Time with the Fulbrights

This past week we spent our time catching up with Grandma Fulbright and Papa Dave. We did a lot of the more "touristy" things that we've blogged about before, so I'll refrain from re-explaining our outings. Plus, my mom took most of the pictures this week and I'd hate to bore you with paragraph after paragraph of narrative without some photo breaks to liven things up. So instead, here are a few shots of Bailey with Grandma and Papa; enjoy!

Reading her zoo animal book with Papa.

Sitting with Grandma, laughing at Papa

(before trying to bite the arm of the chair . . . yum?!?)

Waiting for a bus with Grandma.

Helping Grandma and Papa barter with the locals.

Practicing standing with Grandma and Papa!

Cheering on Daddy as he played volleyball.

No Carb Left Behind

This week started out with a handful of unknowns, a lot of waiting, and a multitude of prayers for the safe arrival of Grandma and Papa. Now, we're just plain busy. Busy, that is, in comparison to the "normal" stay-at-home-mom schedule I've grown accustomed to these past six weeks (the four weeks prior to that, when I was subbing in third grade . . . we're not going to talk about THAT chaos anymore). But it has been nice to show my parents around the school and the neighborhood around us, giving them glimpses into our everyday life. We've traveled by foot, by car, and by bus as well as spent quality time at home, playing card games and enjoying one another's company.

Arriving on Tuesday evening, Grandma and Papa dropped their bags, snatched Bailey and caught up on snuggles and hugs from the past three months. We enjoyed a homemade pizza dinner, heard the story of their Mexico City adventure, and got them settled in for the night.

Wednesday morning we headed up to school in the late afternoon for a quick tour of the campus and a few introductions to the faculty. We then headed to Stock, the grocery store that's within walking distance to the school, thus making it my grocery store of choice. Since I usually travel "alone" with Bailey strapped in the Baby Bjorn, it was a welcome relief to have some help carrying groceries back home. In fact, Mom and Dad carried ALL the bags, leaving me empty handed!

After unloading groceries, we did more unpacking, sorting through all the goodies that people brought by the house for us. It was like Christmas come early as we pulled out books and toys, clothes and spices, curtains and toiletries, and - of course - Kool-Aid. We were overwhelmed with the amount of "stuff" that many of you sent with my parents; merely saying THANK YOU is inadequate, but for now, it'll have to do. I'll tackle you with a bear hug when we get home in December! :)

For dinner I wanted to make a traditional Paraguayan meal, so we had milanesa de pollo, puree de papas, y (and) salsa de carne (a.k.a. fried chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy). With the exception of the country gravy, the chicken recipe IS a classic Paraguayan dish - it just sounds more authentic if you call it milanesa de pollo instead of fried chicken.

Thursday found us up at school again, this time helping out with Day Camp for the Pre-K through 2nd grade students. Mom felt right at home with the primary students, reminiscing about her days in the classroom and of VBS crafts back home. The evening ended with a walk to our favorite ice cream shop - Dona Angela - and Friday passed rather uneventfully; just a quick bus ride to the mall for lunch in the food court and yet ANOTHER trip to the grocery store (man, those Fulbright's can really eat!!!).

Saturday was by far the most hectic day so far. We left mid-morning for Colon, a street in downtown Paraguay with shops selling traditional Paraguayan trinkets and souvenir type doodads. Trouble was, we went without a seasoned bus traveler and - since I'd only been there once before - I had us exit the bus several blocks from our real destination. But, after a few blocks of unexpected walking and only one U-turn, we made it to the shops and enjoyed perusing the shops, bartering with the shopkeepers in broken Spanish.

For lunch, we went to the Lido Bar, a corner cafe well-known in Paraguay for their empanadas and juices. YUM!

And, as if the delicious lunch wasn't enough, we headed to Paulistas (a Brazilian churrasqueria) for dinner, enjoying the all-you-can-eat salad bar, endless skewers of various meats, and a divine spread of desserts.

To sum it all up, I suppose you could say that we've eaten our way through the week - and enjoyed every minute of it! Paraguayan meals are mostly meat and bread which has been an adjustment for my parents, but they can get back to their South Beach no/low-carb diet when they get back to the states. For now, they're living it up!

Victory and Waiting

One of the after-school programs that Brandon helped to start was a debate team for the high school students. Eight students met after school for weeks, preparing for the first debate tournament in which the school had ever participated.

