Students at Embassy

"Itadakimasu" ~after fighting against mosquitoes~

"Itadakimasu" is one of the most beautiful words in the Japanese language. We Japanese say it always before eating a meal as one particular greeting. Originally, it had a beautiful meaning, though most of us say it without thinking of it. "Itadakimasu" normally means "now, I'm going to have this meal". "Itadaku" also has the meaning of "I'm going to have love and kindnesses". As we eat food, we receive love and kindnesses from the person who took a long time cooking our meal and workers who raise their vegatables or livestock at a farm.

Now I've experienced farming at the farm in Canada. My tasks are mainly weeding (removing weeds), picking vegetables for selling, or putting seedlings in. Recently, farms using chemicals in order to reduce time are incleasing, but this farm never uses chemicals, which is called organic farming. Farmers at this organic farm think that supplying  healthy and fresh vegetables to customers is the most important idea, and using chemicals is going to destroy people's bodies.

However, raising plants without chemicals must be much harder. Weeding is one of the necessary jobs, but it's work that makes my body sore, because roots of weeds are so strong and I have to take them out little by little. What's more, because it takes a long time, thousands of mosquitoes around me all the time suck my blood and they leave annoying itches. I sometimes feel that I am saving the lives of vegetables against weeds which put the plants  in the shade and take much energy out of the ground - just as I am fighting against mosquitoes. The hard work reminded me of that one Japanese word "Itadakimasu". In every meal, we have love with healthy food.

I've worked at the farm as a WWOOFer (in my last post, I explained about "WWOOF") for a week and I've learned how to farm little by little. That's an awesome experience. Likewise, I could rethink a beautiful Japanese word. However, farming is tough work, it is a beautiful job though. I think at times that my friends have been in Las Vegas or New York as I am fighting against mosquitoes... My legs have got full of bites by enemies, but there is no gain without pain. So, I "Itadakimasu(will have)" good experience and organic foods.

How to spend vacation (WWOOF)

Summer vacation will start on 14th June. Students in my school are bustling about to prepare for vacation. Some start saving money and some buy clothes or swimwear. Some are planning to go to Los Angeles and some are waiting to go to New York. Anyway, everyone is happy to take a vacation except me.

Unlike my classmates, I had been thinking this vacation would be too long for me. The biggest problem was money. I needed more money if I wanted to enjoy attractive places, such as Los Angeles, New York, Boston, and so on. Likewise, being away from my English classes for two weeks would be a setback. However, it was clear that I would get bored if I stayed at home and watched movies everyday for two weeks. So, I began to think about the best way to spend my vacation. 

Fortunately, here in Washington we are really close to Canada. I heard that it is cheap to go to Canada. So, I called my friend who has been in Vancouver, Canada, and I asked her if I can stay at her house for free. What an impolite question! How crazy was I? She gave me beautiful information instead of accepting my company.

The information was about "WWOOF". WWOOF is a program for people who want to stay at a farm and experience farming. You can stay and eat organic food at the farm for free for my work instead of paying money. That's what I had been looking for! I can stay in Canada and study English while I work. That's perfect! Yeahhh hooo! I can't wait for the vacation!

I am Keita "Stupid River"

Hi, this is Keita Kawabata. This is the story of when I made a stupid mistake. It was when I was in the library and tried to get my own ID and e-mail address in order to use the internet in the library. I asked a librarian and he said that I could have them easily. The way to get an ID and e-mail account is the same as when you get an ID or account at sites on the internet. It is that you answer question after question (for example: what is your name? phone number? etc..). That's easy. I started answering one by one.

Now, I will tell you a bit of Japanese language in order to make clear what my mistake was. My family name is Kawabata. 'Kawa' means river and 'Bata' means rice field. Bata is pronunced similarily to 'Baka'. In Japanese, you can say "Baka" to a stupid person or a stupid thing. I suppose you are figuring out the meaning of the title of this blog entry, "I am Keita Stupid River". Well, let's go back to the library.

After I got my own ID and e-mail address, I tried to log in to the internet but I couldn't. I typed my password and ID again, but I couldn't log in. The librarian seemed to think that I made a common mistake that lots of people make when they are typing their personal information. "I did it!" he said, and explained my mistake. Guess what my ID was? It was "kawabaka", not "kawabata". The librarian was laughing. Fortunately, he is not Japanese. I pretended to be calm and gave him a smile as I was thinking that he couldn't understand the Japanese language.

Please be careful. We all make mistakes, but don't be a "Stupid River" like me. Ciao!

Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo/Takeshima)

Have you heard of Liancourt Rocks (Dokdo/Takeshima)? You must know about it if you are Korean or Japanese, because there has been a big argument between Korea and Japan. The island is in the middle of the ocean between the countries. Therefore, both countries have insisted that the island belongs to them. The controversy between them goes back many years. According to written history, each can be proved to be right. What a difficult issue.

Actually, I don't know the exact history or the reason for the controversy about Liancourt Rocks (foolishly, even though I am Japanese myself). I thought that I must learn the real story and history of Liancourt Rocks first, and then we need to think what we should do and what the true or not true story is. Sometimes history in textbooks or in the news have biased viewpoints.

In a conversation class, I was partnered with a Korean girl. In the class, we always talk about customs or differences between our own countries and those of different countries. I gain not only skills for conversation in English, but also knowledge about the customs of different countries. However, I was disappointed by the answer from her one day.

She said lots of Koreans think that the Japanese are like a kind of enemy of Korea. That is because of the controversy with Japan insisting the island is Japan's, and the history. Don't you think this is a sad story? The arguement over whose the island is is a big matter to both countries, but I think it is nonsense that we, young people, dislike each other because of biased history or the thinking of politicians. Now, it is time to learn the real history and let's talk about the better future world.

As you know, lots of friends  from different countries, such as Koreans, Taiwanese, Chinese, Turks, Colombians, Brazilians, Japanese, and French people are connected in our school. We were born in different places which have different names, but we are connecting somewhere. It is a beautiful destiny, isn't it?