Two Small Stories

In the last couple days, two small encounters took place.

1) The home-ec teacher, a very nice woman, brought her 10 y/o son into work the other day. She brings him over to me and proceeds to rock/paper/scissors with him for who has to talk to me first. He lost, and had to introduce himself to me in English. So cute! I complimented him on a job well done and returned my own introduction. Then his mom took a golden moment to make her son sweat and told him to wait there and talk to me while she hurried off to do something. So, I let him sweat a little longer til he exhausted his English ability, and then broke out into my Japanese. I LOVE talking to kids! I can so totally understand everything they say!!! Not to mention they probably have a lot more in common with me, what with the types of music I listen to and shows on tv I watch, compared to some of the older teachers.

As soon as he realized I could speak Japanese, he majorly relaxed, and we were able to chat for a while about pop culture, sports, etc. A great exchange in general. His mom is delightfully cruel for making him panic like that, but I think it was good for him to get some real-world use out of what he's learning in school.

2) The next story starts with me walking down my mountain toward the station.
From my initial perspective: I see a young (upper high school or younger college age) guy walking up the hill, and I've never seen him before. We have these big area maps posted at various intersections throughout my town, and he walks up to one and starts looking at it with a look of great seriousness. I subconsciously notice him, but I'm really not paying him much heed. Just as I pass by, he quickly whips around and says "Hello?!" in what sounds very much like a question. Stunned like I'd just been by a truck hearing someone use English, not to mention with the lightning-fast approach, I stutter for a second and say hi, then reflexively ask, "do you need some help? are you lost?" because of the look on his face, his quizzical greeting, that he'd been looking at the map, and that I'd never seen him before. Judging from the panic in his eyes at my reply, I quickly realize that his "hello" was quite possibly his own English words, and he was really just trying to be friendly. I quickly follow up with a more amicable hello and slight bow, which eases his face and he quickly turns around to bolt. Suddenly he turns and yells perhaps his only other English phrase, "See you!" I smile and and return his farewell.

Now, here's what really happened, with 20/20 hindsight: He sees me coming down the street, Mr. very-obviously-foreigner. He wants to be friendly, but he's nervous and doesn't know how to make an approach. So, he stalls by turning to the map while he gathers up his courage and sorts out his words. He waits like that til I'm close enough, then turns, thinking he's just made the perfect greeting. Minus the poor approach and interrogative intonation, he was indeed a perfect success. I'm very happy he took the time to initiate even such a simple engagement, and I wish I'd been more on-the-ball so as not to freak him out with my English inquiry.

I'm fascinated by the little things, the insignificant engagements we have with our surrounding society on a daily basis. I probably don't go far enough out of my way to make similar engagements to those around me, and I probably should. 頑張りましょう！