Keep sick kids home; neighbors don't help; Joanna turns 3

A few people have commented lately that I look a little pale. Well, I am the White Monkey, but I am also sick again with a vicious cough and thumping sinus headache. Filthy air, lack of sleep, and constant stress no doubt contribute to my repeated illnesses, but as I've noted, lots of other people I know are having the same health problems. But the real culprits for me are the kids who come to our house for daycare. One of the little girls had this disgusting green river running from her nose for two weeks. Her parents finally kept her home this past week when she got a fever. Other kids have been sitting in the middle of the floor crying, when they're not sleeping, because they don't "feel well."
Some of the parents sell stuff online and really hustle, and money is apparently a real motivator for them. A couple of kids are being dropped off before 7:30 a.m. so there really is no rest for the weary.  That means when I start to recover, the cycle of sickness returns to our house in the form of the little angels. My mentor teacher Laurie once chastised me for coming to school to student-teach when I was sick. She chastised me for a lot of stuff that I didn't understand at the time; now I understand and respect her even more for the lessons she taught me -- Laurie is a real gem. Anyway, when ego, or money or other selfish motives cause us to act in an irresponsible way, others often suffer the consequences. My wife and daughter have been sick as well. Since I'm the old fart of the bunch, I tend to be the sickest. When you're dealing with little kids, sickness is a fact of life. A 20-month will cough in your face and sneeze on other kids' food. And hygiene in this country isn't exemplary. Phuong is working incredibly hard to teach these kids proper manners, hygiene, and respect. Sharing was a foreign concept. Disrespect and hitting were somewhat routine. Phuong is doing God's work. Me? I stay out of the way and try not to let the little angels be too rude, angry or overly aggressive. And out of respect for my mom, who died 13 years ago, I insist on sharing. I think Phuong is doing an amazing job in every respect. Next, we'll have to teach the parents to keep their kids home when the kids are really sick so they don't spread the wealth, so to speak. I know it's daycare and the parents need help taking care of their kids, but it doesn't help when the caretakers are sick as well. My wise friend Richard and I discussed on Skype how people who are motivated by money lack a quality of character and have an emptiness in their lives ... even if their bank accounts are full.

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While I'm on the topic of money, I needed to withdraw cash from an ATM at Vietcombank on Friday. I put the card in, waited, and the card came out and the money would eventually follow.  I was so busy making sure my card went back in my wallet that I nearly forgot to grab my money.  A woman pointed to the cash, I thanked her, but when I went to grab the money, it was sucked back into the machine with a message that my funds had been "purged". The bank wouldn't give me my the money, of course, without a passport, and I told them I would go home and get it. Then they said no, they would deposit the money in my account "if we have money at the end of the day." A day later and no money (we're talking about $90 U.S. dollars, which isn't chump change to this chimp). The bank girl's English wasn't very good. She looked at my US Bank card and said I didn't get my money because the stripe on the back was dirty. Well, sweetheart, the US Bank card worked, as it has hundreds of times at this same bank, and the money came out, but the machine "purged" it before I could grab it. I accept my share of the blame for being slow to grab the money, but I won't tolerate getting a lecture from some nimrod who can't speak my language well enough to know what she's talking about, doesn't have the facts, and is flat out wrong.

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Our daycare kids were swimming on the third floor of our house when an inflatable life preserver went over the rail (courtesy of me showing off)  and onto the street below. I looked down and saw three neighbors sitting outside their houses and some random people at my sister-in-law's store not too far from the toy. The three neighbors obviously saw the toy because they watch everything we do. All three, and I swear this is true, immediately went into their houses. The random people were random and didn't care. A car and some motorbikes rode by and had the decency not to run over the life preserver. I was hoping the neighbors or random people would just throw the life preserver on our front step so it wouldn't get run over. Hope is for losers -- John the loser walked down the stairs and retrieved the life preserver from the street. 

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Not all the news is grim: Joanna turned 3 years old recently and had a wonderful celebration. Two other kids from our daycare had birthdays -- one turned 4 and one turned 3, and we had a group party with cake. Fantastic. We also had a private party for Joanna and she got shoes and toys and such. I gave her four clay chickens and a clay duck along with a clay drinking cup with fish painted on it. I'm thrilled to say Joanna loves the clay birds and plays with them constantly. She's dropped and chipped them a few times, but dad uses glue and water colors to make repairs.

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We need to send in one translated document and our visa application for Phuong is complete. When all  the forms are in, we'll await word on the interview. I'm leaving for the U.S. on Tuesday -- a short stay this time because of a cash shortage -- Vietcombank isn't helping.