Prettier park draws less people; awesome Indian restaurant

 The park near our house has been decorated with countless potted plants with flowers in preparation for Tet. It looks nice. The security guards have waved off soccer players so the plants don't get destroyed. The little grass areas are off-limits to anyone older than about 6 years old, so soccer has been essentially banned from the park during Tet. It's a welcome prohibition for me since soccer balls have hit me in the back while chasing my kids around, and one whizzed past my wife's head the other day. The kids playing laughed at the close call. Older kids and adults don't relax their intensity even if younger children like Elijah or Joanna wander into their playing area. Serious soccer, or even just kicking the ball back and forth with velocity, reduces the amount of park for people who want to walk or jog or ride a bike, and increases the odds for injury. I'm not a huge supporter of bike riders unless they're children, and even then I have my doubts because kids like to zoom and show off.  And many older riders (and joggers, come to think of it)  don't yield to anyone, sort of like soccer players, expecting others to humbly scurry out of their way. Because of the numerous potted plants, not many people have been coming to the park -- a couple of cyclists and joggers, and a few families with young children. Even the litter is reduced. I wouldn't mind if the flowers became a permanent addition. It's so pleasant now going to the park every afternoon with our kids.
* * *
The Bay Leaf restaurant on Vau Thi Sau serves outstanding Indian food, as good as any I've had, and it's within easy walking distance of our house. I usually get some type of spicy chicken dish and my wife gets mutton tikka masala. We always get saffron rice and naan -- cheese and garlic. Covid  hasn't helped business, but the owner, a really good guy, stays the course. I want this place to thrive because the food is top-notch. I highly recommend the Bay Leaf. Don't fear the spice. They'll work with you and adjust dishes at your request. We go once a week, every week. 
* * *
Covid remains very much on people's minds here, even with a reported 79 million people vaccinated in Vietnam; the country's population is about 97 million. I got my booster shot Friday morning with much pushing, shoving, shouting and line cutting taking place. The numbers say Vietnam is adding around 15,000 new cases a day; schools remain closed, which for the time being makes my daughter's situation moot. Homeschooling rolls along and we just finished shark week, and my daughter was intrigued with this ancient fish. She read quite a bit of factual material about sharks with no protest and she enjoyed a true story about a New Zealand surfer who survived an attack. Her math is up and down but clearly improving and her reading excels and is even becoming expressive.
* * *
I'm not sure what the issue is, but our children won't go to sleep before 9 p.m. no matter what we try. Joanna has never, ever napped and sometimes sleeps late (9 a.m. wakeup on occasion), but she usually wakes up before 8 a.m. and often goes to bed around 10 p.m. or later. Elijah has started staying up past 9 p.m. and gets up around 7 a.m.  He'll nap, but his naps are getting shorter, about an hour or so. I think the brutal heat creates long periods of inactivity for our kids, so when the air conditioners go on at night, the kids get more active and sleep becomes an intrusion on their frolic time. I've talked to other parents here who have told me their children stay up later than what many parenting websites recommend. But maybe that's the new normal. For me, no nap means more coffee and sugar, and longer walks with Joanna. Pretty good alternatives, really.  

Ride baby ride; mudfish; what's in a number?

The scooter my wife got for our son has led to our daughter's favorite in-house activity. Joanna zooms around the house on the scooter, which is more solid and balanced than the one we got her a year or so ago. The zooming can be a little bothersome; she's slammed into our feet a couple of times and skirmished with her brother over scooter possession. Elijah loves scootering in the house as well. To remedy the scooter controversy, we began encouraging Joanna to ride her bicycle without training wheels. She's always been lukewarm about riding her bike, even when it had training wheels. Without training wheels, she was downright reluctant to ride. But my wife persevered,  God bless her, and insisted she try, guiding 2-wheeled practice with her hand on Joanna's back and sometimes the seat. I also provided training; my back did not enjoy the half-bent posture required to hold the back of the seat  of Joanna's bike for support, but I endured. This past weekend, I guided her to the park from our house on the bike, and then we make a big loop around the park.  The more we practiced, the less she needed my assistance. She was breaking away, so to speak. When my wife relieved me, Joanna wanted no help at all.  She was riding on her own -- banging into pedestrians, other cyclists and joggers, but riding on her own nonetheless. (I don't worry about collisions too much since people make very little effort to get out of each other's way here. She fits right in.) Her new ability has done nothing to reduce her in-house scooter patrol, but I'm pleased and proud she can ride a two-wheeler on her own. 
* * *
At a coffee shop very near the Dong Nai River, my daughter said she saw a mud skipper, a fish that can live and walk out of water for extended periods of time; she saw a video on YouTube about it. Since she also claims to see dinosaurs and snakes (really, trucks and trains), I dismissed the mud skipper claim. But when she became animated about it, I took a look in the little stone canal she was pointing to and sure enough, sitting on a rock was a chubby, eel-like creature. It didn't move for a while, then slithered into the water, and away it went. I'm not exaggerating when I say Joanna has an incredibly sharp eye for spotting critters and creatures. I believe what she saw was a mudfish, which can survive out of water for a while, slowing its metabolism and taking in oxygen through its smooth (not scaly) skin. Some species of the fish are endangered in New Zealand and Australia; it's found in swampy, lowland areas, which helps explain why Joanna saw one near the Dong Nai River in Vietnam. People do eat them, but they can be boney, so be careful. The one we saw wouldn't amount to finger food.
* * *
The guy across the street is removing the pile of wood that's been in front of his house for years -- probably as long as I've lived here (9 years). Not sure if it's connected to Covid that the family had, or the government finally leaning on him, or just his desire to clean up.  I'll admit there have been virtually no rats coming out of the pile since lots of feral cats showed up on the woodpile about a year ago. It's probably better to be inundated with cats instead of rats, but I'm no expert on the matter.
* * *
 I made a friend with a city worker at our park by simply thanking her for picking up the loads of trash discarded  under nearly every recently installed bench. She seemed so pleased that I appreciated her work and criticized those who would litter where they were sitting. There are two trash cans in the park and cans and receptacles on the streets adjoining the park. The workers I see at the park know us now and are very friendly. I won't ever forget that one of them warned me that my son had slipped away and was climbing the railing of the bridge over the stinky canal.
* * *
My blog passed 77,777 hits, but I missed seeing the number. Maybe I was too busy reading -- my Kindle streak will hit 777 days in a row this weekend. I'm really not much for lucky, unlucky numbers, and omens and such these days. I believe and truly understand now that actions and decisions determine our fate, but I'm also not the type who will look a gift horse in the mouth, whatever the hell that means. If good fortune comes my way, I'll take it. ... My brother and his wife are both recovering from a bout with the Omicron variant, and apparently they had somewhat different symptoms that dragged on for a little while. I didn't press for details. They're going to Florida to rest, relax and continue their recovery. I'm very pleased they're OK now.

