BOY STAY, and Other Classroom Mysteries

Things at my agricultural school are always a good time. I am going to be planting rice with the ichinenseis later this week, and so during one class period I consulted my all-girl sannensei class for advice. Mostly, they told me ways to avoid getting splashed with mud, that I’m supposed to put the baby rices about two inches into the ground, and also some cryptic suggestion, “BOY STAY,” that I’m not exactly sure the meaning of.

These students always surprise me with what surprises them and how they react. One girl gave me a dango (a sweet dumpling snack) stick (which is usually served four on a wooden skewer) after I said that I never ate breakfast. She actually tried to feed it to me at first, but then I took it from her and ate it myself. Another made me an origami bow out of scrap paper. They asked me if I like Lady Gaga, and then told me to sing her songs to them using the stick from the dango as a microphone. Dango Girl spent twenty minutes trying to remember the name of her junior high school ALT from three years before, whose name was apparently close to the word ‘Christmas.’ She kept saying “Merry Kurisumasu ja nakute” (rough translation: It’s not Merry Christmas, but…) over and over again and still couldn’t remember. My suggestions met with no recognition, so that remains a mystery.

They also asked what I wanted to do whenever I went back to America, so I told them grad school. Origami Girl freaked, and kept saying, “Ehhhhh, studying diakirai!” (translation: Seriously?! I hate studying!). Trying to set a good example, I told her that because I had studied hard, I got to come to Japan. She paused, looked at me, and then said “Nice fight.” (translation: You win, Sensei.)

Kanano will also start selling packaged pancakes that they have made at Lawson’s, one of the ubiquitous convenience store chains. Although the campaign starts on Friday, today all of the teachers were given a package, which has a cute little chicken wearing a hat on the front and kanji I can’t read. I didn’t know that businesses in Japan did the grassroots product thing, so it’s cool the school (and students) get this opportunity.

On Friday, I plant rice, and I’m interested in seeing how that happens. It’s been raining for a week here, and it’s cold, and I have to trudge around barefoot in mud for a while. But it should be a good time, and I doubt I will ever have the chance to plant a rice field again, so I’m going to take advantage. I’m hoping to also help harvest it in October, to lend a kind of symmetry to the experience. Ganbarimasu!