Momotaro

Peach-boy Peach-boy

Joycie said that this story is something I should post to my blog, so here I am doing exactly that.

First off, an apology. For all those people living in Japan whose schools or Board of Educations don't treat them right. I'm sorry.

This past week, the first week back from summer vacation, there have been no classes. For the past week, I have done little more than check email, read, play baseball with students and clean up the river with students. Down time like this is nice because it gives me a good chance to speand time with my kids and get to know them. The 3rd years are all around the same age as high school freshman in the US, so they get a kick out of having a teacher that is not too much older, plus they really like hearing about America and the different countries I've been to. I in turn like chatting with students that aren't quite kids.

Aside from the students, the faculty here really takes care of me. Take, for example, what happened to me last Tuesday.

Now you should know that it's hot here. It is really hot and we naturally don't have air conditioning in school. I have a tiny fan in front of my desk that keeps my skin from meltng off, but otherwise every shirt that I wear to work has to go in the hamper the second I get home. On a typical summer's day, I take no less than 4 or 5 freezing cold showers.

So, sitting in this heat, getting a little bored, I say "厚い！スイカ　たべたい!" Meaning, "It's hot!! I want to eat some watermelon."

I didn't really want a watermelon, not that I would have minded one, but the thing is along with wanting to practice my Japanese in school, if I speak Japanese every now and then, the few newer teachers who are afraid of me start to warm up a little bit.

At that moment, Kojima-sensai, who I teach with, jumps up and says "do you want a peach?" The peaches here, by the way, are really quite delicious, so of course I responded "sure."

We go into the teacher's lunch room and out of her lunchbag, she pulls out a peach that I can only assume was part of her lunch. She hands it to me.

"I can't take your peach. Really it's ok."

"Take the peach!"

"No, I was just saying I wanted watermelon because I wanted to say something in Japanese. That is your peach, you don't need to give it to me!"

(She extends her hand with the peach further) Please! "Take the peach! I would be happy to give you my peach!!"

So I take the peach, and she smiles. I go towards the sink to cut it.

"NO!"

"Huh? I thought you said I could have the preach..."

"Yes, but cut it in the front office. They have a knife there that is good for cutting peaches."

So, I take my peach and go to the front office. In the front office is Okubo-sensai at her desk, and Suizu-sensai, who is the groundskeeper Willy of the school. Okubo-sensai looks at my peach and smiles.

"You want to cut the peach?"

"Uh, yea"

Suizu-sensai jumps up.

"I'll cut it for you!"

Now, at this point, my brain is going "Wh... huh? whats??" and I stand there frozen while she grabs the peach, and proceeds to cut it with surgical precision. Really, I have never seen a peach so masterfully cut in my life. She hands me a plate with the glimmering orange fruit perfectly cut and placed on its surface. I just stand there and hold the plate.

"Um, thank you.... would, uh, would you like a piece?"

"No no no.... I will just eat this" and she holds up the peach pit, some chunks of fruit still stuck to it. She pops the pit into hr mouth.

"You know, I have a whole peach, and you cut it for me. You can have a real slice."

"The pit is good. Enjoy the peach!"

So now I am holding this ill-gotten peach, the culmination of absolutely NO effort on my part. At this point, I would feel like a good to just shovel the slices into my mouth, so I do the Japanese thing, put toothpicks in each slice, and walk around the teacher's room serving peach to everyone. At the end, I got to eat the last piece.

Moral of the story: a ninja can kill anyone without even blinking an eye... and thats a FACT.

Oh, and for all of you who enjoyed the New Zealand post and are waiting to be caught up, your time will come. I am planning on continuing with weekly, if not bi weekly posts from now on. I will, for the most part, pick up with more current stuff, but every so often when not much is going on I will write on some past event.

As ever,
-R