Boosters begin; forever beautiful; litterbugs think it's funny

I'll start off by saying the only real Covid news in our neighborhood is that some of the older folks got booster shots. Even though I'm an older folk, I'll have to wait until they get more AstraZeneca vaccines before I can get a booster. Doctors say mixing vaccines is an effective tool for fighting Covid, but they won't mix vaccines here. Could be an organizing thing, but I've no idea. I've been fighting a sore throat for a while, but not sure if that's dirty air and air conditioning related. Who knows? Who cares?
* * *
For a country that at times seems very utilitarian, Vietnam offers countless beauty products, skin care lotions, skin whitening cremes, the alphabet of vitamins,  products such as sheep placenta and shark cartilage to keep you young, and of course there's ginseng and ginkgo biloba and other products to fix whatever ails you. The products people use the most, such as vitamin C or zinc, can run out fairly quickly at times, but eventually reappear. I am doing now what I swore I'd never do -- I take a bunch of pills daily: a multi-vitamin, vitamin C and zinc. I also have to use eyedrops nightly to combat glaucoma, but that's simply a case of (White) monkey do, (White) monkey see. Also, I consume black beans soaked in vinegar to help my kidneys that were banged up in motorbike accidents; it's a Chinese treatment. I justify my behavior because I have two young children. Plus, I don't get my full complement of sleep each night with those two little angels, so I hope the pills fill the gaps.  As for the folks here and all the beauty products, I guess everyone everywhere wants to stay healthy, youthful and beautiful. Youthful and beautiful seem to take precedence over healthy here, probably because there are so many young people who are already fairly healthy. It's no doubt important to look good for posting selfies on social media, which is a national pastime.
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At the park we go to, six Grab drivers (Uber-like drivers and deliverymen and women using scooters) were sitting in a circle eating and drinking this past Friday afternoon. When they finished, they put all their trash in one bag, which was good, and dropped it next to a tree on the sidewalk in front of the park, which was not good. The sidewalk fronts a busy street where my son Elijah and I like to hang out so he can look at cars going by. I said to the drop-off guy, who giggled when he littered, that there was a trash can in the park and one right across the street he could use. I even tried to help him out by pointing to the two trash cans. He laughed at me or just continued his giggling, joined his fellow Grab mates and said something, and they all laughed and then tried to stare me down. I don't lose staring contests here (a remnant of my old tai chi practice) but I didn't have the luxury of locking eyes with the litter bugs since I had to watch my son, who will run in the street if given the chance. I've said it before: I don't want conflict here but it's difficult for me to give a pass to such blatant ignorance and disregard for basic decency. My son and I were less than 10 feet away from the guy when he littered.

* * *
Four little kids around Joanna's age were playing in the park while their parents sat on the ground near the exercise equipment, the woman looking into her cellphone and the man looking into space. When the kids sat near their parents (I guess, parents), Joanna hung around on the outskirts hoping to join in and find some playmates. I gave Joanna a bag of lightly sugared popcorn -- it's pretty good, stuff, really --  to give to the kids to sort of break the ice. They refused to take it and said something I didn't understand. Maybe they were being shy, so I took the popcorn from Joanna and tried to give it to the mom. She just stared and didn't move to take it. So I motioned like I would give the bag to the dad, and he stared at me like I was going to give him the finger. So Joanna and I walked away and as we were leaving one of the kids yelled in decent English: "We got popcorn at home."  When I was teaching English here a few years back I remember some kids refusing to accept candy I would give out in class, responding with a chip-on-their-shoulder No! to my offer. I get disappointed at some of the interactions I have here sometimes, but Joanna rolls with this stuff real well now. Both of us just missed getting hit by a guy on a motorbike this week while we walked on the sidewalk, and Joanna ducked down and braced for impact. It was that close. Afterwards, she kept giggling, saying "I ducked from the motorbike because I didn't want to get killed by that clown (clown is a copy of dad's language, which could have been worse)."  But Joanna is resilient. She's made a good friend at the park, a girl 7 years old, and they build nests for birds and play chase and generally act like little girls. We walk in the mornings and afternoons some days -- I'm trying to shed some weight, with little success, to help my back -- and the morning walks consist of creature searches. We returned to home schooling this past week with a lighter schedule, and the results have been wonderful. There's been a breakthrough of sorts in math; my daughter finally gets the concept of addition.
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Usually there's a stretch of reasonably nice weather around Christmas and New Year's, but it seems to have bypassed us this year. It's been in the low 90s most days; Joanna and I head outside anyway to get away from the return of more neighborly construction noise, including the thump thump thump of wall banging ... My son is an amazing sleeper. He won't accept covering of any kind even when the air conditioner is cranked up and the fan is on.  He practically crawls around the bed when he's asleep, and as a result has fallen out of bed maybe five or six times. We put a mattress on the floor so he wouldn't bang his head on our faux marble floors. He rolls off the mattress and sometimes sleeps on the faux marble floor with a pillow. Crazy. 

