And in the language I would may have used PM (pre Macy ) OMFG.
But lets get to that later.......................All is well. We are starting to settle in together nicely. This evening is the best so far. Yesterday afternoon we went to the Canadian Embassy and I applied for Macy's Canadian passport. (we will not discuss how unhelpful and downright rude the woman who works there is, and yes she is Canadian, but she kind of came around at the end.) Before we left the Embassy we met up with the courier and we sent off our Citizenship papers to Singapore (it would be far too easy if it was all done at one spot now wouldn't it?) What happens now is, the paperwork gets to Singapore, (Canadian office in this part of the world for Citizenship and Immigration) they look it over, (it better be correct) then they call the Hanoi CDN Embassy, who issues Macy a temporary passport. I expect to hear next week. We go back to the Vietnamese passport office Tues at 3 to pick up their Vietnamese passports. Then all the official stuff will be done. We can then leave the country.
Macy is well. She coughed once today, and she sounded a little stuffy, but her chest was good and she did not have a temp, but she does have a condition around her lips, where they are chapped and a little cracked, also the top of her ear is red. So, the totally stessed out new mother/nurse I am took her to the clinic. Nothing too serious, she probably is a bit stuffy from the air conditioning. A couple of the other children have a bit of a chest thing, so I wanted to be sure she was not coming down with anything. The Doc was great, she did not even laugh when I almost started crying when I told her, "I am here because, well Macy coughed once". She did put her on an antibiotic for 5 days as her nose and throat are a bit red. We got an ointment for her lips and there was an improvement after one dose. Her chest is clear as are her ears. She has grown 5 cm since her immigration medical Apr 3 so I am pleased with that. Giving her the meds went better than I thought but she hates the nasal mist and screams. She is eating better today, chicken at supper and she is drinking more formula at each bottle. She continues to be bright and a bit serious until you engage her, then she chats,(loves the sound of her own voice and likes to be loud) claps her hands and will blow you kisses. She has a temper and if she does not get her own way she throws herself back and just screams. She is a real flirt with all the boys, and loves the guys here at the hotel and will smile and chatter at them whenever we see them.
It is the start of the rainy season here and it poured and poured all last night and until about noon today. (rain like I have never seen but I guess that's why it's called the rainy season).We went to the clinic for 1pm, had lunch out and back here about 3pm. We had a quiet afternoon, Kathy is feeling a bit under the weather, (side pt. when we were at the medical clinic today I was the only one with a temp) so we did not do too much but chill for a couple of hours.
.....................................................Which brings me to the OMFG part. Well, we changed hotels yesterday and are at a great small place in the Old Quarter. The baby cot they have is for a younger child, and it swings, not so great for a child who pulls herself up to a stand and is trying to walk around holding on to the furniture. So I asked at the desk where I could buy a play pen type of thing, Kathy's idea last night of having Macy sleep in a suitcase did not go well and she was in the bed, and none of us had a good night. I personally think it may be a CAS issue to have a child sleep in a suitcase, but my sister the child development specialist seemed to think it was OK lol (see pic, sorry but I cannot figure out how to move the pics to the correct place in the blog posting, if anyone wants to email and tell me how that would be great, but I need clear instructions ) Back to my story. The guy at the desk, told me to wait until 5 or 530 and one of the others guys would go with me and get me a good price. Sounded good to me I thought!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So 5:20 comes along and they call from the desk. Kathy was staying with Macy while I ran down the street with the guy. NOT................. We went on his motor scooter. OMFG. Have you seen it here? there are millions of them, there seems to be no rules of the road, they ride everywhere, and I mean everywhere, there was traffic so he started riding on the sidewalk. Red lights and one way signs mean nothing. It was the daily 2 hr rush hour. So think a sea of motor bikes, with busses, cars and a few small trucks in the mix. They weave in and out, they do not use signals and there are sometimes 10 across a lane and it is traffic as far as you can see. Moving traffic, not stopped traffic. And before we returned it started to light rain, just to make the experience that much better for me, but hey I did have on a helmet and I reminded myself I have out of country insurance, with the added bonus I can cross one more thing off my bucket list. We went to few places that sell baby strollers and such, but not what we were looking for, the young guy called his father who told him where to find what we wanted, so then we drove about 20 min (seemed like across country with the traffic) to the streets that sell wooden furniture. I found a small foldable wooden playpen/crib for $22 US, delivered for $24 USD total, which was great as I had a horrid vision of trying to bring this thing back to the hotel on the bike (don't laugh they carry everything on the bikes here, yesterday 2 guys were transporting plate glass pieces, isn't that a nice safe thing to carry) The playpen works great. It is beside the bed, Macy is sound asleep and the world is GOOD.
