Now that you know we are both safe (thank you Marcos for calming my fears!) I can tell you a little bit more about Santo Domingo. I learned how to take the public transportation the other day, a little scary mostly because if i get lost i would have no idea how to find out where i was. My first day traving alone i found out later that my host dad followed me to class because he saw how worried i was before i left and he wanted to make sure i was ok. I thought that was nice! I have had an interesting tome trying to find my way but hopefully it will just get better from here!! I am still homesick but i really do like it here. I am glad that its not forever but i will have fun at least these first 6 weeks :o) i feel like i just need to get into the swing of things, i like it when i have rutine! so that will be nice. We have monday off classes to so i get to catch up on my sleep. Well thank you for your prayers for Marcos and I and I look forward to hearing from you, and I will get you know when we do more exciting things like go to the beach :o) I hope you are all well, and Andrea my family remembers you and they look forward to you’re coming here! I am with Betty and Ruben and their daughter Isabella. I think you were with a sister or brother maybe? anyway they told me they taught you to dance and they look forward to seeing you! So again, i hope you are all well!! Nos vemos…

Hi everyone. Well, It’s official, I’m in Peru. I’ve been in Lima now 4 days, hard to imagine. Unfortunately I have limited internet access, but I do know where several Internet cafes are so hopefully I’ll be able to send some good updates now and then. The city is indeed quite large and I am extremely happy that I don’t have to drive in the crazy traffic! Oh, and my family is also wonderfully hospitable and has made me feel quite at home :-)  Ok, I’m off to write some emails, but drop me a line, and thanks for your prayers and emails so far. Miss you Beth! Talk to you all later!

PS. Don’t forget to check out the newest photos from both groups on Goshen’s SST site

hola from Santo Domingo! I’m here in a lovely home with internet and a 3 year old little girl who keeps calling me Tanya bacause she can’t say Bethany! It was a hard night for me last night, i am still feeling the homesickness and i haven’t heard from Marcos yet, but i am hanging in there, or trying! It really helps that my host dad speaks english really well. So i don’t feel too lost! Well i just wanted to drop everyone a very quick hello and let everyone know that i am here and well and thank you for your prayers and thoughts, Keep them up i need them!!! I would love to hear from you so drop me an emial whenever!

te amo!!

Ok, so this is long over due, I’m sure. I’m blogging (what has Marcos done to me?) and sort of nervous because I don’t think I can ever live up to Marcos’ awesome blogging skills. But as luck would have it we are both going on SST and will be apart for 3 months and need a way to keep in touch with each other and all of our friends at home. So here I am. And after Marcos’ own heart I am even blogging at 12:30am before heading to bed! Now I should make a shameless plug because I am sure Marcos wont, but not only is he graduating from college tomorrow, but he turned 22 today. So wish him a happy birthday whenever you see him. :-D 

Now for the real reason I am blogging is so that I can give you all some information about how to get a hold of us while we are on SST. So you can subscribe to the blog like Marcos suggested in the last post, OR you COULD send us good old fashioned snail mail. I am sure that too would make us smile as much (if not more) that you’re reading our blogs, or emailing us. There is just something about snail mail that makes you feel loved. So with out further hesitation here are our mailing addresses: 

Marcos Kuhns
Universidad de Goshen
Marco Pomacocha 192 
Sta. Eulalia, San Miguel
Lima 32
Peru 

and 

Bethany Wright
Goshen College Program
Apartado 747-2
Santo Domingo
Dominican Republic 

West Indies 

The postage costs are $0.84 for airmail and $0.75 for postcards. We hope we hear from you while we are on SST. And we look forward to great experiences. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we travel and meet new people. And we will continue to think of you all as well.

With Goshen’s highs hitting the 70s I bet you were wondering when I was going to take down the wintery Kuhnsfam banner. Well, the wait is over, but this time not only do you get a fresh summer look, there are a whole slew of changes that I’ve put in place for SST. Most importantly I’d like to welcome a new author to the site, none other than Beth Wright! Yes, this is the first step in turning Kuhnsfam into a true family affair (I mean, family soon enough right? :-D). Beth & I will both be making posts as we travel far and wide. If you’re interested in reading posts only by one or the other of us just click the appropriate “author” on the left.

To help keep those who are interested most up to date I’ve also added the option to subscribe to Kuhnsfam.com by email. Once subscribed you will receive email notification each time Beth or I write a new post. To sign up just enter your email address in the “subscribe” section on the left or view the help for further instructions.

