OFF TO CHINA

The days have gone by quickly. We are in better shape for going than we thought we would be. I can tell you that Goodwill, Purple Heart, and CityTeam in Chester have gotten a good deal from us over the last two weeks.

In addition to getting ready, we have been visited by our son and his family and Doug Long, one of Renee's high school classmates. Any number of friends have stopped by and it was great to see each and every one of them. It has been also good to get the phone calls and notes from so many people. Thanks for all of the good wishes.

Tomorrow at 8:15 we leave for the train to Washington. In Washington we take a taxi to the Doubletree Hotel in Arlington for staging. We will meet our teammates and some of our leaders. We will learn more about procedures. One night we will be out to dinner with some returned Peace Corps volunteers. We fly out on Monday the 30th. We go direct to Beijing and after a short layover we fly to Chengdu.

In Chengdu we stay in a hotel for a couple of days getting our sea legs. While that is happening, we will begin our Chinese lessons. We will meet our In Country staff. By the end of the week we will be introduced to our host family and be moving in. Pray for them and us. We also will be divided into two groups and then even smaller so that the training will be more specific. After going out with the staff for one meal, we will have to fend for ourselves.

We have been warned that internet access this first week may be limited and may even be more so when we move in with the host family. Every day's schedule seems packed, so our time is structured. We will do our best to communicate, but be patient. You can always reach us at erickson3@comcast.net.

We are as prepared as we are going to be -- now the adventure begins.

Home Again Home Again

We have spent the last three weeks traveling. First we went to North Carolina. We visited with our son, Ned, and his wife, Lia, and daughter, Anna Rose. We were joined there by my sister, Janet, and her husband, Dan, and their grandson, Jacob. We had a great time hanging out. Jacob and Anna quickly became great friends. This was our really first goodbye. It was hard to do - two years seems like a long time, but we do know it will pass quickly. Fortunately, Renee's sister Melanie and her family live close by so that we were able to spend some time with them as well.

We then flew to Turkey to visit with our daughter, Lee, and her husband, David, and children, Rebecca, Joshua, Samuel, and Peter. We barely got settled in Istanbul when we left for Macedonia to visit our friends there. We took an overnight bus trip complete with the smuggling of cigarettes and prerequisite border stops. It was worth it to see Nikola and Anica and their new daughter-in-law, Goce. We also were able to meet our Roma friends, the large Gashi family. We were able to see first hand Iso's new baby Erhan. The newlyweds seem to have settled nicely. Iso has found a steady but hard job. Seeing others from the Roma church was also great.

Back in Turkey we visited David's English class. We met Hafize, who became our tour guide through part of historic Istanbul. Most of our time, though, was spent playing with grandchildren. We were able to play with the neighborhood kids -- taught a little baseball -- and met many of the neighbor mothers. One family had us in for an evening. Peter, the youngest grandchild, has been growing fast. He certainly looks and feel sturdy after a seven week early start. Their neighborhood is new so the roads are dusty and often noisy with construction, but that will soon enough be complete.

We arrived home with much to do. High on our list is the language training. We continue to try and spend some time each day. Second, we have worked on the myriad of forms that need to be filled out before our departure. Third, has been the consideration of packing. Suitcase space is limited by number but also size of bags - we usually try to play by the rules. Renee has a mound of clothes on a bed just for her that will never fit into the suitcases - Help!

Our address for the first three months will be

Dr. and Mrs, Richard Erickson

Sichuan University

Mail Box 278

Wang Jiang Road # 29

Chengdu, China 610064

People's Republic of China

We give you this only because we know you would like us to have mail when we arrive.

Yes, Chengdu is the staging area for all of the earthquake relief that is going on in China. We have been able to get good information on the extent of the tragedy in the area. It will not directly affect us. The only change we know so far is that some of the host families will not be able to take PC volunteers this time because they have taken in family from the affected area. If you would like to contribute toward the relief effort, we know the following agency will send all contributions with no administrative cost to the effort.

American International Cultural Exchange Institute

216 Avondale Drive

North Wales, PA 19454

This is the group we went to China with last year. They will be able to do direct funding of the relief monies. You could also contribute to the Chinese Red Cross or other agency which is working in China.

Pray for us to calmly use these last weeks to prepare ourselves for this adventure.