Jenna04


 * Describe where you were born: I was born in Darwin, Australia in 1968. It is a small town, about 200, 000 people, tropical environment, easy to get around, everyone knows each other in the suburb I lived in. I went to the Stuart Park school around the corner from where I lived.**


 * Where did you live after that?: When I was 10 years old I moved with my family to Athens Greece. Athens is a city of 6 million people, a big polluted city where everyone lives in apartments with very little greenery around. I lived in a apartment with my family and i went to the local school while my sisters went to the American International School.**


 * Why did you move? My parents wanted to go back and live in Greece for a while to see if they would like it. My father found it hard as he was so used to doing business in Australia by then. We stayed there for two years.**


 * What were the challenges involved? I didn't know the Greek language very well so even asking for directions was hard, but by playing with the neighbourhood kids I learnt a lot. Another challenge was I went into a Greek school where the teachers only spoke Greek and were n****ot helpful and very strict. It was very different to how the teachers were in Australia. We weren't allowed to speak or even ask questions. I got caned over a misunderstanding and couldn't even defend myself. I learned Greek pretty quickly, and the Greek ways as well.**


 * What about opportunities: I learnt how to play soccer because all the neighbourhood kids played it and followed it. I also travelled around to historic places in Greece and learn** **about my history and culture.**


 * Why did you go back to Australia? I went back with my family ,so my sister could go to university. So we moved to Adelaide for four years. We lived in a big apartment in the city near the zoo. It was much cleaner than Athens and we could walk to the mall from my house. We didn't know anybody in Adelaide so I had to make new friends at school. I went to a school in the city. I liked it very much. I needed to adapt again so I went from playing soccer to being on the school rowing team. The school had a strong team and I was the cocksman, the little guy giving orders on the end! We practised every morning on the Torrens River. I also learnt French and the drums.**


 * Anywhere else you moved to in Australia? I moved to Sydney after I finished University to work as a computer programmer. I was only 21 and moved into an apartment in Cremorne with my friend. I liked Sydney a lot but everything was expensive, so I worked a lot to pay for my new life. I wasn't paid properly on some jobs because I was young and trusting, so that wasn't much fun. I soon learned though, the hard way. I got a good name for myself in the computer world though. I was drawn back to Darwin though after a few years to manage the family mango business, which was growing rapidly.**


 * Why did you move to East Timor?: After I got married and had my first child an opportunity was presented for me to begin a new business in Timor after the fighting there finished. I left my family in Australia and moved there for about two years.**


 * How was it different? I moved to a war zone that needed to be rebuilt. As I now had the opportunity of working with international aid agencies, I learned about how these agencies work, as well as the government (the good and the bad). It was a different culture, language, people and I had to learn the ways because I was employing locals. I had a Timorese partner who helped guide me. We paid our employees well and looked after them. They in turn were loyal. You have to build up a personal relationship with your employees there, much more than in Australia.**


 * What about risks? I risked my life! There was still civil unrest, malaria, denghi fever as well as other diseases. I missed my family too much as I only flew back to Australia every fortnight, so I moved back and ran the mango business until my youngest child (you) was 8 and we moved to Vietnam.**


 * Why move to Vietnam? The family business was sold, and I finished my studies so I wanted another challenge. I had been coming to Vietnam for work and as part of my MBA studies and liked it. Then a job offer came up that seemed too good to be true. We moved here, but the job fell through with the government. They kept changing the work requirements. I kept going back to Australia for consulting jobs and am now in the process of starting a business here so we can stay. Doing business in Vietnam is risky because the rules are different. I had two experiences (government and local company) that were very unlike the ways I am used to doing business in Australia. My children disliked it here first, the traffic, higher expectations at school, not being able to communicate. After 6 months, they settled in. Now I am learning Vietnamese as I will be employing locals and dealing with Vietnamese people in business. It is a hard language to learn, all the tones!**