Adapting to rainy season; feet don't fail me now

The early arrival of the rainy season has forced a few minor lifestyle adjustments. Sometimes I'll take an umbrella on afternoon walks with the kids, or only one of our two children will accompany me. I've been fortunate because I haven't been caught out in the rain with both children. Joanna and I have been stranded a couple of times already, and once we had to walk home from the swimming  pool -- about 1.5 kilometers  -- in a steady rain.  Yeah, we were already wet from swimming .... and there was no thunder or lightning so it wasn't scary.  But for whatever reason, whenever we're out in the rain we invariably get sniffles and sneezes the next day.  Since Covid still lurks here, that's a mild concern.  But with three shots and a couple of mysterious illnesses to my credit, I don't worry too much. I have enough other health issues to keep me occupied.  And Joanna seems to have an iron constitution. Just to be safe, we wear masks everywhere and keep plenty of orange juice in the fridge, which we guzzle after long walks. There's always a warm bath or shower to finish things up.
* * *
The shoes I ordered from Softstar Shoes in Oregon that are supposed to relieve tailor's bunion discomfort finally arrived via DHL They were stuck in Ho Chi Minh City customs for a while, so I called DHL customer service and the shoes arrived the next day. And the DHL driver's assistant or whatever he was gave me three DHL pens, which thrilled my ever-drawing daughter to the max. Good job by DHL. Anyway, I look like I have duck feet now -- hence, the Oregon ducks -- but so what; I walk pain-free on our hardest of hard floors. Walking barefoot or with so-called sports sandals in our house gave me nothing but pain. The duck shoes were pricey, and so were the customs fees, but worth it in the end. The internet suggested the shoes, ice soaks and pain relievers; all have helped. Walking is essential here, and I prefer to do it without pain.
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My wife brought home some sesame flower buds from the park and she says they have medicinal value, claiming that they help with skin issues. She put quite a few of them in Joanna's bath and the skin issues our daughter had after swimming in a pool -- I suspected chlorine as the cause -- have disappeared. The flower buds are all over the street and park. I'm a believer and will try them on the scars on my nose left by heat rash and infection.
* * *
Joanna loves checking out the fish tanks at Mega Mart, especially the ones with sturgeon and lobster. A dad came up to the tanks with his son, reached in and pulled out a sturgeon and tried to hand it to my daughter. She squealed in delight, but didn't touch the fish.  That struck me as funny since she touches fish whenever she can at coffee shops like Kim Koi or Gosanke. The guy also pulled out a lobster to more squeals of delight.

* * *
I bought science text books at the local book store to assist with my homeschooling. The books aren't too corny and include stickers, which all kids like.  We've had lessons on obesity and nutrition, diseases, planets and seasons.  They're OK lessons. Joanna likes the books because they're her books, not random papers from the printer. They give her a sense of ownership and independence. We had a major breakthrough this week. I left the room and Joanna continued her work -- identifying singular and plural nouns, and verbs, in sentences -- by herself. That type of independent work was a first. She'll draw and color by herself all the time, but she's never done stuff like English and math without prodding and supervision ... until now.

