More stories from Vietnam

It wasn't until about the 4th day we were together that Adam revealed a big secret to me -- that he can walk! I'm not exactly sure why it was such a secret, but it was! He can also walk backwards, and much better than he walks frontwards! He finds the walking backwards hilarious and laughs the whole time he does it. Interestingly, the whole time we spent in Vietnam with the other families, he never walked in front of any of them. Apparently, that was classified information.

Even as he warmed up to me, Adam was pretty standoffish with the other families in the beginning. The exception was his best buddy in Vietnam, Brian. Brian and Ellen adopted 7 month old Owen from Can Tho. Adam adored him. Would constantly call out to him, and exchange silly faces. But didn't walk in front of him until near the end of our time in Hanoi.

The process in Vietnam was pretty flawless --- kudos to the Dillon staff. We only had one minor hitch on flying to Hanoi. It was a very long and hot day and the flight was a nightmare. Adam screamed the ENTIRE flight. And I do mean the ENTIRE flight. Have I mentioned that Adam has incredible stamina for screaming? He is all focus - trying to distract him only makes him madder. He's quite a character. I keep telling myself these are all good qualities that will stand him in good stead later in life.One of the wonderful things about the people of Vietnam is that in a situation like that, they ALL want to help. No one is mumbling and cursing under their breath. They reach out and try to help you calm the baby. I even had a man offer me healing oils to rub on Adam. This was the first and only point in the trip where I was struck buy the thought "Omigod, what have I done? How am I ever going to get this baby home if he can't take a flight of less than two hours?"

The Hanoi airport is another 90 minutes to 2 hours from the airport, so by the time we got to the Somerset Grand, everyone was really wiped out. We sat and sat and sat in the lobby for almost an hour until we were told there had been a mixup and the Somerset didn't have our reservations and we would be going to a nearby hotel for the night and returning to the Somerset the next day. So, all the bags got loaded back onto the bus, cranky and tired children were rounded up and we went. In the grand scheme of things, if you've got to have a screwup, this is the one to have. Easily handled, easily remedied.

On our return to the Somerset the next morning, we were all a touch giddy at the size of our rooms -- Adam and I had a livingroom, dining room, kitchen (complete with washing machine), two bedrooms and two bathrooms. Floor to ceiling windows in the living room with spectacular views of Hanoi. Pool, tennis courts, restaurants, children's playroom....well, here was the solution to the problem of the long flight home -- we would just stay here and live in the Somerset!

Hanoi retains a lot of the old French charm and is full of trees. Its also full of construction and business is booming. For all the old world charm, it felt much more European and modern than Ho Chi Minh City, and I have to confess I liked Ho Chi Minh City better. The people in Hanoi were polite and helpful, but somehow not as warm as in HCMC. I didn't see much of Hanoi, unfortunately. We did go to the waterpuppet show, which, with the except of actually getting Adam, was my favorite part of the trip. Don't miss it. Across the street from the waterpuppet theater is a beautiful lake with a temple in the middle that we visited after the show. Just lovely and peaceful.

The holy grail of Hanoi was the visa interview, scheduled for Thursday. (We had arrived in Hanoi on Monday and had hoped the Embassy could squeeze us in Tuesday as they were not working Wednesday that week, but it didn't work out. Everyone was so nervous about the Visa interview and we all toted accordion folders and files of birth certificates, tax returns, I171h's, etc. - basically every piece of paper we had accumulated along the adoption trail. We headed off to the Embassy, cleared security, and were herded into a room that could have been my local Department of Motor Vehicles. Why is it the American government offices are so gloomy and lacking in any sort of charm or decor? After a few moments, my name was called and I headed to the window. For those of waiting to travel, here was the visa interview in its totality -- Official: "Do you swear everything on this paper is true?" Me: "Yes" Official: "Sign here. You can pick up your visa at 4 tomorrow." Huh? That's it? Yep, that was it.

Of course, there was one little glitch yet to come -- on picking up the visa I noticed they had transposed the month and date of Adam's birth and rather than April 10, had it as October 4. I almost fainted. After briefly considering letting it go in hopes no one would notice, and worried that, as it was 4 pm on Friday that I would never get the visa back in time to head home that weekend, I reluctantly brought the visa back to the window. Twenty minutes later, I had the new visa. Thanks to Chuck, Cindy and Rhett for waiting with me. The scramble to change return tickets was now on.

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