Its On It's Way to Hanoi!!

I got a voice mail today from Beth at our agency telling me that our translated, authenticated, chunky dossier is on the way to Hanoi! Beth gave me a tracking number for the Fed Ex and, right now, the package is in Subic Bay Freeport, Republic of Philippines...on its way to Hanoi (ETA February 26)!!!

This is very exciting! It means the waiting really starts!

Also, on a less exciting, but still really fun note...the big, yellow, reclining chair that we ordered for the nursery came in!

Chuc mung nam moi!

Happy New Year is: "Chuc mung nam moi" (chook moon nahm moy!) in Vietnamese :) That and other fun Tet facts can be found at Viet Kitchen World (I also added the link to the list of the left).

We are continuing to have fun with the nursery (and spreading out cost a bit by purchasing things up front). Anyway, I thought it might be fun to share some of the items we have bought so far. Keep in mind the room is dark purple, and we are using yellow and light green for colors. We also have sort of two themes: stars and frogs. (You can click on the links for product descriptions...)

Sage Green Crib and Changing Table

Yellow Glitter Moon and Stars (by Twelve Timbers)

Yellow Clock with green glitter numbers and the words "I love you to the moon and back" (also by Twelve Timbers)

Sir Leapsalot Mobile and 5 piece Bedding (by Wendy Bellissimo...this line got quite a bit of press when Kelly Rippa used it in her nursery, but it was discontinued, so it was on clearance at Babies R Us...and it has both frogs and stars...I figure we can always look for other sets as well but this was cute and cheap)

Sir Leapsalot Peg Shelf

Yellow Moon and Stars Lamp

Froggy Tales Switch Plate Cover (a gift from Andrea)

Stuffed Frog and Monkey (monkey was a gift from Clare)

I also have a bunch of wish list items that I have found... I will save those for another post:)

DIA Closed for Tet

We just received notice from our agency that the Vietnam Department of International Adoptions is closing down for the lunar new year holidays ("Tet") from February 17th through February 24th. That makes sense, as Tet is a huge celebration in Vietnam. But, we are getting a bit restless, because it has been about 3 weeks since our documents were sent to translation in DC (and translation is estimated to take about 3 weeks), so we are hoping our dossier will be sent to the DIA in Vietnam very soon...

We will keep you posted:)

Speaking of holidays...Happy Valentine's Day...

Learning Vietnamese

The Rosetta Stone language software that we purchased arrived! The software is supposed to be able to teach us Vietnamese. I did a lot of research online, and this was the software that seemed to be the most thorough.

The only complaint that others seemed to have with this software was that it teaches Northern Vietnamese dialect (which apparently is so different from Southern Vietnamese dialect that learning one does not mean you can understand the other). Learning the Northern dialect is apparently a disadvantage to many Americans, because many of the Vietnamese that have settled in the United States are from the South. However, for us I think that it will be okay, because our purpose is really to be able to speak while in Vietnam, and we plan to be in the North of the country. Our agency does business with an orphanage close to Hanoi.

I am really nervous about the tonal aspects of this language. I have never studied a language before where the tone used could change the meaning of the words. But, we loaded the software, and we will see how it goes...wish us luck:)

Lots of Blogs about Vietnam Adoptions!

I recently stumbled upon an Vietnam Adoption BlogRoll (a list of blogs about adoptions from Vietnam). For anyone interested in reading about others' experiences, it is fun to click through these blogs! (Many of them describe the experiences of families that have brought their children back from Vietnam...so they contain cute pictures of babies!) It is also nice to read about others that are going through this same process.

Anyway we added our name to the list...

If interested, check out the BlogRoll.

The Year of the Pig is Approaching!

The Vietnamese celebrate the lunar new year (like the Chinese), and it is coming up soon. The Vietnamese call this holiday "Tet" (which many Americans recognize from the "Tet Offensive" during the Vietnam war...that offensive was named for its timing ... it was undertaken during Tet).

This year Tet will be the 18th of February, although the celebration is at least three days long. The new year will be the year of the pig! We think that it is likely that our baby will be born in the year of the pig (although you never know; it is possible that the baby was/will be born in year of the dog, which is almost over ... and in that case is already in the world or will be in the next two weeks...).

Anyway, for those of you that have not read your place mats in select Asian restaurants,it is believed that those born in the year of the pig have the following attributes: sincerity, honesty, tolerance and bravery. Attributes of those born in the year of the dog are said to include: generosity, stubbornness and trustworthiness.

Last week, we were in China Town in San Francisco, and it was buzzing with new year prep. There were pigs everywhere! It was exciting, because we want to learn about these holidays so that we can celebrate them with our Vietnamese child! We bought some red envelopes with pigs on them, because we read that in both China and Vietnam, putting money in the envelopes and giving them to people for the new year is good luck.