And
(13:27):
so I knew a number of the people and
I was able to take smaller
groups up and they would give them tours of
the whole place and let them play
around on the stage and they'd let them take swords
(13:48):
and have sword fights and so on. And
I can remember a couple of the boys, we were doing
Twelfth Night that year and they went
up on the balcony and they are declaiming. And,
you know, this is just something wonderful that they
(14:08):
were able to do. But now in terms of taking students
to the performances, we
used to do that as well. I think I
took, eight bus loads, so what,
eight times 50 would be about 400 kids. Is
(14:31):
my math right? It is. Anyway, we
would go up for the entire day. In other
words, we'd see a matinee and an evening performance.
And between the two, I said,
you know, you're on your own. We're not going to
(14:52):
follow you around or say where you have to go to have
dinner or not. Just don't fall in
the river. And we teachers,
chaperones, went on our own. And I
can remember coming back. We were coming back for the night
performance. and some of the girls
(15:15):
came charging up and they said, oh, Miss
Rundstedtler, Miss Rundstedtler, we saw
Bruno Gerussi. He gave us a ride back to
the theater. And
they were so excited. It was
(15:38):
When you do traveled internationally. Was
Well, as I say, it was with anybody
who, you know, happened to be signed up.
My first international trip,
(15:59):
I think, was with my mother. She
was wonderful to travel with. And as
she got older and not able to do it, then I would go with
other groups. One I
found in the newspaper said they were going to
China. And it was organized by
(16:22):
a man who had worked at the university. And
I phoned them up and it sounded interesting. So that's how I
got going with them. And after that
trip, I traveled. I don't know, three or
four more trips that
he organized, but it wasn't always the
(16:45):
Right, right. And that makes it a lot interesting,
too. Oh, yes. What international countries
did you go to besides Indonesia and Bali,
Well, a lot of places in
Europe. In the east, China
(17:08):
and Indonesia,
Were you there in Thailand you mentioned? Were you
Oh yes. Oh yes, Bangkok. Beautiful city.
Isn't it? Yeah. And then we took
(17:30):
the river cruise up around northern
Thailand. and traveled there.
Very, very interesting, lovely people. And
when we were in China, I think maybe that Peter
may have mentioned this to you. As I
(17:53):
said, we were in China twice. The
first one was 1987 and the second one was And
when we were traveling in the first one
in 80, what did I say? Ninety-seven? Eighty-seven.
(18:21):
Of course, you always have guides to take
you around because there is a language problem. And so,
every place you stop, you have what they call local
guides. And they take
over. And when we were touring the
(18:42):
first time, most of them were university
students, some of them graduates, and
a lot of them asking us if we could arrange
for them to come to Canada to continue their studies. It
was very interesting. And they taught so
(19:03):
freely. about their country, what
they didn't like about it, and, you know, this
is terrible and we're going to change this, to
the point where I said should
you be talking like this to us? Can't
you get into trouble if somebody overhears what
(19:25):
you're saying? Oh no, they said, it's
all changed now. It's never gonna be like it
was. We're not restricted. We can
do anything we want, say anything we want. Well,
then we came to, Tiananmen
(19:45):
Square, 89, I think
that was. You remember that when the students were revolting and
they brought in the tanks and so on. Then
when we went back to China in 91, the
atmosphere was completely different. They
(20:07):
were still very polite, very knowledgeable, but
they didn't talk as freely to us
as we had had in
the previous trip. So finally,
when I got to know the one guy,
you also have a country guide who
(20:30):
goes around with you. And when I got to know him
a little bit better, I told him what it had been like
on the first trip. And I said
to him, I think things have changed since then.
Oh, yes, he said, we have
to be very careful what we do and
(20:51):
what we say. And in fact,
as we progress through the country, the second one
was east to west. The first one had been north to
south, but we were as
far, about as far west as we could go and still
(21:13):
be in China. And I'm sorry, I've forgotten the
name of the city, but anyway, we had to stop there
so that the proper licenses could
be issued, that we could go so close
to the border of this. It was one of the
stands, you know, Uzbekistan. Anyway,
(21:39):
I thought, okay, well, we're all going to have to go get something
stamped. No, it wasn't us. It was
our guide. He had to be approved to
go. They didn't care if we went and got lost in the mountains or
went over the border and so on, but they kept track of
him. And he said, you know,
(22:02):
I've got a wife and baby at home in
Beijing. and yet they are suspicious
that I'm going to try to leave the country. So
there'd been a complete turnaround in
the way that they were now living.
