Our Last Weekend in Vietnam

After the I-600 approval, we had to rush to the embassy again to drop off the sealed medical reports from the SOS clinic, the girls’ passports and our application for their VISAs to enter the United States. We dropped the paperwork off on Wednesday and had our VISA interview on Thursday. The VISA “interview” took a total of 10 minutes. We just had to confirm all the data was correct and sign the application in front of a U.S. government official. As soon as we signed it he said we could come back on Friday after 4:00 to pick up the VISAs and two sealed envelopes we needed to give to the immigration officer when we reached the United States.

When we went back on Friday all we had to do was pick up the girls’ passports and make sure the right VISA was glued into the correct passport. It was great to see the VISA in place making it a reality that we could bring the girls home. After we picked up the VISAs, we were able to meet with the Chief of the unit handling all of the adoption issues. We had a nice visit about policy issues and he had some great ideas about making the adoption process better and more ethical throughout Vietnam.

The weekend was my last power shopping event. On Saturday morning, we got a linen suit for P and some more keepsake items for the girls. In the afternoon, we went on a tour of a traditional silk making village. They showed us the silkworm cocoons, the way they got the individual strands of silk and how they weaved it into cloth. It was very interesting and very loud. The village, of course, had numerous shops for buying silk ties, shirts and other items. P bought a number of new ties. I think some of his last bargain silk ties from Korea will be replaced. One of the interesting things we saw and experienced was the silk worm wine. Yes, after the silk worms have produced all they can, they are “retired” to a jug, where they are covered with high grade alcohol and allowed to ferment. The wine was strong smelling and tasting. P was the first to volunteer. He described it like a strong whiskey that warms you all the way down. Even I had a taste. T. had the camera and took photos of my reaction. The tour guide gave us a nice history of Hanoi as we drove to the village.

Sunday was set aside as P’s packing day. I went shopping with one of the other moms and we left the men to watch the children. After I left, P told me Sophie was a little upset Mom left without her. That is either a good sign of attachment, or that she really likes to shop. P packed all morning, with the help from the girls. We will need to go through all the empty plastic bags to make sure his helpers did not help him by putting things in the bags he thought were empty. After they had lunch, it was naptime. Lily decided she had to fold their pajamas from last night before they could lie down. Of course, as Lily was folding, Sophie was unfolding and laughing. Eventually, P distracted Sophie long enough for Lily to finish straightening up so they could take their naps. Lily had to tuck her doll in under a fuzzy blanket before going to sleep. She slept curled up next to the doll, with her hand on it. Very cute!

Sunday night we were invited to a dinner hosted by the hotel for the families staying here while our adoptions are being processed in Hanoi. It should be an interesting event. This will probably be our last post until we get home. We leave Monday morning at 9:00 for the airport. Our flight to Taipei leaves at 12:30. After a short lay over in Taipei, we board our flight to San Francisco. We land about 2:00 local time in San Francisco. We will then go through customs and immigration. Once the girls go through immigration, they are officially U.S. citizens. To make it easier on the girls, we are going to spend the night in San Francisco. We will also be able to see my sister and niece. On Tuesday we finish the journey to Cedar Rapids. The little, southern country girls may find it a bit colder weather outside their new home, but they will find their home is filled with the everlasting warmth of family and friends.

Our Week in Hanoi

Our Week in Hanoi

Sorry we have not been good this week on keeping our blog up to date. It has been a busy week with good progress every day. The girls are really coming out of their shells. They are eating well and now want to feed themselves and use spoons to eat. Each girl has to have her own plate and have really liked their introduction to milkshakes. They have each eaten a little pizza too. Their favorite foods are yogurt, fruit (bananas especially) and fried spring rolls.

Initially, they had to stay in the same room with P, but now they are starting to leave the room and even follow me to a different room.

