One thing that differentiates Japanese and Indonesian children (子供) is about spontaneity. So far as I know, Japanese kids are really spontaneous and aren't shy or afraid to start greeting someone, even to foreigners like us.
Once, when we (Meghan and I) were playing at the park (公園), a Japanese little girl came toward us and stared at Meghan as if she wanted to say something. Then I greeted her, "konnichiwa (こんにちわ）". FYI, this is a very useful expression if you don't really speak Japanese (日本語） but you want to act friendly to someone you meet. The little girl replied my greeting and said something again which I couldn't understand. It seemed she wanted to play with Meghan. Then I asked Meghan to give her ball to the little girl so they could play together. While playing, the little girl whom I knew later her name is Saikonoha-chan kept asking me questions, such as "soko no ko no namae? (what's your child's name)", or "nan sai? (how old is she?)". She also kept looking for my attention, like showing her "chibi maruko-chan" toy, her kawaii (cute) but furui (old) shoes, her sand drawing, and her quite fabulous ability playing the "monkey bars". Of course she spoke her mother tongue. Sometimes I responded in Japanese (with my limited vocabularies), sometimes in English (but it's rarely used), and occasionally only by hand or head signals (a.k.a body language ^^). From our conversation, I knew that Saiko-chan is five years old, hasn't entered kindergarten yet, and lives near the park.
Saikonoha-chan wasn't alone by that time. A group of Japanese little boys (ages ranged from 5-8 years old) suddenly came and asked something to Saiko-chan. Then one of them (look older than Saiko-chan) came close to me and Meghan. I smiled and said "hello". The little boy asked, "dochira kara?". I understood that he wanted to know where do I come from so I answered, "Indonesia jin desu (I'm an Indonesian)". He looked confused, so I asked him in return, "Indonesia no koto ga shitte iru no (do you know about Indonesia?)?". He shook his head and said "tooi desuka (is it far from here?)". ”Tooi desu yo. Hikouki de nana jikan gurai kakarimasu (yup it's quite far, around 7 hours by airplane)", I replied. Then he and his friends asked me several questions again, like "hikouki ga Indonesia-go (語) de nan desuka (how to say airplane in Indonesian language?)", and "Indonesia de ki noboru koto ga arun desuka (does tree climbing exist in Indonesia?)". They even showed me their abilities to climb a tree too. A big tree! Feeling worry, I shouted "abunai yo! (hey that's too dangerous!)", but they only laughed and shouted back "daijoubu! (it's okay!)".. and they were really okay. :)
After climbed a tree, they played football using Meghan's blue ball. Knowing that the ball was used by others, Meghan was bit irritated and cried. I tried to convince her that the ball still belongs to her and the boys just borrowed it for a moment, but she still wanted her ball back. Luckily, Saiko-chan said to the boys that they should stop playing with the ball and returned it back to Meghan. After got her ball back, Meghan's finally stop crying. ^^ Then I said to the little boys, "ありがとう (thx)". It's already late in the afternoon. Despite this enjoyable moment with Japanese kids, I decided to go home. "Ja.Mo konna jikan ne.Kaerimasho (well, what a time. let's go home)", I said to them. I regretted for not bringing camera on that day so I couldn't take their pictures as memento.
Another day at the same park and Meghan still brought her favorite blue ball, we got acquainted with another Japanese kid. When we arrived at the park, the kid was playing swing with her "Ojii-san" (grandpa). When she saw Meghan, she spontaneously came close to us and smiled. After asking Meghan's name, she hold meghan's hands and said "achi achi! (there there!)". It seemed she invited Meghan to play seesaw together. Then she said something again to her grandpa, but I didn't really get the meaning. Her name is Kaeri-chan or simply Kae-chan and she's 4 years old. Meghan got another friend by chance. They played seesaw, sand, and slide together though there's a gap of language. :) Kae-chan's grandpa sat not far from us, witnessing her granddaughter's playing. When they're playing sand, I asked Kae-chan what she's making, "nani o tsukutte iru no?". "keeki (a cake)", she answered. "Satou o ireru? (will you put sugar on it?)", I added. She replied while sowing the sand and grinning, "ee..kore..satou (yes, this is the sugar)". She sometimes talked to Meghan "kochi mite! (come and look!)", but of course Meghan didn't understand. And when Meghan tried to talk with her in Bahasa Indonesia, Kae-chan could only wonder what Meghan said. Luckily, I brought my camera this time so I could take some memorable pictures (写真) with Kae-chan.
Just a week ago, when we were looking for some daily stuff in one self-service shop here, a little girl came toward us. As usual, I said, "konnichiwa". She suddenly touched Meghan's cheeks with her small hands and asked me how old Meghan is. "ni sai juukagetsu (2 years 10 month)", I answered while smiling. This little girl acted like a 7 years old girl but I guessed she's just in the same age as Meghan's. And yup! when I asked her age, she clearly answered, "san sai (three years old)". Then she ran to her mom who's carrying a little baby and shouted something to her sister. Oh, so she has two siblings. She ran back to Meghan while shouting,"akachan! akachan! (baby! baby!)". ^^ (can someone tell her that she's still a baby too??). I asked her name but it's too long n difficult so I couldn't remember it precisely. Once she tried to lift Meghan up, but I said、”dame. omoi da yo! (don't. she's heavy)". Of course, Meghan is bigger than her! ^^ So I wondered why she couldn't stop calling Meghan "akachan". Oh well :).
So these are stories among other stories about Japanese kids, their spontaneity, and their innocence. Having conversation with them and children in common are really pleasurable because they're free from prejudice. And it's one of the simple ways to practice our foreign language ability. ;)
