Hear that noise? I'm hammered; visa, motorbike hassles

Neighbors who live two houses away from us are having work done on their house. The work involves knocking down walls with a jackhammer followed by the prolonged pounding of a heavy mallet. The noise is obnoxious and persistent -- this work has continued intermittently for two weeks. As bad as it is for us, it's worse for the family next door. An 80-year-old man with a heart condition lives next door to the noise with his family, and his wife says they may have to leave. When there is jackhammering and mallet pounding, I can't hear Phuong talking to me in our kitchen. I can just imagine what it's like for our neighbors. When the ruckus starts, Joanna always says, "Hear that noise?", which is a line from the Eric Carle story The Very Lonely Firefly. Oh, we do hear the noise Joanna. Phuong and Joanna go to Phuong's parents' house when the pounding begins, sometimes as early as 6:40 a.m. I'll put on headphones and clean or work on the house, but the bad vibrations of the jackhammer still come through. As is usually the case here, I'm told there's nothing that can be done about the disruption. I don't begrudge anyone trying to improve their living space, but two weeks of pounding at unexpected intervals is over the top.  I tried to ask the woman who owns the house why she doesn't have the walls knocked down in one or days and then start the remodeling. She laughed, which is her response to me and everyone else when she's asked any questions. A woman next door to us (three houses away from the pounding) just had a baby and she and the newborn are struggling to get some sleep because of the noise. And the folks with the 80-year-old in residence discussed the issue with their neighbor; she laughed. "Hear that noise?"

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More paperwork is being requested from me by the U.S. immigration folks before they'll consider granting Phuong an interview to obtain a U.S. visa. There seems to be a question about the legitimacy of my "domicile." I wrote a letter and produced mortgage and bank statements that prove I'm a U.S. resident who owns a house in the United States. I've been paying the mortgage for more than 14 years. That's no scam, folks. That's $1,200 a month I pay to the bank every month for my property in Yellow Springs, which I'm sure the government could find out if they wanted to. I'm not sure what the point of all this is. I'd be living there now if the government would give my wife a visa. I'm a U.S. citizen with income. Our daughter is a U.S. citizen. My wife is a Vietnamese citizen married to an American, and she and her husband (me) want our daughter to attend school in the United States.  We've lived together more than five years. We have no nefarious motives. We want the best for our children in the country where I was raised and have paid taxes for the past 48 years. I just don't get it.

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I was walking down a little cut-through alley that connects our street to the street behind us on my way to get coffee and read. (See picture of alley on the top right of this blog.) I forgot my walking stick because my back has been feeling so much better. Anyway, a motorbike rips around the corner and doesn't slow down or move to the side so we both can pass -- there's not much room anyway. I had just enough time to step to the wall and protect myself by putting up my right forearm, which hit the woman driving the bike on her right arm and shoulder.  She stopped the bike and began screaming at me, I have no idea what she was saying, so I gave her the hand-wave and laughed. She got really angry and continued jawing, so I gave her one more hand-wave and laugh and was on my way. I was so happy with myself for thinking of the hand-wave and laugh when I was being screamed at. I think I'm finally adapting to living here although I'll never pee outside in the middle of the day on a busy street, like I saw three times in the past week walking with Joanna. I have pictures to prove it, but what's the point?

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• A little supermarket opened around the corner from our house, and it's a fun trip for our family. We'll get popsicles and candy there, and sometimes fruit and vegetables. It's not nearly as nice as Tom's Market in Yellow Springs, but it's cheaper.

• I bought a smoked pilsner at the Craft Beer bar near the little supermarket, and it gets a thumbs-up. The smokey taste was rather subtle with hints of fruit and a slightly tart finish. Or something like that ... I saw a description like this for some other beer on a beer rating site. 

• It's still raining nearly every day and another big storm is on the way. The weather hasn't stopped me and Joanna from going in the pool every day.

• Phuong has hooked me up with a great barber. When he gives a haircut, he shows videos of himself on a big scream cutting customers' hair with new-age Enya music as the soundtrack. Cool stuff.

• I'm traveling to the U.S. on Thursday to take care of some business. It's a short visit that I'm really looking forward to.