Dalat Family 2020 Year in Review

Dalat Family

Happy New Year 2021

Contributors

Dan Dalat, a senior Education major at University of California Irvine who hosts a radio talk show and Anteater TV at UC Irvine. He is inspired to become a Math teacher. He is scheduled to graduate March 2021

Daisy Dalat, a recent transferred Sophomore from California State University Fullerton to Texas A&M University. Daisy is contracted Army ROTC scholarship cadet who is inspired to become an Army officer. She is joining the Corps of Cadets

Hanna Dalat, a 8th grader at College Station Middle School who will represent her school district to take the national exam.

Minnie Dalat, a dedicated mother who strives to ensure success of her family. She managed sending two older kids to college while teaching, tutoring, caring, and preparing the youngest child for college. All in all, she supports her husband career as an Army officer with activities and volunteering.

President George H.W. Bush Library’s garden, College Station TX

Minnie Artist/Mom

The unprecedented turbulence year of 2020 challenged our family’s resiliency as we preparing ourselves for another transition in the Army. This year had also brought unexpected results that kept our family together as we fought off many challenges and waves of pandemic both in Japan and in the United States.

We started the year in Japan with the beautiful Commanding General’s New Year's reception at Camp Zama Community Club where Major General Viet X Luong and his wife Kim welcomed the year 2020 with community leaders, and our Japan Self Defense Force counterparts as Japan prepared to host the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. The preparation for this international athletic competition had been a priority for Japan during the past four years since our arrival into the country. Embracing for the historic opportunity, we signed up to serve as volunteers at the game. However, that did not occur. Instead, we endured the epic global pandemic events that continues impacting all of us even now. But earlier this year, we did not anticipate the impact that Corona virus had on our lives. So, on Jan 3, we were just as happy as our daughter Hanna attending her orchestra recital at her school’s auditorium. She performed very well with her father’s full size violin that had transferred to her since she had out grown her 3/4 violin.

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Zama American Middle School: Hanna performs her violin in an orchestra.

Sobudai-mae Station: Minnie and Lan wait for their train

Hanna bakes cookies for her classmates during Valentine’s Day

With much excitement, we called Grandma Cam Quy in California on FaceTime and learned that she had been suffering COVID-like symptoms during the winter holidays. According to her, she had never been this sick. “I can’t eat, can’t taste, constantly coughing, tightness in the chest, and difficulties breathing.” Fortunately for Grandma, the help came from her daughter Christine who worked nearby and her grandchildren Dan and Daisy who were attending their universities in the area. On weekends, they took turn checking up on Grandma and did some groceries for her. Eventually, she recovered from that illness and took prudent precautions preventing the spread. She remained isolated in her home until her condition had gotten back to normal.

Grandma Cam Quy, a very strong woman, exercised often and maintained very good

health. On her 79th birthday, she hiked up the tallest point at Nam San tower in Seoul, Korea unassisted. On her 80th birthday, she hiked the hills of San Francisco as she welcomed her grandson back to the California for his college. Throughout the year, she swam in the community pool at her residential complex and walked around her neighborhood to remain fit and resilient.

In Japan, most people remained oblivious to the pandemic to include our family. Lan and Minnie would take Hanna to Tokyo and surrounding areas for shopping, dinning, and attending festivals. Every weekend, festivals sprouted up all around Tokyo. Right before the US Army Japan’s restricted movement orders came into effect, Lan and his Army buddy Bill attended the Goblins Festival in Tokyo which became their last photography adventure. Shortly after the event, they captured some magnificent images of the sunset of Tokyo from the tallest rooftop near the famous Shibuya scramble. The intended venue was designed for tourists and athletes coming in for the Summer games served as one of the tallest observation towers in Tokyo where one can view Mount Fuji in a distance.

Shortly after the Lunar New Year, the news broadcasted the Diamond Princess cruise ship being quarantined off the water in Yokohama with a new disease initially termed Corona Virus. Of the 2666 passengers and crew, 691 cases of Corona Virus was reported by the end of their quarantined. At the same

Yokosuka Naval Station: Lt. Col. Lan Dalat celebrates with 34 newest Naturalized US Citizens from 15 different countries.

Bill McClary attend Goblins Festival in Tokyo, Japan

Shibuya Crossing, Tokyo, Japan

Cherry Blossom Viewing, Camp Zama, Japan

Yard Camping at Camp Zama, Japan

Camp Zama Golf Course, U.S. Army Garrison - Japan

time, our base began implementing the "Shelter-inplace" procedures. Many civilian employees began telework from home. Surprisingly, most Japanese don't have internet at home so Lan and his G6 shop developed and implemented solutions for these employees as they work from home using government issued computers.

