New strain of Covid in Vietnam; masks really matter

Coronavirus is on the rise here. CNN is reporting that the Vietnamese government is revealing that a new, highly contagious variant of Covid is present in the country, possibly some sort of combination of the UK and India variants. A religious gathering is believed to be responsible for the recent spread and perhaps the emergence of the variant. The numbers aren't like India or Brazil -- we've had 200 to 400 new cases a day for the past week or so in Vietnam -- but that's relatively high compared to what they've been. Most schools are closed, the streets are relatively quiet, and masks are pretty much everywhere -- on people riding bikes, on servers in coffee shops, and as litter all over the streets and in the park. Interestingly, I was walking in the middle of the street next to a car wash business (the street is the only place to walk since there's no sidewalk and cars are parked on both sides) holding hands with my masked daughter on our way to the park when one of the car wash guys, possibly a manager, came running out to scold me for having my face mask around my chin. He gestured at me to pull the mask up and raised his voice at me, but that's the style of talking here. Anyway, I started this little tale with interestingly because two employees in the car wash had no masks and another was wearing his mask like me, around his chin with mouth and nose exposed. Also, two customers were sitting inside mask-less. I saw the masked man two days later at the car wash with his mask around his chin. I good-naturedly gave him the fingers across the face sign, and he pointed to the cigarette he was about to smoke. I tried to communicate that I was practicing social distancing by walking in the street. I'm sure he didn't get it, but hey, even Covid gets a butt break, I suppose. But it's no joking matter in this country now, which until recently had kept Covid well under control. There aren't many or any vaccines to be had. I read where 29,000 people in this country of 96 million have been vaccinated. And the guys banging and drilling on the wall next to our house are all mask free, walking all over the streets and neighborhood. Most folks get it, but the ones who don't get it or refuse to get it put so many of us at an unnecessary risk. It's so selfish and stupid ... and dangerous.
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Komodo dragons remain my daughter's favorite animal for the time being, so I found a website that showed us how to build a little Komodo dragon from templates. It's made so the red tongue can be manipulated by moving the tail. Actual reading and writing are out of he question with the construction work around our house still in full effect, so we do scissor-and-construction-paper work on the third floor accompanied by loud music to minimize the effects of the drilling, pounding, sawing and light flashing. A day after we built the komodo we have no idea where it is, but it provided Joanna an afternoon of enjoyment, even at the park. With Joanna's encouragement, a little girl rode her bike back and forth over the komodo. Everyone thought that was the greatest since it didn't damage the komodo, but we pretended it did. I guess you had to be there. That little project was a good deal that only required two sheets of thicker paper, scissors, tape, and crayons since I don't have have a color printer. By popular demand, I helped Joanna make another komodo the next day, and funny thing, it turned out much better than the first one. This time, the mouth opens when we push the tail to make the tongue come out, and it shuts when we pull the tail to retract the tongue. 
• • •
I want to pay my respects to children's author Eric Carle, who died this past week at age 91. My daughter loves Carle's stories, especially The Grouchy Ladybug, Mister Seahorse, The Very Hungry Caterpillar and Papa, Please Get the Moon for Me.  They were staples of our nighttime routine when Joanna was 2 and 3, and she still requests  Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, The Mixed-Up Chameleon, From Head to Toe.  Really, we read many more, but you get the idea. Carle was amazing and an important author for my little girl.
• • •
Joanna and I finished reading Charlotte's Web together and by the end the rat Templeton was the most intriguing character for my daughter. She was especially fascinated by Templeton's eating binge at the county fair. Maybe it reminds her of dad.

