School closed

Charlie had a high fever a couple of weeks ago, so we took him out of school. After about 4 days off school we were ready to take him back, but the school informed us that they had closed as a number of the children had fevers. There was no mention of H1N1.

Over the last few days about 5 schools in HCMC have been closed due to H1N1 outbreaks and Charlie's school has just informed us that they won't be reopening until 15 August.

H1N1 is still rare in Vietnam with only about 500 confirmed cases so the government is still trying to contain it. Looks like they are fighting a losing battle though.

Charlie is fine now, but we are being careful with him and not taking him to swimming pools, etc.

From what I can gather H1N1 doesn't sem to be all that much different from normal flu, but I summise it is getting so much attention, particularly in the UK, as it is going to have a much larger economic effect than normal flu.

Normal flu kills old people. As old people are financially a burden on society it may be quite financially benefical for the country if they die. H1N1 kills young people and this has huge adverse economic impacts.

1st day at school

Last Thursday we finally put pen to paper and signed up Charlie for kindergarten. The kindergarten isn't far from our house. This all I could find on the net about them:

Creative Young Talent Kindergarten
- Address: 101 My Kim 2, Phu My Hung, District 7, HoChiMinh City. - Tel: (848) 5412-1009
The kindergarten receives children aged 1.5 ~ 6 with 10 children per class. The facilities are of international standards, featuring live broadcasting of the children’s entire activities through IP camera to parents. Besides programs of language education and making familiar with natural science like British kindergarten program, C.Y.T. provides some aptitude subjects for children like ballet dance, vocal music, painting, and play-acting

At first I wanted Charlie to go to school so early to become more immersed in English, but I couldn't find an English language kindergarten that would take kids before the age of 2 years old. Even though the language of instruction is Vietnamese I still decided to send him there as I am worried about Charlie becoming too spoiled. Because of the huge amount of attention and the overcare he receives at home he is definitely quickly becoming a spoiled brat. I am hoping the school, along with better care at home, will despoil him.

Last Friday, was his first morning at school (5 mornings a week) and he cried most of the time. He still cried today, but most of the time he is very happy at school.

Language 2

I am being told that Charlie's vocabulary is increasing by 2-3 words a day, but I feel that I have to take this with a pinch of salt. I have heard Charlie being told to say words then when he repeats them parrot fashion they want to add the word to the list.

I am not including words such as these in my list until I can see him using them in some real context. I am giving him a little leeway and if he is using the word in the correct context, but I still doubt he understands the word, I am giving it to him. IE I previously wrote that he was using the word "ky" for Kilo. I am sure that he doesn't understand this word, but he often stands on the scales looks down at the numbers and says "ky". This is good enough for me to add the word to the list.

New Vietnamese words are:


Tu = wardrobe (15 July)
Chay = run (15 July)
Ban = friend (14 July)
Nuoc = water (12 July)
Mo cua = open the door (12 July)
Tha = give (10 July)
Kieng = glasses (8 July)
Mo = open (July)
Lay = get (7 July)
Cu = willy (6 July)
Bung = tummy (6 July)
Bin bin = beep beep (6 July)
Vui = happy (6 July)
Ngon = tastes good (6 July)
Di ve = go home (6 July)
Di ra = go out (6 July)
Tai = ear (4 July)
Do = red (2 July) He may actually think this means traffic lights.
Co = neck (2 July)
Me = mother
Cua = door
Gau = bear (teddy bear)
Vao = in
Moi = new (he got new shoes so is saying this, but I am unconvinced he really understands)

English

Park (mid August)
Zoo (mid August)
Gate (mid August)
Door (mid August
Key (mid August)
Fish (mid August)
Hello (25 July) (actually sounds more French than English)
Go (13 July)
Home (12 July)
Up

Khmer

Haven't heard Charlie speaking any Khmer yet, but both of his maids/nannies are Vietnamese who come from a place near the Cambodian border and I would say that one of them actually looks Khmer. I sometimes hear them speaking Khmer, especially on the telephone, and Charlie does occasionally listen to Khmer music. Probably wouldn't know a Khmer word if I heard one.

18 months!

In 2 days' time Charlie will be 18 months old. I notice that I haven't posted any pictures of Charlie for sometime so here are a few pictures that were taken within the last few weeks.

Language

I estimate that about 90% of the language that Charlie hears from people (excluding TV and music) is in Vietnamese with the remainder being in English. Because of this, and because Vietnamese words are generally much shorter than English words I assumed that the vast majority of Charlie's initial vocabulary would be Vietnamese.

His comprehension is without a doubt considerably better in Vietnamese and he seems to understand a surprising amount. The lexemes below are the ones which we can remember that he can say with reasonable clarity:

Vietnamese

Ky = kilo (22 June)
Bu = suck/drink (22 June)

Ve = go home (21 June)

Xe = vehicle (20 June)
Uong = drink (18 June)

Chua = no/not yet (18 June)
Baba = Dad
Da = kick
Giay = shoes
Choi = play
Di = go
Dau = hurt
Danh = hit
Mua = rain
Ra = out
Bo = cow
A = yes
Ca = fish
To = a small bowl
Troi oi = Oh my God! (not as strong in Vietnamese)
Cai gi?= What? What is it?
Di dau vay? = Where are you going? (grammatically simpler in Vietnamese)
Mummummummum = eat
Lalalala = His attempt at singing
Vietnamese version of various animal noises such as: tiger, dog, duck, mouse, and a few more

English

Bye (24 June)
Dad
Ball
Car
Star

I conclude that as Charlie is already making simple sentences he can probably say much more than I have listed.

Dual citizenship

This morning Charlie received his Vietnamese passport. Charlie had dual citizenship before this event, but I suppose this does concretise the fact.

I believe that until later this year, under Vietnamese law, it is illegal for a Vietnamese citizen to also be a citizen of another country, but this has been ignored by Vietnamese authorities for many years now and I think the law is being changed in July this year to officially permit this.

Aha!!!! Look what I have just found: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/11/17/asia/AS-Vietnam-Dual-Citizenship.php

Believe that a foreigner has the right to obtain Vietnamese citizenship after living in Vietnam for 20 years. I have been here for nearly 16 so only 4 more years to go.

I want to pay my taxes!!!

I have been holding off from getting Charlie a British passport up until now as I can see that at sometime in the future the British government will decide that, no matter where Charlie is in the world, he needs to help the UK by paying his share of the national debt. It has been mentioned to me that my getting Charlie a British passport is tantamount to child abuse as it will undoubtedly saddle him with future taxes.

Dspite this belief, much to my chagrin, I relented last week and put in an application for a British passport for him. Much to my surprise we picked this up today.

Now we have to get Charlie a Vietnamese passport, so when he enters Vietnam he can do so on this passport and therefore a Vietnamese visa won't be necessary.