Two more weeks = married. For realz.

On Thursday we went back out to Long An (Thao’s hometown) for what was hopefully our final step in the Vietnamese government’s marriage approval process. Two Thursdays ago was mental health check at the hospital. This past Thursday was strange meeting with government official at justice department.

We had an appointment for 1:30pm but, like most things here, it did not start on time. At about 2:00pm, I asked Thao to go up and ask what the holdup was. No answer. At 2:30pm, I went up myself to ask. No answer. We were later told that the man who was supposed to interview us at 1:30pm had “gone home for lunch and gotten drunk,” so they had to arrange for someone else to interview us. Nice.

The guy asked Thao a bunch of questions in Vietnamese about when and how we met, how long we’ve been together, why we wanted to get married, etc. Then he told Thao in Vietnamese that he was about to ask me some questions in English, and he needed me to answer his questions in English very slowly and clearly because his English was not very good. I said okay, then he turned to me and said, very slowly “Do you want to marry her?” And I said, also very slowly “Yes.”

He then turned to Thao and said in Vietnamese “Tell him he can’t just answer yes. He needs to explain himself so I can understand his thinking.”

He then asked me again, equally slowly “Do you want to marry her?” I’m thinking “This is a yes or no question dude. I don’t know what else I’m supposed to say.” So I said “Yes, she has been my girlfriend for two years. We love each other very much and are very happy together and want to get married. We have been planning on getting married for about 4 or 5 months.”

He then told Thao in Vietnamese to tell me to look at the clock on the wall behind him, which I did. And he asked me in English “What time is it?” I said “Ten minutes to 3,” at which point he turned around and looked at the clock. He then wrote some stuff down on a piece of paper, shook my hand and said we were approved. I don’t know what my being able to read a clock has to do with our getting approved to get married in Vietnam, but whatever. So thanks mom and dad for teaching me to tell time. Otherwise I might be single forever.

My mom and stepdad will be arriving in Vietnam next Friday night, the 18th. They’ve got a pretty full itinerary – two nights in Saigon, two nights in Siem Reap, Cambodia, two nights in Hoi An, Vietnam, Christmas Eve and Christmas in Saigon, our wedding ceremony in Long An on the 26th, and our wedding party in Saigon on the 27th. They fly back to the U.S. on the 28th. Should be a great trip for them! We are excited to have them here in Vietnam.