Sam

United States
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Travel information
I am currently
Travelling
My next destination:
Taipei, Taiwan
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Description
I am looking to travel a bit in this coming year, to learn a little more about life, and a lot more about tea.
Interests
Languages
Outdoor activities
Beach
Plant care
Astronomy
Hiking
Team sports
Mountain
Camping
Books
History
Writing
Water sports
Culture
Adventure sports
Languages
Languages spoken
Spanish: Intermediate
Chinese (Mandarin): Beginner
More details about my language interests
I have taught English for two years in Kunming, China. It is something that I enjoy and certainly something that I would be interested in doing again.
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Skills and knowledge I'd like to share or learn
I'm interested in:
Art Projects
Some knowledge of:
Eco Projects
Teaching
Gardening
Hospitality/Tourism
General Maintenance
Life at a Farmstay
Animal Care
Able to teach about:
Languages
More details about your skills
I have a passion for literature and language. I have waited tables, led kayaking trips, watched for smoke from fire towers, worked on lobster docs, and taught in classrooms both in the United States and abroad. I am adaptable, easy going, and a quick study who enjoys working and getting to know others.
Age
29
What else ...
I like tea, card games, Netflix shows, and I'd love to learn to surf or paraglide.
Some more information
- Smoker
- Driver's licence
- Allergies
  No
- Special dietary requirements
  None

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13 Apr 2024

Left by Workawayer (Sam) for host (Help in the mountains where ...)

It is difficult to put into words what it was like to spend time at the House. The short answer is that it was the experience of a lifetime. The longer answer is that this opportunity offered a window into the world of tea, the people, and the mountains of Vietnam in ways that I could have never dreamed of encountering on my own.

Here I found… read more the chance to learn, to meet remarkable people, to explore off the beaten track in one of the most beautiful areas on the globe, and to drink absolutely astounding amounts of some of the best tea in the world.

For anyone interested in working at the tea house, this is by no means a typical life experience, nor should one consider it a typical volunteer experience. It is a profound and unique privilege to spend time here.

The days will vary often and widely and with them you will begin to notice your perceptions of the world begin to shift. Overtime you may also come to realize how it is not just about "the work.” This experience is also, and just as critically, about forging connections, about what meaningful social and sustainable change in this region looks like, and about the way this change might be carried out long term. It’s an opportunity for learning, for cultural exchange, and “thinking global while acting local,” to paraphrase Thomas Friedman, and a whole host of others.

My recommendation to future workawayers is to arrive without expectations AND understand that your time here may very well change your life. You will be welcomed like family, treated as an honored guest, invited to numerous cultural events and homestays, and have the chance to encounter people and places that many tourists or volunteers do not get the chance to see. Plan to be present, plan to ask questions, and plan to go with the flow -- you will gradually begin to learn to swim in these new waters.

And all of this is before thinking about the tea.

To put it in terms that many of us, “lay tea drinkers,” understand, spending time in hills of northern Vietnam, is akin to spending time in a hidden or undiscovered wine region of France. To take it a step further, beyond the processing and flavors of tea unique to this area, what this region also has is tea trees that are hundreds of years old and a tea history stretching back to time immemorial. Here you will be tasting tea from trees that are, in some cases, older than the Napoleonic Wars, alive when Michelangelo painted the Sistine Chapel, or from further back still. It's the tea that tea lovers dream about.

To spend time here is to encounter a world apart. It is special, it is profound, and it is an experience of a lifetime.

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