Nothing brutal yet, but lockdown is getting old

   No need to be dramatic, but things are a little difficult here. We're approaching three months of living under lockdown due to Covid. It's not easy or fun, but it's not brutal yet. Characterizing life as brutal here is going a little too far. Life may be brutal in Afghanistan, Syria, Yemen, Haiti or probably the Democratic Republic of Congo. In Vietnam, we still have internet, TV, and a market around the corner where we buy what's available. The variety of food is limited, and that's inconvenient, but no one is going hungry or wanting for food to the best of my knowledge. At least not in our area. So while life is a little bit boring, or challenging, or inconvenient, or a hassle, it's not brutal yet. I don't want to go there -- ever.
   I've no doubt mentioned before that certain foods are not considered essential by the government during the lockdown and are nearly impossible to get. Things such as butter, raisins, peanut butter, and, oh my God, now coffee, are getting extremely difficult to find. Deliveries have ground to a halt, so to speak, which has made the delicious coffee I've been buying from my mother-in-law the past seven or eight years impossible to get, so I battle for what may be available at the market. I guess there's still instant coffee, but regardless of what anyone says, ground coffee is an essential for me. With deliveries halted in our area, our bottled water could be the next casualty. That means there's a possibility we'll be boiling tap water for drinking -- at least that's what I would do since I'm reluctant to drink straight from the tap. I wasn't born here so my body probably isn't ready for the tap.
   There was talk the lockdown would be lifted Sept. 15, but the cases continue to cluster around Ho Chi Minh City, and we're close to Ho Chi Minh City. Our province, Dong, Nai, has been reporting close to 1,000 new cases a day. The lockdown has been extended at least until the end of the month and is expected to last even longer. One of our neighbors lost his eldest daughter to Covid. She caught it from her husband and died only a week after getting ill. I was told she had no pre-existing conditions.  A couple of items were gossiped to me: 1) The rent-by-the-hour motel behind us reported yet another Covid case, and apparently (and finally) has been shut. 2)  Police came and told our mask-less, outdoor-badminton-playing neighbor to either go inside or go to the police station to pay a substantial fine. He chose inside. I think a lot of people in our area, like me and my wife, are sitting on one shot waiting for the next jab to come. I also heard the Army may be sent to our area to enforce social distancing and curfews, and assist with food distribution.
 We shall see.
   The goodwill of people has become more evident here the longer the lockdown continues. People share food like pomelo and other fruit, coffee jello, and assorted vegetables. Neighbors have purchased stuff for us and have refused to take money. Tough times can bring out the best in people.
  The lockdown is starting to get to our kids a little. Some parents defy the rules and let their kids outside sans masks to ride bikes and such. Our daughter Joanna sees this and wants to play outside. Our son Elijah really seems to miss kicking the ball around outside, so he'll play soccer with anything that's loose on the floor in our house -- stuffed animals and even Legos are fair game. Joanna is a little impatient and bored with our classes, even the drawing and coloring, so we're playing more games and doing stuff like scavenger hunts. It isn't brutal, but it's certainly difficult and challenging to keep the kids entertained.
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   I continue to read a lot, which is more difficult than it sounds even with the lockdown given the rigors of child care, cooking and cleaning. I'm at 95 weeks and 657 days in a row. I finished Jack Vance's Night Lamp, which is 384 pages, in three days. Now I'm reading Big Fella, a biography of Babe Ruth. ... Joanna helps a little with my cooking, but mostly grabs and eats food I've just cooked, or pleads her case for candy. ... Elijah constantly goes up our dangerous stairs, and I slipped and fell while carrying him back down. I sacrificed my left knee to make sure he wasn't banged around and now there's a little clicking sound in my knee when I go down the stairs. It's not a big deal because Elijah didn't get hurt and hardly noticed the fall, and I'm still walking. 

I take a jab, pursue passport, visa and peace at home

 My wife's nephew saw old people like me getting Covid vaccines at a farm near our house. It was 7 p.m. on Sunday and we rushed to the farm. The vaccines ended at 7:30 p.m., and we just made it. Officials had the folks line up in single file, and all but a few people behind us were told to come back the next day. My wife Phuong got her vaccine at this location earlier in the day, but at that time she was told I was too old for AstraZeneca. Someone must have had a change of heart and I was in line waiting. My wife did my paperwork and after a little pushing, shoving, apologizing, and cutting in line from a few folks, all turned out well. (Lessons in queueing would be appropriate here.) After I got my shot, monsoon rain poured down, but my wife found the umbrella she left at the farm earlier in the afternoon when she got her vaccine. Fortuitous, indeed. My wife's side effects included soreness in her back, stomach discomfort, fatigue and headache. I only had a mild headache, but I don't know for certain if it was from the vaccine or from missing my after-dinner coffee. We will return for a second shot in 8 to 12 weeks. There were long lines at the farm for a few days after we got our shots.
Next up was the renewal of Joanna's passport. Because of the strict lockdown, Phuong had a friend in Ho Chi Minh City go to the embassy for us, and he paid the fee for the passport that we mailed in for renewal, and he also paid to have EMS deliver it to our house. We reimbursed him, of course, and paid him a modest fee for his services. It would require lots of paperwork and perhaps a quarantine, I guess, for one of us to go to the embassy with Covid still roaring and the lockdown in full effect. We don't know when the passport will be delivered. The embassy sent me an email saying EMS won't be delivering until the lockdown is lifted. There's talk that a limited lifting of the lockdown could happen next week. We need the renewed passport to get Joanna's resident card, which I'm told is required to leave the country. The resident card simply needs to be paid for at this point. Simply? Nothing is simple with Covid -- here and everywhere, no doubt. 
Last, our waiver application is about to be sent to the USCIS (United States Citizenship and Immigration Services) by our lawyer either this week or next. If approved, my wife should get her visa to enter the U.S. after more paperwork, sweat, and tears involving the embassy. If rejected .... well, we'll see. Covid is raging in the U.S. even worse than here, and vaccines are happening now in Vietnam. Almost everyone is on board to get jabbed and I'm not really sure resistance or refusal to get the vaccine is an option here. I'm pro-vaccine, of course, so it's not an issue for me.
The lockdown is getting to my kids a little. Joanna and Elijah have been at odds over toys lately. Mostly, Elijah wants to grab Joanna's stuff and run away, and she'll go a little ballistic if he succeeds. But he was not well for a few days, throwing up and dealing with a low-grade fever. I must have taken his temperature about 20 times, driving my wife crazy. Elijah didn't mind because he loves gadgets and remotes of any kind, and the digital thermometer we have was exciting for Little E, who loves all things electronic. When Elijah was ill, Joanna was so sweet to him. She's got a wee bit of temper and is one of a kind to be sure, but she can be so kind and caring when the chips are down. We continue with her schooling, focusing on insects and animals  (that has to pass for my science instruction), math and reading comprehension. We're on a second go-around with bees, learning about beeswax, the proboscis and pollination. She'd rather draw, but she understands so much more than I think, and I love when she corrects my mistakes if I mispronounce or misidentify a body part or process of one of our creatures. Joanna has taught me more than I've taught her in so many ways.