The Puffy Shirt

One of my favorite Seinfeld episodes, and there are many, is entitled “The Puffy Shirt.” For those of you not familiar with the plot of this particular show, it centers on Kramer having a girlfriend that is a low talker. During one scene, Kramer, the low talker, Jerry and Elaine are all out to dinner. After Kramer excuses himself to use the restroom, Jerry and Elaine are at the table with the low talker and attempting to make small talk. The catch is that each time the low talker responds they can’t hear her. After asking for her to repeat herself a couple times, they just nod and say yes. So this continues on as Elaine mentions that she is running a charity event and Jerry is going to be appearing on TV to promote the benefit. After Elaine mentions this, the low talker mutters something that is inaudible. Not wanting to go through the whole “what did you say routine” again, Elaine and Jerry quickly said “sure”.

The next day, Kramer comes over to Jerry’s apartment and is holding an ugly, white, puffy shirt that resembles something a pirate would sport. Jerry asks Kramer what’s the deal with the shirt. Kramer tells him it is his and that he agreed last night to wear it during his time on TV. As you might imagine, Jerry is incensed and asks when he agreed to wear the shirt. Of course, it was during the time when Jerry and Elaine just hastily responded yes.

What does this have to do with me being in Panama? Well, two things. The first is I miss watching Seinfeld. It’s my favorite show and nothing else is really even close. The second and more important is a couple weeks back I felt everyday had “Puffy Shirt” potential. Allow me to explain.

For starters, when I arrived in Panama, my Spanish was basically non-existent. During the first few weeks, I was in a pretty sheltered environment where I was able to work on my Spanish without worrying about any potential landmines. That changed during “Cultural Week” where all the new crop of volunteers visits the province where they will be living and spend a week with a volunteer that has already been living in the region. It’s a great week where you really get your first taste of what life will be like in Panama. The one catch is you are staying with a host family that lives in the country.

What that really means is you get to learn to speak like most Panamanians. In other words, fast and the words aren’t fully pronounced. As you might imagine, it was a bit overwhelming, especially considering the father of the house took those two characteristics and pushed them even further. After he would ramble something to me, I quickly realized I was having a potential “Puffy Shirt” moment. At times, I would ask him to repeat what he said, but you can only go to that well so many times before you just start to feel a bit foolish and disrespectful. Sometimes, I got the drift of what he was saying, other times, I would have no idea, but still just nod my head and say yes. Each morning I was waiting for my own puffy shirt with a Panamanian twist, but thankfully it never came.

Now, my Spanish has improved and I’m much more confident and what’s going on in a conversation. However, that doesn’t mean I’m out of the woods just yet. Last week, I went to my site for first time and I found myself lost amid somebody talking faster than the old Micro Machines commercials. I’m hopeful when I return to site next week, I didn’t agree to something outrageous.

There would be a bright side. I’m going to be living on the ocean for the next two years, so if I get stuck wearing a puffy, pirate shirt by ‘accident’ I won’t look completely ridiculous. Just ridiculous.