Worrisome future for kids; bad reaction; go-to doctor

I wonder and worry about what kind of world my children will be growing up in  ,... actually, not just my children but everyone's children, and grandchildren as well. I chatted briefly with a friend about this. We're seeing a war of horrible atrocities in Ukraine that threatens to expand, a bitter political divide in the U.S., a virus that hasn't gone away yet, climate issues, and tensions between the U.S. and China. Who knows what's on the horizon. Adding to my gloom is being unable to get my wife a visa and take our two children to the United States. We can't even get a rejection on the waiver for a visa, which God knows we don't want.  A decision may not come for another five months at least. Covid and now refugees from Afghanistan and Ukraine are possibly contributing to the delay in a decision on my wife's waiver. Those folks are obviously in a worse situation than we are, so there's no complaint on our part about refugees being a priority. We just want our children educated in the U.S., especially our daughter, who speaks, reads, and writes splendidly in English, but not so much in Vietnamese; I'm not sure why, but that's the reality. The one school here that conducts classes solely in  English costs about $20,000 USD a year; I'm not sure why, but that's also the reality. My concerns are more selfish than survival, but my children will need every advantage to face and overcome the challenges of a world in flux.
* * *
My daughter had a reaction to the chlorine in the swimming pool we go to -- at least I believe it was the chlorine -- with red bumps pretty much all over her body. There was no itching or pain, and the bumps are subsiding. But still. I wasn't affected, but Joanna spent a little more time in the water. Next time, we'll try bathing with a special soap immediately after she's out of the pool. Applying vaseline petroleum jelly beforehand is recommended, but vaseline is difficult to get here. I really want her to play in the pool because it helps a very energetic child burn off energy, and most importantly, she enjoys it. We'll try again once the bumps go away.
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The Internet really has become my go-to "doctor" here. I try to use my experience and logic as well, with less success. Dr. Internet (I call her Dr. I for short) believes the nasty pain on the outside of  my left foot near my little toe is a tailor's bunion. It comes from walking way too much in inappropriate shoes, and genetics. My Ukrainian mom had foot issues. Anyway, Dr. I recommends 10 minutes of ice application to my sore foot three times a day and she also says to take anti-inflammatories and get more comfortable shoes. Being a good patient, I've been icing and drugging, and my shoes hopefully will arrive in a week or two. I can walk with a little less pain now, so I think Dr. I is on to something.
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Delivery service here is very iffy for items coming from out of the country. Services like DHL and FedEx now want passport number, bank account statements and proof of purchase to get items out of Vietnamese customs. The eight books I ordered for my kids arrived this week; bunion-friendly shoes should be coming in the next couple of weeks. I ordered four books three months ago that never came -- lost $85 on that deal. I don't care about the money because I really wanted the kids to get those books. .... My Kindle streak is at 851 days in a row. Alexander Hamilton has reeled me in. .... My son Elijah loves all music. His favorite is Vivaldi's Spring. Excellent taste. He loves dancing, too, but to his credit he doesn't dance to Vivaldi; he just listens.

Covid still lurks; sketchbook helps conserve paper

My wife Phuong got her Covid booster shot with minimal side-effects. Good for her. I've read where a fourth shot or second booster might be beneficial to someone over 60, which means I'll be a human pin cushion if that's what is necessary to eliminate or minimize the impact of Covid. The virus still has life here, with close to 70,000 new cases a day. The total number of cases is now at 9.7 million. Schools go on and off quite frequently due to the virus. Masks remain in vogue for most of the general public. Businesses are very slowly returning to something resembling normal, but people must still be a little jumpy about Covid because our park remains relatively quiet and the swimming pool we go to has only a handful of people. But the coffee and milk tea shops here, which are something of an economic barometer, are drawing more and more customers.
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My daughter Joanna's love of drawing, coloring and painting led to a minor dispute. Being a temperamental artist, she won't use two sides of a paper. I complained about waste. She can be overly fastidious at times, so I suspect that if the paper isn't absolutely, perfectly clean, she simply refuses to draw on both sides. She'll snatch clean sheets off the printer and she refuses to conserve despite talks about trees, waste and expense. At the mall bookstore I bought a good-sized sketchbook with about 15 pages. After two days, she's done elaborate drawings and colorings using only two pages. In the past, she would use between 15 to 20  pages over two days -- at least.  Maybe the larger size of paper and finite aspect of the sketch book has forced a change of attitude. The drawings are little stories and describe much of what we've learned in class. I say 'we' because so much of what 'we' study is as new to me as Joanna. Anyway, so far so good with the sketch book.
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My daughter saw her first motorbike accident here ... and I hope it'll be her last but I won't hold my breath. A guy came off the sidewalk and merged into a guy coming down the street at a good clip right next to us. The guy on the street stopped his bike but the guy who merged into him didn't look at him and rode away, which probably means he was in the wrong. I thought he was. Joanna just watched the proceedings and didn't say anything.
* * *
Joanna and I returned to swimming this past week because Joanna is antsy and bored. Also, dancing at homeschool doesn't spin her beanie so much and there's no real playground in our area where kids gather. So we walk to Pegasus, a residential high-rise with a pool on the seventh floor. After some bouncing around the pool we go to the overpriced Japanese bakery across the street and Joanna eats a hot dog and pastry. I'm hoping the swimming helps my foot, which still hasn't recovered a from a marathon walk with Joanna last week to Lido and beyond. Ah, the Golden Years.

