Lately

Hello friends,

Bits of random information today. It always seems to be hard to blog at the beginning of the week. We dive back into studying, and that plus Noah tends to consume us. This weekend was fun - fútbol Saturday morning, then a great time with the Murphys at the club internacional. Noah and Sarah enjoyed the playground. Pics to follow. Sunday we went to church here, then after Noah's nap we were invited over to Concho's house. It was a delightful time meeting her family and visiting for a while. Their house has been in the family for over 100 years, though a large part was destroyed in the 2001 earthquake. Concho is wonderful and so good with Noah.

Speaking of Noah, he has come down with a bad cold recently, and would appreciate your prayers.

Yesterday a rivalry was renewed. Our dear friend Brett - college roommate, groomsman, salsa king, happily married to Krista, missionary in Venezuela - and I have a long-standing Scrabble competition. In January we thought we had played our last game for a while, barring a cross-continental visit, but wouldn't you know it, there is a website where you can play online for free. www.scrabulous.com is great, and I'm happy to say that Peru won the first round by 1 point.

Tonight we went to a "Chifa", which is a Peruvian-Chinese restaurant. There are hundreds of them here, as China has had a huge influence on Peruvian cuisine. Very tasty, though you have to do some creative guessing here to find the dishes you know. There's a delicious Chifa in Northern Virginia if you're interested - Kampo, on Leesburg Pike at Bailey's Crossroads.

Tomorrow we will be going on a field trip with the institute to a very poor school outside the city. We'll be talking to the kids there and getting an idea of what the education system is like for many. Stay tuned.

More Noah Pictures

Okay, we realize this kid gets way too much airtime on the blog, but how can we resist such adorable pictures?

He has recently tried his hand at finger-painting. He doesn't understand quite what to do yet, but he did enjoy getting paint on his shirt....

...and in his hair.

Ever eager to pitch in, here's our little man...

Helping Concho mop,

Helping Mama with homework

Drawing with chalk on the sidewalk,

and giving his favorite bear a big kiss.

Pics and Video

I promised Noah updates, and here they are. There have been many cute photo-ops lately, so there should be more posted tomorrow.

Looking very grown up

Sleeping like an angel

Here's a very silly video of Noah collecting his thoughts and trying to take the camera. You may notice a couple of little bruises on his forehead. Those are from his latest trick. Sometimes, when we tell him not to do something he knows not to do (like touch the oven or stand up in his chair), he becomes very upset and starts to bang his head on the ground. He knows that we will (or at least did) give him sympathy in place of the reprimand, and it's worth it to him. He's becoming more travieso by the day.

More fútbol

Much to write, much we are learning, but today I'm just going to put up some recent pics and a silly Noah video. Actually that will have to come later this afternoon when I can get it loaded.

This past weekend was fun - I finally went to a Melgar fútbol game, with a new friend, David, from Michigan. It was a great time, with relatively few incidents. There were police in riot gear everywhere, guarding the field and breaking up a couple fights among fans, but we were sitting among families with small children, and it was a safe environment. It was decent soccer, too, though not exactly the Premiership. It was an important game, and the fans are so passionate, especially against a rival of sorts, Cienciano from Cusco. Lots of action, exciting goals, a few yellow cards, and finally a 2-2 tie.

Today I'll join some language school friends to watch the European Championship between Liverpool and AC Milan. Go Liverpool!

Only one side of the huge stadium was full, but they sure made some noise.

A new friend and fellow student at the institute, David. He is a pilot with South American Mission, and will be serving a number of different agencies in the northern jungles of Peru.

This is our Saturday morning international football game, including players from Peru, USA, England, Northern Ireland, Germany, Switzerland, and New Zealand. This week Laura and Noah came to watch and enjoy the nearby playground. Noah wanted to play so bad!

A Mother's Tears

Mommy Kisses

After celebrating a lovely mother's day complete with a special chocolate chip pancake breakfast, an encouraging church service, a long nap, and the gift of a travel hair dryer (a luxury I haven't had for the last 3 months), I realize how blessed I am to be so loved and cared for by my husband. He works hard to encourage me and serve me, constantly pointing me to my position in Christ, reminding me of the grace I've been given so freely.

This week, though, I saw tears shed by a couple mothers. A dear friend shared with me how she spent mother's day in the hospital with her 26-year-old son. He's been very nervous lately and suffers from chronic gastritis. He just graduated from college. As my friend told me about his sickness, she burst into tears, claiming it was all her fault. She explained to me that her son was from her first husband, and that he was always supportive and loving even though her second husband, with whom she had 2 children with, was verbally abusive to both him and her. He has always been the easy child, organized, responsible, and hard-working. Her second husband left her (which is she is grateful for) and she now blames herself for all the stress and anxiety that her son feels. I cried with her, amazed at how much she loves her son, something I can empathize with.

