Phew! The last 48 hours have been real emotional roller coaster. Yesterday, we reported the likely delay in our return travel due to the fact that we would have to pick up C's visa on Monday (and our original plans were to leave on Sunday). Of course, we noted that this was contigent on finding plane flights. Our travel agent worked diligently yesterday (overnight for us) to tell us that we really needed to find a way to get on the originally scheduled flights, as it was going to be extremely difficulty to find seats available on domestic flights once we were back in the US (Something about all those selfish Thanksgiving travelers hogging up seats to see their families). If we couldn't get on our original flights, it would probably be sometime after Thanksgiving that we'd be able to return. Argh!
We knew that the State Dept sometimes rushed processing visas and did it in the same day as the visa interview, but knew the probability would be low as there would most likely be many other families making the same request.
So this morning, things did not look good. To make matters worse, T wasn't feeling well this morning (perhaps due to staying up most of the night examining flight availability & feeling more than a bit stressed out since our visas would expire on the 24th). We were stuck in the room all morning worrying and brooding about being stuck in Hanoi for another week. So, to extend yesterday's Broadway analogy, if Thurs was the upbeat ending of Act 1, Friday morning contained the plot twist of Act 2 in which everything seemed to fall apart.
Our visa interview at the Embassy was at 2 pm; since visas are issued at 4, the margin for error would be very small, even if they were willing to speed issuance of the visa. At the end of our interview, we pleaded our case. The official checked with her co-workers who said they could do it--but no more--and she said, "We'll do our best; come back at 3:45." And she physically rewrote the yellow "ticket" to state that our pick up time would be 3:45 on Nov. 16, rather than 4 pm on Nov. 19. This was a lot better than receiving Willa Wonka's Golden Ticket! Three cheers for the employees of the State Dept! It's a good thing that the State Dept is full of softies who are willing to be bend to pity cases (such as us) rather sticking to the bureaucratic rules. In most melodramas, there is always some hero always that comes through and saves the day in Act 3 but no decent writer (or at least who wants to make money) would make the bureaucrats to be the heroes. We'll take what we get...
We know a lot of people have been praying for us while we've been here and over the previous months. I hereby let you know that we have just cashed them in! But keep praying for us anyway, as we still have 3 flights to deal with (this time w/ toddler in tow...).
What an immense relief! Or, as aptly put by the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, "Oh joy! Rapture!" After 3 weeks, we understand Dorothy's desire just to go home. But we better not end up in Kansas...
Our visa interview at the Embassy was at 2 pm; since visas are issued at 4, the margin for error would be very small, even if they were willing to speed issuance of the visa. At the end of our interview, we pleaded our case. The official checked with her co-workers who said they could do it--but no more--and she said, "We'll do our best; come back at 3:45." And she physically rewrote the yellow "ticket" to state that our pick up time would be 3:45 on Nov. 16, rather than 4 pm on Nov. 19. This was a lot better than receiving Willa Wonka's Golden Ticket! Three cheers for the employees of the State Dept! It's a good thing that the State Dept is full of softies who are willing to be bend to pity cases (such as us) rather sticking to the bureaucratic rules. In most melodramas, there is always some hero always that comes through and saves the day in Act 3 but no decent writer (or at least who wants to make money) would make the bureaucrats to be the heroes. We'll take what we get...
We know a lot of people have been praying for us while we've been here and over the previous months. I hereby let you know that we have just cashed them in! But keep praying for us anyway, as we still have 3 flights to deal with (this time w/ toddler in tow...).
What an immense relief! Or, as aptly put by the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, "Oh joy! Rapture!" After 3 weeks, we understand Dorothy's desire just to go home. But we better not end up in Kansas...
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