Bonswa Ayaiti~

Bonswa might be pushing it. The planes were delayed all day long, and we arrived later than I would have liked, much closer to dark. But here I am already getting ahead of myself!

In terms of getting ready for the trip, I thought I was pretty well prepared. But I fussed over last minute details with the house-sitter, stayed late at work (and I mean LATE) and then, of course, had to make one last customary trip to Walmart that took twice as long as expected and cost twice as much. By time I got home and got all that put away, it was time to finish packing and get ready to go to the airport, so whoops, I did it again. I pulled an all nighter. Luckily I did not get run over in the early morning Atlanta traffic on my way to Hartsfield-Jackson where I was scheduled to meet up with Mrs. K. because I was a little out of it. Atlanta drivers rank #2 craziest in the USA, right after NYC. Similar to Haitian drivers if you need a point of reference. And this is saying something from someone that lived in the SF Bay Area for 10 years and battled that traffic mess regularly!

When I got to the ticket window at the airport...I should say line...it was NOT MOVING! I was starting to wonder if I was going to make my flight or not, but then I heard it was delayed by 2 hours. The line finally started moving, and I wondered if Mrs. K was already at the gate, but when I eventually made it to the ticket counter almost an hour later, my phone started ringing just as I was checking my luggage...my big suitcase weighed in at 49.5# whew!...I figured it must be her but I could not answer my phone. Finally when I got done there I turned around and scanned the long line behind me and recognized her from her blog pictures. She was exactly like I'd imagined and I figured she was probably stressing about the long line...until she heard about the 2 hour delay. So, I proceeded to the gate and she came in about 45 minutes later, and then we just waited to board. And waited on the tarmac. You know. Atlanta. Fortunately, we had arranged for quite a layover in Miami, where we met up with Aves! Also, she was just as I imagined her! We found our gate, had time to grab a bite to eat, and then it was time to board the plane. I was so delirious I don't remember how long the delay was there, I think not too bad, I think that is where I grabbed a cat-nap on the tarmac. At any rate, it was coming up on late afternoon. The flight into Haiti was smooth (good, I am not really a happy fly er) and as we began to descend, I found myself feeling quite emotionally overwhelmed on this return trip, all of a sudden. I was fighting back tears. This took me completely by surprise. It was bigger than just the kids. It seemed to be about returning to their culture and their homeland. I realized I was more attached to it than I had ever dreamed. When the plane landed, the Haitians cheered, as must be customary, and it made me smile. I also noticed on this trip, there were more "blan" than I had ever seen before. I mean like probably 100 people. That is a third of the plane. Completely different experience than from my previous trips. I sat next to an American woman that was from the Northeast originally, but had lived in Haiti for 11 years, doing mission work. She asked me why I was going, and I told her "adoption" and she said,"things have gotten difficult" to which I said, yes, but we were making progress. When we landed she pointed out the progress being made on the airport and I could see some new construction, as well as enclosed passageways for boarding and deplaning, just like any American airport. I was kind of sad, I always liked getting on and off on the tarmac, I know it must be a real pain in bad weather, but it appeals to my romantic sensibilities! This time, however,we still did deplane on the tarmac.

What I was truly worried about was the time. We were past 5 pm now, and I knew it would be dark very soon and I did not want us to be waiting for our ride to Walls in the dark. We got into the building for immigration, and another surprise...AIR CONDITIONING! Whoo Hoo! That was a first for me, I cannot describe the misery of waiting in that long line, sweltering, which has been my experience in the past. We got out of there, collected our luggage fairly easily (ya just never know!!!) and when we stepped outside, Veniel and the driver were right there outside the door. Another big Whoo Hoo! We loaded up fast and got on on way, because the sun was setting now. When we got to the main intersection, where you turn up into the hills, there was a street kid hanging around, he must have been somewhere around 10 or 12 years old. He came up to the vehicle and just pressed his face against the glass. Veniel knew him by name. He opened his window and told him from what I could understand, no, don't do that to us. Then the light turned and off we went. When we got to Walls, Aves and I were at the Villa, and Mrs. K's room was in the main building. We unloaded quickly and ran across the street to the creche. M came out of her office and her first question after "how are you" is "why are you so late?" We talked a bit, and when she found out that Mrs. K and I did not have appointments at the Embassy she was a little agitated, mostly with me, because from what I could understand, my children's birth parents were coming to PAP for the interview post haste. This prospect threw me into a whole new arena of emotion and stress. Was I going to meet the parents? I was less worried about me than I was about the girls, I was pretty sure they had not seen their parents since they came to the creche a year ago, and I was wondering how in the world that was going to be with us there all at the same time. It's easy to forget sometimes just all the difficult areas of Haitian adoption which are just facts of the matter. It's not just about us. There is also all the pain and grief of the birth parents and the children and sometimes in our preoccupation with the process and how it affects us, it's easy to forget that. But let me back up and explain why I did not have an appointment. I was not planning on filing anything on this trip originally. When I planned this trip, I was not out of IBESR, and my understanding was that M. does not do AOF, so this was a pleasure trip only for me. However, it then started looking like we could file AOF, even if we were in Parquet, which by that time I assumed that is where I was since I had made it out of IBESR. But I did not know for sure. I tried to get an appointment and was told they were not taking anymore until July. This coincided with finding out I had exited Parquet, 4 days before leaving for Haiti. I also did not know you could file an I-600 and not quite be in MOI, but apparently, if you have the decree you can. Are you confused yet??? Not having an appointment, and not knowing anything else, I was not set on filing anything, it was back to a pleasure trip for me. M, however, was not at all pleasured with my situation, and said I must go to the Embassy with Aves the next day and try to file. I mean, she was very sweet about it, but she said I MUST try. Mrs. K too. OK then. My credo, do what you have to do. I could see we were on the same page! It was strange, I had brought my I-197 with me, (which in case you want to be more confused, is the equivalent of an I-171H now, what you need to file your I-600.) The other crazy thing was that I had finally heard from USCIS the day before I left that the I-197 was the new correct document, after nearly 3 weeks of emailing them and trying to get information. I had been panicked that I had not received my correct paperwork.