The tournament, sponsored by the United States Embassy, was a multi-week endeavor. The Thursday of this last week found the team in the finals, competing against other American schools from the city. After several rounds of debate, the team claimed victory and enjoyed a Burger King lunch to celebrate!

Below is a photo of the four team members who lead the team to victory (together with their coach, Christian Ayala).

With the success of the debate team, Brandon is asking for prayer as he continues to expand the after-school programs. He knows that it is easy to get distracted by success and busyness. Rather than fill the school calendar with events for the sake of staying busy, he desires to stay focused on the things that God would have him do for His glory.

This week has also found us in the midst of spring - and REAL genuine spring-like weather. The temperature has been in the upper-70's to low-80's, something we were told NOT to expect. Those at the school who have lived here for years are surprised, too, at the mild weather. Apparently the seasons usually just jump straight from winter to summer. Well, at least that's what they remember from year to year, anyway. Perhaps the summers are so extreme that it just SEEMS like there's not a spring to speak of before the scorching temperatures and matchless humidity arrive. Whatever the case may be, we are thoroughly enjoying these days!

We were met with still more "unexpectedness" this weekend as we waited for Stacy's parents to arrive. Apparently they needed to have visas to visit, which we did not know they needed, so they were not allowed to board the plane in Mexico City to finish their journey through Sao Paulo, Brazil, to Asuncion. They've spent the past two nights in Mexico City and, as I type, they are headed to the Paraguayan Consulate (in Mexico City) to get their Paraguayan visas. The airline has promised to honor their plane tickets once they have their visas and we are hopeful that they will arrive on Tuesday. Please pray for favor with the Paraguayan Consulate, that they will receive their visas on Monday, and for a safe trip through to Asuncion. We are anxious to see them!

UPDATE: As of Monday night, Dave and Faylin are en route to Brazil! They don't have their flight information for getting to Asuncion, but they should be here either at 6:30 or 11:30 P.M. on Tuesday night! PRASIE GOD!!! I've attached a copy of the e-mail we received updating us on their progress. Please pray special blessing on Graciela, the author of the e-mail, for all of her help communicating Dave and Faylin's flight plans.

I hope you receive my e-mail. I helped your parents to buy a couple of sandwiches at Subway in Mexico City. I'm an Argentine journalist living in Mexico and I gave them my phone number in case they need help. Your mother called me this afternoon asking me if I could send you an e-mail to you with details of their arriving. I explained all this as perhaps you think this is a joke or something strange. But I'm just a person who helped a couple of tourists, the same way I had received assistance when I visited other places.
So I repeat what your mother said:
1. They are leaving Mexico City tonight a 11:30pm, arriving Sao Paulo, Brazil, about 8/8:30.
2. They are leaving from Sao Paulo through airline TAM and arriving in Asunción, Paraguay, during the afternoon, but your mother said they didn't know the time.

I don't know if you speak with your parents, but they had to stop in Mexico City to get a visa to enter Paraguay.
Regards,
GHO

Don't Let the Bedbugs Bite

After these past few weeks, the once cute bedtime mantra "good night, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite" will never quite have the same ring to it.

Over a week ago, one of our upstairs neighbors (a couple) discovered fresh bug bites on themselves upon awakening one morning. Since the weather had begun to heat up (slightly), they initially assumed they were mosquito bites and that the anti-mosquito-bite bracelets they had been wearing weren't working. Upon further inspection, though, the appearance of the bites wasn't quite consistent with mosquito bites and they began a google image research project to ascertain the origin of their bites. After hours of perusing bug bite pictures and comparing their bites to the photos online, they came to the realization that they had been bitten by bedbugs. A few days later one dead bug, a scattering of bedbug feces, and the "shell" of one bug who has molted were all found on their sheets (and the bed quickly abandoned until further notice).

