YES- WE ARE FREE

Just when we thought all hope of freedom was lost for today, our friend (Son) texts us...the police and health department were on their way with the written decision. That our quarantine was over. About 5 minutes later, the doorbell rings and there they were. After signing 28 blank forms (it’s okay- it’s Vietnam- lol) we were free!! We are encouraged to stay home but we can go out. We must wear a mask. Only grocery stores are open but I long for a walk! The first thing Steve and I did after they left....we went outside.

SIGH...WE ARE NOT FREE

The authorities did not co e yesterday as we had hoped...then we thought today was the day until we received a text from the Vietnamese Health Authority that the person that needs to sign the decisions has been in meetings and is not available to sign it. So we wait.....sigh....

WE ARE FREE!

Well...almost! Today the health authority and local police will, we hope, return with the final official "decision". The decision will say that we have spent 14 days in quarantine as required. I hope that is also includes our negative COVID test results but we will wait to see. After we get the decision we can leave the apartment. We don't know what time they will be coming yet. While people are encouraged to stay home, we can get out. The problem is that only grocery stores are open. All restaurants and coffee shops have been closed for 2 weeks. My friend tells me that there was a girl from Demark here with COVID. They could not trace and contain everywhere she had been so they closed restaurants and coffee places in Vietnam for 2 weeks. Once we have the official written decision in hand we can arrange to meet Piper. I hope this will unfold quickly. More to come! take care everyone,

A few more days to go....

The days are melting away. We keep a bit of a schedule and do something new each day. We video chatted with family and friends to start the day and enjoyed some other highlights already including... Banana pancakes for breakfast. The bananas are amazing here. They have 2-3 times more banana flavour than at home. Son and Nga brought us some yesterday. Then son made a late night special delivery of eggs so that I could make these this morning. We had them with Vietnamese yogurt and pomelo.

Then after breakfast Natalie noticed that the Jasmine plant we have been watching and watering on the balcony is now blooming. What a treat. Jasmine is one of my favourites.

Natalie’s joy for bubbles has been rekindled! We brought some with us for Piper, Nga brought her son Binh to play at our apartment. He loved the bubbles and so did she. We ran out quickly as We didn’t bring much...so I made some up with sugar, dish soap and water. Some kind of magic happened because they were the most perfect bubbles ever! I had no success at making them at home, the store bought were always better. Maybe it’s the Vietnamese dish soap.

Hanoi is closed for business!

As we await the end of quarantine, we have been looking forward to getting out for more great food and amazing coffee.......BUT......Yesterday they announced that all restaurants, street food and coffee shops would have to close for two weeks. Sigh! So nơ...I cook more. Good thing I like to cook. Tomorrow morning....banana pancakes and yogurt for breakfast.

A few pics....before lockdown...

Test came back...

After our brains were swabbed and we awaited test results, I started thinking about whether or not we might have the virus and where we would have picked it up. The only place that we thought might have presented a bit of a risk was the plane from Taipei to Hanoi. It was 3/4 full, an international pal flight without screening before anyone got on the plane. That being said, when ever we get on a plane, the first thing we do is wipe everything down with Lysol wipes...We have always done this. Everyone on the plane except us were wearing masks so I know germs from coughing or sneezing were contained....despite all this...you just never know. Needless to say, we were relieved when the test results came back negative yesterday. We are still in quarantine for 4,5 or 6 days....our paperwork is not consistent. The decision says March 29th but does this include March 29th or is the end of March 28th when it ends? The firm we send each day to the health authority counts 14 days as March 30th being the final day of quarantine...I am hoping that the decision document with Mar 29th is the one we can go by and get some freedom on March 29th at 12:00:01am. We will be happy to see the health authority and police at the door with the next decision after the quarantine is finished. This is when we will enjoy some freedom.

This is the form we fill in each day- it ends March 30th....

I hope everyone is weathering this unpredictable time well. Take care.

Quarantine - day 8

I think quarantine is supposed to be hard...but we are thriving I am working a bit...often in the middle of the night (when it is morning at home). This will end once quarantine ends. We are really enjoying spending time together. We play games, chat, read and talk about everything and nothing. We have been video chatting with friends and family. We are so thankful to have such great friends that are taking great care of us. When we are home we miss them, so it seems funny that we are so close but can’t visit right now. I am thankful that we had a few days when quarantine was not so strict so we could spend some time catching up and Natalie had a few great days with her friend Quoc. We do have some structure to our days if we feel we need it. I try to arrange something fun for Natalie each day- today it was seeing Brady on video chat. Natalie is bring ideas for some fun, She set up a treasure hunt for me today. A beautiful picture was the treasure (thanks to Kaelyn for The going away packet with the felt pens)and she set up a colour scavenger hunt race today. We each had a form that had colours written on it, we each had to find something different for each colour. This is what is on the fridge at the moment...