Last but not least, after some upgrades to my spam filters I’ve opened up comments on blog posts again. Beth and I would love to hear from you folks back home so drop us a comment! Oh yeah, and I doubt I’ll be updating my personal photo gallery while on SST but you will be able to see photos and read group news on Goshen’s website. There will be coverage for both the Peru 2006 and Dominican 2006 groups.

Hope to hear from you all as we travel. Keep us in your prayers for safety and strength through new experiences, extreme long-distance engagement and other unknown challenges that lie ahead.

Easter has come and gone, what a fun break from the craziness of school. Emily Yoder, Brandon, Beth & I made the 12 hr trek to H’burg Thursday night and enjoyed a weekend full of movie watching, Tai food eating, game playing, ice cream licking and just plain sleeping! Yeah, definitely a good choice even if it meant not having the whole weekend to pack & prep for SST. Beth and I also got to spend some time with Joni, Tracy, Stephan and Bryce including a great Easter lunch. Oh yeah, and we also hung out with Jason, Curt, and Ryan Hess.

Now I’m trying to get things organized here at school. We were welcomed back to campus by a rather bizarre event. Apparently a train derailed near the Old Bag Factory and cut phone service to “9600 customers of Verizon” which included Goshen’s internet connection. Long story short, this reading day there were a lot more students actually reading and heading outdoors instead of spending lazy hours online, not all bad in retrospect. You can even check out some video footage from a local news station.

My family is gets here in three days. Graduation is less than a week away. SST flights leave in seven days! Woah!

Well, the end of the school career is hurtling towards me faster than I can imagine! This past weekend was my last “normal” weekend here at GC because next weekend I’m headed to EMU for the Easter weekend and the weekend after that is graduation already! Fortunately for me I don’t have to worry too much about exams (I’ve only got one) but it seems like each day there are more things that I need to get done before I leave on SST. Luckily I only start freaking out when I think about everything coming up and there has been plenty to keep my mind occupied with less stressful matters.

For example, this weekend was jam packed with fun musical events. Friday night Beth & I went to Addie Liechty’s Hour After which was a blast. Along with chocolate and cheesecake we were treated to Paul Simon, Ace of Base and even a few original pieces of hers. Yeah, hopefully there will be a few of those next year I can attend also. Then Saturday was the spring choir concert. All the choirs had fun selections including Hol’ you Han’ by the men’s choir and an arrangement of Flight of the Bumblebee by the chamber choir. As fun as the evening was, I was also a bit nostalgic as this was my last performance in a college choir. Dang graduation! The closer I get to leaving college life behind, the more I realize how much I’m going to miss it. At least I got a nice flower to wear during the concert for being a Senior To end the weekend on a positive note I attended a Palm Sunday Hymn Sing in Reith with Beth, Emily and Meryl. While Beth doesn’t like lenten hymns as much, I was a pretty big fan! Anyway, that was my musical weekend in a nutshell. If I have more time (yeah right) I may continue my nostalgic ramblings but for now, enjoy the week!

A few random links that have been sitting in my outbox way too long. First off a computer game that Beth might actually like me to play! She sent me a link to the A Force More Powerful website the other day and I had quite a bit of fun looking around. This game is a realtime strategy game that puts you in charge of planning and coordinating non-violent resistance movements in one of ten or so scenarios "based on recent historical precedents." On the whole I think it’s great that people are putting the effort into developing this kind of game that may actually have some positive learning involved (other than amazing hand-eye coordination). I just really hope that people don’t start trying to organize non-violent movements based solely on their gaming experience! ("but civil disobedience always worked for me in the game" ) Order your copy today.

Then in my Data Comm class Jacob mentioned that he had heard about another game coming out based on the Left Behind series. A new RPG based on the end of the world as portrayed by Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins. After a quick look around the official Left Behind Games website I came to realize the true marketing genius of the Left Behind crew. The website itself is nothing much to look, says virtually nothing about the game itself and even has a few blank pages! But, the screenshots are impressive, there is an in-depth analysis of the profitability of the computer gaming market and the trailer (while still saying nothing about the game itself) is drop-jaw gorgeous. So, regardless of what I or anyone else think about the Biblical validity of the series I must give props to the marketing crew at Left Behind. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to play the Left Behind board game