My Last Entry

We’ve been so busy because we have been waiting for the paperwork and having lots of meetings. Sophia and I have also been babysitting quite a lot. Nathaniel also takes lots and lots of time to take care of and I am so glad to say that we will be leaving Vietnam tomorrow on Dec. 12 2009. It is so funny because our flight leaves at 5:30pm and gets back to Vancouver at 6pm. It looks like it is only a half hour flight but really it is a night and half a day!

My Schedule:

6am – Nathaniel wakes us up. We play and watch T.V.. We get dressed and get ready to go

8am – Breakfast at the restaurant downstairs called Jaspas. I usually have blueberry pancakes and sausage with orange juice.

9am – Nathaniel has a nap and I do my homework and Blog (sometimes)

11am – We go out shopping and for lunch

3pm – We meet friends at the pool deck and play on the playground or swim

6pm – dinner out or room service and a movie or playdate

9pm – bedtime

My favourite memories of my trip to Vietnam:

1) Meeting Nathaniel at the orphanage. I couldn’t stop smiling, literally.

2) Riding on the reindeer with Sophia and Alex.

3) Going Shopping. You sort of had to play a game called “Don’t Get Hit by the Mopeds” and also you always had to barter because they usually start with some crazy price like 150. 000 Vietnam Dong when really it is worth much less.

4) The cruise of Ha Long Bay on Indochina sails.

5) Going to the opera called “A Christmas Carol”

6) The ice-cream shop (thank goodness for needing a bathroom break – that is how we discovered this place)

7)Making such good friends

8)Going swimming (even though it is a little cold. the water is 13′C)

9) Eating PHO BO on the street

10) We get to go home!

Thanks for following our journey and I hope to see everyone really soon.

Love,

Petra

WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Its been a while since we last talked. We have been doing some things to make the time go faster while we wait for the paperwork to be finished.

One of the best things that we did was go to the Chocolate Buffet! It was at a fancy hotel called the Metropole Hanoi. We had a Chocolate buffet and high tea. The chocolate fountain was beautiful. The place was decked out in roses and thick creamy chocolate pouring out the sides and smothering my marshmallow. It was glorious! When we got back to the table high tea was there. I had peppermint tea with cream and sugar and fancy sandwiches and little bits of chocolates on the small fancy plate shelf. I loved the small tuna sandwiches and my peppermint tea. Me and Sophia pretended that we were the princesses of England and our mother was Queen Elizabeth. We had to talk with a British Accent and we were twins and very proper. We even held our pinkies up as we drank our tea. After we ate we walked in the garden. It was BEAUTIFUL! And the pool was warm. Mommy said that if we are delayed even longer we can stay at this fancy hotel for one night.

HIGH TEA

MMMMM CHOCOLATE

MOMMY AND NATE

MY ROYAL SIBLINGS

CHRISTMAS TREE IN THE GARDEN

When we got back to our hotel all the moms and their babies came to our room and so did Sophia and Alex and we all brought our favourite stuffies and were in our pajamas and we watched Journey to the Center of the Earth (and it wasn’t made by a handicam). The babies laid on the floor with eachother. It was so cute because Anna and Nathaniel held hands.

NATE AND ANNA

Yesterday we went to the Canadian Embassy to find out when we could go home. Mommy cried. I had no idea what they were talking about, but apparently they gave us some hopeful information. We still won’t know until Thursday when we are allowed to go home. When we got back we went swimming and ate lunch on the pool deck.

At night it was so cute because I was sleeping with Nathaniel and my mom and Nathaniel reached for my hand and grabbed my finger. Now I know that he truly loves me.

NATHANIEL LOVES HIS BATH NOW

Stuff part 2

Yesterday I said bye to dad because he went back home. I will miss daddy. Say hi to him for me.

the elevator ride to say goodbye to dad

We went back to the amusement park. I loved it because of the bumper cars because they are my favourite thing in the whole wide world.

the PNE

bouncy castle

my favourite!

In the evening my mom and I ordered room service then I went to a play called A Christmas carol.It was REALLY SCARY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! My mom couldn’t go because Nathaniel couldn’t go so I went with another family who is adopting.

dressed for the opera

Nathaniel can sit up by himself now! He likes his wheely chair thingy and he still says “dadadadadadadadadad.”

New things

Yesterday I and my family went looking for the Bookworm bookstore. We couldn’t find it the first time we went, so we sent for lunch. Then we tried again on the way back but couldn’t find it. We then tried a third time using a taxi. We found it this time, barely. We bought Matilda for me and New Moon for mom. We also got some Vietnamese fairy tales in English for Nathaniel.