Noisy times, "whirlybirds", SOME PIG and bad manners

Our neighbors decided to remodel their house, focusing on tearing out the wall next to our house. That has meant 13 days (and counting) of heavy duty sledgehammering and obscenely loud drilling, which has made it extremely difficult to live or have a conversation in our house from about 7:15 a.m. to 5 p.m., although the pounding and drilling stops from about 11:15 to 1 for lunch. The real slam-bam stuff slowed down a little this past Thursday. But the guy who lives across the street has picked up the slack by sawing metal bars with an electric saw, and spot welding to create light flashes that can cause eye damage. All this has meant no homeschool for Joanna. Or looking out our front door. Joanna and I take long walks in 97-degree heat and hang out at the mall or coffee shops during a Covid burst here to get away from the noise, sand, dust, and flashing lights. I've become even more of an ugly American among our neighbors -- and my wife -- by complaining about things that seem worth complaining about to me: motorbikes and cars riding on sidewalks hitting or nearly hitting my daughter;  heavy metal and the head bangers ball along with a light show from spot welding; noise so loud we have to leave our own house; public peeing; and motorbikes and cars roaring down our street at insanely high rates of speed. I got into a heated argument about the reckless drivers and behavior here with the neighbor from the house being remodeled. I gave up and said "forget it man", which he was dead sure was f---- you and he started running around saying f---- me? .... f--- me? I was confused by his behavior -- I thought he flipped out because I walked away from him while he was still jawing at me.  Anyway, I thought he was going to hit me, but to his credit he didn't. He told me he would never have anything to do with me again and said something like ... go back to your own country.  I don't want to misquote him or accuse him of saying something he didn't. I can be a real forgetting idiot sometimes, so I've been told. Later, I told him I had said, "forget it man" and not the big one, and I apologized for the whole scene. We shook hands and hopefully all is well.
• • •
I found some "whirlybird" seeds on the sidewalk -- I don't know their real name, but Joanna and I decided to call them "twins" -- and we tossed them into the canal, watching them spin like helicopters. She enjoyed it so much that we gathered three or four hat-fulls of the seeds and kept the show going over several days. I remembered doing this as a kid. Spending so much time with Joanna has sparked countless childhood memories for me, and these are the pleasant memories. Now, Joanna and I spot frogs and toads, butterflies, bees, lizards, salamanders, geckos, caterpillars, centipedes, stink bugs, slugs and snails, worms, tadpoles and little fish (in outdoor flower pots), touch-me-nots and tons more.  We saw a large lizard going into the park on Saturday. So while over-the-top construction noise and an unhealthy light show has halted her schooling for the time being, we're doing more exploring and started reading and discussing Charlotte's Web by E.B. White every night. We've read 130 pages so far, and Joanna's interest has picked up as we've gone along. And we both agree, that's SOME PIG. Joanna's not quite 5 years old yet, but for someone who runs around the bedroom, colors and draws komodo dragons, and looks at other books while I read to her, her questions and answers to my questions about the book are impressive. We're also watching the movie Charlotte's Web in conjunction with the reading. Our son Elijah doesn't have the book bug like Joanna yet. I'm trying to get my wife to keep him in Joanna's room while we read. He's seems physically gifted with his walking, running, kicking of a soccer ball, and climbing, but he's also clever and I want to encourage that aspect of his development.
• • •
A little specialty food store that sells marshmallow "eyeballs" is our one of new daily destinations. On our way to the store, our family gathers at the park every day at about 5 p.m. Joanna races around on her new scooter.  She's improved on the scooter by practicing in our living room, dining room and kitchen at night. The only thing that slows Joanna down on the scooter rides at the park are searches for touch-me-nots.  Once at the park, Elijah walks constantly -- the crawling has stopped; Joanna takes off her shoes and rolls around the grass, which is none too clean but the only place she can really play other than on the concrete and bricks. After a half-hour or so, Joanna and I will walk to the little store, which also sells exotic fruits like dates from Israel. It's pricey, but so what? We get what we can afford (eyeballs and little cakes). They also sell little cakes from South Korea that aren't bad. It's a new store, and the lady behind the counter is very nice, and like a few other people here, she's taken a shine to Joanna. She has a daughter who's about 11 or 12, and the daughter will play with Joanna a little. It's been a good scene. The nuoc mia (sugarcane drink) lady next door is fairly nice as well and there's the Coffee House on the corner, so including the park we've got a little area bordered by busy streets to hang out. It ain't the greatest for a 4-year-old girl, but our options are limited.
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Our trips outside the house can be fraught with danger and unsavory behavior sometimes, but we'll endure those difficulties along with the heat so we don't go stir crazy being stuck inside, especially the kids. This past week, Joanna was scootering on the sidewalk when a motorcycle quickly cut in front of her to park next to a coffee shop, missing her by inches (honestly) and forcing her to jump off the scooter and skip behind the bike in one motion. She laughed. I didn't, but the kid on the motorbike acted like nothing happened. I pointed out to the kid that he just missed hitting a 4-year-old girl, to which he responded "Oh, oh, sorry, sorry." Those quotes are accurate. A car rode toward us on the sidewalk last week flashing its lights and Joanna was on her scooter, not paying attention or expecting to see the car continue to come toward us. I ran to get ahead of her and held up my walking stick to halt the car. It didn't stop, and when the driver finally stopped the car, he got out and glared at me like he wanted to fight. Two days earlier, some guy with two buddies at the park stood across the canal from us and peed in front of my wife, daughter, son and some other lady and her son. Phuong got upset so I yelled at the guy to use a restroom located about 25 yards away, and when he continued I told him to stop embarrassing himself with his little manhood in front of my wife and daughter and other folk. His buddies tried to stare me down but the one thing I can do is stare -- the last vestige of my tai chi. Pee brain reacted by grabbing a stick, presumably to copy my walking stick, whistling really loud, cursing at me, and whistling and cursing some more. I didn't understand his cursing ... or whistling, so I didn't pay attention and played with Joanna and Elijah. My wife said my indifference must have frustrated the trio because it set off an avalanche of whistling and cursing. The other mom went over and told the guys to cool it and take a break on the language.  So let's recap. Guy pees in public near toilet. My wife objects. I ask him to stop. He curses and threatens. Another mom tells him to cool it. The thing is, we go to the park to relax and enjoy our children. A small group of people choose to ride motorbikes through the park, pee in full view, litter and bring their dogs to poop everywhere. Almost defeats the purpose of going, doesn't it? The ugly American is at it again. I was wondering why so many unnecessary and unpleasant things happen to me here, but I figure that I'm big and white and I'm out so much with my daughter walking around town that I'm an easy target. I don't see anyone else taking really long walks every day with their kids other than women who sell lottery tickets. I guess I'm in a slump, which hopefully will end real soon.

