Merci Tous Mes Professeurs Francais!

.....Thank you to all my French teachers. It's been a while but at one point, the government of Canada declared me officially bilingual. That declaration would no longer be made today, I can assure you. However, given that Vietnam used to be a colony of France, the French language is a preferred second language to English for many Vietnamese. This was true for the doctor I spoke with today. Today, none of the doctors spoke English, but one of them asked if I spoke French.

So I had a lovely conversation for about 20 minutes with French (and uncontrollably, some Indonesian thrown in). I got the full medical history of Cai, and she was quite knowledgeable. She agreed that the FV Hospital would be a more sterile environment however, she could not speak about the quality of doctors there. In fact, she asked me if I had already confirmed that the hospital would take her! I was astonished by the question, but it turns out the quality of the neonatal ward at this new FV Hospital is not that great. It turns out that if the babies are too sick they actually send the babies to the hospital that Cai is in!!!!!

However, I do think that Cai is getting better, and as a result, I'm pretty sure that the best care will be the more sterile environment. Unfortunately the chief doctor was not there (he had already gone home when I got there), and the doctor I spoke with yesterday wasn't there either. So the doctor I spoke with today suggested I come in tomorrow before visiting hours when I can be sure to speak to the chief doctor. He is the one that will need to make the call.

I enclose a photo of Virginia walking Tri just in front of our apartment building. Saigon South International School is, as you can see, directly across the street. For those of you who have visited Jakarta or seen some of my photos, you will notice the marked contrast. Here we have sidewalks, wide streets with very little traffic, and all of the shops and restaurants that we would want within minutes, or some cases seconds, from our apartment.