Persistent Covid way too close; flu shot, bee stings

Two of our neighbors -- three and four houses away -- have Covid. One gentleman in his 90s is on a ventilator in the hospital. A woman in her late 30s remains at home. Both were vaccinated, so I'm not sure what's going on. Or what to believe, really. There's no official government notice, like yellow tape or a sign in front of the houses to let people know Covid is present. Information is shared through word of mouth among neighbors, which surprises me since rules and regulations seem vital here. Maybe officials are unaware or can't keep up, but some kind of signal to the neighbors that Covid is nearby would seem essential for everybody's well-being. Society has opened up and life and traffic are back to their usual chaotic flow. But with so many home deliveries of food and packages, it's no wonder officials are acknowledging that 0 Covid cases won't happen. Vietnam reports 8,000 to 10,000 new cases daily. On Tuesday, Vietnam added 38,000 new cases to its overall total of 1,137,923, which included 28,000 previously unreported cases in Binh Duong, a neighboring province of Ho Chi Minh City and Bien Hoa. I see online that the United States gets anywhere from 50,000 to 111,000 new cases daily, so this virus is far from finished. My wife and I received our two AstraZeneca shots but we still wear masks and wash our hands religiously. I'm assuming our 5-year-old will eventually get a vaccine and we'll need a booster. Bring it on.
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Our son got an influenza vaccine on Wednesday and my daughter, wife and I were vaccinated for the flu. It's like needle park here, sometimes. Joanna is not a fan, vehemently protesting any injection, saying "No thanks, no thanks!"  The anticipation was worse than the injection for the flu, and she didn't cry after getting stuck, but she whined a bit before the fact. She cried more when she was stung by some weird bee  -- something like a yellowjacket I was told -- a few days ago. I got stung multiple times a while back by one of these guys and I cried a lot more than Joanna. I also swelled quite a bit at the site of the sting. Joanna's skin raised only slightly where she was stung. She was victimized while looking at the nest being built on tree trunk in the park. We went home, put on a band aid, and Joanna shook it off after a short while, returned to the park and continued her creature exploration and play.
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Many schools in Dong Nai are doing online learning to combat Covid, so Joanna and I continue our learning at home. Her attitude improves all the time since I give her total leeway with her drawing and coloring, and she even did some math without any complaints. ... We had a power outage last week and my daughter was upset until I gave her my headlamp, prompting her to say, "I'm putting on my 'octogoggles,' " a funny reference to the Octonauts, an underwater adventure cartoon she watches sometimes. She's doing quite well, all things considered, and there are many things to consider ... We received a receipt and short note from the USCIS regarding our waiver application for my wife to get a visa to come to the United States. Our nonrefundable payment of $930 has been received and they're now reviewing our case. The note also states that if  biometrics are required, they'll let us know. That's pretty much it, so we'll just wait for a decision: Either my wife and our family leaves for the U.S. relatively soon, hopefully, or we have some serious thinking to do, especially about our daughter's education and future. ...  T-Rex Coffee and Tea, the nearby dinosaur coffee house, is our new hangout. Joanna and I go daily (except Sundays) for an hour or so. Joanna even has a T-Rex Coffee and Tea t-shirt. ... I'm deep into the book Conquistador, which has shaken my faith in mankind with its portrayal of massacres and human sacrifices. On that awkward note, Happy Thanksgiving to everyone.

