We met Erich during our travels in Guatamala. We were staying at Isabel and David's, a small inn inhabited by students like us from the Spanish immersion school, young travelers looking for cheap accommodations, and whoever else may drop in. During this particular week there were 3 Americans (Erv and myself) and Antonio (a young student just hanging out and trading English lessons for Spanish lessons), 1 guy from France (who spoke to no one), 3 people from Germany, and 1 person from Switzerland (Erich). We all had to try and speak to each other in Spanish because no one was fluent in any other language but their own. It was extremely hard to speak to the Germans trying out their Spanish.

We first spoke to Erich on an outing to a hot spring with our school. Erich wasn't really attending the school, but he knew most of the teachers and hung out with the students picking up as much Spanish as he could. He liked speaking to us because he wanted to practice his English as much as he wanted to practice Spanish. His plan was to travel the world for 5 years. He is a pastry chef by trade, but wanted to see the world and have fun before returning to and settling down in Switzerland. At 24, that seemed like a good plan. He had saved money and figured he could last 5 years if he only spent $5 a day to live (in Guatamala that is quite possible). And he definitely didn't spend any money on haircuts. We informed him that the $5 plan probably wouldn't work when he hit the states. He wanted to know if he could "live in our garden" if he made it to Corpus, which we assume meant -pitch his tent in our yard. We offered him a bedroom in our house if and when he got there. We knew that he was going to leave the inn to study Yoga for a few weeks, so we didn't know if he was serious about coming or not.

We finished our travels and returned to Corpus and didn't hear anything from Erich. Then, several months later, letters and packages started to arrive addressed to Erich. We then assumed he was on his way, but had received no word from him. One day a black car drove up in front of the house and a man got out and walked toward the door. We didn't recognize him and thought he was lost and would ask for directions. But when I opened the front door and got a good look, I realized it was our Erich - hair cut short and all cleaned up.

Erich immediately became the son I never had. In the mornings he would jog and practice yoga with Erv and in the afternoons he would hang out in the kitchen with me and create wonderful meals and desserts. A perfect son.. Erv introduced him to several of his friends who had children his age and he was taken in as one of them and invited up to visit their cabin at the lake, which we all did one week-end (Erv and I staying in our RV and Erich staying in the cabin with the family). We went windsurfing one day, to the beach other days, and then he baked a special birthday cake for the big 50^th birthday party of Rick, one of Erv's friends.

But all good things must come to an end, and it was time for Erich to continue his travels around the world. We are able to keep in touch by email and so were delighted to hear about his adventures to the Grand Canyon, Carlsbad Caverns, and the California coast trip with his brother who came to meet him for a few weeks. We expected that we would be hearing from Erich from all kinds of places for the next four and a half years, BUT, then came Vancouver. Something happened in Vancouver that would change Erich's life forever. - KASIA

We got an email one-day stating that he had met someone a few weeks ago and was getting married and going to Hawaii for his honeymoon. Many times we have had trouble figuring out what he was trying to say as his English isn't quite perfect and his sentences didn't make any sense - but this seemed quite clear. Married, our little Erich! I couldn't believe it, I was as shocked as his real mother must have been. What about the five year plan??? We hurriedly emailed back to get a clarification on the subject. He was getting married and that was all there was to it. He seemed just ecstatic and sounded very much in love and was just as excited as he could be. He got married in January, and still sounds very happy and ecstatic in his emails even though he must now get a work visa and join the working class. We wish him all the happiness in the world but are just a little jealous that he will be making his delicious creations for Kasia instead of us.