At bible study this week, we prayed with another mother broken over her son. He has been hiding in a nearby city after taking some of the family's money to start a printing business. When the business didn't work out, he took to drinking, and nobody can find him. I saw her tears displaying how deeply this mother wishes to be reunited with her son.

Finally, this week I cried, thankfully not over my son, but rather over a lack of heart-to-heart female fellowship. It is still hard for me to communicate my feelings in a second language. I pray that this would become easier as I slowly become more comfortable with Spanish. I tearfully admitted this need to both a dear friend here and to Michael. The friendships I had with women from home, I totally took for granted! For any of you dear women and fellow mothers reading this - thank you for all of your empathy, encouragement, wisdom, and listening ears. Michael can only fulfill this desire to a point and I recognize my need to rely on Christ for approval, rather than a person. But it is a struggle I thought I would share.

Lots of tears this week, but our Savior has a plan in each of these situations, for redemption and for rejoicing.

Interesting things

Feliz Viernes! (happy friday)

It's a beautiful friday in Arequipa, though a little chilly. It may have only reached 72 today, with hardly a cloud in the sky. Hope yours was equally nice. Laura took the day off today because she has been a bit sick with a bad cold. She's had it for a while, and has bravely pushed on, but today she was just too exhausted to conjugate verbs. So she is taking a much-deserved rest, and we have a quiet friday evening planned. Could you pray for her recovery? We went to the doctor yesterday and he gave her some prescriptions. Hopefully they will help.

For fun today, I have a few reasons why I love Arequipa:

1. Perros on the roofs! This is seriously where most people keep their dogs, rather than inside. I suppose it makes sense if it's unused space and the weather is always nice (yes, the roofs are flat). Noah loves the fact that as you walk down the street in the morning, you are greeted by many happy puppies staring down from 2 or 3 stories above. I think the main reason the dogs like it is because it ensures unimpeded communication, rooftop to rooftop throughout the night.

2. Quality assurance. Peruvian store-owners go out of their way to let you know you're getting a functional product. I bought an empty plastic spray bottle, and they had a cup of water there to demonstrate that the nozzle would, in fact, spray. The other day we splurged and bought a toaster. After paying, but before the toaster came home, they took it out of all the packaging, plugged it in, and had us put our hands over it to prove that heat was coming out. Muy amable.

3. Musical vendors! Many Arequipeñan services have distinct ways of letting you know they are coming down your street. The trash trucks are the first example we noticed. In each neighborhood, the trucks play a different tune. In ours, it's the immortal Fur Elise. I don't know if this is the use Beethoven had imagined when he composed it, but it works for Arequipa. In other parts, it's rather loud rock music, so we're happy. A gentleman who will take your glass and metal garbage away on his cart has a shrill whistle that you can't miss. The guy who sharpens your knives plays a rather nice tune, and even the tamale man has a song.

4. Do Peruvian babies have hair! Every little one we've seen has a full head of long dark hair. Poor Noah looks like Charlie Brown out there, though as you can see by his pictures, he's getting more. Maybe it's in the empanadas.

Writing and music

Noah never ceases to surprise us. He started scribbling, as we posted before, with crayons, but recently has preferred pens. He knows how to take the top off and put it back on, and knows which end to write with. The craziest thing is that he has somehow learned how to hold the pen like any adult would, between his first few fingers. I promise we didn't pose this or even correct his grip. He loves taking a piece of paper or a notebook (or a wall or his shirt) and sitting down to write. It's very purposeful, like he really has some thoughts to get down or notes to take. We have an amazing little boy.

I did forget to mention one thing new from last week. On a recommendation from my teachers, I started taking lessons from a music professor at the university here. I am studying the quena, a traditional Andean instrument. It's not the classic multi-tube zamponia you might be thinking of - though I may study that later - but rather much more like a flute or recorder (see picture). It has a beautiful tone - when played by somebody like the professor. I am just starting, however, and all the trumpet and vocal experience in the world doesn't help me contort my lips in the necessary manner for making a sound. It's great fun, though, and a terrific outlet for practicing Spanish in a different setting. I'm also learning all the music-reading vocabulary in Spanish, which is both exciting and humbling. I pray it will be another way in the future to connect with Peruvians - music tends to do that.

Here I am trying to serenade Noah, who is less than thrilled.

Feliz dia de la Madre!

Mother's Day is a big deal here - in some ways one of the biggest holidays of the year, at least commercially. We had the privilege of going to a different church this morning, the one connected to our language institute (the head of the institute is also the pastor, and most of the teachers are part of the church). It was a wonderful blessing to worship with them! Pedro, the pastor, speaks very clearly, and we could understand most of the service. Afterward there was a special lunch and dessert served for everybody, and flowers for the mothers.

