When we left Manchester in August, working abroad was never considered as a possibility during the trip. As we made our way through Asia, and we realised we'd need to work somewhere to save some money - Vietnam still wasn't considered, and working in Australia was our plan. It was only once we'd arrived in Ho Chi Minh City and heard off ex-pats how easy it was to get English teaching jobs that we took it up. Having a home base also allowed family to come over and visit, which was obviously great.
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| Family! |
I don't think there's a single part of us that regrets doing it. Sure, we've been away for eight months now, the original plan was to be flying back to England next week, and the lack of Shepherd's Pie abroad is soul-crushing... but it's been worth it.
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| Can someone mail one of these to Asia? |
It's a rarity that advertisements tell truths, but that is the case with teaching adverts. Adverts on (UK) TV shout "EVERY DAY IS DIFFERENT!" and "KIDS ARE AWESOME!", and you half take it in, while thinking 'Yeh, but they're also utter cretins'. So, so, wrong. I think a big difference is the mentality of foreign children. A lot of them are almost obsessed with learning English. If you walk through a park in Ho Chi Minh, you'll often encounter local students asking "Can I talk with you?", just to improve their English. As well as wanting to learn, Vietnam is a country that wrongly holds westerners/whites in higher esteem than their own countrymen. Some Vietnamese almost seem surprised that any westerner would want to work in their country - and more bizarrely, western-born Asians find it tougher to get a job as an English teacher, simply for looking Asian.
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| Dave teaching |
Living in another country also makes you appreciate some aspects of life back home - and make you bewildered at others. Healthcare is so expensive even in a country like Vietnam that you realise for all its faults, the NHS is incredible. The obsession over health and safety back home is also (rightly) ridiculed, though when you see motorbike drivers with their helmet-less child as a passenger, you backtrack.
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| Myles half-teaching |
The traffic is chaotic, but crashes aren't as widespread as you'd expect, and travel times are consequently slashed. The cost of living (especially as we were earning relatively mega-bucks) is fantastic, and despite living in the middle of the biggest city in the country, there's a great sense of community there, which leads on to...
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| Dave and one of his grade 2 classes |
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| Myles and some of his kindergarteners |
There is a consequence that Vietnamese can be incredibly needy (do YOU have no self-esteem and want texts messages saying "I miss you. I love you." every hour? Move to Vietnam now!), and the 'oh-my-god-it's-a-white-guy-treat-him-like-a-celebrity' routine can start to get annoying after a while.
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| Say goodbye kids |
However, the bottom line is that Vietnam, and the people that live there are incredible. In terms of friendliness between strangers, it even outranks North Yorkshire.
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| Even these guys aren't as friendly as Vietnamese |
Over 8% of the UK population is unemployed, and year after year, university graduates can't find work either. If you are one of these people (or even if you have a job and are bored with it), I'd implore you to teach English abroad - and in Ho Chi Minh City if you have the chance. The children you work with are incredible, the friends you meet are amazing, 20p beer is delicious, and consequently the seeds have been planted for us to return to Vietnam in a couple of years, albeit just as visitors.
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| GOODBYE! |
It's been tough to say goodbye, but the show must go on. Onwards to a Holiday in Cambodia!
