On Northeastern's Admissions News homepage you will find a picture of me with my students! If you click on it it will bring you to an article written about yours truly. I'm usually not one to brag but I'm also not usually one to get interviewed and written about! So read away!
The article actually came at a good time because I've been contemplating my trip a lot. Not as a direct shot to everyone teaching there now, but I've been reading their blogs and getting a little disheartened. A few of the teachers are only staying for this semester and I'm not sure we've found enough people to take their place. I know it's out of my hands, but I feel for TfV, the University's and the students who will have one less foreigner to spend time with. The work that Teachers for Vietnam does is incredible and I find myself constantly thinking of ways to promote the organization. So far I've put brochures in NU's Center for Community Service Office and told them anyone with inquires can be directed to me. I've also talked to to potential candidates for next year. One is a friend of a friend, and another is a complete stranger & fellow blogger who I've been writing e-mails to with advice to teach abroad (slightly pushing TfV, but we'll see..) I can't stress enough what an impact this decision has made on my life and how necessary I think it is for people to travel and (separately or not) do community service. Whether it is your own community or one you know nothing about (ie, me deciding to go to Vietnam on a whim) it is not only an amazing thing for those less fortunate than you, but it's great for you too. The people that know me the best know that I've changed in a lot of ways since I've been back, and none of that is for the worse.
It's hard. It's suppose to be. If it were easy, everyone we know would be hopping on the next flight out of here. When you are sick, all you want is the comfort of your home, or anything you're familiar with. A couch, for example. There were at least two times when I was serious about wanting to book the next flight home. But the best advice I received was "I love you, and I miss you, but I don't want to see you until May." I didn't want to disappoint my friends or my students, but mostly I didn't want to disappoint myself.
I'm not really sure who I'm talking to at this point in my ramblings. I guess I just want everyone to have the same experience that I did. Well not the same, because that would be impossible.. but I don't want the experience to be lost. By the time May came, I wanted to get out of Can Tho as fast as possible, but not necessarily Vietnam. But I still took the time to appreciate my whole experience because I know nothing that I ever do will be the same. Nothing. And even though it doesn't seem like it, time sort of waits for you. Everything at home will be exactly the same, everyone you left will still be there (or traveling the world, inspired by you.. which is how I like to put it when I'm lonely in Boston..) but they will still be the same and your friendship, if it was anywhere close to the real deal, will still be in tact. And you will have changed. And I don't want anyone to have a rushed experience because of the hardships one has to endure living in a developing country such as Vietnam. While I say that, I do realize that it's not for everyone. But if you're already there, don't take this time for granted.. try to really get to know the culture, your students, your new friends. Really be there. Because I know that it is so easy to go through the motions and actually be somewhere else in your head.
If you're reading this and you're in Vietnam, or elsewhere, doing whatever it is that you are doing to better yourself and others, I just want you to know that I'm really proud of you. It's not easy, but it's completely worth it. Just remember to take the good with the bad. And don't forget that this experience is for you, too. Don't wear yourself thin, don't rush this once in a life time experience.
Maybe I'm just writing this for myself. I've already convinced myself that I've made the right decision and I'm happy here. But I miss everyone a lot lately. My closest friends are all over the globe and I just miss everyone a lot right now. So I hope that everyone is incredibly happy and having an amazing time and I have to remember that it's their time now. And I have to hope that they are living in the moment and not wishing they were here instead. Even if I want them to be.
"Perhaps this is our strange and haunting paradox here in America - that we are fixed and certain only when we are in movement." - Thomas Wolfe
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