Working hard

Tuesday April 18, 2006

I've been flat out at work since returning last week. They're certainly using me to the fullest ability. Over the next couple of weeks we are travelling to the Xuan Thuy National Park (south-east of Hanoi on the coast) then we have a big coastal clean up at four different locations along the coast beginning May 22. There's so many things I need to do - brochures, posters, merchandise, organizing media etc that I feel I need to duplicate myself.

But I'm loving the work. There are times when I feel overwhelmed by the differences in approaches etc to things, and the inability to communicate clearly from both sides, but we are working through it and I really love my colleagues. They’re all so great in so many different ways.

This week we have the National Party meeting. There are approximately 1,100 delegates for the communist party meeting, as well as national reps from all the communist parties across the world. Apparently there's going to be a change in leader, so that should be interesting. It's a very complicated political process over here. I'm slowly starting to piece the puzzle together... but very slowly.

You should have seen how quickly they decorated the city. It's quite astounding really. The Vietnamese really know how to work quickly and get things done. One day I'm walking along the lake, the next day there are propaganda posters lining the lake, the bridge is up in lights, there's flags everywhere and there's even a huge stage. Unbelievable.