Dear Cyrus’ Daddy,

It’s a lot of work bringing a baby going through the airport security. They asked me to take the baby out of the car seat and stroller so they could x-ray them. I forgot you’re supposed to take your shoes off. I was holding Cyrus in my arms. I said "I need someone to hold the baby for me." Thanks to another mom behind me. She helped me taking my shoes off. When I got to the gate, it was 5pm but the flight scheduled to depart at 4:50pm was still boarding. I asked them how long was the delay and they told me at least a half hour. I was glad my next flight wasn’t leaving until 11:15pm.

During the wait, I took Cyrus to the end of the building where you can see the plane taking off but he wasn’t paying attention to the sky so he missed all of them. I saw this guy standing close by and I thought: Matt would have started a conversation with this guy if he was here. So I started the conversation. It turned out he is a Canadian living in Ontario. I reflected: Matt would know right away from his acsent. His name was Brian and he is a commercial fisherman. He told me they don’t work much during winter so he, his friend, and his friend’s family are taking a trip to Dominic Replublic for vacation. That was a nice conversation. I think you would have been proud of me if you were there.

Finally our plane arrived and we got on the plane. But we didn’t take off right away. We waited for about 40 to 50 mins before taking off. We’re told it’s because of the weather in Newark. Cyrus wasn’t happy sitting in a non-moving plane. I didn’t want to take him out of the car seat because I thought we may take off any time. Finally the flight attendant came to me and asked me if I need anything. I told her that I don’t want Cyrus not strapped in when we take off. She said we’re not leaving right away and she’ll let me know ahead when they are ready. So I took him out of the car seat and he quited down. The person sitting next to me was a businessman-like male Indian. He was very understanding and even tried to entertain Cyrus. I thought: he must have child(ren). I was right.

When we’re ready to take off, I put Cyrus back to the car seat and he started screaming. He was crying the whole one hour to Newark. When he was tired and falling asleep, we already landed in Newark Airport. This guy said "now you’re sleeping!" when he walked by us.

I asked the Indian guy if I need to go to another terminal for International flights before we landed. Although i already had some idea it’s still a lot of work to find the right way, especially when you need to find an elevator. The most obvius escalator wasn’t an option since I was using the stroller. I took the air train to Terminal B and finally found the Eva Airway check-in counter. It was not even 9pm but there was a long line already. While in line, the old lady behind me aksed me to watch her luggages when she went to get some address tags. I asked her to bring me one too. Because her English was quite good, I didn’t think she was a Chinese. Out of curiosity, I asked her where she was flying to. She said Manila. I asked her: isn’t there any airline fly directly from US to Manila? She said there is if she flies from the west coast but she doesn’t like to switch between different airlines. If she flies with Eva from Newark to Taipei, she only needs to switch to another Eva flight from Taipei to Manila.

During check-in, I asked them to switch us to better seats if they could. They did. We’re supposed to sit in the middle of the middle, which would have been a major pain. They switched us to the front row, me sitting at the aisle and Cyrus next to me. The seat between him and the window is empty. No one will be disturbed and I was glad.

After checking in, I went to find a place to grab a bite. While I was waiting for an elevator. I saw a white guy, an Asian woman, and a little girl in a stroller. The girl was about 2 or 3. She saw me and said "what’s your name?" I smiled and said "My name is Esther. You should introduce yourself before you ask someone’s name." Her mother said "tell her what your name is" The girl said "Alison." I said "Hi Alison." I asked the parents where they were going. Mother said "Taiwan." I said "We too." They then showed me the direction to the food court.

The food court offered many different types of food: hamburgers, pizza, grilled sandwitches, and Chinese food. I’ve noticed they all run by asians or latinos. I ordered a chickend sandwitch and told them no cheese. The guy who was cooking didn’t pay attention and put swiss cheese on it. I joked "that’s okay, maybe I’ll like it after this one." It was an okay sandwitch.

There were a mother and a teenaged son waiting for their food. Mom said to the cook "that wasn’t fresh!" She was talking about the bread they used. I said "I guess you don’t have much option at the airport." She didn’t say anything. I noticed their passports read "XXXXXX Polska". I wodered if it means "Republic of Poland". I was right.

Cyrus was sleeping the whole time so it was a peaceful dinner. I listened and I heard all different kinds of languages. That put me in a good mood for some reason. I felt like I was a "world-traveler". International Airport is a cool place.

