From them I learned all Disney songs and how to bake cookies :)

Over the last few days I got to talk to a lot of people about my experiences as a resident assistant at college. I always looooved that position, but it wasn’t until later that I realized how many people I got to know well during my years as an RA, what an amazing staff I had both years, and the huge impact that that job had and has in my life.

Far more than a job, it was a lifestyle. My first year as an RA I had residents not only from the US but also a bunch of international students. One of my first days, I remember stopping by the rooms to say Hi and check on the girls… I stopped to say Hi to a girl from Korea, it was like 2pm, but she was sleeping and asked me why would I wake her up in the middle of the night?! Haha… because of the time difference, she wasn’t over her jetlag and I happened to wake her up at 3am her time in Korea.

Sometimes I was so much of a sweet mamma, where I would cook for the girls anything they wanted, would give them milk for their cereal, would talk to them when they couldn’t fell asleep, or would help them with homework. But other times (most of the times) I would prank my residents with other residents. I would hack their facebook account, change their alarm clocks, put their undies in their freezers, and some other thing I can’t tell because it was hard enough to come up with creative but funny ideas that wouldn’t really hurt anybody and would just make us all laugh. The down side of that is that eventually people figured out that I was pranking them, and even when I didn’t do anything I got pranked back.

One of the best parts of my job was organizing wing events, we could be as creative as we wanted with them, and my wing events went all the way from having Disney nights to making brunch with the girls. Yet, the best part of my job was getting to really know the residents in my hall, my building, and the Res Life staff community.

Each person I got to meet shared a piece of their heart and lives with me, and it’s been an honor to be a part of their lives as well. Now as the time goes by, I see how our lives change and most of us depart to different destinations… but all the laughter and joy, all the good memories from that amazing experience will always stay with me. 

How on earth do you end up HERE?

Ever since I came back to Paraguay a lot of people asked me "what are you doing here?" "Why did you come back?" But today, at work we got to ask these questions to a very extraordinary couple. I'm still not sure whether what happened today was real or not... haha…

Picture this,

We were at the office, getting ready to interview someone for a teaching position, not to mention that we were a little crabby about not having internet and some other technical difficulties. Anyhow, all in a sudden a lady walks in, not sure if she was at the right place, at the right time... we offered her a sit and took our seats as well in order to begin the interview. I asked her to help me pronounce her last name, and she gave a really particular nickname, something in the lines of Mrs. Doubtfire. Then she pulled out her degree certificate and proceeded by telling us all about her experiences as a teacher and her methods of teaching. I honestly lost the sense of time as she was talking, and I found myself and colleagues delighted by her stories. In the middle of her introduction, her husband comes by and we pulled a chair for him as well. I had a sheet of paper that we prepared to ask her questions, but when she was done talking we realized that she answered all the questions without us even asking her anything. 

All in a sudden it turned out to be a privilege to have this person in front of us… all in a sudden we were hoping she would choose to be part of our team and be the teacher we were looking for. The extraordinary thing about this whole story is that this lady came from the U.S. six years ago to Paraguay, without knowing Spanish, knowing anybody in South America and leaving absolutely everything she called home back in the U.S. She is now retired here in Paraguay, and got married to a French man who also came to Paraguay a few years ago. They both seem to be madly in love and one of the happiest couple I’ve met until now.

This couple is honestly among the group of the most inspiring people I’ve met so far. An American lady in her 50s that followed a little voice telling her to go to South America while she was sitting at church; and a French man who –we are yet to hear his story – married this wonderful woman and plays the pipe.

I love it when we come across people like this, it doesn’t happen that often… but when it happens it’s awesome! It also helps me to put in perspective what are the thousand reasons why I’m here in Paraguay… but most important, they taught me that it doesn’t matter how old we are, we can always take courage and do what we are called to do and be who we are called to be. 

Value the invaluable!

If there is something I noticed and miss a lot EVERY DAY of my "small town life" is how safe I felt always when walking outside. In the big city I live now I'm constantly reminded of not wearing jewelry, not taking anything valuable with me, not going to places when is already dark and by myself, and locking my house every time I enter or leave. All this things I didn't have to think about before, suddenly I need to think about again. I'm also amazed of how much people talk about finances and getting "new stuff" here. Is it because now I have a real job? Is it because I'm out of college? Or has it always been this way? 

Anyways, the point is that today something changed in me when I was walking to the office. Suddenly, I realized how safe I was regardless of how unsafe everyone tells me this place is. Yeah, I don't have the latest cellphone, computer, nice jewelry or neither a car... nor I really need any of that. During college, whenever I had a little bit of money I began planning a trip somewhere in the U.S. or the world. A lot of times I traveled on mission trips, and many times were just vacations on holidays... but each trip and travel I had taught me so much about myself, about this world, and about the sovereignty of God.

