Covid numbers keep rising; food finally delivered

The number of new Covid cases keeps creeping up in and around Dong Nai, the province in Vietnam where we live. Nothing huge, mind you, but the numbers keep rising. In Dong Nai, we've gone from 15 new cases, to 40, to 87, to 104 and finally, to at least 146 on Saturday, July 24. (I'm trying to interpret Vietnamese so the numbers could be higher or lower, but most likely higher.) Ho Chi Minh City is a hotbed right now with its neighbor Binh Duong second and nearby Dong Nai third. New cases in Vietnam have gone from about 1,000 or less a day a few weeks ago to nearly 10,000 on Saturday.  Thousands have been vaccinated in a country of millions, so a Covid vaccination is not an option for the common man or woman at the moment, and that includes our family. I guess you could get on a waiting list for a Russian vaccine, but for now we'll social distance, go with a mask and shield, and hope for the best. The best would be that my wife gets a waiver and visa to enter the U.S.
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We've been pretty much on serious lockdown since July 9, but the screws have been tightened a little in the past few days with reports of cases in markets and motels in our area. Everybody who goes out, even guys sitting on the bridge fishing, are wearing masks. A few people will stand in front of their houses without masks, and a handful of teens don't wear them, but that's pretty much it. Clear plastic sheets protect cashiers, and taxi service has been halted. Food isn't a huge issue if you can handle Vietnamese food. Neighbors share with each other and markets and supermarkets remain open even if the crowds are large and the inventory small. You can get food but it may not be what you would normally eat or buy. My wife got a bunch of canned liver ... that's not for me so I've been eating the stockpile of Korean cakes and other sweet items I bought at an expensive specialty store before the recent surge. So I remain fat while other folks scramble for vegetables.
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On July 4, we ordered groceries to be delivered from a local supermarket when the number of daily Covid cases began to increase. The groceries arrived July 22. My wife would call from time to time to check on the delivery since we were initially told the groceries would arrive July 6 at 2:30 p.m. When it became clear that cases were surging and we were facing lockdown, we stopped calling. The store reached out to us, was contrite but didn't need to be, and ultimately delivered the goods. If we pleaded starvation and played the kids-have-no milk-or-food card, the store would have somehow gotten the groceries to us. They said as much. People started stockpiling around this time, but it was no big deal for us. And many people here are willing to pull together for the greater good. The folks who have the least so often give the most.
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The lockdown is a little difficult on our kids, especially Joanna, 5, who wants to take walks and look for creatures. Creature searches have been halted by the park's closure, so we look for house geckos, spiders, flies and ants. Spiders are rare, but there are lots of flies and ants – too many, in fact – and geckos come out at night. With no real outdoor exercise for Joanna, bedtime has been gettng later and later, so she gets to see the geckos. Wakeup time is later as well. She's never napped. Her "studies" continue but they start 9:30 a.m. or thereabouts and go until lunch or thereabouts. She still loves to color and draw, and that gives me a little break sometimes. We could all use a break.
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My friend in the USA continues his amazing recovery from pneumonia, a fractured vertebrae, kidney issues and God knows what else the doctors have found. Hopefully, they'll stop looking for stuff soon so my buddy can eventually get out of the hospital and back to living his life again. 

