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The essence of patriotism is ever present near the 30^th of April every year. Red banners and the Vietnamese flag can be seen decorating the city of Hanoi. On the 30^th April, 1975 the Vietnam People’s Army (NVA) captured Saigon, the South Vietnamese Capital.

I recently returned from a wonderful volunteering placement in Vietnam. I was there for one month between mid-January and mid-February of 2012, doing a teaching placement at Nguyen Binh Khiem High School.

Today, I got asked by my friend Thu, also my translator, to join her for a day to see a different side of Ha Noi. Getting up at 6.30 was not very pleasant but it was totally worth it.

We are students from the Univer-sity of Sydney and will soon be commencing our fourth (and final) year of Speech Pathology. For the past month we have been lucky enough to have worked at Xa Dan Primary School, particularly focus-ing our efforts with those children with hearing impairments.

For someone like me, who has never been to Asia, the first days can be pretty hard. When I started my placement I was quite shocked, as I expected something differ-ent and I felt lost and a bit out of place. The teachers didn‟t know me yet and therefore I felt quite isolated it also didn‟t help that no one spoke English.

Don’t let the name confuse you - the Tem-ple of Literature is actually a compound, with courtyards, gardens, museums, lakes, gateways and monuments. One of the old-est sights in Hanoi, the compound was built in 1070 in honor of Confucius and be-came Vietnam’s first university in 1076.

Nestled on a quiet back street you‘ll find the friendly kindergarten of Xa Dan (pronounced "Za" "Dawn"). The kindergarten accommodates profoundly deaf students and also a number of mentally disabled students.

For those of you with an adventurous spirit and curious taste buds, like myself, you‘ll find Vietnam has a wonderful world of exotic flavours and spe-cialty dishes. Dog, snake, frog, jellyfish and duck embryo are just as common as beef, chicken, pork, and shrimp. I am one of those people who is willing to try just about anything – and so I have.

I am currently living and working in Vietnam at the International Friendship Village. I’m here for a total of five weeks and I have just reached the half-way point. This village was formed to help the victims of the Vietnam War and more specifically those suffering from the legacy of Agent Orange.

I spent 2 months in Vietnam - 7 weeks at The Hope Centre (an early intervention school for children with disabilities) and 2 weeks at Bo De Pagoda (an orphanage run by monks) - and whilst there was some initial trepidation I soon got into the groove of living and working in Hanoi. The children at both of my placements were just gorgeous and it didn‘t take me long to fall in love with them all.

Hello everyone! My name is Taylor Cavale. I've recently accepted the position of Assistant/ Social Manager here in Hanoi, Vietnam. Upon discovering the need for someone to fill this position I knew I was destined for it. I’ve always taken pride in welcoming new travelers and volunteers and getting them excited about living and volunteering in this amazing place.

This month, we have several volunteers working in kindergartens for autistic children. A high percentage of children in Vietnam are diagnosed with Autistic Spectrum Disorders, however, there is not much known about ASD’s in the country. Our volunteers are helping out as classroom assistants and at the same time observing the behaviour of the children.