Six Loads of Laundry

Another family, Merel and Nathan, came to Ba Ria in mid-March to adopt their son from the same place as Molly. They stayed in the same hotel as us, and came with us daily to the orphanage to visit their little boy. After about 2 weeks, they had their adoption ceremony and moved back to the Somerset Hotel in HCMC.

While they were in Ba Ria, they were really good to me. Nathan had a spare laptop, which he gave me so I could communicate with home. They would go out for dinner in the evenings, and bring me back some of their food. They ended up feeding me dinner most evenings for the two weeks. When they left, they had a gift for Molly - the dress she wore to our adoption ceremony - and a care package for me. They left me a kettle, some instant noodles, granola bars, and a couple of tupperware containers.

The kettle made my life so much easier at the hotel! Instead of asking the hotel for a thermos of hot water every day, I could boil my own water for Molly's bottles, to wash the dishes in, and wash our clothes. I felt a little foolish not picking one up for myself a lot earlier, but, of course, I was expecting to only be there one or two more days, not for 7 weeks. Little things make such a difference.

So after they left Ba Ria they still had a couple of weeks in HCMC before they could fly home. And they were at the Somerset! And, they invited Molly and I to come and visit them for a weekend.

We left on a Saturday afternoon and arrived a couple of hours later to settle into our spacious 2 bedroom apartment. I started a load of laundry right away. Remember, I had been hand-washing everything in the evenings after Molly went to sleep. So I saved up all the dirty laundry that week, and brought it all with us. We met up with another family and their adopted baby, and the group of us went out to the Refinery, a really nice restaurant downtown, which was very accomodating for the 3 babies, strollers and highchairs. The food was great, and we shared a nice bottle of red wine.

Molly and Nhan at the dinner table.

Another load of laundry or two before bed, and we were up to have breakfast then a swim in the pool. Molly seemed to like the swimming pool, but she got splashed in the face with water too many times, and eventually wanted out. Another load of laundry, then we walked down the street to the Botanical Gardens. There is a zoo there, and we saw a white rhinocerous, a tiger, an ostrich, and finally, I saw some storks! I really wanted to see storks in Vietnam while I was here. Sadly, I saw some pathetic looking birds in a cage in a zoo.

After more laundry, naptime and lunch, we had to say our goodbyes, wrap up some still wet clothing and travel back to Ba Ria. But oh, what a nice break it was. Extravagant, but very much needed return to civilization for me.

Merel, Nathan and I had met previously in Vancouver at a Vietnamese language class, but hadn't kept in touch much. The two weeks in Ba Ria, and the adoption of our children from the same orphanage really cemented our friendship. I look forward to a life-long camaraderie of our families, and the friendship that Molly and Nhan will have as they grow up.