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Monday, October 25, 2021

Suki update:

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Suki






When I left Hanoi at the end of February, 2020, I thought I would stay in South Korea for maybe a month, with perhaps two more weeks in Japan. I never thought the Covid mess would drag on this long, thus preventing my return to Vietnam.

Though being outside Vietnam during Covid has been invaluable for my thinking and writing, I miss my nephew terribly. I've seen Suki in countless dreams and talked to him while wandering foreign streets.

I'm happy to say, though, that four-year-old Suki is doing well. Before the recent lockdown in Saigon, he was in preschool, so made a bunch of friends, he's such a charmer. Rather surprisingly, Suki remembers me well, partly because he loves the toy cars I bought for him in Hong Kong!

I've sent Suki short videos, which he enjoys. Just like before, I use pretty much a full vocabulary, to teach him new words. Even as a one-year-old, Suki was very attentive to each word I taught him. He even knew how to joke with me, such as when he shouted "tôm" ["shrimp"], with a wicked grin, when I showed him a picture of a "cua" ["crab"]. If there was one animal Suki could always indentify, it was a crab. He just loved them. We often went to Saigon wet markets and supermarkets primarily to look at crabs, believe it or not.

In the below video, I tell Suki that though he has seen the ocean, he hasn't seen a mountain, so we'll go see a mountain after I get back to Vietnam. "In time, you'll see everything," I say. "Oceans, mountains, foreign countries." Children force us to be hopeful.



OK, enough of the personal stuff. Now, I get back to my article in progress. It's always a grind, I tell you...




3 comments:

mago said...

Hello Linh.

It’s great to read the Suki report. Glad for the news!
As for the grind of essay writing, I hear you. As I grow older I’ve all but given up.
Anyway, carry on and take good care. I look forward to reading your latest.

Anonymous said...

Hi Linh, It made me feel good to see Suki and video! Innocent small children are precious! Cheers, Tom

Anonymous said...

Sharp looking boy--takes after his uncle!