(22:22):
The pressure was
back on, which was sad. It
Yeah, very much so. I've seen quite a number
of tour groups from China coming
into Hong Kong and then going to Macau and
the security around them. I mean,
(22:46):
even when they'd stop and give a smile to
the child that was with us, the guards
would come right up and make them move on.
And so, yeah, that has changed considerably
and even more so now, especially in Hong
Kong. Did you ever
(23:10):
incorporate your travel experiences into
Yes. Interesting. I
told Peter about this situation. This
is after I had started
into the teacher librarianship, and I was the
(23:32):
teacher librarian at the school. And
the geography department,
yes, it was the geography teacher. He would bring
his students down so that I could
tell them about my trips. And
(23:54):
for one year, where the
heck had I been? It was somewhere with camels. Maybe
it's where we may have been in Africa or in,
yes, in Northern Africa. And I
had been telling them about the camels and I just said
(24:18):
to them, you know, you've heard of the straw that
breaks the camel's back. I said, well,
I think that came from the noises the
camels make, they sound as
if they're complaining. And
I kind of made the camel sound.
(24:48):
Well, anyway, then they all got back to work on
their... But anyway, then another student
came in about 15 minutes later. He'd been called to
the office, so he was late coming. And
he came up to me and he said, Ms. Rundstedler, will
you make the camel noise again? I wasn't here
(25:11):
for it.
I think most of it, where
most of the integration came through what
the teachers asked me to
do. Again, when we were
(25:33):
traveling in Western, we were
going to be traveling in Western China. And
there's nothing but sand
out there and just all different, All
(25:57):
different kinds of deserts. I
think of a desert as a kind of homogenous layer
of sand in some place. Well, they have deserts
within deserts. And one
geography teacher had asked me, he says, collect
(26:19):
when you stop different places? Can you collect sand
for me?" And I looked at him and I said, sand? And
he said, oh yes. He says, it's quite different in different places.
So, if you could, you know, collect some of it, I can use
that in my teaching. So, this
(26:41):
was back in the days when we still used film
and we had the little canisters that held the film. So,
I would take a canister, fill
it with sand, label where we were and the date
and so on and seal it all up. And
(27:02):
By the time I got back to Canada, I had quite a few of
these. And he was right. The sand was
quite different in different places. I hadn't realized this
before. But anyway, when I got to
the customs, somebody in
the group said to me, you're going to be in trouble. I said, why?
(27:25):
He says, that sand. I said, well, it's all sealed and
so on. But he was right. They pulled me out
a line and said, come over here. And
the lady who was looking at my declaration, I
had put down that these were
the vials of desert sand and
(27:46):
this for a collector and that they
were all sealed. And she
looks at me and she says, what is this dessert sand you're bringing
back? I refrained from
giving her a spelling lesson. But anyway,
I explained that this was sand that a
(28:09):
teacher was going to use, and all the little canisters had
been sealed. And she
said, a little crestfallen because
she realized what she had said. She
wanted some dessert. Oh well, as long as you're not going to sprinkle it
around the rose bushes. I said, no,
(28:31):
no, this is going sealed as it is to the
teacher. So it was
funny, but she was certainly protecting Canada because
of course you're not supposed to bring in anything like that unless
Well, one thing you could bring back, of course, is your experiences and your learning to
(28:51):
the classroom, which is is so invaluable for kids. I know I've traveled with
my kids, especially when they were younger and tried to visit historical places
that fit with the curriculum, you know, so they could really sort of see, you
know, history come to life. I took my kids to
the Churchill War Rooms in London, and we had just previously been through
the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. So when we got to the Churchill War
(29:13):
Rooms, my son, who was about 10 at the time, said, I
think they could have done a better job with this display. You
know, and he didn't realize that it was real. So
yeah, taking, you know, taking them with you when you can, but
also bringing back those learning experiences in the classroom is really invaluable.
