Just Call me C-Yeh

So the question was what the heck should I have everyone call me while I am here in Nicaragua. I already knew that it was hard for them to pronounce the hard J like in my name and Jenny’s name. I asked around and figured that I could try being Cris instead of C.J. This worked for about 2 hours. Most of the people around were already introduced to me as C.J. and most of them were other volunteers or bilingual people who could already say “J”. So I just ended up confusing everyone and besides Jenny was weirded about by it because she isn’t used to me being Cris at all. Next I thought about Cristobal, but apparently, as I learned from others around, the only Hispanic person to ever be called Cristobal was actually Cristobal Colon (Christopher Columbus as we know him). I could’ve been Juan but I just doesn’t feel right, I have never been a John my whole life and besides Juan is just too common in Nica. When Jenny and I met our host family we found out that their 12 year old daughter is name Jenny also! This brought me to the realization that if they can name their daughter Jennifer, then why can’t my Jenny just stick with “Jenny” and why can I just stick with C.J.? Well, it turns out that my original gut feeling was right, no one here can pronounce the hard J. Now I know what it feels like for all the foreigners in the States do when they get their names permanently butchered and “Americanized”. But in the end I’d rather be good ol’ C-Yeh than any thing else. Besides, I think its kinda cute that all the Nicas try so hard but it still comes out as “Yeh”.