I've been home now for just over two weeks and I'm still longing to return to the different world of Vietnam. In the interest of not repeating myself, instead of creating a whole new piece for this post, I have edited the report I composed for general consumption at work. Please note, as this was written for work I haven't gone on and on about the holiday component of my trip. Please don't interpret this to mean I didn't have an awesome holiday, because I did. Maybe one of my best, and I have every intention of going back soon. Now to the report.

It all started some time last year when I mentioned I was thinking of visiting Vietnam as a component of a Grad Cert in tertiary teaching and learning. Some one suggested I put myself forward to work on a new project aimed at promoting and improving cross cultural staff development between our Australian campus and our Vietnam campus. This resulted in an opportunity for me to spend two weeks working in Saigon South, Vietnam in October 2010. My role there was a train the trainer type role focusing on knowledge gained on teaching and learning through my course.

I found Vietnam to be an amazing country. The first two of my four weeks there was spent in holiday mode. I traveled from Hanoi to Saigon via trains and planes. On the way I discovered unbelievable restaurants, made some friends, did some shopping and saw some very picturesque sights.

Once in Saigon the holiday was over as they say, it was time to get to work for the next two weeks. Our Vietnam campus is located in District 7, an area full of new developments. The location itself is absolutely spectacular. Full of shade from the heat and tropical plants swaying casually in the breeze. The Saigon South manager took me on a tour of the campus. It is home to tennis courts, a basketball court, and an outdoor soccer field complete with bleachers and a large indoor sports gymnasium. When I jokingly asked where the swimming pool was, I was told that it due to be built soon. Gulp! Any one would feel privileged to be spending their days working or studying here! I know I did.

My main task here was to convey some of the ideas learned from a recently undertaken Grad Cert in Learning and Teaching. My focus was the student engagement, motivation and active learning. A colleague would arrive during the second week to tackle other areas.

Our library in Vietnam is in the process of moving towards an organizational structure will implementing subject librarians, who will offer research skills classes.

I feel I gained a lot from the opportunity to work in another country, another culture even for a short time. I have a greater appreciation of the challenges faced by librarians working in other cultures and under different political systems. It also gave me a valuable opportunity to gain some understanding of the Vietnamese culture. I think this new cultural understanding will allow me to see things in the future in a different light.

Vietnam is subject to various restrictions regarding accessing social media, which we in Australia have grown used to utilizing for marketing and collaboration purposes. Sometimes our Vietnamese colleagues also face lengthy delays in receiving books and other media as a result of blockages by customs for detailed inspection of content (Acquisitions). Aside from these barriers the Vietnamese librarians must also conduct their business while speaking a language that, to them, is a second language, English.

While processes and work flows in Vietnam are sometimes quite different from those in Melbourne, I found this library to be a very attractive work environment. While always very professional, the librarians were both friendly and welcoming and most of all very eager to learn and collaborate.
My time in Vietnam allowed me not only to gain some insight into the professional culture and issues associated with providing a library service in another country, it also afforded me the opportunity to build professional relationships and the opportunity to gain some insight into the Vietnamese social culture. I very much appreciated this opportunity and look forward to returning to Vietnam soon either professionally or personally.

When asked what I learned from this experience I find it very difficult to narrow it down to one or two things. I learned a lot about my self and my abilities and tolerances. I discovered some of the subtle differences in the culture and in the people between Vietnam and any other country. Primarily I discovered some new friends and a longing to go back to Vietnam.

Intro: Ok, how bad am I? I just came across this blog post see below that I wrote in August just before I went overseas. To maintain some sort of logical I'm going to post that one now and then compose a post overseas round up after that.

So here it is:

It’s almost August and I’m getting excited. Its Tuesday today and on Saturday I am off to Vietnam. I’ll be spending 2 week sight seeing, shopping; sipping cocktails by the pool, learning about a new culture then 2 weeks delivering train the trainer type sessions to university librarians in Saigon. I’ve spend the last weeks thinking about student engagement, motivation and active learning (plus scaffolding, learning outcomes, blended delivery methods) for one session and factors involved with 'Staying current with information literacy' for another session.

Aside from the tasks I need to complete I am also looking forward to gaining a better understanding of the culture and any associated cultural issues. Normally working in a different country would present problems of language (I only speak English) but this campus is English speaking which is great for me but may be quite difficult for the students from all over Asia who’s first language will not generally be English. Overall this will be an excellent opportunity to carry forward some of the knowledge I have gained so far from the teaching and learning certificate I am half way through.

Unfortunately I haven’t yet completed the course ‘Internationalizing the curriculum’. That's happening next February. This experience may provide me with some useful insights to consider.

Note from the last post

Sorry about the bad vid placement and hope the new template colour doesn't startle you too much. I felt cold and thought this would warm me up a bit ;)