We browsed through the gift shop and found some interesting things, but none more than this bottle of wine or alcohol. Yes, we believe that it is a snake inside.
We loaded back in the car and headed on to Vinh Long. We saw lots of interesting things along the way. Hannah is keeping a journal for her global studies class. We saw lots of people working in the rice fields and lots of graves, which are above ground. Then you never know what you might see on a motorcycle.
When we saw the bridge ahead, we knew we were in Vinh Long. It's a beautiful bridge.
We went straight to the Cuu Long Hotel which is where we stayed both trips to adopt Hannah. My friend Kim, who adopted at the same time as me, affectionally called it the Lizard Motel...see if you can guess why?
Hannah was a little freaked out, but she is managing. The rooms have improved and I'm sitting in my room using my computer with wireless, so I am happy. Do wish the mattresses were a little thicker.
After checking in to the room, we had a little lunch across the street. We ordered beef and french fries! I remembered having the beef that came with limes and a mixture of salt/pepper....it was just as good as I remembered! We are right on the MeKong River. Here's a pic from our balcony of the hotel.
And of course I had to have one of Hannah on the balcony!
Then we headed down to meet our driver to head to the orphanage. I had some nervous energy at that point. I was excited and worried. As we drove, I looked for Ha's house. Ha worked for Dillon (my adoption agency) and was our Vietnam connection for the adoption. Hannah was actually named for Ha. Hannah was taken to a clinic at 2 days old and didn't have a birth certificate as she was born at home. Ha gave her name and then they had to go back to the birthmother to get her to sign it. She left Ha as her given name, but added Le and her last name. That's where Hannah HaLe comes from. We stayed at Ha's house some during the first trip to Vietnam. We thought we saw it, but I wasn't sure. But when we turned I recognized the long skinny road that leads to the orphanage.
We drove up and went in to see the director first. He doesn't speak English and I don't speak Vietnamese. He didn't seem too happy. So he picked up his phone and called Thomas (the man who made the appt. for us). Thomas seemed surprised that I didn't have a translator, but I told him that we just wanted to see the children in the orphanage and see where Hannah's orphanage was. I fortunately had moved some pics from the adoption to my phone and was able to show them to the orphanage director. That was very helpful. As we walked out, we saw Hannah's caregiver. We had seen her when we came 6 years ago when I adopted Ella. She remembered us and came and hugged Hannah. She was so sweet. When adoptions were going on here, money came into the orphanage. Dillon invested so much in the orphanage and it is so much nicer than it was when Hannah was here. They haven't even torn down part of the old orphanage where Hannah stayed and built another facility. But because none of us could communicate, I couldn't figure out what was in the newer part.
Here is Hannah and her caregiver from 10 years ago - Hannah is the 2nd from left:
From 6 years ago:
And from today:
What a special treat that was! Then we headed to the where the babies and children were. The beds were full. I'm not going to lie...it was hard. There were many special need babies there. I took pictures of them all. I rubbed them and smiled at them. You could see the blank stare in their eyes. Some wanted to hold on to our hands. I cried as I watch Hannah go from bed to bed just thinking that the children needed a mom or dad. Here are a few glimpses and my favorite pic from the day of Hannah holding one of the babies. All of the orphanage caregivers were so nice to let us take pictures and hold the children. I was very thrilled to the way the opened us for us to see everything and took care of us.
They genuinely seemed excited to see Hannah as well. The first picture is of Hannah with Binh, the director
And here are some of the faces of the children:
And here's my favorite pic from the day!
Isn't that precious! That little fellow smiled and smiled at both of us and I could have walked right out of there with any of them! Pray that adoptions will begin again with the US or just that the babies will have Mom and Dad's who love them! After we saw all of the children I showed our guide Hannah's referral picture that was taken on a swing at the old part of the orphanage. He took me there and said the swing was gone, but showed me where it had been. Here's Hannah on the swing.
And here was Hannah today-
She then sat on the very bench where I first held her over 10 years ago and I videoed her telling me what adoption had meant to her. It was a special experience. Then we said our goodbyes and headed back to the hotel. Our driver left us at that point and we changed clothes and headed to the market. Hannah wanted to drink the juice from a coconut, so we did that and bought some pho bowls for us to have at home. We mostly just enjoyed taking in the culture around us. We watched a woman scale a fish to sell, we bought some mango, and Hannah fell in love a little skinny kitten someone had tied up to her food stall. I was amazed at how many were out in the streets as we walked...here are a few pics from the market:
And this is dragon fruit...we love dragon fruit...sort of a mix between kiwi and watermelon. You can see inside it on the bottom right corner.
After the market we rested a little before heading back across the street for dinner. We're back in our room and we've just experienced a huge storm...lightning, thunder, and monsoon sounding rain. But it seems to be about over. We'll get some sleep as reflect on all we experienced today. Thank you so much for praying. Tomorrow we are headed down the MeKong River on a boat to see a floating fruit market and a few other places. It is a 3 hour tour and then we will grab lunch and load back up in the car. Before we head back to Ho Chi Minh City, we're headed to the clinic where Hannah's birthmother's sister took her at 2 days old to relinquish all rights. It's about 50 kilometers from here. We think that will also give us a good idea from the area where Hannah was actually born as we travel through the villages. Then we will go back to Ho Chi Minh City. Continue praying...the communication is always fun when we don't know the language and they don't know ours! Sorry this is long, but I had such good pics to share! Susie
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