Erick’s Blog

The week before last we spent a week with my family at the Black Butte ranch in Central Oregon.  It was a beautiful place and we had a great time hanging with everyone.  (Agi and I had to work a few days but thankfully the house had wifi).  Some pictures!

Two months ago when we were back in Hungary Agi and I drove out to the spot where we met for the first time.  To set the scene, about nine and a half years ago--in December of 1999--I was teaching at the Budapest College of Economics for a year.  This was a great opportunity and the entire year was a very rich one in nearly every regard that matters: spiritual growth, serving others, experiencing a different culture and falling for a foxy girl. 

One day, as I was leaving the building, I held the door open for a young lady behind me and she said "thanks" in English.  I was kind of puzzled because I thought I didn't stand out too much as a non-Hungarian and most people didn't speak to me in English.  So after about walking for ten seconds of silence, I said, "OK so how did you know I'm not Hungarian" and our lives would never be the same...

Here are some pictures from the college.  It was great being back there.

We had a great time hanging with cool friends from our church over the Memorial Day weekend.  We spent two days in Central Oregon at Lake Billy at the Cove Palisades state park.  While everyone else spent the nights in tents, we opted to stay at a bed & breakfast nearby. Yes, this was for Agi's big-belly benefit but I also enjoyed the showers.  We went on a big hike up the nearby cliffs, went swimming, enjoyed Chip's home-made brew, enjoyed good conversations, played chess and watched as a young pilot from our church named Brandon took others up in his plane over the lake. Very cool.

Monday was the Memorial Day holiday and also Agi's 32nd birthday.  I am convinced she is the hottest 32 year old on the planet. We drove over to visit our buddies Jeff & Anne S. in Eugene.  Besides Kalen, Jeff is another good friend from Davis who recently moved to Oregon. We'd love to have them up in Portland but Jeff has already established himself as a hot-shot oncologist in Eugene and is regularly featured on the radio as "the Cancer Answer Man."  Although I had written Agi a sonnet for her 30th birthday, this time I opted for no card and just got her some nice earrings.

For dinner, we went to a pub/burger place along the river.  Amazingly, a bald eagle provided some spectacular and nerve-racking entertainment for all the customers out on the terrace.  A little duckling was paddling quickly down the river while a big bald eagle would swoop in and try to nab him.  The eagle missed three times in a row as the duckling dropped underwater just in time while two other birds flew interference trying to, apparently, fight off the eagle.  Each time the eagle went down and missed the crowd gasped and cheered (and Jeff, very appropriately for the U. of Oregon, shouted "Go ducks" to the amusement of those around us...)  The eagle's fourth attempt was successful however, and the crowd collectively grimaced and said "ooohh" as the little guy was plucked up in the eagle's talons.  He probably had some eaglings to feed himself...

Here's some pictures of our very fine weekend.

I finished Magda Gerber's "Dear Parent" book last weekend. (Gerber is from Hungary originally, by the way.) My interest in baby info has gone from zero to sixty in the last few months and Agi and I borrowed this book from my sister.  Agi read it first and next I'll follow her w/ BabyWise.  We think Gerber's advice is excellent and makes sense to us:

- Babies hardly need any stimulation for many months. Simply coming out of the womb and breathing, seeing and eating is a sensory overload in itself.  (So no need for toys that make noise or are extra colorful.)

- Respect what the child can do (don't try to get him to sit up extra early) and let the child struggle to reach toys, move around.

- Constantly talk to the baby and tell him what you're going to do.  Rather than just picking him up, tell him you're doing this and give him a chance to get "ready." (For a second or two).

- Serve your baby lots of skittles and cheetos. ;)

I know that's a grand statement but eight days ago Agi and I had an amazing day trip trip to Cannon Beach.  It's just a 75 minute drive from Portland.  We went on a hike along the ocean (starting at Ecola state park) up to Indian beach where there were a bunch of surfers and then we returned back to Cannon beach.  There was a wedding going on at Cannon and we look forward to renting a beachhouse with friends or family sometime soon.  I love this area because it's not as crowded (or over the top wealthy) as Carmel is in California.  We had dinner at a great burger joint and then ran into two friends from church there (Michael and Jenny E.) who also came out for the day.

