As I mentioned in my last blog entry on adoption, we faced some unexpected things with our timeline for traveling to Thailand. Here is a good link which can help explain all of the political turmoil that was brewing there just before we were set to go get our daughter...Wikipedia_Article_Thai_political_crisis
The part that affected us the most was the airport takeovers of both the domestic and the international airports in Bangkok from Nov. 25th until Dec. 2nd.
Remember how I told you we were set to leave on Dec. 3rd?
Those plans were ALMOST altered. Our adoption agency called us and told us that we should cancel all of our travel plans since the airports were still occupied by political protesters and there was no way of knowing when they would leave. So, on Mon., Dec. 1st I called the airlines and hotels and cancelled all of our plans. That was such a sad day! On Tuesday when Jay got to work and turned on his computer a news story popped up saying that the political protesters had proclaimed that they were leaving the airports. He called me to let me know and I spent that day calling all of the airlines and hotels back to try to reschedule our plans as closely as possible. And the next day, Wed., Dec. 3rd we boarded a plane bound first for Seattle! Needless to say, that was just a little stressful!
Fortunately, we had planned all along, to stop first in Japan and visit a few of my friends there before traveling on to Thailand. During those few days in Japan, the protesters were clearing out of the airports. Here are some photos from our time in Japan.
Japan was not too overwhelming for me, because I still remembered most of my Japanese after having lived there for over six years. But, even though I tried to study Thai before we went to Thailand, the language barrier was definitely challenging! It was especially hard in our daughter's hometown, because it is a rural area where very few people speak any English. In fact, at our hotel, if one of the workers saw us approaching the desk that first day, they would literally run and hide in the back room to try to avoid possibly having to speak English with us. But, because of my prior experience of having been a foreigner who had to learn another hard language to survive, I was not discouraged. It made me try all the harder to attempt to communicate with my broken, beginner Thai and dictionary in hand. When they saw what an effort I was making, they began to actually come out and greet us and try as hard to understand us.
Another difficult challenge was figuring out transportation, especially in this rural province of Thailand. Our adoption agency had falsely told us that we could get around by taxi. As it turned out, there were no taxis to be found, only tuk-tuks, like the one you see behind me in the photo above or buses like in the photo below.
Unfortunately, with our lack of language skills, we didn't like these options, as you need to barter to take a tuk-tuk or they'll rip you off as a foreigner and we didn't know how to figure out the "bus" system. So, we managed to figure out that there was one hotel manager who could speak English. So, we arranged a meeting with her and explained that we had no idea how to get to the orphanage to meet our daughter. She ended up hiring a friend of hers to act as a taxi driver, using his van. He was very friendly and reasonable. We were so grateful! So, we were able to meet our daughter for the first time on Dec. 11th.
I was so glad that my parents got us an electronic dictionary, which really helped us learn how to communicate with our daughter.
Another thing that can be challenging about going to a foreign country can be getting used to things like different weather, a different culture, and different food.
Again, it helped that I had to learn how to get accustomed to new things when I lived in Japan. So, it was a little harder for my husband, who had never been out of the country, before. One tough day was when we went to a fair. It was a VERY HOT day and we were melting!
Also, Jay was rather shocked when our daughter actually wanted us to buy bugs to eat as a snack. Sorry I didn't get a photo of the bugs!
Just, come with a willingness to be brave and attempt to adapt as much as possible.
This will help you understand what your child has to endure when they make the transition to life
in the USA.
And even when you come home, please be willing to either cook or eat out for foods that are familiar to your child. Remember their comfort foods may be very different from yours. Try to be flexible and understanding. This will go a long ways to helping them bond and feel safe and comfortable in their new home environment.
After all, the way to a teenager's heart is through their stomach!
Another unexpected thing that you can encounter when adopting internationally are the unknowns when it comes to dealing with government paperwork and all of the red tape involved.
We ran into all kinds of problems and delays involved with our case. This meant days, which turned into weeks and finally over a month of living in hotels and guest houses.
We spent a lot of time playing games like "Go Fish" and "Uno". I guess that God knew we needed extra bonding time in our daughter's country of birth.