Lockdown means good food limited, boredom in excess

My wife came into the house this morning with two rolls. She gave one to Joanna and me to share and we ate it like ... like we haven't had good bread in about a week. And guess what? ... The big issue right now with the Covid lockdown here is food. It's difficult to go shopping due to long waits in long lines – with cutting creeping back into the equation – and extremely short supplies. A few markets, restaurants and coffee shops are open for takeout only, but that's about it. My daughter and I enjoy sharp cheese, but since the Covid surge and subsequent lockdown, cheese, peanut butter and bread are tough gets ... especially cheese. I get my cheese fix from takeout pizza at Pizza Hut, not that I need a cheese fix given my weight. Vegetables were scarce early in the lockdown, but as the week went on vegetables became more accessible. Usually, you can get lettuce and carrots, but I haven't seen asparagus or broccoli in a while – it's hit and miss. Which reminds me. Hoarding is a big issue. I saw a woman filling three shopping baskets with instant noodles. Yum. Another woman bought every egg in the little market around the corner. My wife asked the woman why she didn't leave some eggs for people with kids. The woman didn't respond, which is a typical response (anywhere in the world) from people who know they're in the wrong. Peanut butter being in short supply is interesting since a lot of folks here have never, or rarely, eaten it. Hoarders can be dangerous and selfish people.
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There have been a few coronavirus cases in our neighborhood, most notably at the rent-by-the-hour (or minute) motel on the street behind us. For some reason, it wasn't shut down. It was "cleaned up." I walked to the bank on Sunday to use the ATM, and the streets were incredibly quiet for 1:30 p.m. Unreal. On my way home, I saw a group of people sitting around plastic tables in the street under an instant tent, probably for a funeral. I'm a little surprised people would do that during a pandemic and surprised officials would allow it.  But everyone had a mask on even if they were somewhat clumped together. The numbers in the country are not encouraging: from 1,000 new cases a day about two weeks ago to nearly 6,000 yesterday (July 18). Joanna and I aren't fond of math, but even we know these numbers add up to trouble.
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Being stuck indoors much of the day is tolerable given the heat here, but everyone gets a little stir crazy late in the afternoon, especially the children. That's when Joanna and I would take our daily walk to get milk tea, or coffee, or whatever. Now, our big treat is a raspberry-orange ice from the Coffee House along with a cappuccino for dad (takeout, of course). And on a rare occasion, I'll let Joanna come with me -- with mask and shield on, of course.
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Our son Elijah loves the outdoors and kicking his ball, even during the heat of the day. The park is closed and that was his favorite place to go, so he kicks a ball around the street near our house.  My wife will hit a badminton birdie with her nephew. Everyone has to be extra vigilant because motorbike traffic, while very light, still doesn't slow down for children, even kids as small and young as Elijah.
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My 5-year-old daughter pretty much gets it as far as Covid is concerned. She knows the situation is serious even if she doesn't understand all the subtleties. We still do our classes, but I allow a little more video time since she's stuck indoors most of the day. She loves drawing animals and coloring birds of paradise while adding her own drawings and creating little stories that go with the drawings. I'm pleased her imagination is so active. She'll pull material from the two books we've read: Charlotte's Web and Little House in the Big Woods. In fact, we're reading Charlotte's Web a second time and we're almost finished. We still nab stories online and when she's in the mood, Joanna will read them and do a remarkable job sounding out unfamiliar words.
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I'm in the middle of the sixth and last book in Frank Herbert's Dune series, Chapterhouse, and I run hot and cold on the Dune series, so to speak. Sometimes, I'm engrossed, but other times I'm thinking about what I'll make for  tomorrow's dinner. Pulled pork sounds good. They are long books ... Bought some new music to drown out neighborhood noise: Wooden Shjips and Spacemen 3 ... My friend in the U.S. continues to make slow but remarkably steady progress in the hospital from his series of life-threatening ailments. Incredible stuff. Maybe I should pray more often. However, that could be going to the well once too often.

