INS interview

Today was pretty laid back. This morning Kurt took Ava for a walk around the block then we all went to the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi for the first of two interviews for our "Adopted Children Immigrant Visa". We have not used our drivers licenses since arriving so we did not have them with us. And, of course they asked for them. Basically people leave them with their cell phone at the door when they enter. They don't like to keep people's passports. The women that interviewed us had an English accent. She was very nice. She asked fairly factually based questions, like if and where we worked, how long we have known about Ava specifically, if other people lived in our house, those types of questions... We answered her questions and then we were done. Now we wait for the paper work to be faxed to Ho Chi Minh City for review and then returned so that we can have our second interview. In the mean time we should receive Ava's passport (hopefully Wednesday) and have her medical exam (hopefully Thursday or Friday).

Ava took a nap during the afternoon and then we decided to go with another family from Waterloo, NY for dinner at an American style restaurant. It did not go quite as planned so when we returned back to the room I was very happy to be "home". The eatery turned out to be an English pub, not really a sit down restaurant with air conditioning.

When you have a small baby in your arms many people want to see and touch her. The people especially like to touch her on the cheeks and make "fun" noises at her. As much as they want to see her, you also need to have her bundled up like it is zero degrees outside. We purchased the equivalent of a snow suit because we could tell people were not o.k. with the layers that we were putting on her. In addition to the snow suit hood she also needs to have on a hat. Needless to say when we get home or to our location and unbundle her she is sweating. The layers also make it hard to check for a wet diaper.

Another thing that is interesting is that women will ask to hold her, and I have to ask to get her back. They just love her and she loves them. I know it has only been a week and I know that she loves me as much as I love her but I am still not Vietnamese and she knows it... When they hold her she will fall asleep if she is tired and laugh if she is awake. As an American it is a bit hard to hand her over to them when they offer but I know it is the right thing to do - and in doing it I get to eat dinner with two hands or hike up to a cave. I do have to say that even though I can't speak Vietnamese they give as much advise about taking care of a baby as American women do when they figure out we are first time parents :)