Working for a waiver to get U.S. visa; speaking English

We have started the waiver process after coming to terms with my wife's latest rejection for a visa to enter the United States. Basically, now I have to prove hardship in my life without my wife, Phuong, for her to have a chance at  a visa. Hardship doesn't even begin to express the sadness, anguish, loneliness, and depression our children and I would endure without Phuong in our lives. I really wouldn't be quite as stressed and focused on the visa process if it wasn't for our children, especially Joanna. She's an American citizen (as is our 11-month-old son Elijah), and she looks American, thinks American, and speaks American. She needs to be in the United States with her mom and dad and brother. She's chosen to speak English, which seems to upset some locals.  Our next-door neighbor, who hasn't spoken to me or even looked me in the eye for the seven years I've lived here, snapped in a very sharp tone, "Vietnamese, Vietnamese," at Joanna this week when she started talking in English about halibut being a good fish to eat.  I fired back in an equally sharp tone "tieng Anh, tieng Anh." Other people, like random folk at the park or coffee shop, act appalled when I say that Joanna basically refuses to speak much Vietnamese. She understands a lot but speaks very little. I believe this was an issue for her during a 6-month stint at a local school here. There were other issues, but that was certainly a big one. One of the first questions I'll get about Joanna is "Can she speak Vietnamese?"  That's fine but the reaction of horror when I say not much -- followed by the "Why not?" -- goads me a little. But most people get it when I explain that I teach her every day and we spend so much time together. And I honestly believe she resists speaking Vietnamese because she knows I don't understand much of it.  Vietnamese is not an easy language to learn and I'm not really aware of any qualified teachers. Besides, the hand wave along with "cai nay" cover my needs. Back to the waiver ...  it'll be a time-consuming process and stressful, but I'll do everything I can to improve the lives of my wife and children.
• • •
I would like to return to the U.S. to get my driver's license renewed, see my eye doctor and maybe tie up some loose ends in the god-forbidden event we can't get the visa for my wife, but the Covid resurgence makes air travel problematic. I get sick whenever I fly anyway, and came down with pneumonia a couple of years back after a flight. I would bring Joanna with me since we're inseparable, but I don't want her getting ill, and with Joanna and Elijah being typical kids in many ways, I really can't afford to be real sick or worse.  It's a long flight that would be tough on Joanna, but I've learned that if you tell her what's coming and what's expected ahead of time in real detail, she gets it and acts appropriately ... usually. Our gang of four has been mildly sick the past week with runny noses and coughs ever since rainy season got off to an early start.  Elijah is cute, Frankenstein-style walking all over the house with his runny nose. He stays pretty much in a good mood even with the nose faucet turned on. Joanna and I improved quickly, but poor, sleep-deprived Phuong has been fighting it hard along with a sore back and toe she jammed leaving the bathroom. 
• • •
Joanna loves reading her books, and now she reads nighttime stories to dad and her favorite stuffed animals: Dolphin, 'Zen' the dinosaur, Baby Whale and Crocodile. (They represent our family, by the way: Joanna is Dolphin; I'm crocodile; mom is Zen; Elijah is Baby Whale.) I've found a few websites that offer free books for kids and we take full advantage. We'll read 7 to 10 stories a day -- it is hot and rainy here -- and one story in particular, When Sophie Gets Really Angry, has been almost transformational for Joanna. The little girl in the story, Sophie, has a major meltdown after losing possession of a stuffed gorilla to her sister. Mom made the ruling, saying it was her sister's turn. Sophie copes with her awesome anger and temper by running, and observing and absorbing the wonders of nature. Joanna spotted touch me nots in the book. It's a wonderful story. I'll pass along the website, which I assume is OK. You can navigate your way to the stories. I highly recommend it if you have children of any age. Oh, the stories are in ENGLISH!     https://www.kidsworldfun.com/

