He never thought he would leave his life in Paraguay until he saw his definition of perfect walk right into his life, brightening up the possibilities of his future.
Diego Caballero was 20 years old at the time when he was working at the American School of Asuncion in his hometown in Paraguay, South America. He was having a normal day at work when the visiting sister of a student studying at the school came in. Right away he knew he wanted to ask her out, knowing that she didn’t have much longer in Paraguay. However, he knew that he was in love with her and the long distance wasn’t going to faze him. A year later, in 1987, Diego made the decision with the support from his family, to move to Washington, DC to be with the love of his life. At the young age of 21, he packed up his bags, saying good bye to the comfort of his friends and family in his hometown and took on a new journey in a foreign country, knowing only the girl of his dreams was waiting for him at the other side. Diego knew as he stepped into this new life of his that he was going to have big challenges with the language barrier, only knowing the basic English that he had taught himself before, but what he didn’t know was how different the two cultures separated by 4,470 miles were. This said, one of the biggest struggles he had to deal with was adapting to the fact that Americans like to arrange meeting times with their friends, whereas in Paraguay there is a lot more trust in the community and you never need to set anything up. Diego has struggled with this concept all the way up to today, still used to the comfort everyone had in each other.
Now, Diego and his wife are happily living in Chapel Hill, NC with two children, one in college and the other out of college. With Diego’s passion for field hockey, he is not only the head varsity coach at Cary Academy, but he also travels back to Paraguay every year to help coaches teach the children how to play. The United States is his new home and he is glad that he took the risk and made the change to be with the love of his life. 
