Going to Vietnam was a great experience outside of school.

Intellectual

Going to Vietnam was a great experience outside of school. We were able to be involve with the natural environment and learn from it. Though we might have already learnt and seen much of the landscape through textbooks, we only managed to learn the bulk of our studies by really feeling the environment itself. An example would be the lifestyle of the farmers in the rice fields, which we have so often neglected when we blindly studied about just the process of farming itself. This trip was also an insight into the Vietnamese way of living and how different it was from a typical Singaporean life. Food aside, which clearly lack variation, it was the clealiness factor that distinctly seperate a Singaporean from a Vietnamese. As a Vietnamese walks through a muddy pathway decisively, a Singaporean would tip toe through the same path at snail speed. I realised at the end of the day, it all boils down to the different living environment in both countries. It was not up to either of us to influence the other party.

Deliverables

Biking, trekking, kayaking, painting, library-ing, swimming, diving, shopping and eating were just some of the many things we did. Of that many, i feel that only one or two, probably fits the bill of a contribution. Even so, it might not be comparable to the standards that have been set by other schools. Painting was a job well done. But then again, these are just superficial forms of a contribution. Library-ing on the other hand, might prove to be a much significant gift to their lifestlye. Our sense of accomplishment was duly fulfilled through biking, trekking, kayaking, diving and swimming. I believe that any single one of those activity was already sufficient to satisfy our desire for challenges.

Emotional

On the first day in Hanoi, it had already struck a deep first impression on me. It was the "River of Life" aka dirty water flowing at the side of the pavement. The sight of totally puts me off. Maybe it was just the difference in living environment. It was not until Sapa that another heart wrenching moment hit my heart. That was the lifestyle of young children the age of equivalent to Primary 1 kids in Singapore, how totally different it was when compared to the much more fortunate Singapore counterpart. As our kids walked around in branded Nike or Addidas shoes in school and still feels unfair about how their parents is not buying the newly released PSP for them as compared to their peers, who could imagine how much less fortunate the kids in Vietnam were, possibly just hoping for a shelter over thier head or even a happy family.

Adversity

The ability to adapt ourselves to the condition of Hanoi on the very first day was probably one of the first difficulty most of us faced, especially with the air pollution in the city. But i believe that all of us managed to overcome it within a short period of time. Throughout the trip, trekking was undeniably the most torturous part. This was further justified on the second day morning which pushed our limits and endurance level the maximum we can take. However, i have to say that most of us suffered most mentally as we kept telling ourselves that the end is near which most of the time never came. But of course, all of us conquered it after all. Unthinkable, but not impossible was the near 10m dive from the junk boat at Halong bay. It was definitely a adrenaline rushing experience that seriously worsen our thirst for adventure and excitement up. A real regret was the inability to bring our jump to a higher level up on the next day. At the end of the trip though, what really struck me was how an individual's living environment can become so unhabitable, with such a great disparity from a fellow being, a thing that had never occured to me right in fornt of my own eyes.

Learnability

I do not know everything and will not know everything on the surface of the earth as i have realised from this trip. Working in a team has been the most enjoyable experience and also one of the best learning methods in a group. One can realise one's own fault and mistake through a group, not after someone points it out, but after self reflection of his own actions that he had taken in the group. Most importantly, everyone is not perfect and self reflection is the way to character development and maturity. Yet, it is that very group that often stands in the way personal improvement and leanring. Thus, I believe that there is always a time that one has to work with others and there is some other occasion that one has to go in seperate ways. Different people has different leanring ability and it is always more difficult to progress in a group. At the end of the day, self dilligience and proper character development is still the key no matter in a group or individually.