Then we went back to our hotel room where I finished my math test. It was horrible, just plain torture! After the math test we went to the water puppets!

The water puppets were really fun. They are Vietnam’s art form started when the rice fields would flood. They look a little creepy but they are fun. My favorite was the dragons! They first squirted water at each other, then fire! My next favorite was the fairies. They did a fairy dance. They look like people but had a “web” under their arms which flapped in the dance. Nathaniel liked the water puppets too. But he had to bounce every second or he’d get bored.

Nathaniel is my brother now and I love him so much. He likes to stand. He talks a lot, and basically he only says, “Hadadada!” He’s getting bigger everyday. I am very very proud of him. He doesn’t spit up as much as before too. Sometimes at night I use him as a pillow. He doesn’t like it too much, but I do because he’s so comfy.

Mommy discouved a new game he likes. You put him on your lap and say bounce him saying “sit, sit, sit, sit, stand up!” And when you say “stand up” you pop him up on his feet. He finds it so fun and will usually laugh so hard!

Today is a very sad day because my father is going home today. I’m sort of excited to stay because of no school! I’m a little nervous that I will miss Christmas, but everyone here feels we’ll be going home Dec 12.

Have a nice time in Canada!

Longer

Two days ago all the girls in our group had a beading party.Iam still working on my green bracelet because it keeps on breaking.

Yesterday Caroline,Sophia,Alex and I all went to a small amusement park. At the amusement park there was a ferris wheel, bouncy castle, bumper cars (where were sooo much fun man!), trains, coin operated rides, carousel, and cars that go around in circles. We went on the carousel two times because it was so fun. and on the second time round we kept changing seats. We would be on a horse, on a chair, on a pony and around again.

It was hot enough to go swimming yesterday so all the kids went swimming. It was so fun! I pretended to be a blue gecko. I had a dark blue head then faded to my white tall. My power was that I could change the colour of my tail and it would change the temperature of the water. “Gecko?!” Sophia was a magical dancing mermaid, and her power was that she could change into any type of animal.

We are going to be here for at least another week. At least there is no school! Oh yeah, uh huh! I’m going to miss daddy when he leaves on Saturday.

Good bye and I look forward to be home soon!

A regular boring day

Today we just hung out at the hotel and tonight we are going out for dinner to an Italian place.

Today we also spent 3 hours at the playroom with my friends, Sophia and Alex. We played with our reindeer. Grass Weasel and Snowflake got married.

Daddy bought an army Lego set and it is really fun. I am playing with the tank and the ambulance. I helped him build it. Nathaniel likes playing with tanks too.

Nathaniel first ate solid food today. He ate Congee that a waitress that works at our hotel made for him. He loves it!

Tomorrow I have a math test.

I hope we will be home on the weekend. Daddy will be home for sure on Dec. 5. Mom, Nathaniel and I might need to stay a little bit longer, but probably not.

Things!?

Yesterday the first thing we did was get my traditional outfit.

Then we went to a museum/ antique shop, and the man at the shop gave me a 700 year old Chinese coin! And mom & dad bought a love box; a love box is a box that men gave women they liked. On one side patterns on the other 2 doves. Its like a love note if your mom or dad thinks that the man she is dating is not good for her.

A girl named Thea (her family is adopting too) had her birthday party. In the goodie bags I got a pen, hello kitty note book, a dragonfly you can balance on your finger and a rubix cube (which I solved).

Cruise

The way to get to the cruise ship was to take a bus at 8am. So we had to get up early and have a quick breakfast. There was a man in the lobby who had a sign with my daddy’s name on it. Two other families joined us on the cruise. The bus ride was comfortable but long!

Getting ready to go

At the rest stop

At the dock

Too cool for school

Our cruise ship

When we got to the docks I was very excited. The weather was like spring time in Canada and it was a nice sunny day. To get to the cruise ship we had to take a smaller boat. When we got closer to the boat there was a pretty lady waving at us. They asked us to go upstairs to the dining room for a welcome drink and some information. Then they gave us our cabin keys and we went to our cabins.

The room had one large bed in the middle and two side tables. We stayed there until our first activity.

The activity was going to a beach called Titop Beach. He was the first cosmonaut and he holidayed there with Ho Chi Minh. There was also a staircase, 400+ steps, that went to the top of the island where you could take nice photos. My dad went up and mommy stayed with me. We went swimming and put Nathaniel’s feet in. After that we went back on the ship.

