#14 Obtain a Spanish Nickname

This one came sooner than I was expecting. I introduced myself to Feliciana as Noelle. She said, “Ahhh Noellia!” So I went with it and became Noellia. When the kids came on that very first day, I introduced myself to them as Noellia. They quickly shortened that to “Elia”( El- lee-ah). I absolutely love it! I’ve always wanted a nickname and now I have a super cute one! 

There is a group of boys that have taken a liking to teasing me, but they call me Belia. One of the boys told me that it was because I was “Bella” or beautiful and my name was Elia, so they combined it.

That same group of boys also called me “Pared” for about an hour. 

This is the ring leader of my squad of attackers. We think his name is Diego.. but we're not sure :)

My boys!

 Here’s how they justified it:

Pared means wall, the walls in the center are the color yellow. They know their colors in English and the way they pronounce yellow kind of sounds like Yell-oh-ah. And that kind of sort of sounded like Elia (me) to them. Thus they called me pared, but only for a bit. I’m back to Elia or Belia, or Elia Belia. Either way, I have been given a Castellano nickname and I love it!