ICYMI - Captive in China: Michael Kovrig, the older brother who didn't come back
Among his first stops was Budapest, where he wound up living for the next four years, something in keeping with his character. On family trips abroad, Michael was always the one with his nose buried in the guidebooks, checking maps, wanting to know everything about every place.
Getting sucked up by the Chinese penal system would have sounded pretty far-fetched to Kovrig’s younger self in Budapest, where he eventually pivoted to journalism and had a great time reporting on Hungarian arts, culture and business before returning to school in his late 20s and getting a degree in international relations from Columbia University in 2003.
French doctors recommended palliative care. Botha brought him home instead, on a Paris-to-Toronto bound Medevac flight Feb. 1, just as the first COVID-19 cases began appearing in the French capital. Michael wakes up in the morning and I wake up in the morning, both in our own little existential cells, and I think we both think of the other
China was a more recent destination, with his son playing tour guide, dazzling his father with his ease in speaking Mandarin and familiarity with the Chinese people. They hit all the must-see sites — the Great Wall, Nanking, Shanghai — but wandering off course, down crowded alleyways, in search of hole-in-the-wall restaurants was even more memorable.Article content continued
Forever the introvert, when he did get away, he sought out places to recharge. He practised meditation in Laos. His family wasn’t surprised that he remained in China when he took a leave of absence from the foreign service after his two-year posting ended in September 2016.Article content continued“He felt he wasn’t done yet, which is pure Michael,” Botha said. “He felt that he hadn’t learned everything there was to learn about this place.
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