Not all of the kids do their scrapbooks, but for the ones who did, they do a fine job. The girls are usually more elaborate and do more fancy work than their counterpart boys. And some students are evidently more gifted artistically than others. Nevertheless, you can't help but to appreciate every kid's effort put into the project. That is why it is always so heartbreaking for me come the time at the end of the session to choose just 2 winners!!! Sometimes, as I announce the winners, I see a non-winning kid's face droop down and on the verge of crying! They all deserve prizes for trying their best.
The kids here are all from about 7 to 10 years old. From what I learned from their books, their parents hold jobs varying from office worker, bus driver, housewife, seaman, cook, to accountant, engineer, teacher, manager, vet. One student's father, a consultant, is an extremely hardworking man, sleeping only 3 hours a day and waking up early to continue learning. That student, an extremely intelligent girl, Minh Anh, also teaches English to her mother. Another student apparently has a baby brother who is a "hobgoblin"*, and cutely, another student's future dream is to become a "badminton people"!
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| According to an online translator, hobgoblin translates into Vietnamese as quỷ or yêu quái, which means 'devil' and 'monster' respectively. So perhaps this student wanted to say that her little brother was a little devil and during her translation search, came across the grand word 'hobgoblin'... |
Hi Sofia,
ReplyDeleteI'm a 23yr old Australian thinking of moving to Hanoi for a year on a volunteering program working with an NGO. I really enjoyed reading your blog!
Sounds like you are having an amazing time, and although I feel like I should be excited about all the lovely things you talk about but I'm still so scared!
Do you have any stories about some of the hard and unpleasant things you've come across? How did you deal with the huge culture barrier? I know enough Vietnamese to get by, but it's more the loneliness that I fear!
Hope to get a response :-)
Catherine
Hi Catherine!
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading my blog and for writing to me!
I think if you like travelling and exploring new cultures, you definitely should take up the volunteering program.
One year is admittedly pretty long, especially to be travelling alone, so you have to make sure that you are a strong person emotionally and that you are okay being alone in general.
You can possibly be lonely out here if you do not make a circle of friends. I'm sure though that in your volunteer program you will have colleagues and you can make friends. Or you can always join an expat community group or some kind of expat club in Hanoi. It really helps to have friends that are of the same language and also of a relatively similar culture as you.
Vietnamese people are very friendly and love knowing about and chatting with foreigners. Well at least here in Ho Chi Minh City... I cannot speak for Hanoi as I have not lived there.
The only thing in terms of friendships with Vietnamese locals is that it may be hard to find a Vietnamese friend who you will truly connect with because 1) A lot of Vietnamese locals just like to practice their English with foreigners and see them as a great opportunity to improve their English, and 2) Due to language barriers and low English-proficiency, you may not be able to have deep conversations, the kinds that sustains a good lifelong friendship... So what I mean to say is that you can definitely easily make Vietnamese friends as they are very intrigued and interested in foreigners... but it may not be a deep friendship due to unbalanced language (unless the person speaks fluent English).
So that would be one of the difficult things for me when I first moved here... making a circle of Vietnamese friends where interest is mutual (and not just one party only looking to practice the foreign language)...
In terms of culture barrier, it was not huge for me as I am of Vietnamese descent and grew up in a Vietnamese household in Canada. So the food, language, customs and mannerisms were familiar for me. Outsiders may initially be put off by the bluntness of Vietnamese people and the lack of common courtesy in the streets and supermarket... But that is just superficial, they do not consciously do things to be rude, they just do not have the same concept of common courtesy as some other countries such as Canada... When you interact with them individually though, they are really friendly, accomodating, and kind!
Anyway to wrap it up, I think as long as you stay open-minded, do not take things to heart, are easygoing and can laugh off inconveniencing or troubling situations, and create yourself a consistent social circle, you'll enjoy your time greatly and have a good experience. I guess the same advice goes for living in any country in general.
Hope that helped!
If you want more specific questions answered, you can write to me! --> sofia.ngotrong@gmail.com
Sofia, thanks for your response (despite only checking it now)! That's exactly the type of advice I was after.
ReplyDeleteI shouldn't let fear overcome my plans to move :-) All the best.
Catherine