Agriculture stinks. That is one of the first lessons Japanese exchange student Kai Pankau learned upon arriving at the Weir family farm in Lewis on July 24.
Ive never really been around farm animals, Pankau said, sitting in the swine building at the Montezuma County Fair Wednesday, a smile lighting up his face. They smell!
Pankau is spending nearly a month in Southwest Colorado as part of a cultural exchange program sponsored by the Colorado State University Extension Office. The program seeks to pair students from foreign countries with 4-H families in the United States, allowing the students the opportunity to experience life in a rural, agricultural setting.
For Pankau, it is a whole new world.
A native of Yokohama, Japan, Pankau is used to a much different lifestyle. Yokohama is the second largest city in Japan, with a population of 3.6 million. While Pankau and his family, parents and two younger siblings, live in a house in the city, the majority of the population lives in high-rise apartments in the city.
Pankau has had his share of experiences in Japan this year. Yokohama was near the epicenter of the major earthquake that shook the country in March, resulting in a devastating tsunami. The city is roughly 200 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear reactor plant that was badly damaged in the disaster.
My school was closed for two months, Pankau said. Mostly because of the radiation. Some schools were hit much worse and opened in two weeks. I dont know why our school was closed so long.
Pankau said though the situation is still not under control at the nuclear plant, he is not scared of the radiation.
As comfortable as he is with city life, the trip to rural Colorado has been eye-opening for the young man.
It is so empty, Pankau said emphatically. There are no crowds of people and lots of nature and many, many animals. It is very different.
Driving to the Weir home from Montrose, Pankau commented many times on the long stretches of highway with virtually no homes, said Ronda Weir.
He is certainly not used to seeing empty land, Ronda said.
The Weir family, Jay, Ronda, 22-year-old Brittany, and 15-year-old Tyler, welcomed Pankau into their home after Ronda received a few emails from CSU seeking host families for exchange students. The family did not hesitate to open their lives to a stranger and selected Pankau based on a few words in his profile.
He said he liked eating and American football, so I thought he would be a good fit with Tyler, Ronda said, laughing.
Pankau was immediately thrown into a typical teenage American summer. He has spent time at McPhee Reservoir and has participated in football practice at Dolores High School, where Jay helps coach. He and Tyler have played basketball at the Dolores open gym, and the family has visited Mesa Verde National Park. The family still plans to spend time at their cabin in the mountains, visit Four Corners and take in some baseball at the Connie Mack World Series in Farmington, N.M.
However, given the timing, preparation for the fair has dominated the time the family has spent together. Tyler has raised and shown pigs at the fair for years, and Jay is running the swine program at the fair this year. In the past two weeks, Pankau has been given a crash course in livestock production.
We walked the pigs, Pankau said, referring to efforts to bring the animals under the weight limit for fair entrance.
The entire concept of a week-long event designed to parade animals around a circle for judging is humorous for Pankau, and listening to him describe the county fair puts the historical event in a new light.
It is so funny, he said. When I came here and talked to Tyler and he said he has pigs and shows them, I had no idea what he was talking about. It is quite interesting.
Tyler said Pankau has thrown himself into learning about life in Southwest Colorado.
It hasnt been hard to show him stuff, Tyler said. Hell say, I dont know about that, and Ill say, Ill show you.
Pankau has even been up close and personal with Tylers pigs, one of which will lay down if its stomach if scratched. Pankau then takes the opportunity to use the swine for a pillow.
He just laid right down, Ronda said. It is so funny.
Pankaus visit to Colorado wasnt completely random. His mother found the CSU program and encouraged him to apply, noting how much she enjoyed her home stay in Colorado 27 years ago.
She wanted me to do this, and I thought it was a good opportunity to experience something I cant experience at home, Pankau said.
Among Pankaus favorite things so far in Colorado are burritos and the lake. Only one thing stands out as a disadvantage to rural life.
The smell in the barn, Pankau said. I do not like the smell.
Reach Kimberly Benedict at [email protected].
