Thursday, July 30th

Portia had a swimming lesson at 7:30 am this morning so Alex was kind enough to let us stay in our jammies while he whisked her away downstairs. I took the time to continue packing. One thing is for sure, packing for four is alot harder than for three. After breakfast, we hopped a cab and Franca, the kids and I got off at Ben Thanh market, while Alex continued on to the tailor's shop. I don't know if the heat was getting to me or if it was the constant cattle calling "Madame, Madame, Madame." but I just knew it wasn't the place for me today. If you listen to vendors saying these words often enough, it starts to sound like a flock of birds. After a couple of successful buys, we decided to take a trio bike. It was one of the many things I still had hoped to do. As the guys wheeled us around, we sat almost regally, feeling like an old time empress/emperor. Unfortunately there was no red carpet and our ride was cut short. Poor guys, they probably never rode someone as heavy as us, and probably used their paid money for an ambulance ride to the hospital. Regardless, it was so much fun and Portia had a blast. We made a pit stop at a popular ice-cream store. We asked for coconut ice-cream and instead got ice-cream in a coconut. The translation here sometimes just has us in tears howling. With the heat, the air conditioning at Thong Xa Tax (aka The Tax Department Store) was welcoming. One of the first things we did was go to a recommended store and rummage through their fine selection of movie and music CD's. We would tell you how much we paid, but you would cry and rock yourself to sleep. We bumped into Rennie & Lia and made plans for breakfast the next morning. So glad, since we haven't been able to connect forever. After that we looked at some luggages. We haven't fully decided if we will need an extra one, but wanted to know where we could get one and what type of pricing. FYI, you could buy an amazing quality luggage for peanuts. It's a shame when you know how much things are marked up at home. Alex bought some special Vietnamese cars and trucks for Reuben in the coming years. We looked through some of the lacquered pieces, literally works of art. I had another go at the Obesed & Mammoth section and came out smiling. We rode home with our bags upon bags of bought items with thoughts of the refreshing pool mentally rewarding us. We needed something as an incentive since we had the stinkiest cab driver in the whole world. Normally they put pieces of a plant in each cab, which smells like corn chips or smelly feet, you choose. Everytime I thought I could handle it, it left me flailing for air. Finally home. We were off again at about 6:30 for one last dinner at the Dragon Jade Palace (across from the Rex Hotel) and enjoyed every little morsel. We hoped that we didn't do to much damage since we had a last fitting. Christine & Sebastien, a couple we met via e-mail, had officially arrived and came up for a quick visit. They would be adopting Xavier, one of the little babies in Reuben's orphanage room. Xavier is adorable and with his hair, Alex can't help but call him Jon Bon Jovi (from the 80's). Loan also popped in to hand off some official documents and say goodbyes incase we would not connect on Friday. About an hour later the tailors arrived and left as quickly as they came. We stayed up running around trying to get everything ready. I totally understand why some people just throw all their stuff in a luggage and leave. And if it wasn't for weight restrictions we would have done the same. As the day turned to night, feelings of bitter-sweetness overcame us all. To ease my mind, I told myself that I would be back to this wonderful country that welcomed us with open arms, and would have us leaving complete, with our beautiful boy in arms.