As noted, rainy season is upon us, which often keeps the temperatures in the low 90s and keeps us indoors much of the day. But the forecast is for highs of 99 much of next week. So who knows? Thank goodness for those stories. ... I have now read 504 days in a row (heat and rain, again) and I'm in the middle of the Dune series. Reading comes naturally now. I've forced myself to read maybe three times in the past 504 days to keep the streak alive. Really, though, I just read because that's what I do these days ... almost 17 months without a drink, and cigarettes don't even interest me (5 years, 1 month without). 

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.
• • •
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.

Service slips; do it yourself; rough patch of weather

When a new pharmacy opened here on Vo Thi Sau, the staff treated Joanna and I like royalty. They made every effort to understand our English and Vietnamese, translating online when necessary. The store was well-stocked and the staff gave Joanna free rein. And if the pharmacy didn't have the item I requested, they would order it and call me when it arrived. They had plenty of staff, some cleaning, some stocking shelves, others waiting on customers. But a few weeks after the store opened, the staff changed -- and seemed to change every time we went -- and had a different attitude toward Joanna. Her "antics" were no longer amusing. I started getting the hand wave when I asked for Povidine, or Betadine, items which I purchased regularly. They don't have other names; the words Povidine and Betadine are clearly on the label. I guess I didn't pronounce the words to the employees' satisfaction and understanding They stopped selling the store brand sensitive skin soap I used. At least that's the message I got from yet another hand wave. Blank stares replaced attempts to translate and understand my English or Vietnamese. The last time I went into the store -- and I do mean last time -- was this week. I couldn't see a staffer and after a short search, I saw the lone employee sitting on the floor. She was on her cell phone, and I doubt very seriously it was work related. Perhaps, but unlikely. She was friendly enough but didn't understand  or try to understand a word I said, so I just bought Joanna some candy. It's sad. Good things don't last forever, I guess.
• • •
The path that I like to think of as a pedestrian cut-through between two streets near our house -- but is also used by motorbikes much to my dismay -- had become quite the mess. Work started but was never finished on the huge concrete sidewalk blocks that are placed over some kind of drainage system. You hear the water trickling  under the sidewalk. There were loose stones everywhere and the brickwork alongside the concrete was torn into rubble. A man who lives next to the path tired of the mess and used his own money to pay contractors to clean up a sizable portion of the path. The bricks were  redone and new concrete was poured alongside the blocks. Sadly, someone rode a motorbike through the path and left pretty deep tire imprints in the freshly poured concrete. (See photos on the right.) The man who paid to fix part of the path said he hopes an influx of pedestrians will reduce motorbike traffic through the path.
• • •
We're enduring a rough stretch of weather here ... temperatures in the upper 90s every day and it stays above 80 almost all night. We're near the river, so sometimes there's a breeze. When it's hot over a longer stretch, even the locals get snarly. Not many folk are out during the day and the park is busier in the early evening. Air conditioned coffee shops with internet are packed all the time. The heat is fatiguing and very uncomfortable for me, a man of many rashes and much sweat. The heat has done nothing for my back, other than making it hotter. It actually rained heavily for a couple of days, but the rain didn't cool things off. Our son 'Easy E' Elijah seems OK with the heat even though he's a big boy. He'll stand on his own, take three steps or so, but I won't classify him as a walker just yet. Very soon, but not yet. He'll turn 11 months old in a couple of days. Joanna, like her dad, sweats quite a bit and struggles with the weather. She talks a lot about moving to Maine for the snow and colder weather. Despite getting hit and pushed, and a language barrier, Joanna's behavior improves almost daily along with her impressive reading and extensive (English) vocabulary. We walk to the park (together) these days and try to guess the color of the canal. I'll usually say black and she'll usually say green. She's usually right but the water is more brownish green, in my view.
• • •
My wife is close to obtaining her visa to enter the U.S., just as the Covid cases spike there due to the easing of restrictions and lack of diligence. Regardless, school and social amenities for Joanna will take us to the U.S., possibly fairly soon. As always, we'll see. ... My streaks continue: I've read 483 days in a row ... I just finished Dune, Dune Messiah, and  Children of Dune. Enjoyed them all ... It's been 16 months since I've had alcohol and the streak I'm most proud of is five years-plus without a cigarette. But who's counting?

