Times to remember in Vietnam

I volunteered in Hanoi with two friends and had an excellent experience. The support from my Ubelong mentor was excellent, he was very easy to reach and knowledgabe. I don't know how mentors are assigned, but if you can ask for Raul I highly recommend him. I thought the briefing meeting on live chat was also key, it made me see I had an organization supporting me and it gave me the opportunity to ask a lot of questions. Once I arrived it was overwhelming with the traffic, language and culture in general, but after about a week I settled in. I was teaching English in a public school and at first how busy and crowded the classes were surprised me. However, the kids were the best part of my trip and made it so enjoyable. I was shocked at how well behaved they were and the respect they showed us, they called us "teacher". I don't think poor schools in the US are like that. Some other volunteers had just started a volunteer book to pass from one to the other as people came and went, and I found this extremely helpful as I could see what others had done and feel I could pass on what I was learning. The housing was better than I expected, altough it was loud some evenings with people staying up. The food was excellent and I very much enjoyed being with volunteers from all over the world. It was a very good experience and one that I miss and hope to have again soon.