Sleeping was also an issue. We got her this extra, lower bed and even then she struggled and sometimes fell out of the bed. But, sleeping with mom didn't go well, either as mom would usually end up being kicked and not sleeping through the night.
And then there was the fun of having to go get required shots before being allowed to receive an immigrant visa for the US. She had to get four shots in one day!
That's why we tried to distract her mind away from the pain by taking her to Siam Ocean World, which she loved. But, you can tell, from looking at these photos at how much pain she was in.
Then there were days when she would ask when we were going back to her hometown. So, we would try to explain that we wouldn't be going back. But, we'd sometimes allow her to call the social worker/counselor back in her orphanage so that she could still feel connected and also get the same information from someone else whom she already knew and trusted and who could explain it to her in her own language.
We had to change our return date for the airlines several times. One of the best decisions that we had ever made was to pay a little extra to get an adoption airfare ticket, which meant it was adjustable and we could change our departure as many times as necessary without being penalized. Here was the building where we went several times to talk with the folks at Northwest Airlines to change our tickets.
The above picture of a plane was right over our second hotel we stayed at WAY too close to the airport! It was a cute hotel, but I couldn't sleep a wink there.
With our need to extend our stay in Thailand, we ended up switching hotels several times. Here's the view from our favorite hotel.
Penny liked it best because of the amazing food! And she met some wonderful Dutch kids who loved to play with her. It was amazing that they could get along so well with no common language between them!
We ended up having to spend Christmas in Thailand. So, we went with old friends of mine to a Christmas celebration in Lumphini Park.
We also went to the zoo on a VERY HOT day!
We finally moved, again, back to the guest house in the downtown area so that we'd be closer just in case we ever got "the call" that we could finally get her immigrant visa.
Back in our simple, cheaper guest house there was a lot of bonding taking place.
We learned to find our way all around Bangkok using all modes of transportation, which involved a lot of walking...
Taking trains....
And even boats, such as this one which taxis people up and down the Chao Praya River.
We took it to visit some Japanese followers of Christ who were having a special New Year's celebration in the high rise apartment of one of the ladies.
We spent a lot of time visiting malls, especially because they had air conditioning, as well as internet cafes. We could even skype with our parents there and Penny could see them and get to know her new grandparents before she met them in person.
We also did some sightseeing, like going to the Rose Garden....
And the Jim Thompson Home...
And how could we cope with so many unknowns?
For us, it was very encouraging to find a place where other brothers and sisters were worshipping Jesus together. We visited this church in Bangkok.
And what helped Penny was seeing an old "friend/sister" who grew up together with her in the same Girls Home.
Finally, as the five weeks spent overseas was coming to a close we enjoyed some good family times together, such as at this mall.
While some might remember it for being the site of a later political protest riot scene, with the mall ending up getting burnt down, it was a special place of memories for us. It was the first place where Penny started showing new signs of bonding with Daddy, like wanting to get a piggy back ride on his back.
We had to live with uncertainty everyday during that long waiting time in Bangkok, never knowing when we might get a call telling us that we could finally get an interview to allow us to get our daughter's immigrant visa. Therefore, we couldn't travel too far away from the city's center, so we'd be able to go at the drop of a hat, whenever the call came through. Fortunately, the day before we got the call, we took a train a bit of a distance away to enjoy a park.
And finally, we got the call, while we were at a grocery store near our hotel. They asked us to come for the interview in 30 minutes since there had been an investigation into our case. It must have helped that Grandma knew a Senator's lawyer, whom she had done wedding flowers for. After she contacted him, we finally got "the call". This was the day before we hoped to leave. After the interview with Homeland Security, we were allowed to go to the embassy across the street to get her visa to allow her to travel to America, even though they had already closed for the day.
Therefore, this smiling face on the last day we spent in Bangkok.
Here we are checking out of our last guest house. Our taxi driver ended up being over an hour late to pick us up. He then sped at speeds up to 100 miles per hour down the interstate at midnight in order to get to the airport on time. We had to go through intense security there 3 times! But, finally, we were on our way home and then the real adjustment would take place!
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