Hello from the Circus

I'm not going to clarify the title of this post. You can decide if it means that we are offering a greeting from a large building with seats, music, acrobats, and animals doing tricks or if we are crying for help from a large (but never quite large enough) hotel room with a brother and sisters running, screaming, laughing, crying, hitting, playing, spilling, pooping, and sometimes-frustrated parents. Either is possible.

This morning we went to the circus. It was pretty great. It was a dingy building (Barbie encouraged the kids to "hold it" after visiting the restroom), but there were wonderful acrobats, funny clowns (without creepy makeup!) and some acceptable animal acts. Barbie handed Julia to me because her neighbors kept feeding her popcorn. However, when Julia joined me, the folks behind us kept feeding her potato chips. I guess there aren't the same sensibilities in Vietnam as in the US. Anyway, it was a fun way to spend the morning.

For lunch I went and got some bread near the hotel. There is GREAT bread here, but unfortunately near our hotel there is not a bakery (the nearest one is about a 15 minute walk). Nearby, however, we found a business that sells banh mi (french baguettes) and washes motor scooters. So we had some bread with peanut butter, honey, cheese and fruit for lunch today. Barbie is feeling like authentic Vientnamese tonight, so we will probably do that. I, personally, have had pizza every day for 5 days, so I don't want that.

Last night was another rough one. Julia didn't want to sleep very well. I slept well, but I still feel tired because of a bad cold I've contracted. Hopefully it isn't SARS or the bird flu. If it is, I've at least had a wonderful experience on this trip.

Tomorrow we pick up Julia's Vietnamese passport and take her to the international clinic for the medical exam for her Visa. It isn't a comprehensive exam, but an exam that checks for contagious diseases for purposes of clearing her to vist the US. Tomorrow we will email the US consulate in Saigon to let them know that we have done all the required steps for Julia, except for obtaining the Visa. We will ask them to give us an update on where the process stands. We don't know if they will reply or not. If we hear nothing for a couple days, we will try and call.

The next part of the trip may become difficult. Barbie's family will leave one week from now. We are scheduled to return home 2 weeks from today. We will only be able to come home then if the Visa gets cleared. So after Monday we will be at the waiting game. At least on Tuesday and Wednesday we will be visiting beatutiful Ha Long Bay (spending tuesday evening there). We are excited about that.

That's all for now. Thanks for reading and hopefully this coming week we will have some good news.

Take care,
Doug