Therefore I have nothing to be afraid when walking outside, people can only take away from me material things I may have, but no one can ever take away from me everything I learned. Nobody can take away from me the knowledge I have acquired all of these years, and that is far more valuable than any material things we can possess. 

Although it is so easy to put a value on the things we can see and touch, sometimes those things we cannot see or touch are far more valuable.

"Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." - John 20:29

Niños sin derechos, ciudadanos renegados...

12:00hs, hora de almorzar, salí afuera a caminar un poco... Decidí ir a comprar un jugo de frutas que me recomendaron, y aprovechando el hermoso día emprendí la caminata a una frutería que queda a unas cuatro cuadras de la oficina. Compré el jugo, encontré a un ex compañero, conversamos lindo y luego partimos a nuestros respectivos destinos nuevamente. Admirando la belleza de los árboles, y riéndome de cómo la gente que caminaba avanzaba más rápido que los automóviles a nuestro lado, se me acerca un pequeño de unos 8 o 9 años.

-Dame tu jugo - me dice el chiquillo...
-Noo mba'e, recién compré - le respondo...
-Dame siqueee...- el nene repite,
-Toma te doy mil y andá comprate vos otro - a lo que le pasé una moneda de mil guaraníes...
El nene agarró la moneda y siguió caminando a mi lado... A mí sinceramente no me incomodaba ni nada, le pregunté como se llamaba a lo cuál él respondió:
-Dame tu reloj...
-Nooo.. este es un regalo, no te pueeedo dar - le dije yo...
-Dame tu reloj o te clavo - me repitió el pequeñin que parecía tan inofensivo tan sólo unos segundos atrás y puso su mano en su bolsillo como si fuera que iba a quitar un cuchillo...
-Así no! Salí de acá - le dije en voz alta y le empujé...

El nene se empezó a reír... del susto que me dió, y se repetía así mismo "así no, así no" ... y yo volteando le miré una vez más a los ojos y le dije... "así no mita'i..."
Pero de regreso a mi oficina, me quedé reflexionando... cuantos "así no" ya le habrán dicho a ese niño... cuántos derechos la vida misma le ha negado a ese niño... cuántas veces más en su vida él va a tener que oír aquel irritante: NO!

Y después nos preguntamos porqué hay tantos ciudadanos renegados en este lugar, porqué hay tanto pesimismo, tanta delincuencia... El hecho de negarles una educación y una infancia a los niños tiene una repercusión directa en la falta de profesionales hoy en día, en la falta de ciudadanos comprometidos a una nación, al progreso...

Más allá de decirle "así no" a ese niño, tendríamos que decirle "así no" a la ignorancia, la indiferencia y la mediocridad... Ese niño y todos los andan por ahí con cuchillitos merecen mucho más que "un jugo, o un reloj"... ellos se merecen una educación, se merecen amor, se merecen que todos sus derechos sean respetados.

"Instruye al niño en su camino, y aún cuando fuere viejo no se apartará de él..."
-Proverbios 22:6

Wow... over 5 days without my suitcases?? American Airlines really sucked this time :(

After four years of studying abroad, I carefully sorted through everything I wanted to bring to Paraguay and happily packed my only two suitcases... Little did I know that they would get lost on my way here... When arriving to Asuncion, after waiting and waiting for my suitcases, finally I made a baggage report with an American Airlines representative, and then came home hoping that my suitcases would come the next day. The lady who filed my report said that American Airlines would deliver them home... So I tried not to go out very much so I could be at home when they came. Then I realized that there wasn't any number they could be reached at... oh my goodness... I called the International Airport Silvio Pettirossi and they told me that American Airlines doesn't have a phone, that the only way to find them is by going to the airport when a flight from them comes or leaves. I never got a call, an e-mail, nothing from the airline. I called several times to baggage claim in the 1-800 number at the website... all the ladies there were really nice, but couldn't help me that much since they are in the U.S. or somewhere else.. they could only send electronic messages to American Airlines in Paraguay... what for? If all they do is ignore...

Tomorrow I start working, have no clothes but a pair of jeans and a shirt... Had to spend more money in new items, had to spend hours in the phone and going to the airport... and nothing... This has really been the worst experience I have ever had with an airline in all these years of traveling... and what sucks the most is that I have always been a big fan of American Airlines, but after this... it's hard to see me or my friends and family flying with them again.

I tend to always look at the bright side of the story, but so far I can only say that I'm really sad about all this situation, and I hope things get better soon... I hope they find my suitcases... it was a DIRECT FLIGHT... how could they lose them? Well.. I hope they also learn from this mistake and try to improve their service for customers, and specially loyal customers like myself.

As for now, I'm happy to start my new job tomorrow, and I'm sure I'll become very popular right away for going under-dressed to the office and people turn around and asked me what happened...

