Almost there

The Embassy interview went well. It wasn't really an interview, like they used to do, thanks to the new procedures. All I had to do was swear that everything in the visa application was true to the best of my knowledge. Hey, no problem!

We were there for a long time, however. They told us we could get the visas the same day, at 4 p.m., so we elected to hang out and wait for them. Over an hour in a government office waiting area with a toddler... ugh. He was moderately good, with one small meltdown. Unfortunately, the visas weren't ready at 4. They told us maybe 5 p.m., so Thao sent us back to the hotel and waited for us. 5 p.m., no visas. They are promising by 9 a.m. tomorrow.

What does that mean? That possibly means that by 9 a.m. we're done and free to leave Vietnam. Unfortunately, we might not be able to leave early. There was a typhoon in Taiwan on Monday, and it resulted in all flights being canceled out of Taipei. Our travel agent is warning that he might not be able to change our tickets because the Taiwanese airline we're on is so backlogged right now.

Most of us are all a little depressed about this. We're all so ready to come home. So, we're crossing our fingers and seeing what can be done to get us home early, but we really can't give the travel agent the go-ahead to find us flights until we have the kids' visas in hand tomorrow.

But as you saw from Ray's posts, today was a good day. Loc was just great today. Happy kid with only the normal toddler tantrums every now and then. Plus, MAJOR development. When Ray tried to give him his bottle this morning, he screamed and wriggled away and cried for "Meh! Meh!" (His version of Mommy -- a Vietnamese/English hybrid). He did it a few more times today, calling for "Meh" when he wanted something. Pretty cool, huh? And I was so worried about bonding.

Also, he understands a ton of Vietnamese and very little English, but he still surprises us. This evening he instigated a peek-a-boo game with the living room curtains. He'd hide behind then, and we'd wonder aloud where he was, and he would burst out of them and come running at us. It was simply amazing -- just from the tone of our voices, I guess, he figured out how to play the game. So, if we are stuck here till Sunday, at least we have something fun to do.