Nica Tidbits

Last week my counterpart, Axel, came to class with some photos from the newspaper for the kids to describe in English. Several of my students, and Axel, agreed that I look like this exactly photo of apparently Nicollete Sheriden (needless to say I laughed pretty hard):



I have come to terms with the fact that in Nicaragua, I am every blond woman ever because in their eyes we all look alike. I've gotten pretty used to being mistaken for these Canadian twins who live here as Jehovah's Witnesses because they're blond - even though to me we look nothing alike because their hair is much lighter than mine and they don't wear glasses. But I hear they're leaving at the end of the month so maybe when that happens people will figure out that I'm not a Canadian Jehovah's Witness.

Just to change the topic a smidge, here's a bit about names in Nicaragua. Everyone here has the equivalent of a first name and a middle name followed by their father's first last name and then their mother's first last name- I get really confused sometimes when I ask kids their name and they rattle off four names at high speed. They also get confused because I only have one last name and no one can say it (of course I tell them that lots of people in the U.S. can't say it right either so don't worry). Luckily for me both my first and middle names are vaguely common here, just pronounced a little differently so even I find myself introducing myself as "Yenneefur."

Here are some of the more interesting first names (and spellings) I have come across in Nicaragua:

Milady
Elvis
Harlington
Jackson
Ingrid
Bertha
Elvira
Axel
Zuinglio
Ugeykar (even my Nicaraguan co-teacher thought that one was a little odd)
Hazel spelled as Heyzel and Hassel
Michael spelled as Maycol

But my personal favorite I came across very recently, and that is "John Kenedis" (slightly recognizable as John Kennedy) as a first and middle name. Maybe some day there'll be a little Barrack Obama Baltodano Gutierrez running around.