We are so incredibly thankful for our own mothers, who have done SO much to serve us, love us, encourage us and pray for us. Every day in raising Noah we learn more about just how much our mothers have done. I can include my wife in this praise, because I am constantly amazed at what a terrific mother she is to Noah. So a huge THANK YOU to our Moms and all moms out there!

Three wonderful Erickson Moms

Mom (Grandma) Salvatierra, doing one of her favorite things

Various items

Happy friday!

A few things to post today, not much is new this week - just getting back to vigorous Spanish study.

First, I've added a bunch of links over there on the right - many more friends' blogs at home and abroad, as well as some blogs that I've found insightful and thought-provoking (in the "other blogs" section). Check them all out! I'll give you a few leads - some posts I really enjoyed:

Christ's righteousness, an incredible piece by Internet Monk

Latino Progressive Evangelicals, from the Sojo blog

A post on the church and gentrification, from The Margins

Lastly, Charity and Justice and Multiplication, from Toward Hope, really hit hard

One other to mention - Cracked Pots is always phenomenal. There are many more, and these blogs always make me think. I love keeping up with friends' blogs too - keep the posts coming! It's really amazing how connected we all are despite the distances.

Along that same thought, we wanted to put out our old-fashioned post office address, as people have asked for it. It was in our prayer letter, but I don't think it's been on our blog. I don't feel nervous in posting it either, because it's a PO box, not a street address.
For normal letters, you can use:
Casilla 1577
Arequipa, Peru
South America

For anything larger (or letters), use:
Casilla 1898
Arequipa, Peru
South America

Do be sure to include our names, as many people use these boxes.
More blogs are on their way. Have a great weekend!

Arica and back

We are finally getting our adventure to Chile posted. It was a terrific trip, and both goals were accomplished: visas and rest. The flight was short - 25 minutes - and without incident. After landing in Tacna, Peru, we took a taxi for the 45 minute trip across the border. The taxistas know how to get you through quickly, and again there were no problems. We went directly to the consulate in the coastal city of Arica, and found out that we were missing the needed photos to get the visas. Thankfully a very nice taxista knew right where to go, and we got them done quickly. We returned to find the consulate closed, but were able to return a couple hours later to successfully receive our resident visas. We now have 20 days to get our carnets (id cards for foreign residents) from the embassy in Lima.

In between, we checked into our beautiful hotel, recommended by the Ross family. We honestly felt a bit spoiled there, as it was right on the beach and quite comfortable. I've never been a huge beach fanatic, but here I realized how much I love the ocean, and could sit on the rocks watching and listening for hours.

Chile was interesting and had a very different feel from Peru. It has much more Western influence, and is generally wealthier. The first thing we noticed was the traffic - Arica is much slower, quieter, safer. Cars actually slowed down to let us cross - unheard of in Arequipa. Everything seems newer and cleaner, prices are much higher, more like in the States, and though it wasn't a huge city, there was a McDonald's. On a different level, we could see very clearly just how enriched Peru is by the influence of indigenous Andean cultures, something somewhat lacking in Chile. Arica is a beautiful place, with many monuments to their victory in the 19th-century war against Peru. We enjoyed the cleaner and more humid air, but I was honestly glad to return to Arequipa. Even with all its frustrations, I think I'm already starting to feel some attachment to our new home, this country that is rich in so many ways.

Noah got to sit in his own seat on the plane!

Part of downtown Arica

We walked down close to those rocks - absolutely spectacular.

This is called the Morro de Arica - a desert cliff where you can see the whole city.

Also atop the Morro was a huge statue of Christ

This was our hotel - and our room on the right. The Morro de Arica is in the background

Noah loved playing in the sand! He and I dug a hole together, which he then sat in. There were hundreds of shells around, which fascinated our curious boy.

Video and article

Happy friday!

We are leaving this morning for Chile, returning on Sunday. We'll take a short plane ride to Tacna, Peru, then a bus across the border to the town of Arica. This afternoon we will be going to the consulate there to get our permanent visas, which are finally ready. Arica is on the beach, and we hear it's very nice, so we'll post some pictures when we return.
Two things before we go:

First, I am compelled to link a great article which my brother sent me. It is fascinating, a pretty important piece of legislation which won't make the political sound bites but is as much an issue of life as anything else we might vote on.

NY Times
MAGAZINE April 22, 2007 The Way We Live Now: You Are What You Grow By MICHAEL POLLAN Will this year’s farm bill make us fatter and sicker?

If there's a problem and they need registration and password, use the member id "salvatierras" and the password "blogger".