They are working to arrange the adoption for once our 14 days are over. We don’t know much right now as far as timing. I a, looking forward to getting the results of our COVID-19 tests and the official letter in hand so that others don’t need to have any concerns about us and we can travel to Lang Son where Piper is. As soon as I know more I will post.

Thank-you Hoole Family!

When we decided to adopt a puppy we knew we would inevitably be leaving him behind as we embarked on this adventure. I was a little concerned that he would miss us and it would be hard on him.....turns out, he is thriving with his temporary family. I could not have been more mistaken. Such a big thanks to The Hoole family for giving him a home while we are away. They have a terrier puppy a little older than Brady and the two dogs are the best of friends. I have received these pics over the last while....

It sounds like they spend their days playing and sleeping. You know Rusty is a good friend when he sleeps with Brady’s butt in his face! Such a big thanks to the Hoole’s, and to Brendon and Kira, Tanya and others that are ready to take him if needed. We can’t thank you all enough.

We are now in Quarantine

I will first say that we are ok. Since we arrived we have been in a bit of a subjective quarantine but able to go out a bit. We have looked to our friends to guide us on what is appropriate. Two times per day we record our temperatures and symptoms, take a photo of the form and text it to the health authority. We have been doing this for 6 days. Yesterday was our second visit from the local police and health authority. They came to give us the “decision on quarantine”. We were quite concerned that we would be sent to quarantine at a military base or university dorm- we were not sure if we would remain together or if there would be male and female accommodation. We waited with deep breaths. We took a big sigh of relief when they gave us the printed decision and told us to strictly remain in our apartment for the next 7 days. We were not to go out in the hallway or anywhere. To say we were thankful and relieved for this outcome is perhaps the understatement of a lifetime. Then later, they came again to test us for the virus. It was a swab all around the gag reflex area and a nasal swab that went straight up the brain...or so it felt. I am so happy they tested us. I hope that when it comes back negative, they won’t need to worry about managing our file so carefully. I don’t know how long it takes to get the results. Our friend Son went down to get us groceries today and brought us Bang Cuon for breakfast (Steve and Natalie are just about to dig in, in the photo above). We are being treated like royalty by our friends and want for nothing. We will spend the next week watching movies, playing games, doing some exercise inside, some yoga, reading and the week will pass. If I were at home, I would call this a staycation. Having the luxury of time, is not something I am used to. I will relish it and continue to hope we pass through this time without any changes in our situation. I guess that is what happens when you decide to travel during a pandemic. Take care everyone, Xo

A little bit of magic happened today!

It happened! We met her through video chat! She is gorgeous, alert, sweet, smart and generous with smiles. Back and forth we waved, blew kisses, talked a little bit. She said Hello Mom, Hello Dad and Hello sister in Vietnamese to us. It was so amazing. I am still so shocked it happened....shocked we are this close....shocked that we are here.....shocked that they have not put the brakes on the adoption....I am just shocked!

day 4 of 14 day quarantine- Vietnam style!

Here is our apartment...it is perfect! 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, balcony, everything close by that we need. Such a big thank-you to our friend Gioi who is renting to us.

We are on the 8th floor, this is the view from our balcony

We are enjoying our guilded cage! Despite the fact that we are supposed to stay in, it seems ok to go and get food from the store in the building and get street food etc. We need to take our temperature twice per day and record any symptoms we are having. Then we take photos of the forms and send them by text each day. The food is incredible! Highlights.... -Yesterday we had the best Beef Pho I have ever had. It was amazing. -Today we had some incredible street food that we can get right outside our building. It was banh cuon- pork and mushroom wrapped in rice paper dipped with fresh herbs dipped in fish sauce (nuoc cham). I will take a photo next time. -After breakfast we had delicious Vietnamese coffee from a place down the road. Here is Natalie enjoying her Pho!

Generally our days are spent laying low- playing games, blogging, watching videos, reading. We join our friends Son and Nga for dinner each night at their place on the 19th floor. We are enjoying such beautiful food. We had hot pot last night with some of the most delicious mushrooms I have ever had! As far as the adoption, We really need to wait until the 14 days is over before we can meet Piper. I hope to meet her by video chat soon. Once the 14 days is over, there is a thought that we will get a letter from the police that says we have been cleared for the virus and can travel freely. Vietnam has done an incredible job with their efforts to fight the virus, we could not be in a safer place and will co-operate fully with what ever is required. Stay well everyone,

Despite all odds......We made it to Vietnam!

As I see everything unfolding with the Corona virus, I can't believe that we are here- I am still pinching myself. The week has been a whirl wind. This is how it has played out.