We're locked down; turning 5; decisions to make

 As coronavirus swarms around Vietnam in general and Bien Hoa in particular, we're spending 98 percent of our time indoors. New cases, possibly from the new strain, have topped 1,000 a day for the past four days; July 8 had 1,300 new cases and July 9 had 1,600. We're trending in the wrong direction. I ran down to the market in monsoon rain to get some groceries, and the shelves were empty and the place was packed.  It could have been a super-spreader event. People were buying all the noodles available. Some markets limit the amount of a particular item you can buy. My mother-in-law was allowed only one ear of corn at Bien Hoa Market, which has since been shut down. Vegetables are scarce, even in cans. Hard to hoard vegetables, but masses apparently are swarming the few markets that remain open. Our daily trips to the park have stopped, and even the Coffee House is open only for takeout. I got a cappuccino to go yesterday. Seats have been removed from the Pizza Hut, where we go for takeout, which, like all restaurants here now, is all that's available anyway. Ho Chi Minh City announced a 14-day shutdown on Friday, so officials are clearly concerned if they're shutting down the financial hub of the country. Our daughter's passport expires in August and we're told we have to get tested and produce a negative result in order to go to the U.S. Embassy in Ho Chi Minh City. I'll guess this is what life was like in the U.S. a few months ago.
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Our daughter Joanna turned 5 on Friday so I got her one shrimp pizza and one pepperoni pizza, and Pororo grape drink, and my wife decorated the house beautifully for her. I also made her a Birds of Paradise mask, and her cousins got her a stuffed frog, which she absolutely adores until a new favorite comes along. Frogs are her new favorite animal now along with Birds of Paradise. She copies the Birds of Paradise dance and even cleans the dance area, just like the birds do in the David Attenborough BBC video. Joanna was very excited and happy for her birthday and seemed to enjoy herself immensely. She doesn't really have any friends here but there's probably no party gatherings allowed anyway.  She's starting to play a little with her brother Elijah, but he's still having an extremely difficult time with teething. He's a bit of a fussy Gussy, and seems happiest kicking a soccer ball around.
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With new Covid variants and the coronavirus situation here, my wife's waiver application to get a U.S. visa is expected to take longer than usual. No shock there. That puts a decision on Joanna's schooling up in the air. I could continue working with her. She's shown real improvement pronouncing unfamiliar words and can read pretty much anything I put in front of her. Her work with scissors and glue, and her drawing seem very age appropriate. She doesn't like math, which is also probably age appropriate. My issue is that I'm not sure my energy level can be maintained to teach such an active child. Joanna's motor never stops running. I'd really like to get her involved in some sort of sport. She doesn't need much sleep and has never napped, a source of difficulty here for her in the schools. I need more than the 6 hours a night of sleep I've been getting as a 66-year-old.  I was hoping a sport would force Joanna to get to bed earlier and get some more rest, but sports for a girl here even in the best of times would be difficult to arrange.
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My son Elijah is a climber, and readily moves chairs, boxes, pillows or whatever's available – and stack them if necessary – to reach his desired altitude and destination ...  Joanna says to me that she likes speaking English and doesn't want to speak Vietnamese.  She understands more Vietnamese than she lets on ... my reading streak with Kindle is at 84 weeks and 580 days in a row. Since we're locked down, I suspect my streak will continue ... of course there's no more tobacco in my life (more than 5 years) and I haven't had any alcohol (other than what's in Cool Mint Listerine) in more than 19 months. I could see having one glass of champagne if my wife ever gets a U.S. visa ... my friend continues to fight for his life in a USA hospital, and has shown slight signs of improvement. If he gets through this, he deserves to be called Highlander.

Coronavirus getting too close for comfort; 'Real' birds

Coronavirus is in our neighborhood, four or five blocks from our house. A patient at a nearby clinic tested positive. Now the staff is quarantined for 21 days and the clinic is locked down. The staff at the Indian restaurant I frequent for takeout happened to be at the clinic for some kind of testing when all this went down. The owner informed me that he told his staff to take some time off.  My wife said there have been 15 confirmed cases of Covid in Dong Nai, the province where we live. The numbers have jumped around a lot lately, with 300 new cases reported one day and nearly 900 the next. It isn't a good situation regardless of the numbers.  I held off on a shopping trip for groceries for two main reasons: 1) I don't want to get sick and die because ... 2) I have two small children that need me at full strength. Joanna needs me to function at a level where I can teach and entertain her in a constructive manner. Elijah just needs me when he's bored. The work next door has slowed significantly but will unexpectedly flare up. The same people bought a house across the street and the some of the same noisy noise has started up again. Plus, the guy with the welding flashes has started "working" again. I'm sort of surprised that people can do these types of disruptive construction projects featuring unknown workers parading around, sometimes sans mask, during a pandemic. It's worth repeating: this country doesn't have the medical infrastructure to handle a massive surge of coronavirus cases. The U.S. has seen more than 600,000 die and hospitals stressed to the breaking point, and there's been an uptick recently despite vaccinations. Joanna and I have reduced the number of walks for milk tea (very close to the clinic) and our park trips are shorter and more supervised. Things are clearly quieter -- I see fewer people peeing outside in daylight, and less folks riding their motorbikes on the sidewalk, and fewer instances of trash burning. It's a shame people have to fear getting really sick to reduce churlish behavior. We've cut back on trips to the park since about half the folk walking and talking on phones don't wear a mask. And people tell me how stubborn I am. That may be the case, but for my sake, the sake of my family and the sake of others, I'll wear a damn mask. How's that for stubborn?
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Our birds of paradise stickers, T-shirts, and children's fact book all arrived within a week of each other, making my daughter a very happy camper in grim times. None of the stuff was cheap, even the stickers. So what. It was priceless to see my daughter running around the house squealing with glee with a "Real" T-shirt in her arms. We call the Greater birds of paradise Vogelkop -- as well as the Smiley Face --  "Real" because of the What a Wonderful World video with David Attenborough. It briefly shows the Vogelkop or Smiley Face, and  Joanna, who was 3 at the time, thought it was a cartoon or drawing. When I told her the bird was "Real", a new name was created. Honest to goodness, Joanna just woke up and looked over my shoulder to read what I was typing and excitedly said "Real" when she got to this item. She doesn't miss much.
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After I had Joanna's hair cut short to deal with the heat -- it's extra humid and remains in the 90s during  our rainy season -- people looked at her and said "That's a cute boy." Now my wife is trying to let Joanna's hair grow out again, which I'm not crazy about because of the heat and the fact she'll chew on it. Granted, there are bigger issues.
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Our son Elijah acts like he's living with the Jetsons. He demands control of the TV remote control and when he gets it with batteries removed, he points it at the TV, lights, air conditioners, fans and  microwave, expecting it to work its magic and make those appliances turn on or off. Hasn't happened yet, but Elijah is master of the unexpected
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My friend continues to battle numerous challenges in a U.S. hospital as he fights to stay alive. Sometimes it seems the treatment can present issues as serious as what he's facing, but I believe he's getting the best care and support from family and friends as possible. ... Nothing yet on our bid for a waiver to get my wife into the U.S. Just have to wait and see, which is becoming something of a mantra these days.

