My two daughters are proud to be Vietnamese

Born and raised in the US, do your two daughters speak Vietnamese well?

Russian soldier: My two children speak Vietnamese well. Anna Linh speaks and understands 95% Vietnamese, and Mary Linh understands 90% of Vietnamese, but speaking slightly worse than Anna, about 80%. Recently Mary has been in contact with her cousins ​​Minh Chau and Duy Phu. The children used Vietnamese language to talk, so Mary also added fluent Vietnamese. Mary also recently selected a program to learn Vietnamese grammar on an app, and bragged to her mother that she was learning more about Vietnamese grammar.

Anna Linh, Linh Nga’s eldest daughter, inherits her beautiful face and elegant lines (Photo: Linh Nga provided)

In school or in the community, do the children have confidence that they are Vietnamese?

Russian soldier: Both Anna Linh and Mary Linh are very confident that they are Vietnamese. If anyone makes racist jokes, both children will have clear reactions, affirming their pride in being Vietnamese.

My two children especially love Ao Dai. The two children often go to their mother’s wardrobe to see and try on her mother’s ao dai. Because I have nearly 50 ao dai of all kinds, so the children probably also “crushed” the ao dai with their mother. Whenever Tet comes or have the opportunity to attend activities with Americans and American friends, both children choose to wear Ao Dai first. Although they are older, it seems that the older they get, the more they absorb the pride of being Vietnamese, and love Vietnamese culture, language, and cuisine.

Mary Linh is equally beautiful as Anna Linh (Photo: Linh Nga provided)

Vietnamese cuisine is very diverse. Do the two of you like luxury or popular dishes?

Russian soldier: Besides delicious and stylish dishes, Anna and Mary love rustic Vietnamese dishes with lots of vegetables, tofu, and little fish. Anna is a big fan of tofu dishes such as pork braised tofu, stuffed tofu, sour tofu soup, egg vegetable tofu soup. Mary also loves tofu dishes, in addition, she likes to eat simple vegetable soup like crab soup, amaranth soup, sour fish soup, and seafood like fish, shrimp, crab. The two children especially “crush” the food their mother cooks, perhaps because they like to be pampered by their mother like when they were little children.

I am very busy, so I can only cook special delicious dishes for my children on weekends. Every weekend I come up with something delicious to cook for the whole family to enjoy. The two children love Vietnamese salad rolls, which are both healthy and delicious, and have the opportunity to choose the ingredients themselves and roll them right on the table. Besides, the two children also love their mother’s Pho Nam Dinh. Anna said, she went to eat with her friends at the Pho restaurants outside, but none of the Pho restaurants had the same taste as the Pho that her mother cooked. Mom smiled and said it was because Anna caught her breath.

Linh Nga’s love for Vietnamese ao dai has influenced her two daughters (Photo: Linh Nga provided)

How did you make the two children not forget their motherland?

Russian soldier: I didn’t do anything, sister. The two children had the opportunity to return to Vietnam to visit their family and relatives and they both liked it very much, so when they returned to the US, they kept reminding their mother to send them back to Hanoi. Anna reminds me of Bun Cha Hanoi, Mom. And Mary said that she misses simple but delicious street food, remembers when her mother took her to Cam Chi street to enjoy the very unique dishes of Ha Thanh land, and many other warm memories. Mary told her mother, Mom, I miss America when I return to Vietnam, but when I return to America, I miss Vietnam very much. Perhaps the pride in the origin of being a child of Vietnam is always instilled in the hearts of the two children. Although living in the middle of the world, me, my mother and two children always live a very pure Vietnamese, peaceful and warm life.

Linh Nga with her biological mother and two children, in the US (Photo: Linh Nga provided)