I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

We flew from Hungary to Portland about a week ago and we've settled back into the beautiful Pacific Northwest.  When we're away coming back it's always striking seeing the massive amount of green trees.  And it's nice that jetlag is never bad coming this direction.  

Two weekends ago I visited a friend from UCLA named Roger and his wife Jennie in Tirana, Albania.  They just got married this past summer and were excellent hosts!  Roger and Jennie are helping grow a church and seminary in Tirana. Also, here's the link to a video that Roger narrated that details the horrible suffering Albanians experienced under their uniquely evil dictator Enver Hoxha entitled "Prison Nation" http://www.albanianhumanrights.org/albania-prison-nation.html

Albania has also provided some inspiration for an online language-learning and translation project.  In a year or so I'm hoping to launch a website that provides language teaching online and translation services to customers around the world.  In particular, the possibility of helping residents of poor countries improve their ability to compete in the global marketplace with better English is a very appealing endeavor.  And I've already acquired a cool domain name:  TurboLanguages.

It had been 14 years since I had first gone out to Albania with other good friends from UCLA. Tirana has developed dramatically and I was struck by all the big towers.  Roger and I both enjoyed cappuccinos from the top of a cafe/restaurant that slowly spins around for a nice view of the city. Here's some pictures from this awesome trip!

Our good friends Kalen and Melissa F's 21-month old son Aiden fell and hurt his head very badly yesterday.  The doctors in Portland have put him into a coma to reduce the brain swelling.  It must be incredibly difficult to see your child suffer. They'd appreciate your prayers for his recovery. Prayers for Aidan blog.

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I finished The Sparrow yesterday, a sci-fi and theology book I borrowed from Melissa F.  I was riveted to the story.  I've been keeping a Google Doc "Book Notes" log that I've found very rewarding and here are my notes:

• Story was a unique combination of science fiction and theology:  party of Jesuits and scientists travel to a different planet.
• Reinforced the complexity, sorrow, suffering, love and beauty of life.
• Author converted to Judaism as an adult and is also a PhD in anthropology. In the notes, she sees no inherent contradiction between science and religion.
• Story set forth view that God most likely steps back after creating world; loves us in our suffering and joy, but doesn't "micromanage" such events.
• Priest thinks he has the following dilemma as he experiences immense, overwhelming suffering and loss: (i) adopt view that the universe is random, as is his suffering, which makes it more acceptable (ii) or adopt view that God can be harsh, cruel or "vicious."
• "The Sparrow" refers to verse in Matthew that says such a bird won't fall to the ground without the Father's will.  And the main character falls hard--brutally so.  Book questions how God could allow such suffering.  But what's not emphasized--and should be kept in mind--is who gave the sparrow life and the ability to fly to begin with?  That's a key issue with all such "problem of evil" complaints.  What about the "problem of good?"
  

I'm thinking there's going to be a big upsurge in applicants to be Navy Seals.  Agi enjoyed how I chanted "USA USA" after the Somali pirates were taken out with three perfect shots.  After hearing how Americans so often do shooting rampages on each other it's nice to see some quality marksmanship take out some real bad guys.

We had a great time hosting my buddy Calvin L last week for four days.  I showed him the coolest spots in Budapest and will get some pictures up soon.  Calvin is a great travel companion and loves soaking up the culture and unique experiences.  We both love cafes but he loves them on a whole different level and was generous to treat me to a wine-tasting session his last day.

This past weekend we spent lots of time with Agi's mom and went hiking on Saturday and went on a big walk around Margaret Island after church on Sunday. We drove up today to Aunt Eva's place for the annual blowout Easter celebration with Agi's relatives.  More pictures to come there too.  Happy Easter!

I've almost finished the novel "the Sparrow" and am making my way through Tim Keller's excellent and compelling "the Reason for God."  We also saw the very funny "Meet the Parents" a few nights ago for the first time--Agi and I both loved it.  One of our favorite comedies.

Agi and I fly back to Portland on April 26th.  I'm looking forward to a quick 3-day side-trip to Albania this weekend to visit some friends and check out the ministry there I had participated in back in 1995.