Xin Chao (Hello) from Vietnam! What an adventure these past few weeks have been. Bianca and I (along with my sister) decided to head to Asia a week early to do some traveling before our orientation day, and it has been the most rewarding, educational, and memorable time. 
We began our journey in Da Nang, Vietnam where we spent the day organizing ourselves by moving into our Air bnb, setting up our SIM cards, and packing for our travels.
Culture Shock?
I remember during the online training prior to doing TAB, the videos would always address culture shock. I remember distinctly telling myself “this won’t happen to me!”. I was greatly mistaken! I got culture shock on the FIRST day!! Everything was going fantastic and I was so excited to be in a new country, however, we soon discovered that our fridge was a mini fridge and we feared that we won’t be able to prepare meals (update: we totally can and are!!). Following that, we went to our first food stall for dinner and both my sister and I ordered “fried rice with shrimp” and Bianca ordered the plain fried rice. However, once we opened the meals, we could not tell the difference between the fried rice and the one with shrimp, so I thought they forgot the shrimp. Nope… the shrimp were the size of the rice and there were so many in the rice. My sister loved the dish and ate it all, but it was in that moment I had the greatest culture shock come over me! I didn’t eat the meal and instead ate something that I brought from Calgary. We had a lot of traveling ahead of us the next day, so I felt that the more exposed I was to the different dishes, I will find the ones I love! After being here for 3 weeks so far, I can confidently say that there are so many traditional Vietnamese dishes that I love including Pho, Vietnamese pancakes, Banh Mi’s, and Vermicelli Spring rolls.
Super Trees, Limestone Mountains, Lying Dragon Mountain, and Friendships!
Throughout our travels, we explored Singapore for 3 days, then headed back to Vietnam where we explored 3 cities: Hanoi, Ninh Binh, and Ha Long Bay. This trip was enriched with culture, adventure, and appreciation for this country.
In Singapore, we got to see all the main attractions like the Merlion, Super Tree’s, and Marina Bay Sands. It was phenomenal to see how Singapore uses the Solar energy collected from the Super Trees to generate the light show and the lights throughout the night in the area!
When we got back to Vietnam, I got to climb 500+ stairs up the Laying Dragon Mountain, canoe down the Tam Coc River (3 caves), and swim on our own private Island on Cat Ba Island while taking a cruise around the many limestone mountains in the region. I had the opportunity to meet many people around the globe, where I gained friendship from travelers from Australia, England, Ireland, and Germany. It was amazing to meet people from around the world and learn about their experiences!
Meeting the School!
After our travels, we had our orientation with the Primary school we are volunteering with! It was amazing to finally be in the School! We met the principal and all the English teachers, while making our pairs for teaching. We also found out that students have snap during the middle of the school day!! The school schedule is very different compared to Canada! A lot of photos were taken and we received a thoughtful gift of plants that look beautiful in our new Vietnam home!
MiMi’s Cooking Class!
Towards the end of the week, Bianca, my sister, and I spent time exploring the area we are living in, and spent lots of time at the beach (5 min walk from our airbnb). We ended off the week at Ba Na Hills- an amusement park on the top of a mountain! We were in the clouds exploring the beautiful architecture, including the infamous golden hand bridge and long cable car rides. Lastly, the day before my sister left back to Canada, we went to Ha Noi (a neighboring city) notoriously known for their tailor clothing and walking streets. The highlight of this trip was joining a family run cooking class (MiMi’s cooking class), where she took us to the market and taught us all about the different vegetables and meats used in traditional Vietnamese cuisines we would make, as well as the different fruits I have never had before including Dragon Eyes and Rambutans. We made Vietnamese spring rolls, pancakes, mango sticky rice, pho, and a Papaya salad. This was an opportunity to witness Vietnamese culture and cuisine first hand with an amazing teacher!
This is only the beginning…
After all these travels, we finally began teaching this week at the Primary school, where I am teaching grades 1, 3, and 5. So far, it has been an amazing experience both observing and integrating myself into the classroom! The students are lovely and are ready to learn! I cannot wait to learn more from my teacher and the students, and I hope to make a difference in the classroom.
Lastly, I have one takeaway from these past two weeks and this came from a friend we had made during our travels to Ho Chi Minh city over the weekend. Him and his wife are both from Australia and have spent the last three months traveling Asia. I was describing this phenomenal opportunity to teach in Da Nang to them and I said “this is a one in a lifetime opportunity”. I was stopped right there. He said that this is not a one time opportunity. He emphasized that:
“Through teaching, you have the opportunity to make traveling a lifestyle, making an impact everywhere you go”.