Subdued celebration as 2022 comes in quietly

Just like Christmas, New Year's came and went in Bien Hoa with no great fanfare. New Year's Eve featured a very distant and very faint pop-pop-pop of fireworks, and some neighbors shouting "Happy New Year!" at midnight. Otherwise, not a creature was stirring, not even a rat ... The next day was business as usual. And why not? Tet looms, as does Covid, so the mood is quite restrained. The Roman calendar probably doesn't excite a lot of folks in Vietnam anyway. In addition to Covid, hot weather -- it's in the low 90s with grueling sunshine daily --  is also slowing the pace of life here. The slower pace is not a bad thing unless folks get sick from Covid. A red "Covid is here" sign went up on a couple of houses on our street and was removed from three others, so things have settled on that front to a certain degree. Joanna and I have been out shopping and we take a taxi to travel; the drivers are cordoned off behind plastic hung from the inside roof of the car. Business must be bad due to Covid because our drivers have been prompt and polite, quite a change from pre-Covid days. I notice that more cars are on the road and the bigger vehicles during any confrontation assume right of way, which has led to faster and more aggressive driving by everyone, and lots of horn honking.  Drivers of smaller cars and motorbikes take out their frustrations on each other and pedestrians. I try to maintain my cool for my daughter's sake when threatened by a car or motorbike while out walking. I've done pretty well, even when some clown laid on his horn and tried to race by us when we walked in the street because there was no sidewalk space due to parked motorbikes, and there were cars parked next to the bikes to force the issue a little more. I yelled at him to relax and wait but he stormed ahead and nearly sideswiped us. But really, most drivers have been more polite since the Covid outbreak. Not sure why, but that's my honest opinion based on daily experience walking.

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Going to the park in the afternoon remains the family event of the day, where Elijah loves kicking the ball. On New Year's Day, the Electric E was fussy and left the ball behind. Joanna was trailing us and saw a little boy about 2 or 3 pick up the ball and throw it in the canal. The mother or nanny or whoever the woman was who was with the little boy just sat stoically on the bench and let the events unfold. She said nothing to us, meaning she offered no apology, which I'm, well, sorry to say. It has happened to Joanna a couple of times with stuffed animals, so it was no big deal for us. We got a long stick, sort of slid the ball up the retaining wall a little and my wife climbed over the railing and was able to retrieve the yellow ball without falling in the mucky canal or hurting herself. Good work, dear. 

* * *
I broke down and bought a new laptop, a Dell XPS 13. It's really light and quite small with a 13-inch screen. Electronics are expensive here, but so far, so good with the Dell. My MacBook was old and had been through too much. The guy who worked on it sold us another MacBook (used) for about $450 U.S. and said it was fine, but it didn't work very well at all, and he wouldn't refund. We'll unload my old one for parts and keep the other one for my wife to have Mac practice on. Buying a new laptop is a big deal for me; it's a special treat since I use my laptop every day for my daughter's school lessons, news, and  blogs (ha ha). My cellphone has my Kindle, which, by the way, shows I've read 756 days in a row.  Currently reading COLUMBUS The Four Voyages. It's not particularly uplifting, but it's well done.