Electric E; dinosaur coffee; more Covid, no waiver news

He can be the Big E, Little E, Easy E, but he's always E, as in Electric. My son Elijah, who's getting tall as well as big, jacks up the microwave to full heat and maximum time whenever he passes by. If I heat up coffee, he turns the dials to their limits so coffee will boil all over the place if I'm not there. But I've always been there because I know my son's behavior. I worry about his height and size now because he can reach the stove dials and every outlet in the house. Coffee is a special problem, and not just because of the microwave dials. He goes ballistic if I don't let him drink it, and he's oblivious to how hot things are or could be. My after-dinner coffee is a scream-fest and he has to be diverted. Electric is the big lure and we have to use it to get him off the coffee, letting him turn off the ceiling fan. If we're not focused on him, he'll move chairs to reach light switches, creating concert-like effects in every room, especially the bedrooms and bathrooms.  We got him a sensory board with switches, plugs, locks and shapes, and he's starting to get into it. My daughter did everything on the board a couple of times and the thrill is gone. Elijah smashed the bell on the board, laughed and applauded himself. He's a fun guy with a ready smile.
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Joanna and I spotted a T-Rex Coffee and Tea on Vo Thi Sau during our afternoon walk. It was easy to spot because it's next to the ATM  I use. Oh no. Joanna loves the place (the T-Rex coffee shop) and she was fascinated by the large and scary anatomical T-Rex inside, along with plastic and relatively realistic triceratops, parasaurolophus, and velociraptors. It took her a little while, but she now she touches the moving, roaring T-Rex. She'll eventually get bored with the place, but it will take a while since she's enamored with dinosaurs, sea creatures and all animals, really. We went on a Sunday and the crowd of kids was a little rough; one kid kept hitting the styrofoam dinosaur with his fist and anything else he could grab, another kid about 6 or 7 was flipping off the T-Rex while his parents sat nearby and laughed, and another kid grabbed the T-Rex tongue and ripped the tip off. Adults were nearby but preoccupied on their cell phones ... or laughing at their kids' unsavory behavior. Joanna started getting a little wound up, pulling up some flowers to feed T-Rex. I didn't laugh, explained the problem to her and we left in a veil of tears. I tried to explain so she would understand and not get too upset, but my daughter is very sensitive to criticism. I really just wanted her to know that other kids can be fun and good friends, but we have to make our own decisions and do the right thing. Thank goodness my daughter is very bright and seems to understand what I'm telling her most of the time.
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Covid keeps hanging around here, averaging more than 8,000 new cases a day in Vietnam in the past week, but life is returning to normal. More and more noisy vendors are walking the streets, more bikes are appearing and more speeders on bikes and in cars are making their presence felt on our street. Food produced locally is still relatively cheap, but imported goods are getting costlier all the time. Joanna and I end up in the park sometime each day, often to meet my wife and Electric E, who loves kicking the ball and chasing it down.
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We're still waiting for any word regarding our waiver application for my wife to get a visa to enter the United States. It was sent mid-September. My daughter isn't in school but should be (she's 5 years old), and probably will refuse to go to school in Vietnam. The only school she could do here would be online kindergarten, which I nixed. So we're hoping for good news on the waiver and we're hoping for it soon. Homeschool continues, but my computer broke down, the internet can be problematic, and Joanna needs peers and she needs to be challenged more. We're on a break at the moment waiting for a new laptop to arrive. In the meantime, she draws and colors while humming the entire time, reads on occasion, and walks in the heat with her dad. We watch British Council kids videos and she'll answer the accompanying questions.
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I've surpassed 100 weeks and 700 days in a row of reading, having recently finished the riveting Labyrinth of Ice by Buddy Levy, which was about the Greely polar expedition.  Now I'm reading Conquistador, his book about the conquest of the Aztecs by Cortes. ... I'm a month away from two years without a drink of alcohol. I might share a beer with my wife if we get the visa. ... Rainy season continues here, with a daily downpour usually starting late afternoon. The Coffee House always lends Joanna and I an umbrella if we happen to be out walking in the rain. Nice folk work there. 