M had said come back the next morning at 10am and she would have our papers ready for us. Aves wanted to come at 9am but M was firm and said 10am. So we went back to the guest house, and I guess it was dark, or nearly so. I was so tired, I don't even remember, I think we had missed supper, but they had some leftover, so we did eat. We also met another adoptive mom from our creche who had already been there for a week, and that was fabulous. She was great, and also had just filed her paperwork, so she helped us with that. Aves was super prepared and had extra copies of the 1-600 form that we could use. We were definitely in the flow! But nervous! Was there really a chance we could do this without an appointment? I just kept thinking about what M had said. "You must try". So I thought, yes, anything is possible. She had also told us that she would have the children brought to the creche the next day after our Embassy adventure. I think we were all fine with that, it had been a long day, and now I was stressing out over all these new developments.

So the next morning we waited until 10 to go over there, and sat on the porch. And waited some more. 11am came and went, and Mrs. K and I did our best to keep Aves from jumping out of her skin, as 11am was her appointment time. We reminded her that our adoptive mom J had been late for her appointment because their vehicle had broken down on the way (talk about stress) and it had all worked out. We told Aves she was doing pretty good for a Yankee, which got us all to laughing. We told her she was our damn Yankee. Our dear, damn Yankee. About that time M's assistant came out with our papers, and that took us to a whole new level in terms of being educated about our children, since these were their birth certificate documents. My only surprise was that Lovely showed a year older than originally reported, and I'm still not sure that's correct. However, that's what the document said, so for now, were going with that. Aves and Mrs. K had their own issues of discovery, but that is their story and I will of course leave that to them to tell if they want to. OK, so some discussion of this and that, and then Maire waved us off wishing us luck, like a fairy Godmother sending us to the Ball. We dashed back to Walls and started hunting a driver. Nicholson said he would take us, but we had to ride in the blue bus. Actually, that was OK with me, I always wanted to ride in that thing! Even though the guards had to bring a chair out so we could climb in over the gate. LOL, I know we were a sight to see. Me in my white pants, Mrs. K in her white skirt. So, we drive to the Embassy, about 20 minutes away, on the other side of the airport. We get stopped by the police for a random check near the airport. I guess they were making sure Nicholson was not kidnapping us in the blue bus! We get to the Embassy, and they tell us to walk way around the building to get in. Nicholson can't wait for us, so he says call him later. Yeah, OK, no problem! So we go around and find the entrance, and go thru security, and then a courtyard and then another building (very nice seeing that big American flag flying in the courtyard I must admit) and Aves announces she is there for her appointment. Yes, we were probably at least one hour late. Maybe more. Anyway, they let her in, and we just followed her, and no one said a thing. I was nervous as a cat, afraid they would kick us out at any minute, but they just stared at us as we walked down to window 27. No one was there, so we sat and finished filling out our paperwork. There are a few people waiting for appointments, a couple of Haitians and a Cuban guy, and then a bunch of building employees without a lot to do. The Cuban guy starts talking to Aves, and I can tell he is trying to hit on her, but she is playing dumb and holding her own pretty good. Meanwhile, I notice one of the Haitian guys will not stop staring at me, and I finally glare at him and he quits. Mrs. K says it's my hair, they are fascinated with blond hair. Then the USCIS officer comes to the window and calls Aves, so Mrs. K and I sit and wait and pray. Then the Cuban guy comes over and starts talking to me, and he seems OK at first. He says he went to school in Bulgaria, but has lived mostly in Cuba and wants to not go back, he says there is no opportunity there. He says I look just like one of his doctor friends. He says the doctors in Cuba are very well trained, but they make no money, too many of them. He says he is an engineer. Then he says again I look like his doctor friend. I think, OK, so what. Then he starts talking about women, he says he does not drink or smoke, but he loves women. By this time, we have switched to speaking Spanish, and I am starting to get the picture because he says he likes his women muy caliente, which is completely inappropriate, but it he is not taking the hint about backing off. He tells me I have beautiful eyes and am a beautiful woman, blah blah blah, by this time Mrs. K and I are laughing, I tell him a fib and say I am married but he keeps going. Finally, I pretty much told him to talk to the hand. Universal language. It worked. Shortly after that, Aves was finished and when she sat down she said the immigration officer was going to see us. The officer had asked Aves if we were there for adoption, and said she would go ahead and take us. So when she came back, she called me up, and pulled my file, and we filed the I-600's for the girls. It was awesome. I even had a picture of them in my wallet for the file, which was a requirement. I was so happy, I was floating. I just could not believe it. Then it was Mrs. K's turn, and she was missing one document, but the officer said she could come back and file on Monday, which would give her time to get the document scanned and emailed to her here in Haiti. So, success! We were out of there! We also found out the Cuban guy was hitting on Aves just as hard as he did me and we are grateful we are not engaged upon leaving! I laughed, but Aves has the biggest heart and felt sorry for him, and what must be desperate straights. And she is right. When we got outside, I tried my cell phone, and for the first time since I have ever been there, it worked locally. More progress. So we called Nicholson, and after awhile, here comes the blue bus, and off we went, back to Walls. The street boys tried to hit us up at the intersection again, there were 3 of them this time, and that was so sad to me. But we made it back safely, and now it was time to collect our children!

To be continued....