Small Conversation

Today in Elementary School during the break I decided to look around the school. Some students, seven, if I'm not mistaken, were staring at me, looked at my name card and, whispering 'ナナちゃん, ナナちゃん!"

Then I greeted them, "おはようございます!". Two of them ran off and the rest just stayed behind their friends' back. I squatted and gave my hand as a sign that I am friendly :p When they were still in the shy-mode, I continued to ask them, "何年生ですか." and one of them said, "二年生です。"

"Oh, a sign of good conversation!" I thought. Then they were starting to ask me.
"外国人ですか。”
"はい、外国人です。”
” ああ、そうですか。なんか、かおがちがうですよ。。。”
”あれ？”
”どこにからきましたか。”
”インドネシアからきました。”
”インドネシア?日本のちかく？”

And then suddenly I felt all of my vocabularies were gone. With simple words, I said to them.

"インドネシアは日本の下”, I said
”ええ、近くですよ。。”

I wanted to explain that Japan-Indonesia is not that near, but I lost the words! Then they all were starting to sit in the stairs and I followed them.

Some teacher greeted me in English, and they started to whisper to each other,
"英語、英語!どうして英語しゃべるんですか。。”
"わからん。。”
”ええ、英語と日本語が出来ます。。”

and they were giggling to each other, leaving me alone :'( Seeing the field full of students, I got up and ask them,

"じゃ、（あそこに）行こうか。”
"え?インドネシアに？”
"ううん、あそこ。(pointing the field). インドネシアに行きたいの？”
"うん。近くだから、行こうか。”

Surprised, I just laughed :p

Then the bell rang and they went back to class. Before going to the class they all shook my hand and gave me high five!

"Bye, Nana-chan!" said them loudly.

Ah, unfortunately it's just 10 minutes. Next week I will make more conversation with the students!
***

Translation:

ナナちゃん: Nana-chan, my nickname :3. 
おはようございます!: Ohayou Gozaimasu - Good Morning
何年生ですか: Nan nen sei desuka? - What grade are you?
二年生です: Ni nen sei desu. - 2nd grade
外国人ですか: Gaikokujin desuka? - Are you a foreigner?
はい、外国人です. Hai, gaikokujin desu. - Yes I am a foreigner.
 ああ、そうですか。なんか、かおがちがうですよ: aa, soudesuka. Nanka, kao ga chigau desu yo. - Somehow, your face is different (than us).
”あれ？” - Are? - Eh?
どこにからきましたか.: Doko ni kara kimashitaka? - Where are you from?
インドネシアからきました: Indonesia kara kimashita - I am from Indonesia
インドネシア?日本のちかく？Indonesia? Nihon no Chikaku? - Indonesia? Is that near from Japan?
インドネシアは日本の下: Indonesia wa Nihon no shita - Indonesia is under Japan.
ええ、近くですよ。。: ee, chikaku desu yo - Ah, that's near..
英語、英語!どうして英語しゃべるんですか。。: Eigo, eigo! Doushite eigo shaberun desu ka? - English, English! Why is (Nanachan) speaking in English?
わからん。。: Wakaran.. - I don't know.. (Hiroshima's dialect ^^ It supposed to be わからない-wakaranai)
ええ、英語と日本語が出来ます。。: Ee, eigo to nihongo ga dekimasu.. - Wow, (she) could speak English and Japanese...
じゃ、（あそこに）行こうか。: Ja (Asoko ni) Ikouka? - Okay, Let's go (there).
"え?インドネシアに？”: e? Indonesia ni? - Eh? (go to) Indonesia?
ううん、あそこ。(pointing the field). インドネシアに行きたいの？: uun, asoko. Indonesia ni ikitai no? - Nope, there. Do you want to go to Indonesia?
うん。近くだから、行こうか: un. Chikaku kara, ikouka? - Yeah, because it's near, shall we go?

Asobitai!

Asobitai Project! The elementary school student with the exchange student will be doing some activities together: planting sweet potatoes, harvesting onions and harvesting rice! Since I did not bring my camera, the photos taken by Motoki and Miyahara-san :D

First, planting sweet potatoes (May,11th 2013)

Nicolas, Ojii-san, Me

At this time, Ojii-san tried to speak Japanese with Nicolas, but Nico seemed lost in translation and finally I joined. But since my Japanese is also not good, I just tried my best to translate it in English. T^T I must study harder!

Me, Hyeon-Jin, Sang-Hee

Another Ojii-san explained to Sang-hee and me the proper way to plant the sweet potatoes 

***

Second, Harvesting Onions! (June, 1st 2013)

With the Elementary School Student!

After harvesting all the onions, we had a chance to took it home if we won at Jan-Ken-Pon (Japanese version of Rock-Paper-Scissor game) against the Ojii-san.

Gosia, was the first among the exchange student who won!

There were four students took a part in the JKP game, and we all won! Finally, every student who were there, about 11 people if I'm not mistaken, take 3/4 onions to home :D

***

Third, Planting Rice (June, 8th 2013)

Planting the Rice

Muddy and hot! The perfect combination! :p

Miyahara-san said that fortunately the rice planting was before the rainy season so that there were probably no leeches. But then Amine said he found a leech in the mud. Yikes!

In Indonesia our main dish is always including rice, but I have never gone in the mud and planting it. I just saw it and tried to play with the mud until my grand mother told me to stop. :p But after actually planting it, I just realized the difficulty that farmers go through. Planting the seeds, waiting them to grow up, harvesting it. The field in here is small compare to fields in Indonesia. Not to mention pest that caused the failing of harvesting. Hem...

Lesson learned: if you want to know what is patience, learn from the farmers