March 5th (Thursday) At about 9pm we received the Article 16 letter that gave us authorization to adopt Piper. The authorization is conditional on the BC provincial government also authorizing the adoption in an Article 17 letter. We had decided that we would travel 2 weeks after receiving the article 16 letter to give us time before the adoption to visit friends, visit Natalie's first family and pick up my dear friend in Da Nang that would be with us with her young son through the adoption process. Rather than booking online like I would normally we decided to get the flight center to help. This way if we needed changes, we had a person to email to help us. We booked ticked to travel on March 22nd. Travel was just beginning to get complicated, it was clear that the best route would be through Taipei, Taiwan.

March 12th (Thursday) Things were starting to change, my spidey senses told me we needed to change our flights and go NOW! That evening while I was out having drinks with my colleagues, Steve slid into flight center and got our flights moved up to March 14th (Saturday). We had 3 month visa's to enter Vietnam and planned to do visa on arrival as we were arriving one week before our visa entry date.

March 13th (Friday) At about 4:30pm I did some checking and found that Vietnam suspended the visa on arrival option. We called the Vietnam embassy in Vancouver but no one answered and the message said they were open Monday and Wednesday. I went into problem solving mode and started asking for help. The travel agent called the embassy and got through! There was a lady there that could help us if we called straight away. After we spoke to her, we provided all of the documentation she needed. She would have the visa's ready for us when we landed in Vancouver the following night at 8:30pm. We flew from Victoria to Vancouver. The flight was delayed but we knew we had plenty of time in Vancouver so we kept even heads. Once we arrived at the airport, we jumped in a taxi and headed for her condo building downtown. She met us downstairs with the visa's. No problems. We took the taxi back to the airport. then I left my brand new iPhone x in the taxi!!!! As though there was not already enough going on! I realized it when we were in the international section of the airport. We called the taxi company who had no record of our fare. The only options were to come to the taxi office tomorrow to get it, or have the taxi company drop it at my house. I asked if the taxi was still at the airport. He said "yes". I asked him to ask the taxi to wait as I was on my way to him. I then found out that the only way out would be to go through customs and immigration. I found some airport security and asked for help. They took pity on me. One of them went out to the taxi and grabbed it and brought it back to me. We were back on track with a couple hours before our flight left. Win!

March 14th (Saturday) At 1:00am our family was called to the agent at the gate. I took a deep breath knowing that so many things needed to all work out for us to get to Vietnam. We were ready to take it all in stride what ever happened. The gate agent needed to double check the validity of our Visa's. I suspect that they wanted to see if they had been revoked. Right away, confirmation came that all was fine. At 1:40am our flight from Vancouver to Taipei took off. It was a 263 seat airplane. Only 60 seats passengers were on board. We all spread out. It was a 12 hour flight.

March 16th (Monday) With the time change, we arrived in Taipei at 5:30am. Our flight to Hanoi would leave at 3:30pm. We knew that anything could happen in the 10 hour timespan before we were scheduled to leave. We held hope that we were meant to be in Vietnam. The flight left without incident. It was about 3/4 full. Steve and I were the only Caucasians on the plane....and the only ones without masks on. Some people wore full paper hazmat suits and double masks. We had filled in an online health declaration in Vancouver before we left. I can't even begin to tell you how overjoyed we were to arrive in Hanoi, Vietnam. I am still amazed at all the things that had to go just right to make this happen. Our friend Son picked us up at the airport. We have not seen him in 4 years! We were so excited to meet his new wife and beautiful 18month old son. Natalie and his other Son, Quoc connected right away like no time had passed since they last saw each other 4 years ago! Our other friend Gioi was moving out of his 2 bedroom condo in the same building Son and his family lives in. He was getting ready to rent his empty condo so we get to be his renters. It is such a perfect place- 2 bedrooms, large living space with a grocery store and anything else we need close by.

March 17th (Tuesday) The Health Authority and local police came to interview and assess us. They took all of our information and suggested we self quarantine for 14 days. We need to take our temperatures and record any symptoms twice a day, and send the info in daily. We are healthy and happy, Vietnam is really like a second home to us. The one hard hard part is that we won't see a couple of friends this trip. My girlfriend Linh is like a little sister, she is in Da Nang. It has been far too long since I have seen her but it will have to wait a bit more. Our friend Manus lives in Hoi An, one of our favorite places. He was recently married. We looked forward to meeting his wife and new son and picking up some photography tips. Despite this- we remain overwhelmingly grateful for the privilege of being here at this unprecedented time.

I read something today that resonated with me.... by Dr. Lindsay Jernigan. Paraphrased, she said to look at this time as an act of mass global cooperation intended to protect the collective whole. It is like a global deep breath...and agreement between humans around the planet to be still. Be still, in hopes that the biggest wave can pass without engulfing too many of the vulnerable amongst us. wishing you all well! xo