Covid fear; noisy as hell; friend gravely ill; birds of paradise

The coronavirus lockdown has ramped up here, with grocery stores hanging protective plastic sheets at the registers to separate clerks from customers. Customers are required to wear a mask. My daughter Joanna used to treat masks like tissues, using and losing three or four a day. She's a kid and doesn't like restrictions. She wears the mask without a fight, but she would take it off as soon as you looked away. Same with shoes, come to think of it. Being 4, the mask was left wherever, and as a result she was denied entry into a local market on two occasions. I will say that she's improved in the last week or so, possibly because we told her to put the mask she removes into her hat. We've only lost a couple in the past week since the mandate. My son Elijah won't even wear a cap, so a mask is out of the question, but since he's 13 months old he gets a pass from locals. He'll rip the mask off your face if you're not careful. Schools and most businesses remain shuttered and the coffee shop I used to frequent has a 10-customer limit, which means teenagers go in and use the internet for hours on end, so there's no point in waiting around. Another coffee shop down the road limits customers to 90-minute visits, which seems like a good idea to me. Some kids use the free wifi to do schoolwork, which is legit, but others use it to play video games and take endless selfies and put them on Facebook. I get it: they're kids like Joanna and Elijah and any time is play time. But the 90-minute limit seems cool so everyone can share in the fun dủring dismal times here. 