Tomorrow evening we are boarding a train, 3 families in total and going to a place called Sapa. You take a soft sleeper overnight arrive in the AM, stay over night in a hotel/spa and the next night return to Hanoi taking the night train again. All this for less than $175 a person. It is a very beautiful area and we are excited. Next week we have reservations to go to Halong Bay. We have reserved a private junk. 7 cabins, 14 adults, 4 of the families are going and it is just us on the boat. We will be on the boat for 48 hours. Vietnam is great, friendly, warm, OK some days hot, but we are comfortable. The other families are great as are the other kids. We do some things together but are off on our own too. We are having a great time, but the very best part of all this is Macy, she already is the SUNSHINE in my life
But lets get to that later.......................All is well. We are starting to settle in together nicely. This evening is the best so far. Yesterday afternoon we went to the Canadian Embassy and I applied for Macy's Canadian passport. (we will not discuss how unhelpful and downright rude the woman who works there is, and yes she is Canadian, but she kind of came around at the end.) Before we left the Embassy we met up with the courier and we sent off our Citizenship papers to Singapore (it would be far too easy if it was all done at one spot now wouldn't it?) What happens now is, the paperwork gets to Singapore, (Canadian office in this part of the world for Citizenship and Immigration) they look it over, (it better be correct) then they call the Hanoi CDN Embassy, who issues Macy a temporary passport. I expect to hear next week. We go back to the Vietnamese passport office Tues at 3 to pick up their Vietnamese passports. Then all the official stuff will be done. We can then leave the country.
Macy is well. She coughed once today, and she sounded a little stuffy, but her chest was good and she did not have a temp, but she does have a condition around her lips, where they are chapped and a little cracked, also the top of her ear is red. So, the totally stessed out new mother/nurse I am took her to the clinic. Nothing too serious, she probably is a bit stuffy from the air conditioning. A couple of the other children have a bit of a chest thing, so I wanted to be sure she was not coming down with anything. The Doc was great, she did not even laugh when I almost started crying when I told her, "I am here because, well Macy coughed once". She did put her on an antibiotic for 5 days as her nose and throat are a bit red. We got an ointment for her lips and there was an improvement after one dose. Her chest is clear as are her ears. She has grown 5 cm since her immigration medical Apr 3 so I am pleased with that. Giving her the meds went better than I thought but she hates the nasal mist and screams. She is eating better today, chicken at supper and she is drinking more formula at each bottle. She continues to be bright and a bit serious until you engage her, then she chats,(loves the sound of her own voice and likes to be loud) claps her hands and will blow you kisses. She has a temper and if she does not get her own way she throws herself back and just screams. She is a real flirt with all the boys, and loves the guys here at the hotel and will smile and chatter at them whenever we see them.
It is the start of the rainy season here and it poured and poured all last night and until about noon today. (rain like I have never seen but I guess that's why it's called the rainy season).We went to the clinic for 1pm, had lunch out and back here about 3pm. We had a quiet afternoon, Kathy is feeling a bit under the weather, (side pt. when we were at the medical clinic today I was the only one with a temp) so we did not do too much but chill for a couple of hours.