I want to honor Jose :)

So this is my friend Jose, I remember when we met, about five years ago?? We were not even done with high school, we lived kind of far away from each other, we did not have a whole lot in common: he was extremely smart, I wasn't (now is the other way around though ;), he was the best student of his class, and I wasn't, he could speak and write in English, and I couldn't... BUT! We had in common one dream! Going to university in the United States, and we also had in common that even though we were going to do everything possible to see this dream becoming a reality, we also trust in our God that He will be there for us no matter what!

The process to make it to the United States was not the easiest... many tears were shed as sometimes we thought we would not make it, and many more when we found out we were actually going to make it! Today, Jose and I are both less than 10 days away from our graduation dates. WE MADE IT! I thank Jose so much for being an amazing friend and always being there. Although he was the smartest, and the best at everything, he would always help me and truly look after me! Friends like my Josu are so few in this world, and friendships like ours that look after each other's dreams and visions.. not many.

Cheers to our friendship, Jose,
Cheers to our dreams!
Cheers to our graduation!!
Yay for many more dreams to become true with God's help!!

Almost four years ago, and almost four years after!

This is me, almost four years ago, I was only a teenager, holding a plane ticket on my hands, about to fly accross Latin and Central America to get to North America. Unsure of what I was getting into, but excited to follow my dream of studying in the United States. Little did I know that many more dreams were going to become true in this new adventure!

My blessings are so many, that I cannot even count them! Starting with all the people I have met and I still meet along the way... each person means the entire world to me! Everyone I have met is so important, and believe it or not, everyone has made an impact in my life :)

Today, with only a month away from graduation, I look back at that girl who could only dream once with getting a degree at Dordt College... today that dream is being materialized before my eyes! and I can only say THANKS! Thank you God! thanks to all, who have made this possible!

Today, almost four years after, I keep looking up, I keep dreaming high, and I keep waiting in God with so much excitement and expectation to see where He will lead me next :) God is faithful, all the time!

15 bucks for a flight?? Oh yeah!

That is how we started planning for our Spring Break, by finding really cheap flights... and that day came, when we packed our backpacks with "enough" clothes for 11 days... we had to man up, suck it up, and forget that we were girls.. haha.. It was rather interesting, specially towards the last days of our trip! but let's start from the beginning.

In this first blog I will tell you all some funny moments we had in each city... because there is so much to say about each country that it might take more than one blog for each!- so here it goes!

Barcelona - expensive hotel for poor college students? We figured that where two can fit, then more can fit as well! The first night we all snuggled in those tiny little beds, watched TV in Spanish, and a couple of us might or might not have jumped a really tall fence to escape from the hotel... hehehe... I won't say names, but it wasn't me! haha

Madrid - there was a strike in our airport because of our airline! they changed our flight and we had to take the next flight in the morning... we met a bunch of very interesting people in Madrid, our hostel was not too easy to find and it looked very sketchy from the outside, but it ended up being the best hostel ever!
We were a little hungry one day and came across an orange tree - yes, Kristin climbed the tree with our help and we got some, I wish they were tasty, but instead we got some acid and nasty oranges... haha.. At least some old ladies had fun taking pictures of us being monkeys!

Geneva - Little did we know that this small country in Switzerland is the 4th most expensive country in the world! hahaha... We almost missed our flight there, ran for our lives and made it on time, thanks to our backpacks!! nothing to check in... but once there, we were like.. ohhh whose idea was it to come here??!! haha.. we still had fun and got to see some drunk men fighting over a chess game!

Annecy - this was such pretty little place! mmmm smelling the fresh baked croissants coming out of the ovens of little cafes here and there was the best! One night there we paid a ridiculous amount of money for what we thought it was going to be a an experience of a delicious french cuisine... all we got was a brick of melting cheese, another pot of melting cheese and hard bread... haha.. that is "fondue" ladies and gentlemen... it wasn't bad, I must say... but 15 euros for bread and cheese? that's what our flight costed! haha..

Milan - we were told that Milan was the fashion and industrial city of Italy. It was the last city we hit before we came back to Holland, so as you can imagine, we were all stinky, tired, cold, and broke by the time we got there. On that last day we were trying to find some cheap cafes with wi-fi as a refuge from the snowy day - instead we found a fashionista lady from London who asked us to be her models for an event they were having out in the street. That was the BIGGEST irony... we were in our worst looks of the whole trip, and we were modeling in the capital of the fashion in Italy! Italians were taking pictures of us posing, futbol players were asking for our numbers... haha...

In times like these is when I think that God has the greatest sense of humor... but we traveled everywhere and came back safe, thanks to God who all the time watches over us :)

Eurotrain, eurobus, eurobike, euroadventure!