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Joanna and I go out into town every day, often twice a day, only because of the drilling and jackhammering on the wall. I guess the neighbors didn't like the way their remodel looked, so the jackhammering and pounding have started up heavy duty all over again .... or continued heavy duy again, depending on your perspective. You never know when the unbelieveable noise will start up. It's a guarantee at 7:10 a.m., but then it's off and on, and you never get any warning when it's on. The workers seem to know when I try to work with Joanna (or on rare occasions nap) because noise has ended class (and nap) very prematurely or before it even starts on at least 30 occasions. This project started May 6 and hasn't missed many days since there's work on Saturdays and Sundays. I'm pretty sure the neighbors aren't too concerned about Joanna's sleep or education (or my nap schedule). Or our son Elijah's sleep and comfort. Funny (not ha ha funny) but the incredibly loud drilling started 2:35 p.m. on Wednesday, June 23, just as I tried to work with Joanna after we enjoyed a quiet morning together. It upset her, so we took a walk -- again -- into a town where coronavirus is on the rise. In all honesty the number òf cases reported here hás been relatively small, but the sharp increase of cases in the towns nearby is a little disconcerting. 
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One of my best friends is in a U.S. hospital on a ventilator fighting for his life. It's not coronavirus, but heart and other issues, mostly related to his lifestyle. This is especially difficult for me since I'm estranged from most of my family in the U.S. for my past lifestyle issues. But this is about my friend, who would do anything to help others and to help me. It would be very difficult for me to try to go see him with a new variant of coronavirus ểmẻging here. It might be impossible to get back in Vietnam to be with my family, so I'll hope things take a drastic turn for the better for my friend and that we can visit in the near future. I'm not a religious man, but I'm praying for his recovery. 
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Joanna has gone from a fascination with dancing to dinosaurs, to African animals to sea creatures, to insects and birds, to frogs, and lately to iguanas and other reptiles. She still loves reading. Dancing remains popular as well, but the latest craze is art and depictions of Birds òf Paradise. It started with dot to dot and coloring and a Birds-of-Paradise video, but now includes drawing and making clay creatures. I got Joanna a Vogelkop superb bird of paradise T-shirt and posters (or maybe it's the superb bird of paradise Smiley Face).  We had to buy tons of clay on a recent trip to Mega Market and my wife and I have obtained more crayons. The art is non-stop at the moment, which has given me my first chance to really relax with Joanna in the same room at the same time. Part of it is her maturity -- she's changed so much in the past two months. All for the better, in my view. Her inquisitiveness, temper and stubborness remain unparalleled, but now I know how to negotiate better, compromise and make deals, let her win some of the battles, answer her barrage of questions to the best of my abilities, and clearly and firmly explain the rules and expectations ahead of time. It's made a remarkable difference. No doubt this is Parenting 101 for Dummies, but it's really helping this dummy cope. 

Accepting Covid restrictions; more creatures and reading

We're living with a lot of restrictions here. I guess you'd call it lockdown light.  No more than 10 people together anywhere, most notably in the coffee shops. Most restaurants and schools are closed. Masks are mandatory -- for real, this time. Coronavirus was detected in a factory that's in our province and suspected in a big hotel/apartment building nearby. Ambulances and police went to the hotel/apartment building, creating worrisome excitement for the locals. There are about 300 new cases of Covid in Vietnam each day. Other than my concern that I can catch the virus and die, I find that the lifestyle retrictions create a calmer and more peaceful attitude here. Dare I say pleasant? Almost everyone wears a mask, and there's a bit more respect for personal space and social distancing, although people still put their groceries on top of your stuff in the checkout line in a cheesy bid to get ahead or "hurry up." The motorbike traffic is lighter, even on the sidewalks. You're not really supposed to go out unless it's necessary. I consider pounding with mallets and jackhammering on our walls (for 37 days now) a "necessary"  reason to go out in the heat and Covid. My daughter Joanna and I walk daily in the grim conditions for quite a while because of the situation next to our house. We've gotten to know some wonderful shop keepers and their kids, and we've met friendly street folk on our walks and "creature" searches and adventures. Joanna insists on a trek to Z88, a milk tea stand, and I oblige. We've moved her lessons to the third floor in an effort to get away from the noise, but jackhammering and mallet work on the walls next to us are, well, noisy regardless of where we are in our house.
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Our creature adventures have become highly successful thanks to my daughter's eyesight. I'm just happy I can see my daughter. She spots birds, toads, geckos, grasshoppers and lizards like there's no tomorrow, and the way things have been going in the world, who knows if there will be a tomorrow. A small crowd of moms and dads and kids come to the park around 4:30 p.m. each day, and I can tell Joanna looks forward to being around new folk even if she doesn't speak the language.
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 I'm reading Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder to my daughter each night. This book contains extensive detail on things like smoking meat, making maple syrup, churning butter, and calico dresses. It's a bit much for a 4-year-old so I tell her to do whatever she wants when I read ...  but try to keep the noise down. It's interesting and satisfying watching her slowly getting into the book, and she clearly enjoys Pa's stories about the black panther, the bears, and the cows.
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I'm in the middle of Frank Herbert's fifth Dune book, Heretics of Dune, and it's OK but a bit of a slog for a dullard like me. My Kindle streak continues thanks mainly to reading before sleep and the length of the Dune books. Actually, I read one night last week when our internet was down and it looked like the streak incorrectly ended. My reading "insights" said my streak was 0 the next day. I really didn't care and figured I'd read a hardback Jack Vance book I've been saving, but the following day the numbers were corrected and the streak -- I'm at 555 days in a row now -- is back on. And so is Heretics of Dune.

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. 
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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.
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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.