On the schedule of events this week, here is what we have done. On Monday we dropped our paperwork off at the Embassy Annex. It is in a private apartment building. From the outside it definitely does not look like an embassy, or government building. The paperwork drop off was necessary so the embassy staff had time to review it before our I-600 interview. We had to give them a copy of the home study, our dossier, and the girls’ dossier, which were comprised of Vietnamese and translated copies of their birth certificates, the relinquishment papers accepting the girls into the orphanage, a letter from their birth mother, and the adoption papers showing that we were their parents under Vietnamese law. Y was down south with some other families. T, who is a friend of Y’s who I think works for another agency, was to help us with the drop off, but she was also gone, so T’s part-time assistant, H, arrived with a friend of hers from college to take us to the embassy. H’s friend came with us for the document drop-off. T did not even sign into the embassy and waited outside of security. After dropping off the paperwork we went shopping for groceries and took afternoon naps.

On Wednesday we had our I-600 interview. We arrived about 2:00 and were done by 2:30. The interviewer was very nice and said all the paper work looked fine. She went through each piece and told us they would fax it to the CIS office in Saigon. They would review it and then give their immigration decision in 4-6 business days.

On Thursday we spent the day with the girls. We had no appointments and could just explore the old quarter in Hanoi. We found some web pages to help us find the silk shops in the old quarter. Each block on the street has a different name, depending on what is being sold. Any given street will change from Silk Street to Cotton Street to Basket Street. A good map is a must. We went to purchase the tickets to the water puppet show for Thursday evening’s show.

On Thursday, Sophie woke up a little crabby. It was going to be a long day. We were moving to a different hotel. The first one was small and a distance from all the older part of the old quarter and the grocery store. Sophie was not happy about us packing bags. The new hotel is within walking distance of the lake and the shops we have been going to over the past week. The old hotel was near a fair number of metal working shops and other tradesmen. The new hotel is closer to the tourist area and the shops I want to frequent. Once we got to the new hotel, both girls were better. We walked down toward the lake where the water puppet theater was located and ate a late lunch. The girls ate well and were insistent on feeding themselves with their own spoons. The banana shake was a big hit with both of them. I am doing a great deal of shopping for the girls. The water puppet show was interesting. It featured native music and songs. The puppets are attached to a long bamboo pole and are operated by someone behind a bamboo curtain. They did some amazing things with these puppets. They showed a number of folk tales. The puppets swam, fished and played in the water. The girls were fascinated, at least until they fell asleep. In this hotel, we took two rooms so T could take a break from the sometimes loud activities of the girls. With the move and the water puppet show, the girls were exhausted. P and I decided to try a new sleeping arrangement. The girls fell asleep with P on our bed as usual, but in this room we had a single bed available, so we moved them to the single bed to sleep together. Much to our amazement, they stayed asleep while we moved them. That was good.

They slept from 7:00 p.m. until 6:30 a.m. on Friday. They both woke up happy and smiling. P and I were also well rested. We went downstairs for breakfast. The girls ate fruit, yogurt, juice and spring rolls. P got some of that thick Vietnamese coffee. After breakfast P and T stayed in the room and played with the girls while I went shopping. P and T made sure I had a good map. They played and the girls ate the fruit basket. They ate a banana and a large apple. The apples and pears here are huge, about the size of a large grapefruit. They are also very sweet. Today, we have a 2:00 p.m. appointment to pick up the girls’ Vietnamese passports. After that we go to the health clinic for their immigration physicals. That is the last thing we need before we get their visas to come home.

Day 9, Sunday in Hanoi

Today we are free to do as we please. We do not have any appointments to take care of so we decided to go to the Museum of Ethnology. The museum has a wonderful display of all the 54 ethnic groups in Vietnam from costumes, housing, to weaving designs to tombs. It must be a very popular place for wedding photos because we saw at least twenty if not more brides and grooms taking photos in wedding dresses and tuxedos. It was such a delight to learn about our girl’s heritage.

The girls are such good troopers Van sitting in her stroller and Vy holding P’s finger never leaving his side. Not one complaint out of them. I’m sure that will change soon but for now we are enjoying it.