And what's also invaluable, of course, is that you sat
(29:35):
on the green bench at the Kitchener Public Library and
shared your wisdom with the community. What was that experience like
Well, I'm not sure that I shared a whole lot of
wisdom. Oh, I'm sure you did. Well,
we were there for a couple of hours and
(29:57):
the first hour we talked
to a few people who were in the library.
One couple was interested in knowing about the
homes where we lived and so on. Unfortunately, there
weren't a lot of people in the second hour. We more or
(30:19):
less talked to ourselves, within ourselves, but
Yep, you can learn a lot amongst yourselves.
The green bench is a physical representation of people coming together and
sharing wisdom. Why do you think that's important to have that symbol?
(30:41):
I don't know because I, for
the longest time, didn't know exactly what they meant by the green bench.
And what it was supposed to do. Like, when I'm talking
to people, I don't feel that I'm, well, except
my nieces and nephews, I don't
(31:01):
feel as if I'm instructing them, you know, or
showing them my wisdom. We're just talking. I
find it a bit presumptuous to say that I'm sharing my
Well, you know, even today, the facts you've been sharing about, you know,
(31:22):
we used to use paper maps and, you know, used to let the kids go off on their
own in Stratford and things. These are social history, you
know, pieces of wisdom that get lost sometimes. And it's always, I think, very
interesting for people to hear about how
life was, basically. And, you know, you were sharing wisdom sometimes
without knowing it. We don't realize what other people know. And I think that's what
(31:45):
Oh, thank you. I
like talking to people to hear what
they did and how they reacted
Well, you have such an interesting story to tell with both your travel and
your teaching. So while we're talking here, you said you weren't sure
(32:07):
what the Green Bench was. This is obviously part of the purpose of this podcast, is
to share wisdom and to invite people to the Green Bench. So as
we're chatting here, we like to pull out pieces of wisdom
from our guests, and I promise this won't be painful. But I'm just wondering
what key takeaway would you like the listeners to this podcast to
remember about the importance of teaching and the arts?
(32:30):
Well, I hope that when
you say the arts, and
I'm, of course, located in Kitchener. I don't
know where you guys are, but I'm
in Kitchener. And we've had some
terrible blows to the arts. First of
(32:52):
all, our symphony orchestra, which has
been a standby for years and
years. and suddenly
just vanishes. They just pull the rug
out from under them. We have a museum that's
teetering on the brink. And
(33:15):
somehow we have to make
evident to our basically industrial
city, we've always been known
for the industry in kitchen. This
(33:37):
is important. It
started, I think, because
of the large German population which
settled in this area. The
place was known as Berlin, obviously, at
(33:58):
one time. But they also were very
much involved. They'd have their sanger fests and
so on. They were involved in the arts. So
they brought that along with their industry. I'm
not sure that that's happening now with the
(34:19):
blooming of all the technological
and digital age and somehow
the arts are being forgotten. I
hope that we can stop that and
(34:39):
And, you know, you're taking students to Stratford and us making
sure that we take our kids and grandkids to performances is
really important, I think, to keep that going. I know you have the Center in the Square
in Kitchener, don't you, where they put on some performances. So,
yeah, I totally agree with you that this is going to have an effect on the
(35:02):
Yes, unless we get the
arts back. Now, the Center in the Square, was
built largely for the orchestra
and the organizations that
would put on shows. Now, they bring in shows. Unfortunately,
(35:25):
that's what they're doing now to keep it
open. They're just bringing in road shows, which
is fine. It introduces
people to certain kinds of arts,
but to have it here, to
(35:46):
have the ability
to join in. I mean, there was the
junior orchestra. My brother
played in the junior orchestra when he
was in high school. and other
(36:06):
young people have, and that's how they got in. Then, of
course, they had the Junior Orchestra, a
whole entity in itself, aside
from the Senior Orchestra. So,
it's giving your young people, a
(36:29):
chance to get into it. A road show doesn't do
that. That's true. It comes in, it performs, it
leaves. But there's not
That's true, and so many of these programs aren't
even available in school anymore. It's
(36:54):
So much of music has been cut, you're right.
