Well, here we are, it's April 18 and we are still in India with no passport for Sajel. After calling the orphanage everyday last week with no luck, we decided to go to Delhi on Sat. Sajel did very well on the trip from Bangalore. We got settled in our hotel and she was running around and playing very quickly. She did a great job of adapting to a new place.
Sunday, I flew to Orissa with hope of getting some movement done on the passport. Monday morning the driver took me to the passport office and boy was I in for a surprise. It was nothing like I could ever imagine. If you ever saw anything about the fall of Saigon and all the people trying to get into the embassy, this is what is was like trying to get into the passport office. After standing outside in about 95-100 degree weather for about 2.5 hours, and pushing through a sea of people, my driver managed to get us through the front door. Now we had to stand in a line to find out where to go. When we get near the front we have to compete with about 6-8 other people talking to the 1 person at the desk. We finally are told to go to room 7 and we go up. Same thing happens in room seven and then we are told to go to room 3. Again we compete talking to 1 person in the office with 6-8 others. Then we are told to go to the enquiry desk. Stand in line again only to find out that since the application was submitted on March 21, they would not look at it until April 21. That is all the info i could get and they wouldn't explain why on the website it says the passport was supposed to be dispatched by April 11.
SO, after failing to get anything accomplished I tried to get on the next flight back to Delhi and missed that by 5 min. Next flight out......5 HOURS. So I sat in an airport with no air-conditioning for 5 hours until the next flight. That stunk....and so did I!!!!!
The only thing good about the trip was that I now understand why no one from the orphanage will try to enquire about the passport.
Today(tuesday), we are trying to now decide what to do, where to go and how long to stay in Delhi. After discussing it most of the day, we have come up with this.......Tomorrow we are doing some sightseeing of Delhi, Thursday we will go to Agra and see the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort, and then we don't know......Maybe Friday we will get some good news that the passport is ready, since it will be past the 21st.
We were scheduled to fly back on the 26th, which would be 5 weeks in India......we are NOT going to make that flight. I think now we can only hope we will be back home by the first week of May!!!!
At least Sajel is doing well and acting more and more like a regular 2 year old. She has been testing her boundaries with Jessica and basically losing every time!! LOL! She still is not letting me hold her. We had a stand off this afternoon when I sat next to her. She didn't like me sitting next to her so she kept crying. I just stayed there and Jessica kept putting her in the corner until she finally would sit next to me and not cry. Temper tantrums are becoming quite common. But she is not hurt, not lacking for anything, not wet or has a poopy diaper. She just tries to get her way like a normal toddler, which is a good thing.
She also still screams when it comes to taking a bath. She tries to throw herself all over the place and it's all Jessica can do to hold on to her. I have heard from some other parents who adopted that they had similar experiences for bath time as well.
Hopefully we will be home soon and she can get used to her new home and will relax some.
Talk to you soon,
Marcus
Sunday, I flew to Orissa with hope of getting some movement done on the passport. Monday morning the driver took me to the passport office and boy was I in for a surprise. It was nothing like I could ever imagine. If you ever saw anything about the fall of Saigon and all the people trying to get into the embassy, this is what is was like trying to get into the passport office. After standing outside in about 95-100 degree weather for about 2.5 hours, and pushing through a sea of people, my driver managed to get us through the front door. Now we had to stand in a line to find out where to go. When we get near the front we have to compete with about 6-8 other people talking to the 1 person at the desk. We finally are told to go to room 7 and we go up. Same thing happens in room seven and then we are told to go to room 3. Again we compete talking to 1 person in the office with 6-8 others. Then we are told to go to the enquiry desk. Stand in line again only to find out that since the application was submitted on March 21, they would not look at it until April 21. That is all the info i could get and they wouldn't explain why on the website it says the passport was supposed to be dispatched by April 11.
SO, after failing to get anything accomplished I tried to get on the next flight back to Delhi and missed that by 5 min. Next flight out......5 HOURS. So I sat in an airport with no air-conditioning for 5 hours until the next flight. That stunk....and so did I!!!!!
The only thing good about the trip was that I now understand why no one from the orphanage will try to enquire about the passport.
Today(tuesday), we are trying to now decide what to do, where to go and how long to stay in Delhi. After discussing it most of the day, we have come up with this.......Tomorrow we are doing some sightseeing of Delhi, Thursday we will go to Agra and see the Taj Mahal and Agra Fort, and then we don't know......Maybe Friday we will get some good news that the passport is ready, since it will be past the 21st.
We were scheduled to fly back on the 26th, which would be 5 weeks in India......we are NOT going to make that flight. I think now we can only hope we will be back home by the first week of May!!!!
At least Sajel is doing well and acting more and more like a regular 2 year old. She has been testing her boundaries with Jessica and basically losing every time!! LOL! She still is not letting me hold her. We had a stand off this afternoon when I sat next to her. She didn't like me sitting next to her so she kept crying. I just stayed there and Jessica kept putting her in the corner until she finally would sit next to me and not cry. Temper tantrums are becoming quite common. But she is not hurt, not lacking for anything, not wet or has a poopy diaper. She just tries to get her way like a normal toddler, which is a good thing.
She also still screams when it comes to taking a bath. She tries to throw herself all over the place and it's all Jessica can do to hold on to her. I have heard from some other parents who adopted that they had similar experiences for bath time as well.
Hopefully we will be home soon and she can get used to her new home and will relax some.
Talk to you soon,
Marcus
Marcus you have a beautiful family. I pray you will get Sajel's passport soon.
ReplyDeleteTake care!
Lori Pierce
Marcus--I am SO sorry to hear about your trip back to Orissa. :( I have some questions for you which I might email you about.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that you are with Sajel, but I know that you are very eager to get her home.
Marcus, Sajel looks great with you guys. The absolute best place for her. Your saga with the Passport Office why does it sound familiar? Only thing I didn't wait in line. I just kept walking all the way in and LoL nobody stopped me. Pray that you guys get Sajel passport. All the Best.Raj & Kamala.
ReplyDeleteHang in there. One day you'll look back on all this and laugh but it just isn't funny right now. You two are great parents (of course I'm biased) and you're a wonderful family. Take care.
ReplyDelete