It's a Girl

As if the Thais weren't enough I am now also teaching a class for Chinese students studying abroad.

Unlike the Thais who have nicknames like Fitness and Dump, the Chinese have "English Names" which are in theory meant to help poor suckers like me who cannot pronounce their actual names.

Nobody seems fairly attached to these names though as today in class Amy 1 asked if she should change her name because she didn't like sharing it with Amy 2.

At some point my entire class must have been given a list of popular American names from the dawn of time. Amy is a rare "modern" name in a class littered with Darolina's and Herb's. One poor girl has chosen the name, Albert.

Today after class a nameless student asked me to help her choose an English nickname. She said she wanted something "old-fashioned." So she, myself, and a gathering of Connie and Amery's sat around and made a list of names. Margaret was deemed too hard to pronounce. Beth was a close second but the winner was Julia. Equipped with new name and a mighty grin, Julia was born. Although when one of the Amy's leaned in and said excitedly, "like Romeo and Julia!!" I realized that she might have chosen her new name for the wrong reasons.