Andrew and I got to go to Kuala Lampur recently for the Asia Area Retreat – for all of our agency’s Asia-located missionaries. It was a nice, long week of hearing chanting out our hotel room windows (the mosque nearby broadcasted chanting during Ramadan) and hearing alot of great speakers, testimonies, and worship times. It was a such a huge encouragement to meet up with people we did some training with all throughout 2006 at different places, see them again and catch up with how they are doing after we all bonded in our preparation and training months. It was a nice breather to be able to speak English and not think hard eveyr second of the day to have the most basic conversation with people. 80% of Malaysians speak English! Unbelievable. There is so much Chinese influence there, along with Indian and Malay, of course.
We visited downtown KL, which boasts the Petronas Towers… 
pretty tall and cool looking. We went through the skybridge that connects the two and it was pretty breathtaking! Here it is from the outside….
Here it is from the inside!
Look at that storm we could see from way up high! 
We visited a mosque nearby our hotel 
(the one with the chanting on the loudspeakers every 30 minutes), went to Chinatown 
- where I spotted this unidentified fruit 
(it’s not lychee or rambutan) – and mostly spent alot of time thinking and praying (not in the mosque) about our future and our calling, something we think and pray about every day. Here we were able to meet with some people we knew well throughout our training to pick their brain, ask opinions, and seek godly counsel.
And…we got to go to Chili’s!!! This may not seem like a highlight to most anyone who has their average Chili’s on any street corner in Citytown, USA, but to us, who have not had Queso in over a year, it was like an oasis of quesadillas and chips n’ queso. 
We used this as an opportunity to celebrate our one-year anniversary of being here. I also found this sign on the wall – 
this town is about 25 miles from my hometown, San Antonio, so I found it funny to come across it in Kuala Lampur.
The funniest thing about going to Chili’s though, was that when we walked up at 6:45, there were no seats available, the hostess simply told me to return at 8:00. “Why?” I asked. “Because,” she explained. “It’s Ramadan. Don’t you understand? These people are fasting until 7:15. Then they will eat. Then they will leave. Then you come back for a table.” Riiiiiiight. So, apparently, during Ramadan, all the Muslims will not eat from 7:15 a.m. to 7:15 p.m., or sun-up to sun-down, and then absolutely pig out. From what we observed, at least. The people in the restaurant (we ended up getting a table, thankfully, so we could observe this feasting) sat silent and subdued, stirring their drinks and staring at each other, before, at 7:30, their orders began arriving from the overworked waiters and suddenly the restaurant came alive with happy chatter. They ordered several dishes: hamburgers, fries, nachos, drinks, and huge desserts. It was nuts. I have never seen Asian people eat so much because I’m so used to Thais and thai portions, which are nothing like huge, wasteful American portions. Thanks to Chili’s, a little bit of America is offered up to the Muslim people of KL during Ramadan.
