Otherness

I'm not sure when it happened, but at some point in the past 10 months Nicaraguans in general stopped being The Other. In the beginning, it was me, my American friends, and my close Nicaraguan friends. My Nica friends were special because, in my opinion, we had formed a special bond despite intimidating language, cultural and socioeconomic barriers. All other Nicaraguans carried this Otherness about them, an unbreakable shell of the aforementioned barriers, that made it impossible to really know them.

But at some point, that shell simply fizzled away and all of us became just..... people. There is still misunderstanding and fumbling around as we try to tear down the last of those preconceptions about each other (because the shell was built on both sides) but my Nicaraguan friends are aimply my friends. My Nicaraguan boyfriend is simply my boyfriend. Having the session one volunteers in the house has been exhilarating and fun, and it's opened my eyes to how much I've stopped differentiating between my friends in the States and my friends here. They have to occasionally ask for clarification as to where my stories take place and whether the person I'm talking about is a gringo or a nica. ¡Como si fuera importante para mí!

How refreshing it is to be able to lay aside everything and just be.