Working for a waiver to get U.S. visa; speaking English

We have started the waiver process after coming to terms with my wife's latest rejection for a visa to enter the United States. Basically, now I have to prove hardship in my life without my wife, Phuong, for her to have a chance at  a visa. Hardship doesn't even begin to express the sadness, anguish, loneliness, and depression our children and I would endure without Phuong in our lives. I really wouldn't be quite as stressed and focused on the visa process if it wasn't for our children, especially Joanna. She's an American citizen (as is our 11-month-old son Elijah), and she looks American, thinks American, and speaks American. She needs to be in the United States with her mom and dad and brother. She's chosen to speak English, which seems to upset some locals.  Our next-door neighbor, who hasn't spoken to me or even looked me in the eye for the seven years I've lived here, snapped in a very sharp tone, "Vietnamese, Vietnamese," at Joanna this week when she started talking in English about halibut being a good fish to eat.  I fired back in an equally sharp tone "tieng Anh, tieng Anh." Other people, like random folk at the park or coffee shop, act appalled when I say that Joanna basically refuses to speak much Vietnamese. She understands a lot but speaks very little. I believe this was an issue for her during a 6-month stint at a local school here. There were other issues, but that was certainly a big one. One of the first questions I'll get about Joanna is "Can she speak Vietnamese?"  That's fine but the reaction of horror when I say not much -- followed by the "Why not?" -- goads me a little. But most people get it when I explain that I teach her every day and we spend so much time together. And I honestly believe she resists speaking Vietnamese because she knows I don't understand much of it.  Vietnamese is not an easy language to learn and I'm not really aware of any qualified teachers. Besides, the hand wave along with "cai nay" cover my needs. Back to the waiver ...  it'll be a time-consuming process and stressful, but I'll do everything I can to improve the lives of my wife and children.
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I would like to return to the U.S. to get my driver's license renewed, see my eye doctor and maybe tie up some loose ends in the god-forbidden event we can't get the visa for my wife, but the Covid resurgence makes air travel problematic. I get sick whenever I fly anyway, and came down with pneumonia a couple of years back after a flight. I would bring Joanna with me since we're inseparable, but I don't want her getting ill, and with Joanna and Elijah being typical kids in many ways, I really can't afford to be real sick or worse.  It's a long flight that would be tough on Joanna, but I've learned that if you tell her what's coming and what's expected ahead of time in real detail, she gets it and acts appropriately ... usually. Our gang of four has been mildly sick the past week with runny noses and coughs ever since rainy season got off to an early start.  Elijah is cute, Frankenstein-style walking all over the house with his runny nose. He stays pretty much in a good mood even with the nose faucet turned on. Joanna and I improved quickly, but poor, sleep-deprived Phuong has been fighting it hard along with a sore back and toe she jammed leaving the bathroom. 
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Joanna loves reading her books, and now she reads nighttime stories to dad and her favorite stuffed animals: Dolphin, 'Zen' the dinosaur, Baby Whale and Crocodile. (They represent our family, by the way: Joanna is Dolphin; I'm crocodile; mom is Zen; Elijah is Baby Whale.) I've found a few websites that offer free books for kids and we take full advantage. We'll read 7 to 10 stories a day -- it is hot and rainy here -- and one story in particular, When Sophie Gets Really Angry, has been almost transformational for Joanna. The little girl in the story, Sophie, has a major meltdown after losing possession of a stuffed gorilla to her sister. Mom made the ruling, saying it was her sister's turn. Sophie copes with her awesome anger and temper by running, and observing and absorbing the wonders of nature. Joanna spotted touch me nots in the book. It's a wonderful story. I'll pass along the website, which I assume is OK. You can navigate your way to the stories. I highly recommend it if you have children of any age. Oh, the stories are in ENGLISH!     https://www.kidsworldfun.com/

As noted, rainy season is upon us, which often keeps the temperatures in the low 90s and keeps us indoors much of the day. But the forecast is for highs of 99 much of next week. So who knows? Thank goodness for those stories. ... I have now read 504 days in a row (heat and rain, again) and I'm in the middle of the Dune series. Reading comes naturally now. I've forced myself to read maybe three times in the past 504 days to keep the streak alive. Really, though, I just read because that's what I do these days ... almost 17 months without a drink, and cigarettes don't even interest me (5 years, 1 month without). 