2 women in our neighborhood die from Covid

Two elderly women in our neighborhood died from Covid in the past week and a woman on the street behind us is hospitalized with the virus, All three were unvaccinated. This information comes from our ward's government representative. I witnessed no music, drum banging  or loud processions for the deceased as usually occurs when someone dies here. In the "new normal," some family members get together for a meal and drinks, but no large gatherings are permitted. I heard that the government got the bodies of the two women who died at home and handled the cremation. Meanwhile, the people across the street from us tested negative after 14 days and had their red "Covid is here" sign removed. Three more signs on our street were removed and another popped up. I believe there are five signs in all on our street. One house down the street from us, which has some rough folk living there -- the woman laughed pretty hard when my daughter crashed on her bike and bloodied her knees -- put their Covid sign on a small trash can that's not easily visible. I wouldn't expect much else from this crowd, which is also the group that laughed at me when I wore the shield. Anyway, there are 15,000 to 17,000 new Covid cases here a day, which I know pales in comparison to the United States. No variant is named in Vietnam, but I suspect Delta is still making the rounds with Omicron coming later. I've always felt they're a little behind the times here.
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It doesn't look or feel like Christmas in Bien Hoa. It's not just the 90-degree weather. Before Covid (B.C.?), Christmas was picking up steam, especially with retailers. Now, some of the stores have decorations, but there's been a definite drop-off. Makes sense. If you can't give your mom a proper, traditional burial, why would you care about a Western holiday? The big mall and markets are eerily empty. Joanna and I went shopping on Wednesday at the largest and only "real" mall in town and it was too quiet. No lines, no hustle, no bustle. Nonetheless, I'm trying my best to instill a little Christmas spirit into our house for my daughter Joanna and son Elijah. Joanna has been coloring Christmas-themed pictures, which I hang on the wall near our tree. I keep adding ornaments and lights to the tree, even if it's tiny and artificial. Or ecologically and economically friendly, depending on your perspective. Christmas doesn't mean a lot to my wife even though she's Catholic; Tet is what matters to her and that holiday will be quiet this year as well. Elijah isn't too interested in Santa yet, but he'll kick our Christmas balls all over the house. 
* * *
I dropped my Apple laptop down a flight of stairs and even though we've tried to get it fixed, it
hasn't been the same. We bought another Apple laptop but the new one (really, it's pre-owned) isn't quite right, either. So both have been returned to the shop, and I'm working on a PC now, which is a little tricky for me. So I now have a legitimate excuse for any mistakes in my blog. I've also struggled to get lessons together for Joanna on the PC, but we're on Christmas break anyway. Christmas coloring continues, but that's pretty much it. 
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I want to sincerely wish everyone a safe, healthy and very happy holiday season. I know so many people who step up in difficult times like we're enduring now and do the right thing for others and themselves. I don't expect anything different this holiday season, and that can give all of us reason to celebrate. 

Nearby Covid cases recovering; too old to run?

 Another red Covid sign was posted on a house on our street, bringing the total to eight. But the good news is that some of the signs will come down this week if the residents test negative. A few are already down. Still, no one is talking much about Covid or a particular variant here. There's almost a stunned silence regarding the virus. But I do see some attitudes slowly changing. People on our street who didn't wear masks would laugh and point at me when I wore one with a face shield, but now they laugh at me behind their own masks. Some mask resistance exists here; one guy at the park rode his bicycle and worked out on newly installed exercise equipment without a mask, along with his kid, who was also mask-free. I used sign language to suggest he should wear a mask and he honestly thanked me through my wife. Next time I saw him and his kid they had masks on. Two park joggers go mask-less and they huff and puff as they go about their business in a crowded park, which means they're likely to share any virus they happen to be carrying. I politely suggested that they wear a mask, and got zero response. My wife told the park security guard to put a mask on, and, shock of shocks, he did. I wouldn't be so adamant about masks except for the fact that it helps prevent the spread of the virus, and Covid case numbers released by the government here continue to climb, with anywhere from 13,000 to 17,000 new cases each day. Things are pretty much opened up, and there seems to be an honor system at businesses to scan your proof of vaccination with your cell phone. Some do, some don't. A couple of aspects of life here are returning to normal a little faster than I'd like. More motorbikes are being ridden on sidewalks and more litter is starting to show up.