We spent the rest of the day in the hotel room just playing and napping. The girls are starting to relax and showing their personally more and more each day. When we are out in public they are very reserved with not many smiles but in the hotel room smiles and laughs are abundant. They are both calling me Mama on a regular basis and tonight an English “no” instead of a VN “no” and “hi” were both added to the vocabulary. Vy is trying to feed me some and in return she is letting me feed her. When they are well rested they are opening up to me more and more but when they are tired it is all Ba or Dad. It is so nice to see them responding to P in this way. I just love seeing them bond with him.

Tonight was the fist time T needed some time alone without the girls as they are opening up they are becoming silly and loud at times. Thank goodness we have two rooms a sitting room where T is making his bedroom and a bedroom where P, the girls and I sleep, play and eat. This allows T to have some down time from being a big brother.

For supper we ordered pizza and had it delivered it was quite the challenge to place an order, but we got it done and the pizza was delivered without a problem.

Day 8, Saturday in Hanoi

The real estate in Hanoi is very expensive and all the buildings are long and narrow in the old quarter of Hanoi. This means, if you don’t have a room at the front of the hotel, your room will not have any windows. Our hotel room has no windows, so we did not have to sun to help wake us up. At one point, when everyone was stirring, we looked at P’s alarm clock and saw it was 1:30 in the morning. Remembering that the girls had been playing with it, we checked P’s watch and saw it was 9:00 in the morning. We had slept a much needed 12 hours.

By the time everyone was ready to leave the hotel it was 11 AM so we decided to walk to a nice restaurant called Sesame. When we arrived we were asked if we had reservations and we said no. They did not have room in the inside of the restaurant but did in the court yard outside. So we ate our lunch listening to the sounds of Hanoi. What a great Vietnamese experience. I highly recommend this restaurant for anyone coming to Hanoi. We will be back before we leave to go home.

After lunch we walked back to the hotel Vy holding P hand and Van holding T’s hand I was leading the way. The side walks are narrow and often there are scooters parked on the sidewalks and people sitting talking and eating making the area to walk very narrow if it exists at all. Many times we found ourselves walking on the street dodging scooters.

We arrived back at the hotel and it was time for the girls to take a nap and P to fill out the I 600 paperwork. P left and T and I tried to put the girls down for a nap. They would lie down and snuggle with T and soon fell fast asleep. T is a wonderful big brother or Ahn as the girls call him in Vietnamese. The girls just adore him as they soon will adore the two Ahns waiting at home to meet them.

When the twins woke up and P returned we decided to head out and see the Doug Xuan Market in the Old Quarter. It was a short distant from the hotel but again hard to maneuver the streets not only because of the scooters and people but because it was now approaching 5:30 PM and the streets were beginning to bustle with people coming home from work. When we arrived at the market, we discovered venders packing up their goods for the evening. We made a quick walk through and left to discover the streets of the Old Quarter. We would return during the weekday to see the market. On our excursion through the streets we happened upon a little grocery store that would sell YoMost and yogurt for the girls and drinks and treats for us. Our outing was done and we headed back to the Hotel and to find a place for supper. We decided to try the R&R restaurant. It is owned by an American man and his Vietnamese wife. They served western food in a bar like setting. The food was ok and the service was good but if you are craving hamburgers and Mexican cuisine it was an ok place to go but I would not go out of your way to eat there.

We took a taxi to the hotel with a driver that took no mercy on anyone or anything in his way going down the wrong way on streets and flashing his lights to have drivers get out of his way. We were very glad it was a short ride from the restaurant and that we made it to the hotel safely.

Our day ended with showers for the girls and to bed. It had been a very successful day. The girls are warming up to me one step at a time. We started to call them by their American names and they are catching on very quickly to responding to their new names. Both of them are calling Mama instead of Me (May). I think it is less confusing for them. They both have been successful in staying potty trained and letting us know in their own way when they have to go and have staying dry all the time. Let’s hope this continues. Every day is full of new discoveries and adventures for them and us. Both girls catch on very quickly to routines and understand quite a bit of what we say to them.