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.