The realization of a bedbug presences prompted yet more research as to the origin, life cycle, and feeding patterns of these little nuisances, as well as methods for ridding the apartment of them. Paranoia also set in for the rest of us in the apartments as we scoured OUR sheets looking for evidence of bedbugs in our mattresses and bites on our bodies. Every time Bailey cried in her crib, an image of her being attacked by those little buggers flashed through my mind. She's fine - as are the rest of us - but I would have been one angry momma bear and those bedbugs would have had some intense wrath to deal with had she been bitten! :)

After a week of research, exploratory visits by exterminators, countless loads of laundry for the "infected" apartment couple, and a half-dozen "apartment meetings" about what to do, the entire building was treated with a yogurt-type paste yesterday morning. Apparently, the paste was squirted in cracks and along the baseboards, while the floors were treated with a non-toxic something or other. There was the option of doing an air-born insecticide, but we would have had to leave the apartments for 8 plus hours, deep clean every surface (while wearing masks and gloves), and wash everything fabric. As it was, we still had to wipe down everything upon returning to the apartments and wash all the dishes. But at least there wasn't a mad rush on the three washers and dryers as eleven of us scrambled to launder everything fabric.

And, as if bedbugs and and of themselves weren't enough, the timing of it all was - as always - impeccable. You see, this week is the end of the quarter at school with report cards due Thursday and Parent/Teacher Conferences next week. PLUS, elementary students are going to camp this next week, with middle and high school students going the following two weeks. So, while planning for camps, catching up on grading, putting together report cards and scheduling conferences, the new teachers have had bedbugs added to their already overflowing plates.

But, alas, there's a glimmer of rest in sight as tomorrow (Wednesday, September 29th) is Dia de Boqueron in Paraguay. The Battle of Boqueron, was one of the most important battles fought during the Chaco War (1932 - 1935) between Bolivia and Paraguay. Wikipeida - in all it's glory - describes it as the D-Day of the Chaco War as it was the day Bolivian troops surrendered at the fort due to lack of ammunition, food and water. Dia de Boqueron is a national holiday and we will be enjoying a well timed day off! Thanks, God!

My Church

Disclaimer: This post is not the usual play-by-play of the past week that you may have grown accustomed to. It's something a little more thought-provoking (perhaps) to spice things up a bit.

As I sit here and think about this past week and the events that have transpired, I'm finding it hard to come up with anything extraordinary to write about. It was a week filled with the usual: teaching for Brandon; laundry, cooking and cleaning for Stacy; tutoring; Skype calls with friends and family; walks and bus rides around town; and church service in Spanish. In some ways, though, that's a comforting feeling. For me, a week passing without any out-of-the-ordinary events signals that we are adjusting to our new circumstances and Asuncion is becoming home.

One thing I have become acutely aware of, though, is how protective (some) people are of their churches. Coming into a Christian school with a staff of believers and a student population of missionary kids (well, half of the students anyway), I expected to be bombarded with invitations to various churches. It would not have been surprising to me at all if there was a rotation of some sort with parents and teachers signing up to take us newbies to a different church every Sunday for the first few weeks (or months). I thought we would have to sort through all of the invites, kindly declining repeat visits for quite some time. I was taken aback, then, when we were met with exactly the opposite: not a single unsolicited invitation. We have had to seek out services and invite ourselves to join others at their churches.

Please hear my heart; I don't harbor any ill will towards the school, it's staff, or the parents that "should have" invited us to their church. Rather, I think it's a microcosm of a bigger "problem" within the Church (big C) as a whole. And I think the problem is two-fold. One, we're too comfortable with the status quo in our church home to invite a stranger in to potentially disrupt the equilibrium. And two, we're too insecure about how we've chosen to worship (in terms of music choices and teaching methodologies) to let someone see us; we're not willing to run the risk of judgement - and rejection - based on a stylistic preference.

That said, we have found a church that we have really enjoyed attending the past two weeks. The service is in Spanish so we're scrambling to translate what's being said, but having the songs on PowerPoint slides and a side-by-side Spanish/English Bible is helping tremendously.

My challenge to you (and to myself), now, is to get over yourself and ask people to join you at church. They may disrupt your typical Sunday routine. You may miss out on your usual Sunday morning chat with so-and-so because you're introducing your friend to others. You might sit next to someone new, or go to lunch after church with a different group of people. Your friend may even raise an eyebrow at the music style, teaching modality, or dress code.

But then again, God could be using you to introduce them to their new home. You just never know.

Focus on the Students

I was perusing our past blog posts and realized that I've been focusing on what we've been doing socially outside of school and not on the ministry that's taking place here at Asuncion Christian Academy. Here are some pictures of what we are involved in here at school:

Brandon taking attendance with one of the high school classes:

Ultimate frisbee:

Tennis ball throwing/catching with 3rd graders:

Basketball with high school boys:

After school sports:

Homework club:

Brandon also had the opportunity to work with one of the high school students who was speaking at WADE, the Friday night youth group that takes place at the school every week.