Line up for 2nd jab; creatures; safer park; Joanna bee cool

When we got our second AstraZeneca vaccine shot at a converted gym, the line cutters were out in full force. Three people stepped in line in front of us, but my wife called out one guy, and a watchful government official sent the trio to the back of the line, and basically taught them the process of queuing in an orderly fashion. The cutters nodded in approval, like this was the first time they had been instructed how to line up, which may have been the case. There seems to be a panic in some countries -- actually most countries I've been to -- of being left out when a group of people gather to do something, whether it's paying for groceries or getting a needle stuck in your arm. That leads to people simply muscling their way to the front of the line to get what they've no doubt been denied countless times in the past. By the way, my wife and I both felt sick after the shots -- headaches and stomach issues that lasted a couple of days. Not horrible but a little uncomfortable. Since the lockdown has been lifted, coronavirus cases have been slowly rising in Vietnam, from a low of about 3,000 new cases daily to nearly 6,000 a day. Our province, Dong Nai, has been the area recording the most new cases – over 800 a day. Among the infected is a 90-year-old man on our street and a pregnant lady around the corner, who both had been vaccinated twice. 
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Maybe this is another teaching moment here: Officials have installed metal bars and chains to keep motorbikes out of the pedestrian park we go to. Signs and gestures didn't work. Motorbikes were cruising the park; walking was becoming dangerous, especially for children like my son and daughter. Delivery drivers would sit around, smoke and litter next to their bikes in the park. A security guard being paid the equivalent of $150 USD a month did little or nothing to intervene. It's probably cheaper to put up barriers than hire more, or more involved, guards. The improvements (I'll call them that) took place during the lockdown along with lots of other construction projects in town, including new sidewalks, which were desperately needed. 
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Joanna and I have resumed our afternoon walks with masks on. The creature hunts are back, and my daughter is amazing. She is in a class by herself at spotting critters. She saw a lizard between two stones that form the barrier to the park's stinky canal, two lizards on a utility pole, and a beehive being built on a tree. The only thing I've spotted recently is another giant spider in the bathroom next to our kitchen. We've all spotted ants, but not very many lately. My wife cleaned some snails (ugh!) that I won't eat, and missed a spot when cleaning up the counter, so the ants came out to finish the job. Other than that one incident, no ants. I've turned my addiction issues to cleaning, in addition to reading, and the ants don't have a chance. Also on our walk, we saw two guys walking through the mucky canal with boots on (thankfully for them) and carrying large wooden poles with little nets on the end. The water was low, and these guys walked down the canal scooping up fish and putting them in a bag. I have no idea what kind of fish they were "catching," but there were a lot of them.
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We had a small Halloween gathering for Joanna.  She made her own costume -- a color-and-cut bee mask and black and yellow T-shirts from my drawer. She refused to wear a witch costume my wife got out for her and insisted on being a bee. We colored a few Halloween pictures – good witch, bad witch, pumpkin – and hung them on the bedroom doors. She knocked on the doors, and entered dark rooms where spooky dad gave her treats with a spooky, kid-appropriate video playing. I think she loved it, especially the candy. I know my daughter should be in school now, but she's rallied a little with the lessons I've given her. She still hates math, but we're having "testing" week, and of course she aced the sea animals section. I contacted some international schools here regarding Joanna. One never picked up the phone (during school hours) and I got disconnected, and another called back and sent an email that started with We are appreciated for your interest ... At least they responded and were nice, and I'll assume a teacher didn't write the email, but looking at their class schedule and seeing the email, I expect more for $17,000 to $20,000 a year. The waiver from the USCIS is so crucial for our family, especially for our children and their education. We filed the waiver in the middle of September, but still no acknowledgement of any kind from the USCIS.
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I'm about to join the 700 club, if such a thing exists on Kindle, since I've read 697 days and 101 weeks in a row. Currently reading Labyrinth of Ice, a story of the Greely polar expedition ... I tried to buy a Birds of Paradise comforter for Joanna for $123 and $68 shipping and handling, but Fed-ex wouldn't release it to me from HCMC unless I produced the receipt, photo of item, and bank record of purchase. So I slogged though this process with my wife, sent the requested documentation, and got an email back saying I must also pay at least $50 more duty and taxes, and possibly more, or they'll return the comforter. Principle rules ... return the comforter to Redbubble, who's good to work with by the way, and let them keep the $191. Update: My wife overruled my decision and said pay the duty and taxes so Joanna gets the comforter after Redbubble wrote me to say they would cover the extra expenses if I send them the receipts from the duty and taxes. A complicated world we live in these days ...  a big shout-out to a wonderful high school classmate of mine who sent Joanna a couple of truly cool coloring books. And I didn't have to pay duty and tax. Thank you Estera!