Big rainstorm drives our bees away; imitation isn't flattery

 We had tremendous rain all day Wednesday with high winds. It was kind of odd for this time of year, but when it finally stopped raining around dinnertime, the air was much cleaner and there were more stars visible in the night sky than I've ever seen here before. The rain did result in an unwanted change for me: all the bees departed the hive on our third floor balcony. I immediately saw the change when I went up to read that night -- there was an empty hive with a little honey visible, but no bees. I hope the bees moved on to a safe and drier location. I went downstairs and got my wife and we went up and cut the hive away from the branches it was built on and put it in our fridge. There was a tiny bit of honey remaining, and we squeezed it out and gave it to the kids the next day. I had a small taste and it was quite good, although perhaps a bit thin from the rain. Reading upstairs hasn't been the same since the bees left. I would accidentally bump a branch with my water bottle and the bees would get agitated and crawl all over each other, presumably to protect the queen. And once I got stung when I bumped a branch, and it took over a week before I could get the stinger out. Ah, those were the days. I'll miss seeing those bees when I read. The swarm turned hive was on our balcony for just shy of a month.
* * *
Joanna, Elijah and I went to Gosanke Koi Coffee and I pointed out a spider spinning a web near the water to my daughter. Joanna stayed to watch while I chased Elijah and prevented him from jumping into the water to play with the fish. Joanna yelled for me to come back and see something, so I returned to see a dragonfly caught in the web. I didn't even think to take a picture -- brilliant, huh? We didn't stay to watch the spider enjoy dinner.
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One of the down sides of being a white monkey here is that I receive a lot of unwanted attention. And I do mean unwanted. My daughter was having a public meltdown -- it happens on very rare occasions -- and I also had Elijah with me. I really couldn't focus on my daughter to calm her down because Elijah would run away or also melt down if tried to hold him while dealing with my daughter -- the dreaded double meltdown. So Elijah and I headed toward the park while Joanna shrieked. Some shirtless adult male stood in his doorway mockingly imitating Joanna's screaming. I called the clown on his behavior, and signaled for him to come over and calm her down. He lost a staring contest to me and went inside his house. On the plus side, a woman watching us picked up the stuffed animal that Joanna threw into the  busy street in anger and gave it to us. A sobbing Joanna still had the wherewithal to say thank you. Earlier in the week in the smaller of the two parks, Elijah and I were playing soccer -- kicking and chasing the ball around, actually. When Elijah would kick the ball off the pavement and into the bushes or onto the grass, I would say, "Oh no!", get the ball Elijah. Two guys were attempting to smooth some concrete, and one of them mockingly copied me three or four times saying "Oh no!" to the great amusement of his buddy. Since they were imitating, I yelled to Elijah: "Matriculate the ball down the field!" about three or four times. The imitation stopped at "Oh no!" Sometimes, I'm just not in the mood for what passes as humor to some folks, especially when it's 97 degrees and I'm taking care of an energetic 22-month-old boy.
* * *
Joanna insisted we get a live sturgeon at Mega Mart and have it filleted. She watched the whole process and wanted the guys killing and cutting the sturgeon to say sorry to the fish. Didn't happen. My wife did a nice job cooking the nearly five pounds of sturgeon and it was dinner for two nights with some donated to Phuong's family. ... I damaged my left foot pretty good on a monster walk. It may be an inflamed tailor's bunion, according to Dr. Internet, so we'll see if the pain subsides. At least it takes my mind off my back.

