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    5-The Moon in The Banyan Tree

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    The document summarizes the author's experience volunteering with VSO in Vietnam in 2001. She was going through a difficult time personally and saw volunteering as a way to contribute elsewhere and experience a new culture. After being selected for the program and undergoing training, she learned she would be working in Vietnam teaching preschool teachers. Though she had some prior experience in Asia from her childhood, she knew little about Vietnam and had many doubts. She was determined to immerse herself in the local culture and geography during her time there.

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    5-The Moon in The Banyan Tree

    Uploaded by

    CN
    231 views2 pages
    The document summarizes the author's experience volunteering with VSO in Vietnam in 2001. She was going through a difficult time personally and saw volunteering as a way to contribute elsewhere and experience a new culture. After being selected for the program and undergoing training, she learned she would be working in Vietnam teaching preschool teachers. Though she had some prior experience in Asia from her childhood, she knew little about Vietnam and had many doubts. She was determined to immerse herself in the local culture and geography during her time there.

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    5-The Moon in the Banyan Tree

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    The document summarizes the author's experience volunteering with VSO in Vietnam in 2001. She was going through a difficult time personally and saw volunteering as a way to contribute elsewhere and experience a new culture. After being selected for the program and undergoing training, she learned she would be working in Vietnam teaching preschool teachers. Though she had some prior experience in Asia from her childhood, she knew little about Vietnam and had many doubts. She was determined to immerse herself in the local culture and geography during her time there.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    231 views2 pages

    5-The Moon in The Banyan Tree

    Uploaded by

    CN
    The document summarizes the author's experience volunteering with VSO in Vietnam in 2001. She was going through a difficult time personally and saw volunteering as a way to contribute elsewhere and experience a new culture. After being selected for the program and undergoing training, she learned she would be working in Vietnam teaching preschool teachers. Though she had some prior experience in Asia from her childhood, she knew little about Vietnam and had many doubts. She was determined to immerse herself in the local culture and geography during her time there.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOC, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as doc, pdf, or txt
    of 2

    My new life began in February 2001.

    I sat at my computer in Edinburgh


    and applied to be a volunteer with VSO (Volunteer Services Overseas). I
    was sad; a love affair wasnt working out and the prospect of the same
    routines going on for innumerable years seemed so futile. Surely I had
    something worthwhile that I could contribute elsewhere in return for
    the experience of living in another culture whilst I was fit and healthy?
    5
    Great snowflakes were falling on the old city tenements when I pressed
    send for my application; I had no idea what I had actually set in motion
    for myself.
    The selection interview in London was followed by preparation weekends
    at Harbourne Hall in Birmingham. Though I didnt yet know where I would
    be sent, I was swept along. []
    I was still teaching in Stockbridge Primary School in Edinburgh and my
    10
    new adventure was a talking point. I heard myself spout clichd phrases
    like My children have grown up, and being divorced I have no real ties,
    and It seems to be the right time to do this, and It will be a challenge
    and who knows... I may help to make a difference in some small way.
    They were all just words, and as I reassured my parents and children,
    perhaps I was really
    reassuring myself.
    15
    The letter arrived telling me I was to be sent to Vietnam.
    Although I had spent my early childhood in Malaysia and then nine of my
    married years in Singapore and [] East Malaysia, I knew very little about
    Vietnam. [] I somehow imagined that Vietnam would be the same and
    the people similar to the gentle Malays and the nononsense, efficient Chinese. I would learn that, as in Europe, each nation
    20
    has been marked by its own history and the people reflect their own way
    of life. Asia as a whole seems like a beautiful rainbow; each country is
    made up of its own unique colours, which are reflected in the food,
    clothes, language and culture. And Vietnam is Vietnam.
    The months leading up to my departure saw my arm turn into a
    pincushion for exotic
    diseases. I tried to read everything I could about the country, but the
    25
    information was often dry and far too textbook. I was not prepared for
    the actuality that hit me on my arrival the geography, culture and
    traditions struck me as a tremendous symphony of colour and sound.[]
    I was told that I would be working for SCF (Save the Children Fund
    UK) as a Preschool
    Teacher Trainer. My job was to assist teachers to teach Vietnamese as a
    30
    second language in Quang Ninh Province, northeast of Hanoi. This area of
    Vietnam is inhabited by a number of ethnic minority groups, who are
    among the poorest in Vietnam []
    I was full of doubts about my ability to train teachers in another
    language; I was full of doubts about my ability to live in an isolated part
    of Vietnam; I was just full of doubts.
    Gael Harrison, The Moon in the Banyan Tree (2005)

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