Yes, and art, paintings, the
history of all of that as well, which enriches
every person's life. And we keep
losing more and more of that. I totally agree
(37:15):
with you that we need to get back to
I have to ask this question, Christine, just before we wrap up, because I
know you were an English teacher. I'm a writer. I'm a big reader. What
was your favorite book to teach and why? Oh
golly. That's a tough one, right? Like your favorite niece or nephew. There was
(37:41):
And if you're also thinking what kind engage
(38:01):
the students. Books like
Lord of the Flies, Death
of a Salesman, those
you could get to touch the students because they
were within their scope of
(38:25):
life. They knew what salesmen were
and so on. And they knew how kids
could fight so that friends became enemies.
And those
were not the only good ones, but they just spring
(38:47):
to mind because I remember we were
doing Death of a Salesman. I
was doing it with a four-year class.
I was teaching back when there was the screening, the five-year,
the four-year, and so on. And the four-year was
(39:07):
supposed to be relatively non-academic
and not terribly interested in those kind of
things. That was the theory. It wasn't really the truth.
But I was having students
read certain parts of the play. There's
(39:28):
one day we were at the part where Willie,
the salesman, is just so frustrated. And
he, everything is coming at him
suddenly. He's not selling as he used to. His family
keeps nagging him about things. And
(39:51):
he starts to say, shut up, shut
up, shut up. And
the student who was reading that part was
one who would always choose a backseat in
the room and very rarely volunteer
anything. He would answer if you asked him, but
(40:15):
didn't seem engaged. But something
about that got to him and he just, he
did it as if he were on stage. And
later at noon hour, the teacher
who had the room next door came up to me and he
said, you know, what's going on over
(40:37):
in your room?" He said, I could hear somebody yelling,
shut up, shut up. And it sounded so desperate.
And he said, I came out there and walked up
the hall to your room. And he says, there you are
sitting on the desk looking, you know, calm. So
he decided I wasn't being attacked. So
(41:00):
he didn't come in. And I told him, I said, what
you have just said, I am going to tell
that student, you know, in front of the class, because he
did such a marvelous job. He was so
engaged. And you would never think that of
a student. And he'd had, I mean, he hadn't had any rehearsal. I
(41:22):
just said to him, you know, well, you read this part today. but
somehow he got into the whole stream
Well, I can't think of a better way to finish this episode. What
a great story and what a wonderful teacher you
(41:51):
I ran across a quote that I think is so typical
or really shows you. that
travel is the only thing you buy that makes you
richer. And it certainly has been enriching
for your life and also for all
(42:11):
of us here today. And you've
certainly given us a lot to think about and
to enjoy. Thank you so very much
Well, thank you. I've never heard that particular quotation.
It is so apt. Isn't it? Yes, I
(42:34):
definitely think so, and it really typifies you
and your experiences. Well, thank you so much.
Well, I can't believe it, ladies, but we are at
the end of another episode of Elder Wisdom Stories from the Green Bench.
Thank you so much, Christine, for sharing your stories with us
today. We learned a lot. On behalf of myself and Evelyn
(42:56):
Brindle, I'd like to thank you for giving us the chance to share
these stories with our audience. If you're listening and
you're joining us for the first time, the good news is you have
68 other episodes to listen to. We'd love to have you subscribe to
our podcast, of course, if you already haven't done so, but
we'd also love to hear your words of wisdom on social media. Please
(43:18):
do using the hashtag ElderWisdom, which will also help
others to find us on this green bench. And we do love
a review and a rating on the podcast as well. You
can easily find it by going to ElderWisdom.ca and following
the link. Take a look at the Elder Wisdom Pledge against ageism
while you're there, and please think about signing us. Thanks
(43:38):
again for joining us. I'm Kathy Buckworth, and along with Evelyn Brindle,
we look forward to sharing some more elder wisdom with you on the next
Elder Wisdom, Stories from the Green Bench, is
brought to you by Schlegel Villages, a complete continuum of
(43:59):
care, offering independent living to long-term care,
celebrating and honoring the wisdom of the elder.
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