Okay, so I thought I would write to let everyone know how our loooooonnnnng trip to Asia went and let you know how things are now that we are here.
First, leaving the airport in New Orleans was exciting but also heart wrenching. Saying goodbye that last time to the greatest friends we have ever known was painful, but I can't say much more than that because I don't want my emotions to get out on control when I've only been here a day.
Anyways, our first flight, the one from New Orleans to Los Angeles was pretty good. It was only three hours and Sailor slept most of it. I have to say that United Airlines made me very happy in two ways. First because they played a recent episode of my absolute favorite tv show, The Office, and second because they had really delicious snack packs. My snack pack had a glass jar of hummos with pita chips, lemon pepper tuna with crackers and a toblerone (sp?) chocolate bar (yum!) & Gabe's had prime rib beef jerky and some other goodies. The snack packs were like $5 though, our other planes served us complimentary.
Our second flight from Los Angeles to Taipei, Taiwan was 13 hours long. We were on a huge plane, one with a second story and stuff. I have to be honest and say that being stuck in the close confines of the plane with a two-year-old for 13 hours made me want to scream. Stepping off that plane was a happy moment for me, even though I knew I had to get back on the same plane an hour later for another 4 hour flight.
So that was our third flight, from Taiwan to Kuala Lumpur. This flight wasn't much fun either, but it was 100 times better than the 13 hour one, and wasn't half as cramped as the 13 hour one, Hallelujah!
These flights were on Malaysian Airlines. We had all Asian flight attendants who helped me by taking Sailor some of the time. They would take her for walks around the plane and give her toys and stuff. The food was pretty good as well. They fed us like three meals in those 17 hours and we had drinks and other snacks brought two us around the clock.
We were only in Kuala Lumpur for about an hour before we embarked on our final flight. After being on three planes for 20 hours, the last flight was a relief being only 45 minutes long, woooohooooo. I loved it!
So then we reached Penang, Malaysia, where Mom & Dad were waiting for us right outside the doors of the airport. But I have to tell you about the highlight of the trip for me. It was when we were in Los Angeles waiting to get on the plane for our long flight at about 1:30 am and I sat next to this really sweet girl from Taiwan. Her name was Jewel. After we talked for a little while, she very plainly told me that she was a Christian, baptized 2 years ago. She was going back to Taiwan for the first time in years and she was going to have to tell her family and friends that she is no longer a buddhist, but a Christian now. Of course I told her about what we are going to be doing here in Asia, and it really excited her. She said it was such an encouragement to talk to me before she would have to face her loved ones in Taiwan. She got all of my information and has already added me to her Skype contacts. God is soooo good! It's just another one of those little treasures in life that I accept as a gift from God. Thank You Lord.
I know this is kind of long, but thanks for reading if you did. More to come later...
-Dawn Foster
This is a fruit that we have been eating here. It looks so strange on the outside, but the inside fruit taste great. It reminds me on a big grape without the skin on it, but it's a little bit sweeter than a grape. To open it you just stick your thumb into the skin of if and break it open. Interesting!
