Thuy's out on the town

Today's lovely outfit was brought to you by Olivia, 9 months old adopted from Vietnam in February, and her wonderfully sweet Mommy Melissa. Thank you so much. Thuy was a hit all day in her tennis dress and we added a leopard print bow to the top of her head!

We headed off this morning to the Museum of Ethnology with 2 other World Child families. Our cousin took all of us in his car, it was tight but cozy. The museum was really great. Lots of information on the 54 minorities of Vietnam. My favorite was seeing the cultural outfits of the different groups and learning about the musical instruments and ancestral shrines in their homes.

Thuy is Nung as I've mentioned before. Nung people are known to wear dark indigo clothing. Not as colorful as the Dao people who wear red, but still very beautiful. Where I am confused is that Thuy's birth mom wore a bright red/green almost plaid type of blouse with matching head wrap to the G&R. I can't seem to find any picture of Nung people wearing this type of attire. I don't know if maybe her dress was for special occasions or something. I also learned there are several type of Nung, and I'm not sure which one Thuy is, I'll ask Thuy's birth mother when I write to her in the future. Tonight we did buy Thuy a beautiful velvet piece of clothing in the same Indigo color the Nung wear, our inspiration was the colorful pieces of clothing we saw today.

The museum was hot although we got up early to get started as soon as possible in order to beat the heat. The babies were a little cranky but so was I. Thuy is definitely an A/C princess now. Outside at the museum they had housing that represented different groups that you could walk through. It was really neat and a definite must see in Hanoi.

And while at the Museum we got our call from Martin.....WE GOT OUR APPROVAL FROM THE US EMBASSY TODAY!!!!! Yeah, so that means the US agrees for us to bring Thuy back to the states. So we had our second interview with the embassy today at 1400 and all went quite well. We got our yellow card and all we need now is our Visa and we're ready to go home! Four of the 6 families have gotten their approval. 2 more are still waiting, but hopefully Monday for them. Thuy's Visa should be ready at 16:00 on monday. So we'll be leaving hopefully late Tuesday night and getting back to Hawaii wednesday. I can't believe we're almost done. But I'm staying flexible and not getting my heart set on any return dates till I have that visa in my hand.

When we got back from the embassy Mom took one of the other families out shopping for jade and Bill went to change our airline tickets and buy one for Thuy. Yes, you have to buy a ticket for the baby on an international flight. Its 10% of our ticket cost. But they do give you a bassinet for the baby to sleep in which is quite nice. And Thuy and I spent time together at the hotel just us girls. It was nice. I love trying to find new ways to make her smile. Today I found pressing the left side of her belly makes her laugh.

We then went to Aunty's for dinner as usual and then Mom walked us around the neighborhood to say hello to some people she knows and to show off Thuy of course. Thuy was pretty hot and grumpy by the end but a very good sport. Mom had some very nice friends that gave Thuy a gold bracelet and another friend who gave her a silver bangle for the ankle.

Then we left for the water puppet show. If you ever go to VN you must see the water puppets. Its an ancient cultural activity. Of course very touristy now, but a must see and tickets are only $1.50- $2.50. We were bragging how good Thuy had been through all the running around all day, then about 1 minute before the show started she began to cry. We had bad seats in the middle of the room in the middle of a very long isle. She was crying so loudly an attendant came to get us. Everyone was very nice, and smiled, but I'm sure they thought "get that crying baby outta here." She said we could sit on an isle, but we just decided to leave. Bill and i had quite a good giggle over the whole ordeal. She had just had too big of a day. We went ahead and bought tickets again for sunday afternoon, but this time in the front row. So we can slip out if we need to, and Thuy won't feel so overwhelmed and crowded by so many people in front of her. The seats were so small our knees were hitting the seats in front of us.. and we're not all that tall.

So tomorrow, our cousin rented a car for us and he's driving us up to Halong Bay tomorrow with the same 2 families we went with to the Museum today. It is should be very beautiful and quite a nice break from the hustle and bustle of Hanoi.