People in Praha assume....

They assume I'm a man. I haven't told Coral yet but they assume she is a boy.

My given name is Jennifer. Everyone, except Coral, calls me Jen...she calls me Mom. Well, my Mom calls me Jenny.

Jen

Coral

I've figured it out. We have masculine endings.

I think girl names are supposed to have an -a or an -ova tacked on at the end. Their last names are at least.

Would that make me Jena? Like the English Jenna?? But that's not who I am. Could I be Jenova? That, to me, looks rather silly.

And Coral - in school will she be Coralova or Corala? That sounds a bit like a Toyota, Corolla, that's what's in my driveway right now.

I can't wait to hear my last name...it's fairly Irish so any sort of Slavic ending will be a brutalization. I just don't know how it works.

I can say one thing though, here I often receive mail addressed to Mrs.... whatever, as I am Coral's Mom and school, medical, and other systems are still fairly archaic and assume I'm married even when I leave the father information blank...or clearly state we're not a couple. This is the first time I've been in ongoing contact with someone, have clearly stated and written out our names, and continue to recieve correspondence, email and snail, addressed to "MR." and referring to my son.

Maybe it's partially assumed I'm a man because moving to the other side of the universe isn't something a woman should do on her own or with a child.