This was the day I arrived Vietnam. Same with most ofthe people, this was the first time I travel to this country. A country that isnot really far from us, a country that we always heard about it but never thinkof traveling to there. Once I stepped on the Vietnam soil, the first image washot, very hot. And the second image is undeveloped which their arrival hall doesn’thave air con and even located outdoor. As I person always traveling to Japan,Taiwan and Hong Kong. This situation shocked me. “What the hell? What place didI choose for my GCDP programme……”
The place I were living was my buddy’s home, which wemet at the Asia Pacific Conference in Shanghai. It was really awesome to haveher as my buddy in APC, as well as in Vietnam during my GCDP experience. Honestly,the living standard here is not really good, but this is why we go for exchangeright? To Challenge Ourselves. At least I got my own room, and I really appreciateto Thuy Ha. Coz I know, after I met the other homestay EPs, having your ownroom is rare situation.
Our “Global Passport”
The project I participated called “Global Passport”.We hold English workshop which targeted university students, which help themimproving their English level especially in oral and listening aspect. Throughoutcommunication with EPs, the attendee could improve their English communicationskills and build confident in communicating with English speakers. We ran ourworkshop in different kind of activities, included drama, listening, role play,debate, sharing and discussion.
Every week, we will have a specific topic related tohuman relationship,we will need to come out the hold teaching plan and lesson agenda byourselves which were very challenging because none of us have experienceon teaching. And there was another problem too. Vietnamese are very shay.They rarely raising questions or express their feeling to us. This was thelargest problem we faced in week one and luckily me and Socvun(An AustralianEP) are AIESECer which we were able to use what we learnt to motivate them intothe workshop.
After half of the programme has passed, we asked ourattendee filled in a survey which the result came out being quit negative, andmade us dispirited. The feedback kind of reflected most of our affords were notreceived by the attendee. During the meeting with our OC team, we tried all ourbest to find out the problems and discussed them. And we also think of how to dobetter in the following sessions. From causal communication with attendees tothe way of delivery in the classes; from the topic of the debate to thequestions we asked them to had discussions. Also, from different point of viewincluded attendees, OCs, EPs, or even as an AIESECer. This mid-period meeting didchanged our psychological status, and made us being more serious on planningthe lessons and when operating the lessons.
Live in Vietnam, Ho Chi Minh City
As a person addicted to coffee, the first idea cameinto my mind once I decided to have my GCDP project in Vietnam was “I will goto drink a lot of coffee during the days.” And I really did so. There are alots cafés and coffee shops all around Ho Chi Minh City. Even I am not livingat the city centre, there are still 2 different café near my accommodation. Andofficially they became the place where I stay during my free day time, preparingour lesson or reading books.
The second thing I enjoyed in Ho Chi Minh City was themassage. At the middle of my journey in Vietnam, I located a really coolmassage shop in Ho Chi Minh City. Which is clean with good reputation andservices, and also in reasonable price. This is the first I go to massage and Ireally enjoyed. With that great experience, I went there twice throughout these2 months, and I will certainly go back if I visit Ho Chi Minh City again in thefuture. I also suggest all my friends this shop if they are going to travel HoChi Minh City.
Motorbike situation in Vietnam especially in HCMC issuper crazy. This could said to be one of my culture shock faced in Vietnam. InChina, we take Uber to travel around the city, but here they use Grabbike! It’slike a motorbike version of Uber and its quite scary cause I never ride on amotorbike before and they don’t drive along with the travel rule 100%.
Life outside the city
During the journey in Vietnam, I went to 4 differentplaces out if Ho Chi Minh City. The first trip to “Mui Ne” was the most memorable.We visited the dessert, walk along the river seeking for a waterfall, and weenjoyed a great time at a resort hotel. This was the first time we travel at ateam and is certainly made us more union and built the foundation of our cooperation during the hole project.
The END
The Project really expanded my experience toward thedifferent that could have happened within different countries even sharing thesimilar education level. Which even our attendee of our workshop are universitystudents, we could saw the significant difference in English communicationlevel. Even Vietnam is experiencing globalization and their youth are stilllack of chances to talk with English speaker. Thus the workshop actuallyprovided them a chance to train their English and to explore differentcultures. Personally, this experience really gave me a great growth and enableme to use what I have learnt at the past to help others in the world.