Wild trio find fish in nicer setting; field trips continue

Since I was asked to leave Kim Koi 2 -- with my two young children in tow -- for not ordering from the concession stand fast enough, our wild trio has gone to another fish/coffee place near our house. It's tucked away on a side street, and the clientele isn't as sketchy as Kim Koi 2, which is located across the street from the park. We've been here before. The coffee shop, Gosanke Koi Coffee,  has waiters and waitresses and a lot more natural setting than Kim Koi with several interconnected ponds, a bridge over the largest pond, rocks and plants, and even a faux waterfall. Kim Koi 2 has narrow walkways over the water, which doesn't work for my 22-month-old son Elijah. But he requires constant monitoring no matter where we go. Both of my kids like to live on the edge, so to speak, when we go out, whether it's near water or electric or trash. Joanna was feeding the fish and touching them, and naturally her brother wanted to copy. He was fascinated by the fish but I could easily see him falling into the water, which would be nothing but bad news. Anyway, the drinks are pretty much the same at Gosanke as everywhere else in town -- milk teas and a preference for ice in the coffees. They make a nice strawberry smoothie. Prices are standard. We went to this place before, but Joanna kept getting on the edge of the rocks so we moved on.  Now we're back ... with Elijah.
***
My daughter Joanna can be up and down with school -- she was way up a couple of weeks ago, but lately she's not interested at all, except a little in math word problems, of all things. Well, she still loves drawing and a little painting, but academics not so much. I think she's bored and could use more social interaction. She seems to really enjoy outdoor time, which isn't easy for me since it's 97 degrees every day. But I suck it up and drink lots of water and we go on decent walks daily. Last week, we wandered all the way to Lido, which has been closed for the longest time due to Covid. The metal doors were still closed, but a man happened to be opening them and he invited Joanna and I inside. We went in, ignored the barking dogs, and had all of Lido to ourselves. The manager or owner or whatever the man is, brought me a hot coffee with condensed milk -- delicious -- and encouraged Joanna to look at the fish and river and anything else at Lido. We had a wonderful time so ... "thank you, Mr. Lido." The only bummer was the long, long walk home in the heat and a shoe that hurt my left foot.

* * *
We've seen disappointing news online regarding my wife's waiver application to get a visa to enter the U.S.  The response time has been extended, meaning we have no real idea when we'll get the ruling. It looked like we'd hear something by July, but now August or September or beyond seems possible. Wait times were 7.5 months maximum when we began this process; now they're 10.5 months. I'm not sure if the horror in Ukraine has any impact on the USCIS waiver process. Or Afghanistan,, which has become an afterthought in the wake of Vladimir Putin's Russian invasion of Ukraine. I know that USCIS delays were being attributed to Covid a while back. Speaking of which, Vietnam is now 13th highest in the world in total Covid cases with nearly 8 million and has been posting 150,000 to 190,000 new cases a day for the past week.
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A Thai kickboxing studio opened where the old Dacne (sic) Studio used to be. Joanna loves watching the instructors kick and punch the punching bags, and threatens to take lessons. The instructors smile and bow. ... I'm beating my way through Alexander Hamilton, which is over 800 pages. Nasty politics is nasty politics, whether it's 2022 or 1787. My Kindle streak is at 834 days in a row, but afternoon walks with Joanna and Elijah are taking their toll and I know I'll eventually sleep through one of  my nightly reading sessions. ... The Bay Leaf Indian restaurant continues to produce amazing dishes -- I like spicey and they got it. Tikka masala and korma were outstanding last week. (I prefer chicken but my wife likes the mutton).

A week of sickness but Covid test negative

The past week has been a rough one health-wise for our family, but the bottom line is a negative Covid test for me after some scary symptoms: sweats, chills, nasal congestion, headache, sore throat, chest pain, coughing and wheezing. I thought I was a lock for Covid since the people across the street had it. But most of my symptoms were short-lived, however, and took place over the course of five days. The coughing and wheezing continue to nag me, but I attribute that to being an ex-smoker. Speaking of smoking, my six-year anniversary of stopping cigarettes will be March 22. Anyway, since Vietnam gave up on the 0 Covid policy, which seemed impossible with all the variants, the number of new cases has risen dramatically. I remember when 15,000 new cases daily upset people. Now the daily case count is more than 10 times that number -- it's been close to 200,000 new cases a day for the past few days --  and the overall total is approaching 6 million.. Most of the country is vaccinated -- I've had three shots -- but it seems people are still getting sick. There are a lot of viruses out there, no doubt, so perhaps our family picked up one that isn't Covid-related. We're all almost 100 percent healthy. That hasn't been the case for a while.
* * *
Vincom, the big mall in town, is showing the effects of the recent  Covid surge in Vietnam.. It has very few customers -- obviously bad for business but great for me and Joanna on our weekly field trips. We practically have the whole mall to ourselves, which is especially fun for Joanna, who loves to run the aisles and handle every item in the stores. The employees usually are on their cell phones and don't  bother us unless we ask for help. Joanna and I still walk daily to a coffee shop or a specialty grocery store in the heat of the afternoon, then we'll come home around 4 p.m. and I'll take Elijah to the park, and also for a walk  around town. He loves the electronic ticker tape above a jewelry store on Vo Thi Sau and we stop while he watches the letters and numbers go round and round. If he enjoys an activity, it's difficult to pull him away; we've stood on the corner watching the ticker tape longer than I care to mention. We're spending more time at a smaller park across the canal from the main park so Elijah can kick his ball and run free. Joanna joins us most of the time, and she'll look at little creatures and critters and toss sticks and such into the canal while Elijah runs around and tries to remove his face shield.  Joanna is wonderful about wearing her mask but Elijah won't wear a mask and he resists but usually relents with the face shield. If my wife ever gets a visa, and if we ever get to the U.S., we'll probably still wear a mask even if it's not mandated.  We're just used to it now, except for Elijah.
***
Like staring at a horrible car accident, I turn on the TV each day to watch events in the Ukraine for 10 minutes or so. I hope for a glimmer of good news or any sign of peace, but the situation is deteriorating rapidly and the news is always grim. ... Motorbikes still race up and down our street at high speeds. There's not quite as many since I wave my arms like a scarecrow and urge people to slow down whenever I'm outside. Most folks are OK with it and slow a little, but some tough guys will glare and speed up just to show me, well, how tough they are. ... My Kindle book, Alexander Hamilton, is a little like a textbook at times but fascinating nonetheless. Since it focuses in part on the formation of the U.S. system of government, the details can be a touch mind-numbing. Still, it's excellent overall. ... It looks like the swarm of bees on our third floor balcony is now a hive, and my wife talks of getting honey from it. She can get it ... I'll sit inside the house and watch, with the windows closed.