Old school dentist fixes me up; shots for my kids

My body keeps deteriorating, which is no news flash since I'm 66 going on 79 in a life of excess. After mashing my toe and wrenching my ankles and knee in a couple of old-guy falls in the house, I bit into a frozen candy bar and one of my back molars crumbled. At first, I thought there was a stone in the candy bar, but I saw the "stone" under a magnifying glass and brilliantly deducted that is was a back tooth. The deduction was assisted by my tongue finding a jagged gap in the back of my mouth, next door to my gold tooth, which my former student Sam has requested when I finish playing the end game. My father-in-law hooked me up with his dentist, a no-nonsense woman who seemed concerned about my ability to pay for treatment. She quoted me a price and I assured her I could pay -- "tien den, tien di" (money comes, money goes), I told her -- and that set her in motion. The office is divided by curtains, and the dentist chatted with my father-in-law while she worked rather rigorously on my mouth. She drilled away some of the remaining tooth and only slipped up a couple of times, touching the nerve. I swear she was distracted by my father-in-law. I returned two days later for the cap, and she used some kind of tool to essentially hammer the cap into place. It was sore for three days. Then she suggested a cleaning and procedure to fill in the many gaps between my gums and teeth caused by my receding gums, apparently yet another sign that the end game is in full swing. The dentist's style is strictly old school. If you don't scream, it doesn't hurt. She put me through cosmetic and cleaning rigors for a good 45 minutes. I came away a little rattled but my teeth look pretty darn good, I must admit. It's been seven or eight years since I've been to a dentist, so I was pleased. It was a bargain as well, costing a little over $100 U.S. Not a lot of money that was very well spent.
`• • •
My kids went for routine vaccinations this past week and did very well. The last time we went, Joanna had to be held down by a doctor. This time, she listened to dad, counted to five and said OUCH! during the shot and that was it. I could tell she was sort of proud of herself for how she handled the pain. It was a good-sized needle, by the way. Elijah cried for about two seconds after the shot and that was it. He's big, sweet and tough. Mission accomplished with no issues. We asked about Covid vaccines, but I guess they're for health workers for the time being.  There are still a smattering of cases here, but nothing like the U.S. or Europe.
• • •
Poor Joanna basically got assaulted three times in the past two weeks. A little girl about two started hitting her out of the blue on two separate occasions in a little market near our house. A little boy 2 or 3  she sort of knows from a restaurant where I get take-out grabbed her fingers really hard and started twisting. Joanna yelled "give me back my hand" but the kid wouldn't let go so I intervened briefly to free her up. Then the boy sort of gorilla posed and screamed in front of me to signify how tough he is. The third occasion was simple push and shove stuff at a party. Joanna told the boy to stop pushing her and she ran away from him. My wife was with me for all of the incidents, so there is a witness. I suspect corporal punishment or hitting of some kind at home leads to the aggressive behavior we've encountered here. The mothers just smile or laugh at their kids' unsavory behavior. Joanna isn't aggressive with other kids and she hasn't retaliated yet. She's got the size to retaliate, but we don't want the behavior of a lot of the kids here to influence and rub off on her. I know kids are kids and some of this can be expected, but the random quality of the aggressiveness toward our daughter concerns me. She's a sweet girl, but she'll eventually retaliate and she's big and very strong. We just don't want anything to happen. My wife will be taking her physical again to obtain her U.S. visa and we'll go from there and see what happens.