Unfortunately, face masks join plastic in the local litter pile

My wife and I have noticed that a new form of litter has appeared on the streets and in the parks of Bien Hoa. Discarded face masks are challenging plastic bags for the dubious distinction of objects that are most littered in Vietnam. Cigarette butts are in a separate class by themselves, where the champ is determined by brand of butt. Since the onset of Covid,  the city has gotten slightly cleaner, but littering persists in the form of plastic, and now face masks. Offenders in the park still leave plastic cups and bags with styrofoam containers. That trash can hang around for a while, probably because the city doesn't have the manpower to continually pick up litter. The litter eventually gets cleaned in the park, but the streets are another story. Global warming concerns don't seem to concern people here, possibly because it's so warm all the time. The temperature has been over 90 for as long as I can remember, and recent forecasts in the low 90's are wishful thinking. I used to pick up trash from time to time in the park, often with my cane or walking stick. Sometimes, I even used my hands. Since Covid, those days are gone and I wouldn't consider touching a mask, even with my walking stick or cane.
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My daughter has a low threshold for boredom, which means we rarely just take walks anymore to The Coffee House or Lido's. Instead, we go exploring, looking for "creatures" and touch me nots all over the city. The walks take anywhere from 1 to 3 hours and often start in the hot part of the day at 3 p.m. I can handle the heat, sort of, but the motorbikes on the sidewalks are tough to take. Just last week a bike came roaring down the sidewalk toward us, swerved to avoid me and clipped Joanna's right shoulder. Yes, this happens again, again, and again. Joanna reacted by saying "ho ho, I'm fine," which is what Daddy Pig of Peppa Pig fame says when he's run over by a truck or falls out of an airplane.  I screamed at the guy, who didn't stop of course, and people sitting nearby behind a makeshift food stand yelled at me to "calm down and relax." Maybe they would have the same reassuring arrogance if it was their kid who got hit, but I doubt it. Even my daughter told me to relax and that everything was fine. Anyway, my daughter has an amazing knack for finding creatures and touch me nots, spotting tadpoles in watery flower pots and touch me nots in the cracks of driveways near houses.  She saw toads on our night mission to the park and lizards have become passe', unless they're bigger.
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Our son Elijah is officially a walker, but he's not 100 percent confident in his abilities. He reminds me of our daughter. He'll walk if he wants to or needs to reach up for something, but he still crawls if he wants to get somewhere fast. He'll motor on all fours towards any open door or electrical component. He walks for show and practice, and he is improving. He started walking when he turned 11 months old ... I'm trying to introduce math and science-type stuff to Joanna. She's loves learning about reptiles, fish, any animals and outer space, but clearly prefers letters and reading to math. She'll start drifting away even when I use M&M's as a prop for addition and subtraction ... Joanna has really embraced the Mozart and Beethoven I play at low volume during the day, mostly during "class." She makes requests and searches for certain tracks on YouTube when I'm not around ... Phuong got rejected in the final phase of her visa process. It's like a football team losing on a "Hell Mary" pass on the game's last play. The next step is to apply for a waiver, which we've already begun. If nothing else, we should be able to find out the "fraud" that Phuong is accused of committing that resulted in the lifetime ban. If the waiver fails ... well, I'll jump off that bridge when I come to it.

Service slips; do it yourself; rough patch of weather

When a new pharmacy opened here on Vo Thi Sau, the staff treated Joanna and I like royalty. They made every effort to understand our English and Vietnamese, translating online when necessary. The store was well-stocked and the staff gave Joanna free rein. And if the pharmacy didn't have the item I requested, they would order it and call me when it arrived. They had plenty of staff, some cleaning, some stocking shelves, others waiting on customers. But a few weeks after the store opened, the staff changed -- and seemed to change every time we went -- and had a different attitude toward Joanna. Her "antics" were no longer amusing. I started getting the hand wave when I asked for Povidine, or Betadine, items which I purchased regularly. They don't have other names; the words Povidine and Betadine are clearly on the label. I guess I didn't pronounce the words to the employees' satisfaction and understanding They stopped selling the store brand sensitive skin soap I used. At least that's the message I got from yet another hand wave. Blank stares replaced attempts to translate and understand my English or Vietnamese. The last time I went into the store -- and I do mean last time -- was this week. I couldn't see a staffer and after a short search, I saw the lone employee sitting on the floor. She was on her cell phone, and I doubt very seriously it was work related. Perhaps, but unlikely. She was friendly enough but didn't understand  or try to understand a word I said, so I just bought Joanna some candy. It's sad. Good things don't last forever, I guess.
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The path that I like to think of as a pedestrian cut-through between two streets near our house -- but is also used by motorbikes much to my dismay -- had become quite the mess. Work started but was never finished on the huge concrete sidewalk blocks that are placed over some kind of drainage system. You hear the water trickling  under the sidewalk. There were loose stones everywhere and the brickwork alongside the concrete was torn into rubble. A man who lives next to the path tired of the mess and used his own money to pay contractors to clean up a sizable portion of the path. The bricks were  redone and new concrete was poured alongside the blocks. Sadly, someone rode a motorbike through the path and left pretty deep tire imprints in the freshly poured concrete. (See photos on the right.) The man who paid to fix part of the path said he hopes an influx of pedestrians will reduce motorbike traffic through the path.
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We're enduring a rough stretch of weather here ... temperatures in the upper 90s every day and it stays above 80 almost all night. We're near the river, so sometimes there's a breeze. When it's hot over a longer stretch, even the locals get snarly. Not many folk are out during the day and the park is busier in the early evening. Air conditioned coffee shops with internet are packed all the time. The heat is fatiguing and very uncomfortable for me, a man of many rashes and much sweat. The heat has done nothing for my back, other than making it hotter. It actually rained heavily for a couple of days, but the rain didn't cool things off. Our son 'Easy E' Elijah seems OK with the heat even though he's a big boy. He'll stand on his own, take three steps or so, but I won't classify him as a walker just yet. Very soon, but not yet. He'll turn 11 months old in a couple of days. Joanna, like her dad, sweats quite a bit and struggles with the weather. She talks a lot about moving to Maine for the snow and colder weather. Despite getting hit and pushed, and a language barrier, Joanna's behavior improves almost daily along with her impressive reading and extensive (English) vocabulary. We walk to the park (together) these days and try to guess the color of the canal. I'll usually say black and she'll usually say green. She's usually right but the water is more brownish green, in my view.
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My wife is close to obtaining her visa to enter the U.S., just as the Covid cases spike there due to the easing of restrictions and lack of diligence. Regardless, school and social amenities for Joanna will take us to the U.S., possibly fairly soon. As always, we'll see. ... My streaks continue: I've read 483 days in a row ... I just finished Dune, Dune Messiah, and  Children of Dune. Enjoyed them all ... It's been 16 months since I've had alcohol and the streak I'm most proud of is five years-plus without a cigarette. But who's counting?