From the Former to the Latter: One Woman's Struggle with the Realities of Culture Shock

In May 2010, after traveling thirteen hours into the future and over 8, 900 miles east, the plane finally landed in the international airport in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Fifteen eager students from West Virginia University stepped outside for the first time in what seemed like weeks. I was traveling along with this group, studying social work and community health in Vietnam and Cambodia. Although I was unsure of how I would assimilate into life abroad, I soon realized that I can not only live, but thrive without the comforts of Western amenities.
Eating fried tarantulas, squatting to use the bathroom, petting live crocodiles, falling asleep to the sounds of squeaking geckos—these are all activities that my former self would not have had any interest in doing. However, I now understand that I was underestimating my own physical and mental capabilities. Though it is impossible for me to isolate one specific experience that altered my perspective of the world, there is one event in particular that stands out in my memory. While visiting an orphanage in Vietnam, I spent time with a group of young girls, many of whom had come from a brothel in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. None of them could recall their names, ages, or dates of birth. While walking to the bus to leave, my new-found friends trailed closely behind, and presented before me a drawing, and some freshly picked flowers. I think it was at this very moment—while choking back tears on the ride to the hotel—that I shed the skin of my past and quietly evolved into the next phase of my life.
These children taught me that regardless of how much grief and sorrow one encounters, it is still possible to maintain a positive outlook and give love to others. At this transitional period in my life, this message could not have been more fitting. It was rather easy to have feelings of inadequacy when I was in unfamiliar territory; yet, it seems that I was making more of a difference than I was even aware of.