Greg Steward’s Miscellanies

Before heading back home from a conference, I was able to take in a bit of downtown San Antonio with some friends.  The Riverwalk is a beautiful area and is very close to the Alamo.  (Remember the Alamo?)  If you ever have a chance to go, I highly recommend it, especially if it is in the 70s, like when I was there.

On January 7, 2009, I was able to spend an afternoon in Gruene (pronounced Green), Texas, with some of my friends. If interested, you can read more about Gruene, Texas. Gruene is about an hour northeast of San Antonio, Texas.

On Saturday, October 25, FOCUS had a harvest party for some of the new international students.

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Thirty-eight international students met at the PSU park blocks from where we carpooled to a farm near Oregon City.  There we picked apples, for some a first.  A few reported that they had never seen an apple tree before.

We then headed over to Al and Arlette Dunham’s to make apple cider (thanks to David and Lola Mae Hatfield), apple pies (under the able tutelege of David and Elizabeth Case with assists from Cleo Leigh), and ice cream (courtesy of Steve and Debbie Gomes).  Many other members of Cedar Mill Bible Church helped in various ways. Between internationals, FOCUS staff and associates, and CMBC members, we had over sixty in the Dunham house.

At any given time there were people cranking ice cream, pressing cider, baking pies, playing volley ball or ping-pong, or singing some traditional American folk music.

After dining on Caribbean stew, rice, and salad (provided by CMBC volunteers), we all gathered to sing some folk songs, followed by a brief talk by Jonathan Guest on what Christians believe. This was followed by apple pie, ice cream, and brownies (yum, Sue-Ann).

Thanks to all who made this possible and to Jonathan for putting this together.  Thanks again to Al and Arlette for opening their home and for Arlette’s organizing the CMBC volunteers who helped in so many ways.

FOCUS Associate, Kevin Chan, came up with the excellent idea of offering new international students at PSU a walking tour of Portland.

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Twenty-five new international students headed off from the PSU park blocks, walked down Broadway to Pioneer Square, and took the MAX to PGE Park. From there we walked to Eat Pizza. (Kevin must dine there often.) There was a demonstration of pizza-making and then, courtesy of the owner, we feasted on five pizzas.

We crossed Burnside to the Nob Hill district, walking along NW 23rd to Lovejoy, where we caught a Trimet street car to Jamison Square in the Pearl district.  There we enjoyed some ice cream at Cool Moon Ice Cream.

Then it was on to the first FOCUS Coffee House.

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Imagine going to a foreign county and moving into an empty room. Do you just hop in your car and head to the store? What car? Which store? Where? Each year as part of new student orientation, FOCUS and Greater Portland Bible Church sponsor a giveaway for the new international students.

Don’t quote me on this, but each year I think we have around fifty to eighty students take part in this event.  We pick them up at PSU, take them to GPBC, lay out a few ground rules, and then let them go find what they need.

Items are donated by various individuals. Unfortunately, FOCUS has no warehouse space to collect items throughout the year. As a result, we ask anyone with items for donation to hold on to them until the week of the giveaway, normally the last weekend in September, just prior to the start of classes. Often in June, we have students contact us and want to give items back to FOCUS, but we have no place to keep them.

Organization of the event is led by Russ and Claire Rusunen, FOCUS Associates and GPBC members. Hats off to FOCUS staff Andy Peloquin and Jonathan Guest who did a good job of organizing the transport of goods (along with students) back to campus. As usual, the event is the work of many people.  Thanks to all.

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This year almost 500 new international students came to Portland to study. Fortunately, not all of them contacted FOCUS to pick them up at the airport; but 83 did request an airport pickup.  The two busiest days were the Saturday and Monday before PSU’s New Student Orientation.  There were approximately twenty pickups each of those two days.  Curiously, only one requested a pickup on that Sunday. Thanks to FOCUS Associate Karen Mundt for coordinating this effort and to all the FOCUS drivers.

Some stats:

Date distribution

18 – Aug 7 – Sept 12
20 – Sept 13 – Sept 19
41 – Sept 20 – Sept 22 (Saturday – Monday prior to Tuesdays orientation at PSU)
4 – Sept 23 – Sept 24

Countries

32 – China
24 – India
12 – Korea
4 – France
3 – Japan
2 – Taiwan
2 – Thailand
1 – Turkey
1 – Ecuador
1 – Nigerai
1 – Vietnam

It really is a lot of fun to be there with a sign and welcome these new arrivals. Lately I have been taking a slight detour on the way back to campus, going over the Steel Bridge and doing a short tour through Old Town/Downtown before heading to campus.  It doesn’t add that much time and the students seem to enjoy it.

One of our events for the new international students each year is the BBQ and Square Dance.  For the past couple of years, this event has been held at the Aloha Grange. The evening begins with some traditional BBQ fair (hamburgers and hot dogs). Then we head upstairs. The square dance caller starts by getting everyone in a circle.  This allows him to teach some of the basic moves. When the basic moves have been learned, the students are formed into "squares" of four couples each. As you can see from the pictures, the event proves to be a good time. After some cookies, we take them back to campus.

Little Zigzag Falls Trail follows Little Zigzag Creek to Little Zigzag Falls.  The trail is about 1/4 mile long.  The trail is mostly easy, but there are a couple of stretches that are muddy and require you to take a short detour to avoid the mud. To reach Little Zigzag Falls you take 26-39 off of US 26.

See some family shots taken here and at Trillium Lake at Steward Family and Life.

Trillium Lake is on Mt Hood.  You can camp there as well as use the day use area. There is a path around the lake that is approximately two miles in length.  The trail is fairly level and not hard to walk.  There are occasional water faucets, but the toilets are all “pit” toilets (non-flush).  You will have to pay the day use fee.  That fee was $6.00 per car in 2008.  For pictures of the family on this trip, see Steward Family and Life.

After Trillium Lake we made a short stop at Little Zigzag Falls.

The pictures above were taken over three years of camping at Nehalem Bay State Park with our church’s Family Camp.  We would love to have the luxury of RV camping, but don’t have the budget for it.  We didn’t start camping as a family until we purchased our minivan in 1994.  It was at that time that we bought a tent and the Coleman fold-up camp kitchen at Costco.  Each year we add a little (or large) something.

The prospect of camping at a bluegrass festival in Stevenson Washington in the blazing sun with no shade motivated me to build the canopy.  That was back in the late 90s. Whether rain or shine, it has been a great addition.  We bought the connectors at Andy and Bax (army surplus store in SE Portland).  I also bought the tarp and the bungees there.  Then I bought electrical conduit at Home Depot and cut it to length according to the size of the tarp.

Getting our inspiration from others, we began bringing electrical appliances such as fry pans and skillets.  No sense paying for a site with electricty and not using it. Last year we added the mini-fridge to our repertoire.  It is nice not to have to worry about the food going bad. So far we haven’t brought a microwave.  Funny, we bring a mini-fridge, but somehow a microwave just seems wrong.

This year I finally mastered some basic knots which came in very handy when I was putting up some tarps in case there was rain.  None this year.  Thank you, Lord!