We also braved the buses without a guide to a church we hadn't been to before on Sunday morning. I had directions from one of the mom's at school complete with landmarks like bridges, pharmacies, and car dealerships rather than street names. We made it (phew!) and had a wonderful time worshiping at Mi Esperanza (My Hope) on Sunday morning:

Sports and Food

This past week was (again) full of good food and lots of activities around campus. Sunday, we ventured out into the city towards some upscale looking shops we had driven by the week before. Most of the stores were closed, but we did happen upon a Bath & Body Works (with ridiculously high prices) and a craft store similar to Color Me Mine. There was also this billboard with the Statue of Liberty holding a Pulp brand soda . . . and you thought she was holding a torch glowing world-wide welcome.

It's amazing how much more you feel at home when you get out of your home and explore, going down new roads to see new sights, and experience new things. It seems backwards in some ways - that new and unfamiliar things would lead to a feeling of greater affinity - but that has been our experience thus far.

In addition to teaching P.E. (high school class pictured above) and supervising after-school activities during the week (art club, homework club, sports club . . . ), Brandon is also working to expand the Friday afternoon game tradition. In the past, student and staff members (boys only), have stayed after school to play a pick-up game of futbol (soccer). And, while that is enjoyable for those who played, us ladies didn't feel welcomed to join and not all the boys felt confident enough in their soccer skills to participate. Solution: volleyball! Brandon sent out an all school e-mail and talked it up among the students during P.E. class and there were 14 students and staff that stayed after school to play volleyball on Friday.

There were several other girls, too, that said they would stay the next Friday; I guess they wanted to see that it really was going to happen - and that it would be fun - before committing to come.

In keeping with the sports theme of this week, Brandon had not one, but TWO fantasy football drafts. And, thanks to modern technology, he didn't miss a beat.

With his buddy Brian on Skype, his draft "cheat sheets" spread on the desk, the draft website up on the computer, and Bailey's advice from earlier in the week, he made his picks with ease. There was one HUGE thing he missed, though: FOOD! But don't worry, his friends paraded plates of bean dip, sandwiches, and pasta by the computer's camera so he could see what he was missing. Good friends, they are!

Friday night came quickly and we were glad to find ourselves going out to dinner with our "Board Buddy" family, the Kim's. The wife, Heddy, is on the school board and she (together with her husband and daughter) were the ones who stocked our apartments with some basic items when we first arrived and helped us do our initial shopping to get settled in. They have continued to be welcoming, calling from time to time to check on how we are doing and taking us out for good meals! Friday found us at a Japanese restaurant where we had a delicious soup type dish that was cooked on the table in front of us. Like most meals, I couldn't tell you half of what was in it, but it was delicious!

Bailey slept soundly through most of the meal on two chairs pulled up next to mine:

Brandon spent Saturday morning on the golf course, cheering on one of the sophomores from school who was playing in a tournament. The top four players from this weekend's tournament goes on to represent Paraguay in a South American tournament. As of the time of this publishing, she was two strokes out of fourth place.

The girl obviously golfs quite frequently and has invited Brandon to join her and her dad on the course. When my parents visit in October, they will be bringing Brandon's clubs so he can go to the driving range with them from time to time and be their guest on select Wednesday afternoons, golfing for free at the local country club where they are members.

Saturday night was the night that the gang from the apartments decided to take our apartment "parents" out to dinner to thank them for all of their help over the past six weeks. Kevin and Belinda Van have been extraordinarily helpful, taxiing us around to various stores, restaurants, doctors appointments and pharmacies. They've been our go-to people for advice and continually go above and beyond in the helpful department. We went to a Brazilian restaurant - similar to the one Brandon and I went to on our date - and enjoyed a buffet full of scrumptious salads, soups, sushi, and sides while waiters brought skewers of various meats to the table continuously. Brandon and Nate made a deal not to say "no" when meat was offered; Nate said no first, thus making Brandon the "winner" . . . silly games for silly boys.

The music teacher (Nick) and his wife (Mara) have arrived, meaning that we're only missing ONE person to make our apartment family complete. Pray for a quick arrival for Kristen - the third grade teacher - and the continuance of the familial feeling in the apartments!