School lunch. Omoshiroi (interesting) times. Today I walked into the big conference room to help serve lunch. A debate was in progress between the school secretary, nutritionist, and handy-man. "Do you think Rachel wants seaweed on top of her spaghetti?." "Maybe not. Maybe yes." "Rachel, do you want seaweed? Yes, no?" Me: (About a ten second pause.) "Onegaishimasu (yes please/ sure/ sounds tasty)." Handy-man, "Oh great!" Secretary, "Okay, but only a little." So, my secretary proceeds to put 5 pieces of shredded seaweed on top of my bowl of spaghetti. Eventually I sat down to discover this was no ordinary spaghetti. It was squid spaghetti with fish eggs. Normally I would have been a bit taken aback. However, two months into my job at school, I experienced this same lunch. That time the shock of it went straight to my core. Not wanting to offend, I did the only thing I could. I pretended the fish eggs were parmesan cheese and ate around the squid. This time however, I not only didn't flinch at the sight, but I dug in and didn't have to pretend the parmesan into existence. The fish eggs sufficed.
On top of the excellent menu selection, the ambiance was set with the addition of a musical masterpiece. As I began eating my meal the song request of Ni nen Ni kumi (eighth grade class 2) began and the falsetto of a man's voice echoed through the loud speaker. "Mailahee, Mailahu, Mailaha, Mailahaha...hallo, salute..."
Ah...lunch at a Japanese Junior High School...does it get any better?
http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/206373
click on watch movie (Numa Numa Dance with subtitles recommended)
