Four Dragons Dancing on the surface of Water Audiences

We went to see the Water Puppet Show today at the Thang Long Water Puppet Theatre. Act four is the title of today's blog since that was my favorite of the 17 acts that made up the total show. It is a puppet show where the puppets all appear to the dancing on the water and it really is quite entertaining. During the dragon sequence, the dragons actually had fireworks in their mouths that made them look like they were breathing fire. It was a little hard to follow at times since the dialogue was all in Vietnamese, but Jonah and Olivia both enjoyed it immensely. Jonah was able to translate a couple of scenes for us. OK, not really, but I bet he understood more than we did. Some other great scenes were; Unicorns play with Ball and Dance of four Holy animals.

I hope that you all had a wonderful Christmas. I spent 8 hours (I am not exaggerating) negotiating with the travel agent and the Hotel Sales Manager to try and figure out our hotel situation. It is a really long story, but we were being over charged by the travel agent and I wanted to leave, but the hotel has a 48 hour cancellation policy that I was not informed of. If I left, the travel agent would be stuck with the bill that he had negotiated. I was trying to do well by the travel agent and not saddle him with the total bill, but also limit the amount that I was being charged for the next two nights. This involved about 10 calls with the travel agent and multiple meetings with the Hotel Sales Manager (who had nothing to loose and no reason to budge since she had a contract with the travel agent and was going to get paid not matter what). This was all transpiring in English which resulted in about 16 misunderstandings. To make a long story even longer, I was able to negotiate a reduced rate for the next two nights and then the contract between the Hotel and the travel agent is over, at which time I can negotiate a new rate directly with the Hotel, which will be even lower. It was by far the most exhausting and non-Christmassy feeling Christmas that I have ever experienced. Sigh.

Our day ended on a high note however. One of the families from our agency that has been in Hanoi for a few weeks had arranged a buffet dinner for all of us to get together and celebrate Christmas. It was nice to get away from the Hotel and visit with others that are undergoing the same plight as us. We were able to compare stories and get ideas about how we can try to expedite this visa process and where to find the best pottery in Hanoi.

Tonight, after the Water Puppet show, Jonah became started to get crabby and became increasingly agitated and started crying. We had stopped in a restaurant to get dinner and he was crying so loud that Betsy and I had to take turns going outside with him so as not to disturb the other restaurants patrons. We ran through the check list; not tired (two hour nap), clean diaper, not hungry. We just could not figure out what what wrong with him. He has never been inconsolable besides the first day that we met him and he just wanted to go to the nanny. He kept fussing the whole way home while we were in the taxi and Betsy noticed that he was trying to tug on his foot. When we got him up to the hotel room we took off his shoes and discovered that his sock had bunched up in his shoe which is also apparently too small for him and had cut off circulation to his foot. As soon as his shoes were off he was back to normal....we can't wait for him to be able to talk!

Since our visa approval has not come through, Olivia and I will for sure be leaving without Betsy, Jonah and Bea. We are currently working to change their tickets to leave one week later, hoping that his visa will come through in the next week. Please keep praying that we will hear something soon.

Can you believe that 2007 is almost over? I am so thankful for all the blessings that this year has brought, for the continued health of my beautiful bride, for my adorable and spunky Olivia and for a new son that I already love fiercely. I am also humbled to have so many loving friends and family that have supported us in so many ways, I truly can't tell you how much I appreciate all of you.