.....................................................Which brings me to the OMFG part. Well, we changed hotels yesterday and are at a great small place in the Old Quarter. The baby cot they have is for a younger child, and it swings, not so great for a child who pulls herself up to a stand and is trying to walk around holding on to the furniture. So I asked at the desk where I could buy a play pen type of thing, Kathy's idea last night of having Macy sleep in a suitcase did not go well and she was in the bed, and none of us had a good night. I personally think it may be a CAS issue to have a child sleep in a suitcase, but my sister the child development specialist seemed to think it was OK lol (see pic, sorry but I cannot figure out how to move the pics to the correct place in the blog posting, if anyone wants to email and tell me how that would be great, but I need clear instructions ) Back to my story. The guy at the desk, told me to wait until 5 or 530 and one of the others guys would go with me and get me a good price. Sounded good to me I thought!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So 5:20 comes along and they call from the desk. Kathy was staying with Macy while I ran down the street with the guy. NOT................. We went on his motor scooter. OMFG. Have you seen it here? there are millions of them, there seems to be no rules of the road, they ride everywhere, and I mean everywhere, there was traffic so he started riding on the sidewalk. Red lights and one way signs mean nothing. It was the daily 2 hr rush hour. So think a sea of motor bikes, with busses, cars and a few small trucks in the mix. They weave in and out, they do not use signals and there are sometimes 10 across a lane and it is traffic as far as you can see. Moving traffic, not stopped traffic. And before we returned it started to light rain, just to make the experience that much better for me, but hey I did have on a helmet and I reminded myself I have out of country insurance, with the added bonus I can cross one more thing off my bucket list. We went to few places that sell baby strollers and such, but not what we were looking for, the young guy called his father who told him where to find what we wanted, so then we drove about 20 min (seemed like across country with the traffic) to the streets that sell wooden furniture. I found a small foldable wooden playpen/crib for $22 US, delivered for $24 USD total, which was great as I had a horrid vision of trying to bring this thing back to the hotel on the bike (don't laugh they carry everything on the bikes here, yesterday 2 guys were transporting plate glass pieces, isn't that a nice safe thing to carry) The playpen works great. It is beside the bed, Macy is sound asleep and the world is GOOD.
Tomorrow evening we are boarding a train, 3 families in total and going to a place called Sapa. You take a soft sleeper overnight arrive in the AM, stay over night in a hotel/spa and the next night return to Hanoi taking the night train again. All this for less than $175 a person. It is a very beautiful area and we are excited. Next week we have reservations to go to Halong Bay. We have reserved a private junk. 7 cabins, 14 adults, 4 of the families are going and it is just us on the boat. We will be on the boat for 48 hours. Vietnam is great, friendly, warm, OK some days hot, but we are comfortable. The other families are great as are the other kids. We do some things together but are off on our own too. We are having a great time, but the very best part of all this is Macy, she already is the SUNSHINE in my life
5 comments:
Oh, it all sounds so exciting! I know you are taking lots of pictures. I'm glad to hear that Macy is well.
And, I'm glad you survived the scooter ride!
I love it! "OMFG"! too funny but cute.
You sounds fabulous.
Lea
xo
You are one brave, crazy, adventurous gal.I can just see you on the back of one of those bikes holding on for dear life. I never would have been brave enough to go off by myself with a stranger on the back of a bike in a strange country.Hats off to you! Macy looks soooooo cute sleeping in the suitcase. Life is an adventure and it sounds like you are living one.
I am really enjoying these posts Ellie. I have had so many people ask me what she (Macy) is sleeping in now I can tell them. I can just see the motorcycle ride lol. OMFG is the only way to describe it. We googled Halong Bay and it sounds great. Have a blast
Love Gord and Karen
I'm a little jealous. I would have loved to go to Sapa but the weather up there was bad while we were in Hanoi...like SNOW bad. And we were simply not prepared for snow.
An overnight train...such an adventure.
What is the name of the boat? I wonder if you will have our same tour guide. Yann would know probably. I'm going to send you a picture of him by email. We called him the baby whisperer. He has a lovely singing voice and would sing Vietnamese lullabies to Benjaminh and then wouldn't give him back once he was sleeping...that trip was such fun.
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