This weekend was our first trip out of Holland. We went to Brugge, Belgium - what a BEAUTIFUL little place, I must say! I went with Amanda, my roommate and we visited my cousin, Rafael, alias "Bro." Amanda and I were not exactly sure how to get there, and we just googled directions and 9292.nl showed us exactly what to do... We had to bike to the train station, take a train to the border between Holland and Belgium, take a ferry from Holland to Belgium, and take a bus from the ferry station to the train station in Brugge... complicated?? Not at all!! It was seriously soooo easy to get there and back.. we just followed the directions, took the right trains/ferries/buses at the right time and had no problem at all!

So we got to Brugge and there was my cousin waiting for us. Ohh... he was only a little kid when I left for the United States, but he has grown so much since! It was definitely so nice to see him again and give him a big hug! Who would have thought that two Paraguayans (with a dutch last-name!) would be hanging out in Europe - our family does have a thing for traveling, and cultures, but it was just so nice to be with someone from home when we are so far away from it!

In Brugge we saw a lot of tourists, people from everywhere, taking pictures and having a good time. All the buildings have that old look that you only see in black and white photos, and there are little bridges everywhere! We saw a bridge called "the lover's bridge" supposedly because is so small that only two people can fit there! But my cousin said that it became the "full-of-tourists-bridge." It was amazing, it looked like a game of how many people can actually stand in that bridge and try to get a picture without being on other people's way..

Apparently Belgium is famous for its chocolate, so we stopped by every single store to do chocolate tasting and then finally stopped by a cheap store (which didn't have any chocolate to taste) but we still bought some... haha... Then we tried the Belgian waffles - DE-LI-CIOUS! I don't know what it is, but I can eat those waffles every day of my life.. if a Belgian waffle was a person, I would marry that waffle! that's how great they are! Then we were told to try the Belgian fries, that they are very famous - and I guess we tried some in that Argentine restaurant we went to - but I was more focused on the Argentine food than the fries! haha...

I love to travel, and it seems like going from one place to the other here in Europe is so much easier than I thought - that makes me love traveling even more! This morning in the ferry ride Amanda and I were just admiring God's beautiful creation - and in this first adventure we had we could tell God was there with us all throughout. It is so comforting and amazing to see how God's hand over us when we face new challenges and experience new places - for us this continent is completely unknown, but God who owns everything goes with us wherever we go, and that makes the adventure even better than the best!

I need subtitles!!!

So I am currently in Zwolle, Holland… and I am pretty sure I am the only Paraguayan in this area. At school, when the professors take attendance they are surprised to see that a Visser came from Paraguay. Their faces are just priceless! Long story short, my grandpa’s family from my dad’s side is from South Africa… my granddad is a Boer- they immigrated to Argentina after the war and my Oupa moved to Paraguay after getting married and having kids.

Well, but now I am in Holland, where all this Visser deal begun once upon a time. Dutch is far different from English or Spanish… I hear my host parents speaking and cannot understand a word of what they say… Yet learning the rules of the language seem similar to learning English or Spanish… so hopefully getting familiar with verbs and normal talking will take me to understand conversations… some day! haha…

This first week in this foreign country has been very fun and interesting. Sometimes I forget that I will be here for a few months, and I go crazy with the camera, capturing all those moments and places on photos. Even though I know I will be here for a while, the moments I live today here will never be the same as the ones I’ll live tomorrow. My biking experience, for instance, is helping me to truly live the moment, and when I say that I mean it! Since I have a couple of accidents already in this first week, but I’m alive! Haha…

Biking in the Netherlands has really been a cultural experience. I thought I was good at biking… until I came to Zwolle! Here we have traffic lights, an entire route, and rules for bikers. As bikers we need to give signals with our hands showing whether we are going right or left. One day, I had to cross the street with the bike, and a car stopped in front of me giving me only two choices: crashing the car or kicking it and keep biking… of course, I didn’t want to make a fool of myself, and in that half of second that I had to pick a choice, I decided to kick the car and keep going… haha… I have become a gangster in Zwolle!

What I love the most about Zwolle is the water… We bike over several bridges to get to school, and I love watching the water… now it’s close to getting completely frozen, then a new experience will be ice skating in a frozen lake! The people are great, very friendly and much warmer than I expected. I had a ton of very positive interactions with Dutch people, except for that one lady who yelled at me because I was on her way with the bike… haha… yeah… I should start a different blog for my biking experiences!

This is only a short summary of the tons of things I experienced this first week in the Netherlands. Perhaps images will add to the words… but if there is one thing I’m learning here is to enjoy the moment for what it is, even if it’s too cold to take a picture (when I bike) or we are having such a good time that I forget to take my camera out… it doesn’t matter… because it is the present what really counts… and being here in Holland is a present from God to us :)