Secondly, the other night we took Noah out to the Plaza de Armas to feed the birds again, and let him walk around on his own. Did he ever! He saw all the open space and ran! He liked the birds too, and we got some video that's on youtube. I'm no videographer, and it's not the most exciting footage, but we still think it's fun. Hope you enjoy.



Have a great weekend!

Soccer

The last few weekends I have had the opportunity, at long last, to play some futbol! A group from the language institute has started playing on Saturdays, usually 3 or 4 on a team, on various small "canchas" (fields, but made of concrete and about the size of a basketball court). Some of our Peruvian teachers and their kids play - Julio, Edgar and Litos, as well as David from Ireland, Kyle from Colorado, and a occasionally some other students. It's a very laid-back game, a decent level of play, lots of fun, and great exercise, especially at this altitude. It doesn't matter how old or out of shape someone is here, everyone knows futbol.

Sunday it gets more intense. My friend Franc (who helped me get the guitar) has invited me the last two weeks to join him and his buddies for a 6 on 6 game on a slightly larger cancha. These guys are serious, competitive, and play at a much higher level than me. I'm getting the hang of the modified rules and aggressive style, but I'm not much of an asset to the team. In any event, I love it, and I'll play as long as they'll have me. I get to make friends with more Peruvians, practice my Spanish in a more realistic - and difficult - setting, and play the beautiful game.

Quick story: The first time I played with these local guys, it was a truly Latin American experience. Franc told me the game was at 2pm, and that he was getting a ride from his place to the field. So I could meet him at the church (below our apt) at 1:30 and we'd go to his house to be picked up. I figured that meant he lived close, and it would be a simple procedure to get to the game. Hmm. When I met Franc at 1:50, he got us a cab, and we took it quite a distance across town to his house. When we arrived there, we apparently still had some time before the friends came, so of course Franc's mother brought out heaping plates of arroz con pollo! I couldn't refuse such a generous offer, so we enjoyed the pre-game "snack". Eventually the friends came and all six of us piled into the tiny taxi (driven by one of the guys) and went quite a distance back the other direction. When we got to the cancha, the other team still hadn't arrived, so we waited another half hour for them. Finally around 3:20 or so, we started playing. I'm learning to adjust my expectations for time, and enjoy the fact that people are more important!

The cancha for our Sunday games

El Dia del Trabajo

We think this is kinda like Labor Day in the States, basically, just a holiday. Since it was yesterday, a Tuesday, it made today feel like another Monday...anyways we made the most of it.
In the morning we walked to La Selva Alegre (the Happy Jungle). It's a public park complete with a pond to feed ducks and ride in rowboats, playgrounds, alpacas, caged monkeys, a macaw, rabbit, turtle, and iguana (the last three living quite peacefully in the same cage), electric hotwheels for children to take for a ride, and an area full of amusements for children which is only open on weekends and holidays. For a small fee (1.50 soles) Noah could play in the ball pit for 10 minutes and ride on the manually operated merry-go-round of plush animals. They also had trampolines (with safety-nets), and small tracks with trains or electric cars on them. Needless to say, Noah enjoyed himself. He was in the ball-room as he saw the adjacent merry-go-round and pointed to it curiously. We chose to seat him in the blue dinosaur because its safety belt looked the most "secure." Once in his dino, he wasn't quite sure what to think. He didn't crack a smile, but cautiously took in the situation...Daddy running beside him, Mommy taking pictures, and Winnie the Pooh close behind. I'm sure it was all very strange to him.

Then we visited the alpacas on our way out. There were three, one of them clearly much younger, with a white fluffy coat, giving everybody a little show as he pranced and hopped along. I'm sure Noah thought they were the strangest looking dogs he's ever seen.

After our adventure to la selva, we went to the home of some new friends, the Murphys, for lunch. They are from Northern Ireland. They have an adorable little girl, almost 2, named Sarah. She and Noah had a blast together sharing toys and (sort of) playing hide-and-go-seek. Alisia made Thai chicken satay - it was delicious. She (and Sarah) even made brownies for dessert, a treat we haven't had since we left home. Michael stayed after lunch to watch the Liverpool-Chelsea futbol game with David, his new soccer friend. Noah and I went home for naps - it had been a full day already!

Adorable

Sorry for the lack of blogs lately! We've had many good times and pictures in the last week or so, but we haven't been able to put them up. Expect at least a blog per day for the rest of the week.

No time tonight for stories, just cute pictures of Noah.

Noah has long enjoyed looking into his toy "chest" and deciding what to play with. Lately, though he seems to prefer getting into his toy chest to better assess the situation. In fact, every morning he likes to spend a little personal time reading his two or three favorite books, sitting amidst his toys. Maybe it's security, I don't know, but it sure is cute. I promise we did not pose these pictures, he just got in and pulled out his book.

Yes, Noah?