Last days in Saigon

Hi everyone, we'll I've been a bit lame on catching up with my blog, so if you're in the mood, sit back for a bit of windy-ness.

Friday...
On Friday, we said our goodbye's to Sandy when she left for her long flight home at 9am. Everyone was sad to see her go, but it's great that she'll have Christmas with her hubbie and sons. Cindy made a quick trip to get Trey's passport (see the cute photo on her blog!) That afternoon, Cindy and the 2 other boys with their parents had to go and get their visa medical checkup. After the medical, they all chose to wait for the results, which was long and hot in an unconditioned hospital, but it was nice to have everyone's all-clear on Friday.

Now everything is set, except for the pesky I-600. We've heard that the paperwork 'has been submitted'... whatever the heck that means. So now it's most likely Cindy will be here a few days after I must leave. Keep praying and sending good thoughts that they get their approvals soon! After they get the ok, then they have to submit paperwork that takes 2 business days to process, have a 'visa / exit' interview of some sort, then they can finally go home!

Saturday...
On Saturday, Cindy, Trey and I went to the Ben Thanh market - this HUGE market selling everything you can imagine. It was a bit overwhelming for me, you get inundated every which way with vendors trying to sell you something; "What are you looking for? Miss! Miss!". And you need to bargain bargain bargain... something I'm not good at or comfortable with. We wandered around a bit, but didn't buy anything. We wandered in some shops outside of the market, and had lunch. After lunch, it was definitely getting to be nap time, and Trey was tired too. We were all hot, so time to head back to the hotel.

In the afternoon, we made a quick trip to the grocery store for some necessities, but mostly hung around the hotel. It was the perfect thing for Trey. He had two long naps, and some great playtime on the floor with his toys - he was scootin' around everywhere. He doesn't quite have the knees going in a true crawl yet, but it's kind of tough on these floors. He'll be cruising around soon, and Cindy will be wishing for the scooting days! :-)

Sunday...
Today Cindy and Trey went to the Zoo with the other families, and I finished Christmas shopping (to be sent late!). Another quiet afternoon, and then we went out for some Thai food. I've managed to finish 3 novels since leaving for this trip... bliss.

It's a Christmas Party...
I have to tell you about the 'street party' going on the last couple of nights. There is no way to fully describe this, but I'll give it a shot.

After arriving, I was surprised by the amount of Christmas decorations everywhere. Lit trees, santas, reindeer, you name it. On Saturday night, we were driving to a restaurant for dinner with the other families. I noted that all of the scooters seemed to be families with their kids on them, the amount of families struck me as odd, but not enough to comment on it.

Side note: Yep, entire families on one scooter. Mom, dad, 1-3 kids. Some kids, 2-3 years old or so, standing up on the seat sandwiched between mom and dad... this in complete chaotic traffic. One of the other adoptive moms and I were looking out the window in amazement bordering on horror, and a Vietnamese mom and dad with the pre-requisite toddler standing between them started laughing at us. But I digress...

After dinner, we walked out of the restaurant and it was complete pandemonium. We were on a large main shopping/business street. There were Christmas lights everywhere, which hadn't been on the night before. It was obviously a festival of lights / Christmas party. Music, Christmas displays of fake snow, snowmen, trees etc., which everyone needed to get their photo taken in front of. And scooters, scooters, scooters. Millions of them in the street, and of course plenty on the sidewalk when the streets overflowed. Christmas music piped in through large speakers. Everyone was happy and laughing, the mood was infections and we just had a blast. We caught a cab(ok, I don't think our cab driver was having that much fun), and enjoyed the sights and laughed the whole way home. And... of course... not one of us had a camera.

Tonight Cindy, Trey, myself and the mother of one of the other couples went out for the Thai dinner. Afterward, it was the same party, a bit smaller - but still fun-mayhem. We walked right into the middle of it and got some photos and video. At some point we'll try to post some pics.


What's next...
Tomorrow we leave for Hanoi. Saigon has been fun, but we're looking forward to a new city and experience. We're meeting 3 other families up in Hanoi. One has their i-600, and are just waiting for their child's passport, so I'm guessing they'll be heading home by the end of the week at the latest. Another family has been there since before Thanksgiving - they have their little one, but I can't imagine the wait for them. Dad needs to head home with their other 2 children on Friday, so Mom will be left in Hanoi with baby, waiting for the elusive I-600. I'm happy she'll have 4 other families in the same boat, they'll help each other tremendously.

There is a Christmas party in the works with all of these families, so that should be great fun.

Ok, if you've made it this far, thanks for reading my rantings! The Prince is asleep, I'm going to see if Cindy wants to watch a movie and then it's bed and up early to pack. More soon!