He'll grow out of . . . .being Asian?

While it is pretty uncommon for us to get any unkind comments, we obviously get a lot of strange looks from people who see the three of us together. Sometimes people look at Santosh, look at me, peer into the stroller and their eyes bug out when they see that it's a Vietnamese baby in the stroller. In the US, everyone seems to look away immediately or say something such as, "I assume he is adopted."

However, in Dubai and South Africa, we noticed that people often assume Kieran is our biological child and therefore assume he is some freak of nature.

One person has stepped out ahead as the front runner in terms of ridiculous comments. Yes - even better than those who have asked us if we will tell Kieran he is adopted. Even better than those who really seem to believe us when we say, "Yeah so who knew that when an Irish Italian girl from Long Island and an Indian guy from South Africa would have a baby, he turns out Vietnamese." Too many people seem to be trying to think that through and it isn't as enjoyable when they don't get the joke.

While flying from Johannesburg to Dubai, an Indian man came up to Santosh and Kieran while they were walking around the plane. The Indian man took Santosh aside and said (in a reassuring tone,) "Listen, don't worry about this. Our son also looked Asian when he was born and they grow out of it!!" 'They' refers to some Indian babies who are born with some subtle Asian features I assume. I know that's possible but Kieran is so clearly Vietnamese that it's hysterical that someone thinks it might just be something he might only be temporarily.

If there are any parents out there of Vietnamese kids who somehow "outgrew" their Asian-ness - please let me know!

We're Back. . .

Well it's been a while since I've posted. I've had a long list of excuses but my computer died and we kept thinking we'd be able to rescue it. We've now given up. We went from four computers to one in a matter of 2 weeks. Also, my connection speed while in Dubai and South Africa didn't even permit emailing photos so uploading was a lesson in frustration. I've also struggled with where to pick up since so much has happened and I feel like I need to recap. I think I might be better doing that periodically. It's too overwhelming a task.

So, that said - we are now back from our trip to Dubai and South Africa. It was a busy month but we all had a wonderful time.

We start every trip from JFK so that required Kieran and I to fly from Atlanta to JFK and for Santosh to drive Durban from Atlanta to my parent's home in NY. Durban just loves the car but Kieran hates it. Seventeen hours of Kieran howling would not make for a pleasant drive so Santosh happily drops us off at the airport and has a peaceful journey with Durban as he looks out the window the entire trip.

Well, South Africa was fun and all went well. I will post more on that later. We had a professional photographer meet us all in the park in Durban one day (Santosh hometown and obviously the inspiration for naming our Wheaten Terrier.) We are just combing through those photos and I will post soon.

Dubai was definitely not what we expected. First of all, we were excited to see Dubai since Santosh had the option of going there for work for a few months and we had wondered if that was the right decision not to go. Though Santosh and I are pretty adventurous and would live almost anywhere - Dubai was not the place for us. It is not nearly as exciting as the travel brochures claim.

We did have a lot of fun and because there was so little to see in Dubai, we were able to laugh at how ridiculous it all was. We were lost most of the time. Somehow I always seem to figure out street signs and menus when abroad. Well, I guess I was more accustomed to romance languages. Arabic squiggles are neither intuitive nor easy to decipher while driving 120 km an hour. I'm posting some photos now and will come back tonight to post the details of our trip. Kieran is calling. . . .

The only 7 star hotel in the world. In case you are wondering, we didn't stay here. We were at the Sheraton in Downtown Dubai.

The gold souks were on the other side of the creek calling me to come visit. So close but we never made it.

This last photo was from the Mall of Emerites that houses not just the Gap and Saks Fifth Avenue but both a Dunkin donuts and Kripsy Kreme (nothing like going halfway around the world only to find the places that are right around the corner) but it happens to have an indoor ski slope. It was rather impressive. Then again, there's nothing much to see in Dubai so I was easily impressed.