Our family gets sick after neighbor contracts Covid

 Both of our children were sick this past week with low-grade fevers, crankiness and clinginess. They had runny noses and some sneezing, and a little bit of coughing. My son could have been fighting teething issues, but I think something else was going on, especially since he has a cough. My daughter seemed to have the worst of it, staying up most of  the night on Sunday, acting a little delirious and taking extremely rare afternoon naps on Monday and Tuesday. Everybody was getting closer to being 100 percent as the week went on. I mention this because the guy across the street was diagnosed with Covid this week and he was showing our daughter his caged hamster last Saturday. He wasn't wearing a mask; he's one of several people I see on our street roaming around outside without a mask. New cases are topping 100,000 a day in Vietnam, although they're reportedly low in our province. I don't want to sound too cynical, but there's probably more since not everyone is testing all the time. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) added Vietnam to the Level 4 "high risk" travel destination category this week due to Covid.  My wife and I now feel ill, with runny noses, sore throats and other unmentionable issues. We'll be fine. Most of the schools in our area have returned to online learning after a short stint of in-person classes. Some of the students were diagnosed with Covid. My daughter had a tiny bit of homeschooling this week, but I let her cruise. She's more than earned it with some excellent work of late. Being sick when it's 96 degrees with a real feel of 104 due to humidity can be confusing -- is it fever or just the nasty heat? Thermometers and chills determine real-deal sickness. No chills yet and, as noted, fevers were low grade. Ironically, after watching cases soar in the U.S. when cases here were relatively low, the situation has been reversed now.
* * *
I play classical musical as background for homeschooling for Joanna, and it stays on much of the day until my daughter hijacks the laptop to watch an ever-changing variety of videos, from kids songs, to Octonauts, to David Attenborough. It's so cute because she'll be coloring and humming Beethoven, or Vivaldi, or Mozart. My son, who's going to be 22 months old soon, likes Vivaldi, mainly because of the cartoon of birds, leaves, snow, and rain that accompanies Vivaldi's "four seasons." It's must-watch video before bedtime for Elijah, meaning he'll fuss unless it's played. It almost always gets played.
* * *
It's getting more difficult to watch coverage and read about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The bombing of residential areas and subsequent civilian casualties are becoming more prevalent. U.S. President Joe Biden warned that some grim days were coming for Ukrainians in his State of the Union address. True enough. And bombing that resulted in a fire at a Ukrainian nuclear plant shows just how ruthless and reckless this attack has been.
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There are fewer crazy speeders on our street, but still enough to cause concern and lead me to signal the drivers to slow down. ... We're probably looking at waiting at least another five months before we get a decision on my wife's visa request ... Alexander Hamilton bio-book is interesting and entertaining, and part of it takes place near where I grew up and even includes events involving the Brandywine River, where I did a little swimming as a teen.