The restricted movements applied to all U.S. bases in Japan. Early March, other bases lifted restrictions allowing essential movements between U.S. bases. Just so happened, Lan was invited by the United States Immigration Services to facilitate a Naturalization Ceremony at Yokosuka where a total of 34 candidates, including 16 service members and 18 spouses, from 15 different countries stationed in Japan earned their U.S. citizenship at Chapel of Hope located on Yokosuka Naval Base. Lan took the opportunity sharing his story of becoming a citizen while serving in uniform.

At the same time, Dan and Daisy were instructed by their universities to conduct schooling remotely after the Spring break. It was also during this time that Lan had received his follow on orders to serve as the Executive Officer for Texas A&M University Army ROTC. With that news, we decided to fl y our college students back to Japan to spend the last few months hoping that the restrictions will be lifted before

moving back to the states permanently. With much anticipations, the two college students flew out of California and arrived in Japan late May. Since the implementation of restricted movements orders remained in place, our two college students were picked up by the Army and brought them straight to our front door. However, they had to be isolated inside the family quarters for 14 days.

We didn't venture out much during the last two months in Japan. Getting creative, we conducted most activities in the backyard and on the garrison’s golf course. The closure of golfing operations enabled us to roam the course and enjoying the beauty of Japanese cherry blossoms. Many photographs were taken on the golf course during this period.

As the heat and humidity of summer began to surfaced, a big truck showed up at our quarters with a crew of workers picked up our household goods for the next destination, College Station, Texas. Immediately, we went searching for on Zillow for a place to live. After many weeks of research and FaceTime with our realtor, we rented a house that is closed to both Hanna's middle school and Lan's office at Texas A&M University. We completed the rental process online without even set foot on the property.

Visiting Hakone, Japan prior to returning to the United States.

Family Album

Hanna receives her Honor Roll virtually from her school

Lan and Minnie celebrate their last outing before COVID ROM

Major General Luong and his wife host the farewell dinner to outgoing officers and spouses.

Our first dinner in Texas at Ronin Restaurant

Dan, Daisy, and Hanna enjoy time with cousins in Calif.

One week before departing Japan, the ROM is lifted and our family take opportunity to visit Kanagawa area.

Dalat family departs Tokyo for Los Angeles, California. Lan and Minnie enjoy the sunset as they drive to Texas from California.

Prior to July 15, we closed out all activities at Camp Zama and departed for the new chapter in our lives. General Luong and his wife was kind enough to host our farewell dinner before our flight to LAX. We arrived in Los Angeles without any fanfare. We picked up our Chrysler Town and Country that had been in storage since 2016 and drove to auntie Christine's place. There, we stayed for a few days to reconnect with our family and conducted maintenance on both vehicles for road worthiness before heading east to Texas. A week later, we arrived in Texas and moved into our new home in College Station, Texas. It was hot and humid just like Tokyo this time of the year. However, Texas heat had a few degrees higher than the Far East.

Due to COVID-19 global pandemic, both University of California Irvine and California State University at Fullerton provided online instructions only. Based on that, we kept the two college students with us. As a matter of fact, all three were doing remote learning from home and hogging up the bandwidth. With time differences, we often had our dinner at 8 pm due to conflicts with class schedules for Dan and Daisy. As for Daisy, she had been an Army ROTC Cadet at Cal State Fullerton. All of her instructions were conducted online but her practical lab were done with

the Texas A&M cadets at the local training areas. Here at College Station, she was getting her first taste of the Corps of Cadets. After a few months, she decided to apply for a transfer to Texas A&M. With her strong academic achievements and credentials,

Cadet Daisy Dalat takes the Oath of Enlistment as she contracted as an Army ROTC Cadet with scholarship.

she was accepted for admission to Texas A&M University. Recently, Lan had the honor of facilitating the contracting ceremony for Daisy as a scholarship cadet with a chance to receive a commission in the United States Army like her father. With that, Daisy will move into the dorm after the new year as a new member of the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets. As for Dan, he had been working hard academically and getting straight A’s. For that, he is anticipated to graduate from University of California Irvine this late winter which is earlier than expected. He is planning to apply for grad school and pursuing his passion for teaching. With Dan being at home tutoring his younger sister Hanna, her math grades had greatly improved. Based on that effort, Hanna will represent her school district to take the national math exam.

With both kids are attending local schools, we began thinking of setting roots for our family. College

Station is a small college town and is the home of Texas A&M University where Daisy is scheduled to attend. Hanna will have four years of high school without another military move. Lan is moving toward his retirement. With that, we have decided to make Texas our home. After being married for over 23 years and 22 of those years were living overseas, we have finally purchased a small lot of land where we will build our first house. This house is unique because, it has a modern interior. However, the exterior will have some traces of the French colonial architecture in Vietnam where Lan was born and raised. Since Vietnam had been colonized for centuries by foreign powers, it’s architecture has fixture of both East and West. So, this house will represent a small piece of Vietnam heritage in the United States. With the cat out of the bag, we will have our ground breaking event for “Le Petite Chalet de Dalat” in January 2021.