Mitty wanted to know if I knew of any American families who were trying to adopt Vietnamese children. They (WGNO-26 News) are doing a story about foreign adoptions - well, right here in the Saigon Hotel are two women with their adopted (almost) children. They thought it would be 2 weeks, but one of them has been here 5 weeks and the other 6 weeks. One of the women - (good name!) is trying to get papers for 2 girls ages about 5 and 9 from INS. The other woman, Stacie is adopting an infant with severe anemia and Malaria. They have agreed to be interviewed by Mitty.
Has the Ambassador been sworn in yet? I heard it was being held up by the Senator or rep from one of the Eastern states has boycotted until all MIA/POWs are accounted for. My humble opinion is that the sooner we set up formal/normal relations, the more likely we are to know what happened to our men. We have about 2,000 unaccounted for - they have a few hundred thousand un accounted for.
This morning Lan and I settled the $ part of our relationship. Small problem - I thought the price on the sheet was for all 4 of us...oops! It was for one warm body. Have to call my banker 1st thing Monday AM. Poor Lan. She probably thinks I'm one of those crazy Americans.
I walked around most of the afternoon - bought a few trinkets for gifts then came back for a nap! I could become really accustomed to a nap every afternoon...but it is so hot and humid here I feel wrung out about half the time...naps help.
Tonight, Lan, who is trying to keep me occupied 'til the girls come, took me to eat dinner on a river boat. We cruised along on the Saigon river. Lovely.
Here in HCMC, there are a llot of beggars some with deformed, no legs, strange arms. I wonder about agent orange and landmines or booby traps. One toothless old lady caught me coming out onto the street - I know not to look at their eyes - but I did. She indicated she was hungary and needed money. So I took her to a noodle shop and paid for the meal - a whole $1 U.S. and she had the "works"!! That was my only good deed for the day. The rest of the time I was self-indulgent.
I almost forgot to add this - I think it was Tuesday afternoon. Lan took me to meet an NVA Brig. Gen. and his wife who was an NVA major - retired. A very interesting couple though difficult to understand. They didn't want to talk about the war but I surely did see a lot of pictures of their family. I got out the polaroid and oh, boy, the Gen excused himself for a moment then came back out, he had changed to jacket and tie. We took pictures of everyone!
Then he told me I was too beautiful to be single (sly rascal..but his stock went way up!) and wanted to fix me up with his Vietnamese/American friend. His wife agreed - said he looked very American and was tall. Guess I'll just have to come back! Seems here in VN, being a bit overweight and older are much respected!! Yeh, I could handle this!
That reminded me of one of the street kids in Hanoi. Maxine and I were sitting on the steps of a gallery when a group of kids descended on us selling postcards and books. One little guy latched onto me (I must look like an easy hit) I told him I was out of Dong and had to go to the bank. I couldn't buy anything. He was content to squat and visit with us (English is taught to all students - he spoke well). Maxine has long grey hair..he told her she was old and I was fat. About that time Chung came out and said we were going to the bank - guess who followed so he could sell his post cards - Larry nicknamed him "Ferdinand" and yes, I bought his postcards - I'm a wimp.