After 8 years living abroad and feeling the need to settle for good back home, we got a pleasant surprise: my husband was offered a job at the American School in Nicaragua. Back then we have been living in Paraguay for 2 and a half years. My husband and I are educators and have been working in international schools for many years of our careers, having the nice opportunity of living abroad and traveling to many countries. However, the wish to get back home, Nicaragua, and the need of being close to family and our dear friends made the decision to move a no-brainer. We couldn’t wait to tell our family and friends that we were finally returning to Nicaragua to settle and get our daughters reacquainted with their cousins, family members and friends. What a nice message to share!
The moment arrived for the goodbyes, the packing, the moving, the purchasing of the plane tickets for our departure, and more. All of these came in with mixed feelings. After a few years living in Paraguay, we have also learned to appreciate the easy pace life of this unique South American country. Even though we were leaving behind good friends, a quiet peaceful life, the most delicious meat we ever tasted, the friendliness of the Paraguayans, we also knew that something great was awaiting on the other side.
We traveled on June 25th, 2017. We arrived at the International Airport in Managua so full of happiness breathing in the clean tropical air, feeling the heat of the sun, the warm weather, the particular smell of humidity in the air, seeing the puffy white thunder clouds; we couldn’t ask for more, We were back home!
Soon we settled and things were going normal. Life was going smooth, with the regular everyday routine. We had so many plans, among those, buying a brand new home. We took our time to have The One built just perfect for us.
Weekends were fun with family visits, trips to the beach, gathering with friends. However, life took a drastic turn for many Nicaraguans in April of 2018 when a popular uprising against the current government brought so much suffering and deaths among civilians who participated in the protests. The uncertain future, the collapse of the economy, the fleeing of many businesses and many families made us take a difficult decision to leave for the sake of our daughters. I lived through the Nicaraguan civil war in 1979 being a little girl. Not knowing if history will repeat itself now, we decided to leave the country again, hoping to return as soon as things were more stable. However, life had other plans for us and by the end of 2018, we took a flight from Houston to Beijing, China, to what would be the second time settling in this remarkable country.
Our dream of being back home, living in our new place, seeing family and friends, enjoying the fantastic views of clear skies with puffy tropical clouds, volcanoes all around; the food, the comfort of HOME, all was gone in a breath. Our home awaits for the day we can return. The living room, the bedrooms, the kitchen, the balcony, they all seem at a standstill waiting for that happy day. In the meantime, we are making the most of our time in China and hoping for the day that our dream of being at home comes true.
