Japanese "No" & Student Antics

The Japanese have this way of saying no to things that drives foreigners crazy.  You ask them to do something and they have a social orgasm in front of you agreeing that yes indeed, you should hang out, or do whatever.  Then, 5 minutes before the actual event is set to take place, they all of a sudden have some business they "forgot" about or they have some finger nail pains... in short, they can't make it.  The reality is that they had chosen to refuse you in the first place, but in order to be polite, they agreed to go along with you to make it seem like they wanted to hang out with you.  Then they make up some reason that they can't go all of a sudden.  I think it's actually pretty rude because if you had planned to hang out with that person and then they cancel on you like that without a real reason, it leaves you stranded for the day.  If the reason is a real one then it's fine obviously, but they planned to take a dump on you in the first place.  Still getting used to this part about Japanese people, but I'm getting better and better at reading them!  I find if I ask certain questions, I can know if they will turn me down later on by their responses.  For instance, when I ask detailed questions such as what time or place to meet, if I get hazy responses or none at all (text messaging), I can assume they will cancel.  This has proven to be quite useful.

There was a student the other day who was goofing off and the teacher kept scolding him and telling him to pay attention.  After a couple minutes of this, the teacher turned around to write on the board and the student turns to his friends and says "watch this," then he lifts his leg and let's a fart rip.  I spent the next 10 minutes trying not to laugh about it.  At a different school, I was invited to play basketball with the 9th grade girls, so I went and listened to the teacher talk about where each team was going to play.  As I stood there, a girl who I wasn't looking at but who was easily within my peripheral vision was sitting down with her knees up and together.  She looks at her friend, and in English says "open!" as she spread her legs wide open.  Again, I spent the next 10 minutes (I can laugh at things for quite a while) trying not to laugh at this.  I feel pretty immature laughing at things like these, but I don't feel bad about it.

本音【ほんね】  (honne)  (n) real intention; motive; (P)