Strangers, Schools, and Participants

Its been a long time since my last blog. I've gotten so comfortable with the life here at the Asian Rural Institute that its been difficult to find what to say next. However, A LOT has happened worth speaking about.

Several weeks ago, two American volunteers and I went on a Sunday afternoon adventure with an older gentleman who we thought was interested in showing us around Nasushiobara to immerse us more into Japanese culture (ARI is like its own world. Welcome to the Democratic Republic of ARI- as one Ghanian staffer says). Anyhow, we had no idea that the guy was taking us to see his friends who were wanting to practice their English. There was an apparent lack of communication in this. A huge lack of communication actually. We talked about everything under the sun except for the purpose of our being there. This trip was one that was hard to not play the gaijin* card. One volunteer's imagination was running wild during the entire afternoon since the plans were unclear. We drank tea and ate lunch. Had a grand ol' time there. then, we went into town and they showed us around. We then climbed into two cars and drove around to a clothing shop (the clothes were super expense, but they were nice to look at...), found an antique furniture shop (the smallest wall hook was close to $30), a library, and an outdoors shop. The antique furniture shop had a copy of a Bertrand Russell's essay, that was a nice find. Then we went to a pottery shop and the old guy's house where we had more tea. Anyhow, it was an adventure I rarely come across. Not sure there are words that can fully encompass each moment. Full of assumptions and curiosity.

*Gaijin is a term meaning outside person or foreigner. However, it has a slight negative connotation given by the complexities of what it means to be a foreigner in Japan.

The next fantastic thing is that ARI has a relationship with the local elementary school located on the edge of town. ARI provides the students a chance to meet foreigners, something that doesn't happen often for them. From African to South/South East Asian, and Americans. I was able to go two different afternoons, and was greeted by around 50 children the first time. I was impressed by their organized welcoming. A kid who stood by the door/front of the room read a really formal letter introducing me to the class and thanking me for coming to speak. They asked me questions like "what is your favorite animal?" or "What is fun to do in America?" or "What is a popular food in America?" Look out, I'm representing America here. After the questions, I joined the children in two variations of the game Fruit Basket. My favorite version was passing a box with different fruit on each side of it. Sitting in a circle with a student in the center, we passed the box around saying "I like Whatever fruit is on the box". Whoever was holding the box when the center person looked up from the floor was the next one to be in the center. These kids are so much fun. The ARI volunteers were invited another time to eat lunch with the students. We thought we were going to relive our childhood memories of elementary school lunch in the cafeteria, but each class had their lunch in their class room. So much for reliving our childhood memories. I loved talking to those kids. I couldn't even finish my lunch because of answering all the questions. Left the school with the carton of milk still in my hand (the kids wouldn't let me leave without finishing it all haha... good for them). Might I say, their school lunch was far better than mine as a kid. They enjoyed the questions I asked all of them, too. I tried to be as reciprocating to them as they were to me. But, at the end of the day, I wished that I could simply speak Japanese because being a foreigner is just so exhausting and difficult (難しい).

So, after 2.5 months without participants here, I finally get to experience them. They are arriving this week! One of the two Japanese Interns told me real ARI is when participants are here. Participants are specifically the trainees who come for further education in rural leadership and agriculture. Coming from Bangladesh, Burma, India, Indonesia, East Timor, Solomon Islands, Korea, Uganda, Liberia, and so many more countries, these participants come with experience in rural leadership and stories to tell of the empowerment of their communities. I am looking forward to the next 9 months that they are here. I will learn so much more.

Peace