We got a call late last night to be in the lobby at 11:15am for our meeting with the US State Department at noon. We went to the Diamond Plaza on the 8th floor where the Embassy is located. We passed through Security and then had to wait. And wait we did, we didn't get into our interview until after 1:30pm. He asked the standard questions and said have your facilitator come back at 430pm to pick up your package for your Visa interview in Hanoi. We ate lunch there since the Diamond Plaza is a great big department store with a theatre and office building attached. Of course the only place they have to eat there is KFC. So we had a nice lunch and headed back to the hotel where I had to go and pick up Keere's passport at 2:45pm. Now picking up the passport was quite the adventure. First we were told to go to the front of the line of a crowd of about 100 Vietnamese people also trying to pick up their passports, needless to say they weren't happy about a big white American butting her way to the front of the line. I kept saying sorry but it didn't help matters. Then the facilitator that was helping us pick up the passports decides after we stood in the crowd for a good 20 minutes that we actually could just go into the other room and pick them up. I signed my name and viola, Keere's passport or Ngoc's passport since they don't use her American name I gave her on her paperwork. We have now spent the night packing trying to get everything in order for our flight to Hanoi tomorrow morning.
I have to say that I'm a little sad that I'm taking Keere away from Ho Chi Minh City tomorrow where she has spent almost the first 6 months of her life. I'm sure she won't remember any of the time she spent here in Vietnam and soon will be an All-American girl. It's a bittersweet moment because I know here she would have no future but with her family and friends that are waiting for her a half a world away and of course with her Mommy and Grandma, that her future is bright and filled with more love than she could ever imagine.
PS: I will add pictures tomorrow once we are in Hanoi, so check back!
I have to say that I'm a little sad that I'm taking Keere away from Ho Chi Minh City tomorrow where she has spent almost the first 6 months of her life. I'm sure she won't remember any of the time she spent here in Vietnam and soon will be an All-American girl. It's a bittersweet moment because I know here she would have no future but with her family and friends that are waiting for her a half a world away and of course with her Mommy and Grandma, that her future is bright and filled with more love than she could ever imagine.
PS: I will add pictures tomorrow once we are in Hanoi, so check back!
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