Getting to the gate, Cyrus woke up. I nursed him and changed him. When I was pushing him around to put him back to sleep, that old lady (the one going to Manila) called me. She said "he is a good baby." We talked. She said she was almost 80 years old. I was very surprised because she was in a very good shape and she was traveling all by herself. She looked seventy at most to me. She said she was traving since 1972. She’s been to China, Europe, and all over US. Her favorite country is Austria because of its beautiful landscape. She lives in central NJ and is taking a trip back home for a re-union and several weddings. She sound very intellegent so I asked her what she did before she started travelling. She was a professor in the Philippines and then in Rutgers. She taught Library Science. For some reason, she reminded me a lot of the grandmother who passed away two years ago. Her looks, not her personality of course. I asked her if she uses email so I may write to her. She said no. I left it like that. We had a great conversation and shared the time waiting for the boarding together. That was a nice moment and memory. I also hope we can be traveling around like her when we’re her age.

My real challenge on the plane of course was to put Cyrus to sleep. He seemed to be dealing with taking off and landing fine. After feeding and playing around for a while, he started getting fussy so I put him back to the car seat. He screamed for sure. I pulled the sun shade down the reduce the noise level and to block his view. That seemed to work. The first time he cried for about half hour before he fell asleep. But then through out the whole trip, the time he cried got shorter. When we’re arriving Seattle, he was fussy so I stood up and held him upright. Everyone was watching and he was amazed. I felt a little bit embarrased though. I thought people must be thinking "Ah, so you are the crying baby.":b

During the one-hour wait in Seattle, The American-Taiwan couple saw me and we sat down to talk. Her name is Belinda and her husband is Jay. They used to work at the Bell. Now he is an engineer for web service at AT&T and she is staying at home with Alison. Alsion was very active and smart child. However, she didn’t seem to speak any Chinese. I asked Belinda if she teaches Alison Chinese. She said she didn’t start until Alison was almost two years old. She said she sometimes would scold Alison in Chinese but Alison would give her a confused look. She didn’t know if Alison really didn’t know what she was saying or just pretened she didn’t understand. After a while, she gave up. I reflected: I must be persistant on talking to Cyrus in Mandarin.

Daughter of one of my parents’ friend is working for Eva and my parents asked her to see if she can have her colleages offer me more help on the plane. After taking off from Newark, a couple attendants came to me and asked if I was "Miss Huang" because they had a note from their colleage, telling them to offer this lady extra help. I said I wish I was but I’m not. They’ve never found a Miss Huang with an infant. I was wondering if my parents’ friend made a mistake. Huang and Shis is very different, doesn’t seem very likely, I thought. Only until three hours before the arrival in Taipei did this attendant come to me and said "are you Miss Shih?" It turned out my parents’ friend’s duaghter did give the right message but her colleage was working in the first class and so busy that she didn’t get to see me until almost the end of the flight. She gave me some toys and snacks to bring home. She also offered me a sandwitch. That sandwitch was better than any food I’ve ever had on a plane, tasted like freshly made. I guess it’s only offered for the first class.

Though the "extra service" didn’t come until very late, the attendants offered me great help. It was so nice sitting at the front row so I can talk to one of them any time I want. They were so friendly and offered me help automatically as soon as they saw me bringing a baby all by myself. They watched Cyrus when I went to the lavatory. (why lavatory, not washroon?) One of them asked me if he was mixed. They love Cyrus. They held him and walked him around to show him different things, giving me the break I desparately need. Cyrus was very behaved too. I guess he like girls. Honestly, I was SO glad that I chose a Taiwanese airline. The food was not better. They offered instant noodles for snacks, which wasn’t very nutritious. But the attendants’ attitude was definitely thousand times better compared to American ones. They were always polite, with smiles on their faces. That’s what a traveler really needs.

After hours and hours, the plane landed in the place with the flag and words I am so familiar with. But it’s a whole new world for Cyrus. The people look different and the weather was different. It was humid and the temperatur was about 75F. When I was waiting for my checked-in luggage, another arline guy came and helped me. He asked me: "is he mixed?" He said Cyrus is "very handsome." He said he could tell Cyrus is mixed because his face is more three dimensional than ones of eastern Asians.

Getting home, my parents took turn holding the grandson they’d missed for such a long time. They were very excited. After lunch, they went back to work and I tried to put Cyrus to sleep so I could take a nap. Cyrus nursed for a while but he didn’t fall asleep as usual. He would look around the room and freaked out. I picked him up and pat him for many times but he just cried and cried. He must be thinking "this is not my room. why am i here?" I dimmed the lights and everything but nothing worked. Poor love! I felt so bad. Finally I gave him his "best friend"-the blanket toy he has, magically, he fell asleep almost instantly. This is the first time he falls asleep in bed without my nipple in his mouth. Amazing. I guess that toy brought him "home".

So, this is my adventure in the air. It’s great to see my parents but we miss you already! Happy Valentine’s Day.

Love, Cyrus and Esther