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Last week at the park Joanna insisted we run a footrace. So, ready, steady, go, and away we went (I'm pleased my back lets me run). A lady who my wife and I know very casually says to my wife: "It's good your husband is running now with your daughter because he won't be able to run in a year or two because he's so old." Charmed, I'm sure. But it was one of those weeks where the odd was the norm. My daughter and I turned the corner to walk the path that leads to the street behind us and then on to the park, and as we turned the corner, we were met with smoke. Trash was being burned on the narrow sidewalk. Joanna was scared and wouldn't pass, so I started to push the pile to the side so she could get through, and some woman comes out of nowhere screaming at me to leave her burning pile of rubbish on the pedestrian pathway alone. I still pushed the pile a little so Joanna could pass and the woman barked something at me and swept the pile back into the middle of the sidewalk and reignited it. There was a bunch of leaves, berries, sticks and I guess some regular trash. I told her to burn her trash in front of her house or in the street and left it at that. Once past the burning pile, Joanna kept laughing about the whole thing, and started with the "Why?" questions. No easy answers. The charred remains of the pile were off to the side of the path the next day. Later, Joanna and I were walking down the main street when a security guard sitting in front of some bank shows his cell phone to me with a translated question: "Is she your daughter or granddaughter?" I told him daughter, which he either didn't believe or understand, and he showed me again. So I responded again, in English and Vietnamese, and he showed me and asked (I guess) again. I said "Yes, yes," and he seemed happy with the response. Then he pointed to my stomach and laughed. I told you it was an odd week.

• • •

Owls are now the animal of choice for Joanna, which hopefully is a good omen for Yellow Springs, Ohio, and our waiver application. No word on our waiver lately; it was sent Sept. 17 and receipt of the waiver was acknowledged by the USCIS on Oct. 31. Nothing since, and some websites say we may have a decision by the end of May. I've accepted that Joanna has lost her year of kindergarten. If the waiver drags on forever we'll figure something out. ... Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley and Livingstone is an excellent book even though it sort of jumps around time-wise. which I guess makes it epic. The details of the characters' lives and the travels through Africa are riveting and, like Conquistador, which I recently finished, a bit unsettling. Much of the book takes place in Tanzania, which my friend recently visited. I'm glad I've become addicted to reading. ... Starting to heat up here for some reason, maybe because the rains have slowed. It's in the low 90's and of course humid every day.

Some kind of virus bugged us; keep your distance, please

I'm not sure if I had Covid, but there were some serious warning signs: chills, a sore throat and confusion. The confusion was the worst part. I could not find my wallet, which set off a desperate and futile nighttime search with a flashlight in the park. The wallet ended up being on the bedroom floor. I took my temperature countless times and it was normal every time, so I told my wife that I'd get tested the next day if I was still under the weather. After a lengthy trip to the bathroom and marathon shower, I felt fine that night and was right as rain the next day. Perhaps the vaccine did its job, or maybe I was dealing with some other issues, like confusion from fatigue related to lack of sleep and child care, and a sore throat and chills from too much air conditioned living. Who knows? Who cares, other than me? I will say I'm so happy to have been vaccinated because there's so much Covid around us now. My poor wife had a similar experience a few days later, with bad chills and dizziness. She bounced back after a few hours.  Our family remains devoted to the mask and hand washing, and I've become a real zealot about social distancing. Some people crowd others in line here, and put their groceries on top of someone else's stuff at the checkout counter. This happened twice to me this week -- at a specialty food store and at the local market. In both cases, the people made significant contact with me while sticking their items on top of mine. I smiled and politely motioned for both people -- a man and woman -- to back up and respect social distancing until I paid. But they bulldozed ahead, and I got seriously irritated and pointed to my  mask and barked out that "I HAVE COVID!" (in Vietnamese) and "get away from me" in English. The man actually left the store until I was finished and the woman walked five feet away slowly and with attitude, if you know what I mean. A few years back I might have put their groceries on the floor while checking out -- I've done that in the past, but those instances involved line-cutting as well as grocery stacking. But I'm a kinder and gentler White Monkey these days so I just try to communicate my concerns to the best of my abilities, and if that doesn't work, I try to scare the crap out of people so they'll back off. I don't want conflict or Covid. I've got two small kids who need their dad at the moment and I don't need strangers crashing my personal space with Covid. It's very much worth noting that a guy in line gave me a thumbs-up when I barked at the woman and the clerk smiled at me when I scared the guy out of the store. Most people here get it, but the ones who don't give Covid the chance to spread, and it's spreading at a rate of about 13,000 to 14,000 cases a day in Vietnam. At two of the seven houses on our street displaying ''Covid is here'' warning signs, mask-less people sit outside smoking and talking with their doors open. Like I said, most people get it.
• • •
I don't need reminders I'm getting old -- turning 67 and my bathroom mirror have taken care of that. But the other day in the park I carried Joanna on my shoulders for a few minutes (at her request) and then I walked home with Elijah on my shoulders (at my wife's request). Later that night I could barely move from pain in my back at the same spot where I hit the road in a motorcycle accident a few years ago. When the pain first locked me up I wondered why, then thought back to my foolishness at the park with Joanna and walk home with Elijah. Then I thought about my age. Then I thought about the accident more than five years back. At least I can still think, but when the old sports injuries start to come back, I'll know it's getting near closing time.
• • •
 I did a five-creature challenge with Joanna on Wednesday morning in the park that I knew wasn't super difficult, but figured would eat up a little of my daughter's time. It ate up less than two minutes -- bird, bee, lizard, snail, butterfly. She loves and knows how to spot her creatures. ...  Elijah heads straight to the road next to the park so he can see cars go by. A real boy, that boy, pointing out all the white SUVs to me after he kicks the soccer ball around a little ... I'm at 733 days and 106 weeks in a row of Kindle reading and I'm currently halfway through Into Africa: The Epic Adventures of Stanley & Livingstone. 

