The complexities and subtleties of the Vietnamese language can create many misunderstandings. Even among the Vietnamese. My wife went to a pharmacy to get stomach medicine for her very ill husband (that would be me) and she took our daughter with her. My wife explained my difficulties to the pharmacist. The pharmacist seemed unsure who was getting the medicine, my daughter or me. My wife said she assured the pharmacist that her husband was the one who was ill. The pharmacist gave my wife a packet of three doses of five pills -- 15 pills in all -- for about $1 U.S. (20,000 Vietnamese dong). Medicine is often doled out by pharmacists here in large quantities, even for kids. Apparently, the pharmacist thought the medicine was for my daughter, meaning the strength of the medicine wasn't up to snuff for my problems. My wife went to another pharmacy, where the pharmacist chuckled and told her the previous medicine was kids' stuff. I survived after three days of being pretty ill with the help of the new medicine, and I can't imagine what would have happened if I had gone to the pharmacy instead of my wife, who made multiple trips. I've had similar but less serious misunderstandings in the past: a bra instead of shoelaces; vitamins instead of band aids; I'm told no rice in a store with sacks of rice; hot drinks instead of cold drinks and vice-versa. I accept when people don't understand my Vietnamese; I don't speak it well at all and there's not a lot of effort and leeway in comprehension. It's all part of being a stranger and strange in a foreign land. I've been fortunate to find good eye and dental care here, especially the eye care.
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Saturday was a wonderful day for our family because we celebrated our daughter Joanna's 6th birthday. She was excited, happy and had a great day. Joanna and I walked to Linh Da to get a cake, and we had a hot dog at the Japanese Bakery next door to Linh Da. I took my walking stick for health reasons and to ensure safe travel on the sidewalk and across the streets, and the stick worked its magic: an incident-free walk. My daughter is enjoying her extended homeschool break, and she's anxiously waiting to start class at a private school here in the middle of August. We're leveraging the new school and turning 6 to improve our daughter's behavior and listening skills. So far so good. Joanna and her brother Elijah, 2, are beginning to develop something of a bond, especially when it comes to jumping off and climbing up furniture. Like his sister, Elijah loves books, and I can read 25 stories a day to him sometimes, with some books getting multiple reads, of course. Joanna and I are reading Charlotte's Web together (again), but this time she's doing a lot of the reading.
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Currently reading Ancient Greece From Prehistoric to Hellenistic Times by Thomas R. Martin. I don't read this to Joanna or Elijah, but it's pretty good stuff and I haven't even hit the juicy parts yet. I'm at 945 days in a row of Kindle reading. Addiction can be wonderful if channeled in the proper direction. ... I'm good for maybe a few more blogs before halting these posts after 11-plus years. I need a break to focus entirely on taking care of a girl, 6, and boy, 2.

Phuong Pham Millman:🧡Subscribe: https://bit.ly/3uXkQGo
Sunday, July 10, 2022
Communication breakdown; new age for my daughter
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