Titop Island

at the top

Ready to the cruise ship life

Our next stop was kayaking to a bat cave! I loved kayaking. I shared a twin kayak with daddy and he said we could go again in BC! We paddled from the ship through the bat cave. It was very fun because everything was carved out of rock and we saw a few bats fly around. After we went through the cave into a cul-de-sac we heard monkeys in the trees. I’ve never heard monkeys in the wild before it was really cool. Then we paddled back to the big cruise ship. After we dropped off our kayaks they let us jump into the water for a swim to cool off!

Into the bat cave!

and out again

Mommy, Mark (another daddy in our adoption group), and I went for a quick swim in Ha Long Bay. During our entire kayak trip the massage ladies were watching our babies. Both the babies and the massage ladies really liked the time together.

The babies with the massage ladies

Then we cleaned up and had dinner. It was a fancy dinner. After dinner we went to sleep in the beautiful comfortable bed!

At dinner, us with Scott, Sheila, and Dane; Mark's son Kai is sleeping in a car seat out of shot.

The next morning we went to Surprise Cave. It is the biggest cave in Ha Long Bay. In the first cave it was sort of small, but very amazing! There was even a pool of fresh water there. In the second cave I said, “Surprise!”, and then we went to the third cave and it was the biggest yet!

At Surprise Cave dock

After seeing all the caves we back to he dock and took the bus home. We were all tired and everyone had a bit of a sleep.

We don’t know when we’ll be home as we’re still waiting on paperwork from the Canadian side.

Hanoi

Today we went on our last shopping trip in Hanoi and we also went to a street restaurant where they have little plastic chairs and tables to eat at. And they give really good food and Coke. We ate Pho Bo. It is noodles, beef and veggies as a soup. As we ate the staff held Nathaniel so we could eat. He really liked them and luckily he didn’t barf on them.

We went to a silk shop where they have special people who make special clothes made to fit you and I am getting made a traditional costume. The main dress is light pink and the pants I have to wear under it are white. I have to wear high heels with my costume. Mommy is getting one too. Hers is orangey red with black pants. We pick them up on Friday. I am excited.

Today I learned that Nathaniel likes it when you hold him and make him fly around the room.

Everyone seems to be healthy today.

Tomorrow we go on a cruise for two days and one night! We are going to Ha Long Bay. We will sleep on a boat. What was really funny is I asked if there was going to be a swimming pool on board and my parents said no so I said that I guess there will just be a diving board. I am looking forward to going to the bat cave and kayaking with daddy. I won’t be able to write in my blog so I’ll tell you about it after my trip.

Sorry no pictures today cause we forgot the camera. We don’t know when we are coming home yet.

Another Day

In the morning mommy didn’t go to breakfast because Nathaniel was throwing up, but daddy and I did. After breakfast Nathaniel had a nap and woke up feeling better so we went out for lunch with Scott, Sheila and their baby Dane.

Then we went to the museum to see and find out about Nathaniel’s background.

A picture of the people Nathaniel comes from.

Some of the interesting things we learned were. Instead of having a Christmas tree some Vietnamese people have a spring tree and they decorate it with paper streamers, wooden beads and paper animals.

Traditional Nung clothing

Mommy told me that the Nung people just moved to Vietnam 200 years ago. They came from Thailand and most of the people don’t even speak Vietnamese. Nung people build houses that are lifted up high from the ground and under the house they have a barn and they have cows and chickens living under there. There was also this really tall house at the museum that you could go into and it had a really tall roof and instead of stairs they had logs carved with steps in them (that wasn’t from Nate’s people group).

Inside to the ceiling

a fire pit in a wooden house on stilts?

We also found a dish that it said that it was the dish that olden days Vietnamese people made casserole in. Great Grandma, here is a picture just for you. Do you think you could make some tuna casserole in that?

Also at the museum when we were looking at the houses, I saw a little kitten who was very young, but I wasn’t allowed to pet it because it might have a disease. We were really worried about it because it was so small, but then we saw some food so we thought that it belonged to the museum.

a quick snack

After we were at the museum we went to the gift shop and I thought I just had a sniffly nose and I sneezed and a whole bunch of blood came out, it dripped onto the floor, and on to my pants and my arm and my shoes! It was my first bloody nose. I was very proud.

When we got home, daddy was sick and went to bed. Mommy and I had room service and took care of Nathaniel. Now he is in bed too. It is time for us to sign off. I love you all .