Happy anniversary to an awesome lady; a horrible scare

Right here, right now, I want to use this space to say how much I love, respect and appreciate my incredible and beautiful wife Phuong as we celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary this week. In the five years we've been married and 6-and-a-half years we've lived together, we've experienced so much: we've gotten new teeth; I've lost a gall bladder; I damaged my kidney and back in three motorbike accidents; tore a tendon in my foot playing tennis; recovered and reclaimed, and then lost the No. 1 family tennis ranking; developed sciatica; we visited Thailand and South Korea; I became estranged from my family for past mistakes and required therapy, which I still receive; I've endured countless skin rashes (I have two now) and smashed my big toe and hurt my left knee in a sudden and spectacular fall on our stairs; a week later I fell out of bed and mildly sprained my right ankle; I've quit smoking and drinking and took up daily reading; and we finally obtained a de facto visa for my wife to enter the U.S. after six years of effort and thousands of dollars spent. All of these events are certainly memorable, but the greatest and most important events of the past 6-and-a-half years for Phuong and I are -- duh, of course -- the births of our daughter Joanna and son Elijah. Our son is so easy-going and pleasant; he smiles constantly and enjoys company. Joanna is certainly more challenging and demanding, but she has such a high intellect, good heart and quick wit for a child 4-and-a-half years old. This pair occupies our every moment, and we couldn't be happier. My wife's devotion and loyalty to our family through good times and bad -- and God knows I've contributed more than my share to the bad -- are a testament to her strong and incredible character. Sometimes I don't deserve it, but I feel I'm the luckiest man alive. Happy anniversary, Dear Phuong.
• • •
My daughter took her independence and free spirit to a higher and more dangerous level this past week, going out our front door and walking by herself to the park, which is a good little walk from our house with several turns. She's never done anything like this before and she rarely goes out in front of our house by herself. When I saw the door open and Phuong coming home, I asked her if Joanna was at her parents' house. When she said no, I panicked and ran upstairs and checked our bedroom. I knew she wasn't there but had to check. No Joanna and no answer. I checked upstairs at her parents' house ... no Joanna, no answer. I ran to the little market around the corner. I asked the clerk and got the frickin' hand shake. I ran toward the park and past a car wash, asking the employees there if they had seen Joanna. One guy just laughed but another pointed to the park. I ran there and saw Joanna strolling in the park carrying her stuffed crocodile and wearing her hat, God bless her. It was 94 degrees at least. I ran to her and picked her up and hugged her. I was almost in tears. Words can't capture the fear and stress I felt as I looked for Joanna. Outlandish and reckless motorbike riders and creepy people walking around make this walk so frightening for a child ...  and parent. Joanna seemed surprised by my reaction as I hugged and squeezed her. She hasn't been out of my sight since.
• • •
Covid lockdown restrictions are slowly being lifted here, with schools now reopened and food trickling back into the markets. Not everyone wears a mask, but I never forget my mask anymore, and our daughter Joanna wears a mask every time she goes out. Our 10-month-old son Elijah won't wear a mask.  Phuong is 50-50 but she's stepped up lately. There's talk of Covid in a beach town a couple of hours away, and lots of folks who live here go there for vacation. But restrictions haven't been ramped up yet and there are no reports of a cluster. Two foreigners I know were in the park we go to (and Joanna walked to) and some of the locals were suspicious. People were worried they had just come into town and perhaps were "contaminated". They weren't wearing masks, which added to the suspicions. My wife assured the concerned locals that the foreigners lived more or less in the neighborhood and had been here a long time.
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 Our son has gravitated naturally to sports, or at least the sports balls in our house. He'll amuse himself for long stretches of time with a soccer ball, knocking it across the room and then crawling after it at high rates of speed. It's fun to watch, since crawling on my knees across the floor with him is out of the question. He's getting close to walking, thank goodness. Faux marble or hard faux wood on top of faux marble are not kind to my old knees. Even Joanna has finally noticed the adverse effects of hitting the floor in our house. But Joanna doesn't care about sports in any way, shape, or form. Books and videos are her bag. She'll run back and forth across a room, she'll play chase at the park, but sports with a ball or racket or any equipment -- even tennis shoes -- is out of the question.