VIETNAM IN THE TIME OF COVID-19
I hope everyone is cozy and comfortable while social distancing and sheltering in place. We are doing well here in Vietnam. The cases in the country remain very low, and there has been an excellent rate of recovery, at least as reported by the state and media. The country began taking certain measures to prevent the spread as soon as we arrived here on January 31, so things have thankfully not escalated. The local news reported people being fined if they avoided strict quarantine measures or if business operated outside the parameters of the lockdown. Most restaurants are allowed to do takeout, face-masks are necessary outside unless you'd like to be subject to a fine, the beach and public places are closed, and there are no car-sharing capabilities. So, we've been cooking and staying inside and sleeping in. Which, isn't a terribly far departure from what we've done most of the year. I continue to excel at cloistering.
Our visas expire at the end of this month so we are trying to renew them or make plans to fly elsewhere - provided certain borders remain open for entry. Vietnam is being lenient with visa-overstays and relaxing its normal monetary penalties for doing so. They are also excusing visa overstays that occur within their period of lockdown. We were supposed to go to the immigration office here in Da Nang yesterday, but they extended the citywide lockdown for at least another week so it remains closed until further notice. We will stay put for now. We are registered with the US Embassy, which provides daily updates via email, and the US Consulate has provided us with letters supporting our request to extend our visas on account of COVID-19. While we are eager to figure out what we are doing for the next few months, we acknowledge that complete certainty is not at all assured. Mostly, we are thankful to be in a lower-risk area, where the government has remained vigilant about keeping people safe.
We met the woman who owns the building today and after 180 rounds on Google Translate, we found her to be very kind and generous, letting us know we can stay here as long as we need. She kept reassuring us not to worry about anything and that we were welcome to stay. She and her family live right across the street and she was very committed to relaying to us that if there was anything we needed, she and her kids would be able to help us out. Another thing to be grateful for!
Naturally, we had to cancel our plans to go to Taiwan, India, Istanbul, and Greece. Saving those stops for another time, although it is hard to cancel - the independent hospitality sector is especially struggling and we wish we could still proceed as scheduled to support them with our visits. Hopefully sometime soon. In the meantime, we have been supporting some local restaurants here in Da Nang by ordering delivery.
Mostly I've been reading, doing some writing, watching some movies. I read My Year of Rest and Relaxation last year and really liked - I think it is a very fitting book for a time such as this. I've been on a philosophy kick much of this year, which I expect will continue, so my reading pile currently includes a lot of Merleau-Ponty and Levinas. If you have any book recommendations, I would love to hear them! Or music recommendations. The Well-Tempered Clavier, Mozart's Requiem, and Enrico Pieranunzi have been my favorites of late, although I guess that is sort of my normal line up if you include 36 Chambers and Gucci Mane.
