My trip to Vietnam!

I spent the beginning two and a half weeks of my summer holidays in Vietnam under the charity group "Hue Dreams 9", which worked with the Vietnamese organisation "Hearts for Hue" to work on producing a "Green Library" and to teach the children in a school in the village. This has been done for many different schools over the years and as such the work we have done is quite procedural with nothing unique to the charity organisation, although it was a unique experience to the people going. 

Our work at first was quite arduous, with a lot of heavy lifting required for the first week and a half. However, we were happy when we saw significant progress and when the workload started getting a lot easier. As the work on the construction decreased, our work on the education side increased, with more and more people getting roped in to teach the children. It was interesting to me that, because education was more mentally straining, many wanted to do construction instead of teaching the children including yours truly. I think this is a very bad way of looking at things, for one should always try to work the brain as much as the body. I tried not to complain in an attempt to 'fake it till I made it', but inwardly I felt that everyone knew that I felt the same way as well. 

The closing ceremony was quite touching, with all the students and teachers coming together to thank us for all the hard work we have put in over the last few weeks, although I do not think it is much compared to their everyday lives. I felt quite sheepish to be on such different levels of mental resilience, and I tried to keep up with them as much as possible and tried to hide the moments when I simply felt too exhausted. Fortunately, I made it all the way to the end and managed to get a good night's rest over the days after the closing ceremony of which the next day would spark my Rest and Relaxation period in Da Nang. 

During our R & R session, we went to see the many different tourist attractions they had available for us, although most were simply a tourist trap with expensive food, drinks and services. However, I still considered them for purchase as they were all below Singaporean prices anyway and to me they were economically viable. 

The tourist attractions in question were the Marble Mountain, Da Nang Beach, and Ba Na Hills, all of which I highly recommend upon your visit to Da Nang. 

Ultimately the greatest attraction was me being able to reach home and finally lay on my bed without the expectation of waking up in the morning or do anything academics related. For the first time in a long time I can do what I want when I want and without significant consequence except for the opportunity cost, which I am willing to forgo for the sake of my mental sanity. Here's to a good summer holiday, and I do hope everyone else will find time to relax in the next few weeks to come. 

Cheers,

Matthew Tan