Nobody home; kicks; dangerous traffic; Covid's impact

Some odds and ends from the past week as I'm hoping to wind down the blog.

During our creature search, my daughter Joanna found an empty snail shell and yelled into it: "Is anybody home?" Since no one answered, we couldn't cross it off our list of creatures to find. ... My son Elijah loves kicking so much that he'll put his foot to anything that isn't nailed down. In the park, an empty coconut kept him occupied for 10-15 minutes. In the house he'll kick a regulation leather ball barefooted, and when he gets his hips positioned, he'll deliver the ball with real velocity. ... Elijah is a sneaky son of a gun, especially when it comes to running away from mom and dad to go into the street. Since I'm not confident everyone here would slow down their bike or car for my boy in the street, his getaways spark a frantic chase with shouting, "FREEZE!, FREEZE!, FREEZE!" Of course, he ignores us and runs into the street. It's bad enough that a Grab driver raced his bike up on the sidewalk and roared right past my son; in the street, Elijah is most likely considered fair game. This week, I was talking with a couple and their son in the park for a brief moment and a city worker tapped my shoulder and pointed to the street where my son was climbing the railing for the bridge over the mucky canal. I ran and safely hauled him down. Well, at least he stayed out of the street, which is crazy busy with very fast moving vehicles. ... It seems like it's trash burning season. Tet is approaching, and even with Covid hanging over the holiday, people still perform their annual rituals such as cleaning like crazy, and perhaps burning is considered a form of cleansing. Maybe it clears ground debris but it certainly doesn't purify the air. ... An older man two houses down from us is recovering from Covid and says he hasn't been the same since he's been sick. He exercises a little in the park, but says he lacks stamina. The neighbors across the street seem a little more subdued since they got Covid. I've had a sore throat for a while now, which I blame on air conditioning at night but I worry nonetheless. However, I don't have a fever, cough and can taste all the food I shovel down very well, thank you. My appetite is fine. We don't want to get mixed up with Covid for two reasons: 1) We don't want Covid; and 2) we're due for the booster in a few weeks and having the virus would delay that for who knows how long. ... A woman I met at the Coffee House was on the verge of getting her visa to join her husband in the United States. She said it's on hold now because of the Omicron variant. That doesn't bode particularly well for me and my wife's effort to get approval to enter the U.S. The USCIS web site suggests we might not get a response until June at the earliest, but we don't know anything for sure. Bummer. ... Speaking of the Coffee House, their cakes and snacks have returned, and so have the crowds of youngsters. ... One of my friends in the U.S. is fighting painful back issues. I wish him nothing but the best and a speedy recovery. ... My wife put her backpack on the park bench along with Elijah's face shield and bouncy ball two days ago. Elijah decided to make a run for the street so my wife chased him down and they hung out a little bit. When they returned to the bench, the face shield and ball were gone, having been thrown into the canal. And so it goes.  My wife retrieved the face shield but was unable to get the ball. We have persons of interest. ... The guy across the street is again loudly sawing metal bars in front of his house for all to hear. And so it goes. ... A week later, the trash  thrown against the tree by the Grab delivery guy is still there.

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.
* * *
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.
* * *
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.

* * *
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.
* * *
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. 
* * *
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.

• • •

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.