Names that I am known by in my community...

One of the first things I learned when I got to this country is that Panamanians have a hard time pronouncing names that are not similar to thiers. Based on this, I have been known by a wide variety of names by the 300 or so people in my community. The following is a list of these names.

• Jeff- Suprise! Some people can actually pronounce my name correctly.
• Jess- Usually by children and semi-drunk men.
• Yes- Usually by very drunk men.
• Yes Man- By one guy who never drinks.
• Paulo- Since some found it impossible to say ¨Jeff¨,I decided to translate my middle name (Paul) into an alternative name for them
• Pablo
• Palo- Hahaha. Very funny. Palo means tree.
• Effey Jeff- One little boy, Manuelito, kept calling my Jess. I told him ¨No, it´s Jeff, with an effey,¨ which is Spanish for the letter f. ¨Effay, effay, Jeff.¨ He looked at me funny. ¨OK Effey Jeff¨ he replied. He hasn´t called me by any other name since.
• Gringo- Fortunately, almost no one calls me Gringo as a substitute for my name. I am referred to as ¨The Gringo¨by some people who are talking to someone who doen´t recognize my name, as in ¨You don´t know who Paulo is? He´s the gringo.¨ The only one who calls me Gringo to my face is a little girl of about 3 years of age. One day, out of the blue before I had ever spoken to her, he came up to me and said ¨Your name is Gringo.¨ ¨No,¨ I replied, ¨My name is Jeff, and I am a gringo.¨ She gave me a bewildered look and repeated ¨Your name is Gringo.¨ We´re still working on an understanding of my actual name.

A few observations

First and foremost, I really like the town I´ve been placed in. Starting off was tough, what with the language barrier and the whole being an ¨extanjero¨thing. But I´ve been getting to know the people who I´m living with and things are getting better every day. However, there are some things about this country that I will never get used to. The thing that gets to me the most is how wet this country is ALL THE TIME. It won´t rain for a week and the walk out to the farms is still extremely muddy. I can´t understand it. I used to think that I would eventully become acustomed to the climate here, but I still sweat everyday while doing nothing more than walking from one side of the town to the other. There is a strange mix of culture that seems very out of place here. Everywhere I go I see namebrand clothing (or knockoff name brand clothing) worn by people who live in houses that are practically falling into disrepair. They have ridiculous stereo systems but can only afford to eat rice and plantains for most of their meals. These things still strike me as strange, but less so everyday. I´m becoming Panamanian!