A Trip To Ho Chi Minh

It was our first trip to Vietnam and we were really excited over the new exotic place. Honestly, if we do not visit such places, we can never treasure what we have here in Singapore and to think that we are always complaining non-stop about the government, about this and that without opening our minds.

Vietnam is a like Singapore way back in 1980s. I kept joking with Ben on why the woman are dressed in pyjamas all day long. It's just like the kind that our grandparents would wear back in those kampung days, flowery kind of clothes. I guessed they love flowers. Ben is right saying that when the basic needs are not met, they will not even think of other things like fashion etc. Before I went, people told me that it is like Thailand but I beg to differ because Thailand is much more cleaner and developed. Vietnam still have more rooms for improvements. It could be due to the fact that there was a civil war 30-40 years ago so they are all still building up the country. It is also because of this trip that we discovered the impact of wars on civilisation.

During the war, a substance by the name of 'orange agent' was used and like radiation, it has polluted the air, the water and food over there. However, many of the people did not know and still continued to consume those food and thus, there are way too many disabled/deformed children over there. Such innocent faces but with severe deformities. Due to my ignorant (before I visited the war museum), I saw a young man walking on all fours like a dog. His knees were not even bending but was straight down and there were slippers on both his feet and hands. He was working. I was nudging Ben asking him why this guy walks like that because from what I see, I thought he could just stand up straight. However, after visiting the museum, I realised that it was the cause of 'orange agent' that this young man cannot stand up at all. I wondered how he sleeps too... On his sides maybe? I had never seen such disabled people here before. In the museum, I saw children with no eye balls etc etc but yet, their parents still took care of them and they looked bliss though faced with such difficulties in life. We should learn to live life simple at times.

Things over there are way too cheap too. A can of tiger beer cost us 90 cents, a pack of cigarette cost $1.50, a full set of manicure and pedicure cost $6 and even going to a pub for a Mojito drink and an ice cream sundae cost us only $4. For $3, you can go to a decent restuarant to get nice food. KFC meal was only $4 and a dim sum buffet cost $10. Feel like migrating there to be some tai tai? haha... But well, when standard of living is so low, salaries are low too. However, I was amazed that people who owed cars over there are pretty rich and I dare say might be richer than a middle income Singaporean for cars over there cost alot more than in Singapore.

Anyway, we love crossing the 'no rules' road! It is very exciting and challenging! Haha... cars and bikes turning left and right, u-turn, going straight altogether at once and things like zebra crossing and traffic lights are treated like they never existed. But amidst the mess, everyone managed to squeeze their ways through the roads. Their driving skills are really superb. Besides, if they knock into each other, they just quickly picked up their bike in the middle of the road and travel again as if nothing happened. Because traffic is so messed up, the fastest one can go is only about 40-50 KMH. The tactic for crossing over there is to just walk blindly. Instead of looking out for vehicles, the vehicles will watch for you so just go ahead and step onto the road and you will see all bikes and cars trying their best to move around you. No looking back or turning around as it can be pretty dangerous. Every time we crossed a road, we felt a sense of some silly achievements. Lolx...

We went to Cu chi Tunnel which was where the people were hiding during war times. The tunnel is only half the height of me and imagine the people living, cooking inside the 200KM tunnel hand digged long ago. The traps set up inside the tunnel shows how smart human are even without machines to help them in the past. This is a place worth looking at. we also visted waterfall and desert. I must say the desert and waterfall are beautiful!

We may not visit Vietnam any times sooner in years to come but Ben and I agreed that we would want to do one charity trip yearly. Instead of going for two leisure trips per year, we would want to dedicate one trip for charity. Any of you know of organisations that organised such trips to less developed countries to build houses, schools etc, please keep us informed. I think it's time to think beyond self and understand what humanity is. I hope we can keep start to fulfil this commitment by next year before any other commitments comes in our way.

A Happy Teacher

Just realised that I've not been blogging for sometimes. Way too busy these past weeks. Many things to catch up on.

Everything is good thus far. Class is treating me very well. I feel enjoyable walking in every morning seeing the little ones listening to me attentively and understanding the concepts taught. No wonder they always said that in order to teach, we must first learn to manage the class in order for learning to take place. No doubt I took two weeks just to set up rules and regulations when I first started and I was slow in my syllabus but now, everything is paying off slowly and I began to see parents thanking me for all the little efforts done for the children.

Last year when i first started, I was really bad at managing the class. I really thank all my colleagues for all the mentoring and tips. Besides, I also learnt alot of new methods to teach simple but important topics. To think that my parents used to tell me that 'more than' means 'plus' and 'less than' means 'minus'. It's so confusing as a kid now that I think about it... so 4 is 3 less than ____? If I use the method my parents taught me to teach the kids, I'm sure they will tell me it's one.... So my colleagues and me have been studying on how best to teach them accurately and correctly. Even for simple things like multiplications, no more struggles to memorise it, we can use the fingers and lattice method to solve problems. You know what I'm thinking now? I should open up a tuition centre just to pass on these tactics since Singaporean parents are so kiasu.

A little glimpse of an email sent by a thankful parent here. It is because of such encouragement that I felt that teaching is really meaningful. =)

"Thank you for your acceptance and recognition on my child's strength and weakness. Your willingness to stretch him and making him to be a responsible IT and attendance monitor had also boosted his ability in wanting to be a responsible child. Your words and teachings had influenced and impacted my child very much. From time to time, in the midst of our conversation, he would always tells us, "Ms Ho says this, Ms Ho teachs me this " Like recently, he used this new word "Famished", "Mommy i'm famished! Please give me some food to eat!" Ha!!!We were surprised and asked him where did he learn it from, he said Ms Ho had taught him to use this vocab..He had enjoyed your lessons so much that when he laid down on his bed, supposedly to sleep, he would start to laugh and laugh as he recalled what had happened or what had you said or taught during class time. I am amused by his actions as well as feeling happy for my child."

I guess this is just a form of assurance that money cannot buy. I'm happy! =)