Adios a Masatepe...

Saying goodbye can be an easy thing depending on your situation-it can give you an escape from people and/or things that you do not want to deal with anymore. Like the cliche frase says more or less"When a door closes (or when you leave one place), another door opens (you go somewhere new)"- this means new opportunities, new friends, new adventures etc... I understand all of this, but at the same time, I am not quite ready to leave my home here in Masatepe. Before coming here, I was the kind of person who was always looking at the next step...in high school, I was ready for college; in college, I was ready to graduate; Americorps, I was looking for my next job- I was enjoying all of it, but if I was only in one place for a year, I did not allow myself to get too attached to anything. I was very concious that it was a temporary situation. Before Peace Corps-I made the decision to change this mindset. I decided that I would look at each day as it´s own adventure. Partially because of this change in mindset, I feel completely one hundred percent at home here in Masatepe. My room here is decorated in a way that someone from home could walk in and know it was mine. I have my Tuesday/Thursday yoga class, my guys that I play soccer with and hang with, the guy who peels oranges in the market, the internet cafe I always go to, the girl who works at the pharmacy where I buy saldo for my cell phone, my Nica, German and other Peace Corps trainee friends etc... I love walking down my street to a chorus of "Kati Kati Kati!" and playing soccer, hearing, "Chinelita". There are people who know me and who I know by name. And my family-I started talking to my host mom about how I was feeling about leaving the other day, and both of our eyes got teary. This will be the hardest part about leaving Masatepe. My wise younger sister here told me last night that "Pero tenes mi numero y el numero de Valeska, entonces puedes llamarnos cuando queres." (You have our numbers, you can call whenever you want). And she is correct-I can call, but it´s not the same. We´ve really bonded over the past 3 months-it´s interesting because 3 months does not sound like that much time, but I really feel like I know all of them and they know me so well. And the babies-although they do not say much (actual words, at least)-just hearing that Josue was looking for me when I was away for the week made me melt. I will really miss this place.
On a positive note, I do believe that after 3 months of living in Corinto, I will feel similarly and definitely after a year, I will know Corinto better than Masatepe. And I am extremely excited to move to Corinto-I really love what I know about it, so far. But because Masatepe was and always will be my first home in Nicaragua, there is a different connection.