Covid cluster around our house; locals call Joanna a boy

 Our street seems to be at the center of a Covid cluster, with more than 30 people and seven houses around us infected.  The virus has certainly quieted things down: kids don't ride their bikes –– masks or no masks –– up and down our street; fewer vendors and lottery sellers come around; fewer mask-less morons strut around, although the annoying bread sellers still arrive 6 a.m. with a booming announcement over a loudspeaker of hot, crispy bread.  The guy across the street, who gives me xam xam (a gelatin made from leaves) because I give his kids chocolate, tested positive along with his wife, mother and the two kids. I've suspended the treat exchange until things cool down. The concern for us is that these folks got the same vaccines we received -- AstraZeneca. As has been the case for me over the years here, I have no idea of what's going on. I hope the vaccines were legitimate but it does seem odd that a lot of vaccinated folks are getting infected. I sure hope our family can avoid getting coronavirus, but we're pretty nervous. I've been a little under the weather the past two days and if my malaise continues another day, I'll get tested. Covid would be a real drag for the obvious reasons, but also because my daughter depends on me to provide classes and entertainment. Many of the people who contracted and probably spread Covid on our street exhibited inappropriate behavior such as no masks in addition to having lots of people coming and going from their houses with zero social distancing. Houses in our ward that have a resident with Covid are identified with a red sign on or next to the front door. It's a grim passover of sorts.
• • •
My daughter tried to cut her own hair, and failed. She likes to do her own thing. Anyway, my wife had to cut Joanna's hair really short to kind of even things out. As a result, when Joanna and I go out people ask me the age of my son, to which I reply that she's my daughter. The people overreact with shock and disbelief. They react a little too strongly, in my opinion. One guy in T-Rex Coffee told me at least three or four times that she looks like a boy. Whatever. It's ironic since my daughter is very proud of being a female, and she calls all insects, lizards, dinosaurs, geckos, and animal characters in her books "she" and "her". I love it. My son Elijah, meanwhile, is so enamored with kicking his ball that he boots it around for 30 minutes in the bedroom before his nap.
• • •
I still fret over my daughter's education and socialization here. She's not in school, and wouldn't benefit much from online kindergarten taught in Vietnamese and perhaps some English. This is a 5-year-old kid who can read and write a little, is now expressing herself extremely well, and has a very keen memory -- and low threshold of boredom and isn't shy about speaking her mind. With Covid on the upswing, no schools are open for face to face learning and even if they were, my daughter would resist the uniforms, conformity and discipline that seem to be the focus here. The private international schools are about $19,600  a 10-month school year and require uniforms, and almost certainly stress discipline, conformity and order. There are no easy choices, which is why it's so crucial to me that my wife's waiver is approved by the USCIS and she can get her visa to come to the U.S. I know I've repeated all this countless times in this blog -- sorry.
• • •
The park near our house is much more pleasant with motorbikes now prohibited from entering. Some guy and his girlfriend rode into the park in the one open spot, but the security guard politely asked him to take his bike outside the park. The guy rode away and the problem was pleasantly resolved ... I'm currently reading Into Africa, the story of Stanley and Livingstone.  I just finished Conquistador by Buddy Levy; it was as good as it was disturbing. My reading "addiction" is at 105 weeks and 726 days in a row. ... It's been two years since I've had alcohol, except in my Listerine mouthwash. ... Good visit with my eye doctor. Dr. Wong is a good doctor and good man. My glaucoma is stable and my vision even improved a tiny bit. Well, my hindsight is 20-20 ... 

Persistent Covid way too close; flu shot, bee stings

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