Looks Like We Made It

Hope that subject line gets Barry Manilow humming around in your brain all day!  We arrived safe and sound last night.  It is amazing that a journey around the world can be predicted to within 5 minutes, as our 10:10 arrival was just five minutes late.  We were nervous about making our connection in Seoul since we waited over 2 hours for takeoff at JFK, but the pilot avoided a speeding ticket and flew us over the North Pole as quickly as possible.  We were on that plane for nearly 17 hours total. I sat next to a Vietnamese man from Boston and Saigon (apparently it's an American thing to call Ho Chi Minh City by its newer name).  Ai Van told me how he would love to show us around the country anytime, he taught me some Vietnamese writing, and I practiced a few of my  words on him.  He now lives in Boston and goes to the CT casinos 2x a month and with his winnings and no other job, supports himself and family back in VN.  He spoke with such love and pride about his country and guaranteed that we are completely safe here.  He didn't really know the word "adopt" but said that any baby coming to the U.S. was very, very lucky.

Once we arrived at Noibai Intl. airport here in Hanoi, getting through customs was quick and easy, and as soon as we crossed into the "waiting room" we saw a sign with Anthony's name on it.  We got out into Hanoi streets and breathed in the humid 73 degree air and I knew this was no place like home. We had a 45 minute drive to the hotel which was worth the trip in itself.  We saw the typical sights that we've heard about from others, of families crowded on scooters, the crazy traffic, the pho stalls, and the friends and families huddled together in cafes or on street corners socializing on a weekend night.  It is beautiful.  I felt the same way I did when I first drove out of Charles DeGaulle airport in Paris many years ago.  I already love this place and can't wait to come back.  That was the land of my ancestors, and this is the land of my daughter's, so I think that makes us Vietnamese too.  We slept on and off and now at 5:30 a.m. we are both awake and ready to start our day.  Our goals today are to convert some money, get the hotel room straightened out (all they had left here at the Hong Ngoc was the suite, the most expensive room in the hotel....yah right, we said we'd stay here for only one night and will try to demand a cheaper room today), shower fully, and start walking around.  We hope to find the Sofitel Metropole hotel, the place where Anthony's grandparents lived and started their family in the 1920's. For those of you who don't know, Saturnino Foronda, Anthony's paternal grandfather, toured the Orient and ended up in that hotel as a resident pianist.  It is here in Hanoi that he met his future wife, Lucienne, who was born here (daughter of a Parisian aristocrat and Chinese mother who settled in then Indochina)  and worked at a local music shop.  He walked in one day and, as the story goes, it was love at first sight on his part and he didn't give up until he made her his wife!  The Forondas are not Vietnamese by blood, by they are by residence, so we are here in Lola's homeland.  We hope to rediscover some of their haunts today.  

One piece of travel advice for my adoption buddies coming after us.....do NOT, under any circumstance, watch Marley and Me on the final leg of the trip if you fly Korea Air and it's offered.  Your face will be swollen beyond repair and you will completely dehydrate yourself! That is especially true if you left your beloved dog baby at home.....

Another Happy Birthday wish while it's still 4/4 back home to our now 2-year old nephew "Hank."  Sorry we missed your party Woo, but we have to come and pick up your cousin Baby Bea so she can come and play with you soon. 

update: We just had a tasty breakfast at the hotel.  It was a buffet with everything from bacon and eggs to eggrolls, bok choy, fried rice, and donuts.   Anthony negotiated our suite for what is probably still too much money, but we can live with it.  We need my sister here for her cutthroat bartering skills! We haven't yet heard from our agency staff here in country but rumor has it that we expect to have the G&R Wednesday or Thursday.  j

Sorry for the rambling.  Chalk it up to jet lag.  There's so much to say and it would take forever to describe every site we're seeing and emotion we're feeling. Just know that we are safe and settling in, and we are within days of meeting our daughter.

Off to the streets of Hanoi!  Love to all,

M&A