Last Friday night, we were invited to dinner at the home of the librarian at one of Hunter's schools. It was quite an event, with the lady and her husband, their two adult daughters, and one of the daughters two young children. With the exception of the children (ages 1 and 4), everyone spoke good to excellent English. The husband was the worst, but still had English well above the level of most people I've worked with; the librarian has previously worked as an English teacher, and the daughters were even better, one of them we could relax with and just talk to normally - she lives in Bangkok.
We caught the local train to Setsu-Tonda station, where they picked us up. The older of the grandchildren, a four-year-old girl called Yu-chan came with them. She was terrified of us.
We sat down for a relaxed dinner, chatting away as we sampled a variety of traditional and not so traditional dishes. The husband was a really character. He had a very expressive face, and some great phrases. "I'm very domestic!", he declared, as he informed us that he had prepared the soup. The librarian and her two daughters kept up a lively conversation, and while the little boy didn't warm to us (he's scared even of his grandparents), little Yu-chan warmed to me, and absolutely fell in love with Hunter.
Hunter said it was probably the best fun he's had in Japan. I wouldn't go quite that far, but it truly was a fantastic evening, with a wonderful family that we were very lucky to meet.
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