Living Here as a Privilege

Most of our friends, family and community that we interact with both here in Nicaragua and in the United States comment on what a sacrifice we are making to live here for three years.  Yes we miss our loved ones, dark chocolate, ethnic food, bicycles and the list could go on and on.  Going without many things that we had grown accustomed to is difficult, however, our time here is also helping us see how much we took for granted, the privileges and easiness that is afforded to so many people in the U.S.  Thus, we are recognizing that our Nicaraguan experience is more of a privilege as opposed to a sacrifice as we are given the opportunity to reconfigure our worldview through the process of building relationships with people from a culture other than our own.

We don't know many people who have the opportunity to live and work abroad for this period of time.  While living here in Nicaragua we are given the gift to live cross-culturally, learn a new language and political system, build meaningful friendships and learn and grow in this beautiful community that we find ourselves in.  Our life today allows us to sweat in the hot Managua sun, eat amazing fritanga food, interact with some of the most incredible and resilient individuals we have ever met, ride the bus routes and teach in classrooms that we could have only ever dreamed of.  Our experience has given us the opportunity to see and understand our great world through the eyes of the other and for this we will be forever grateful.  Our hope is that in this experience we can be transformed and that the people we meet will be as well; as we live life together.  It is a privilege to be here and we are so thankful, we would decide to do it all over in a heartbeat.