last night i went over to one of my eikaiwa student's houses for dinner. her family lives in a new house but also own a large old house with the pits in the floor for bamboo charcoal cooking. i had been there once before. there were 5 women from my eikaiwa class and then 12 american university exchange students who are staying at keiwa college in shibata for 4 weeks (they have now been here for 2). k-san, one of the women, had hosted 3 of them for 2 days last weekend, and thought it would be nice to invite them. it was really strange seeing so many foreigners i didn't know in shibata. all of them new to japan and awkward with etiquette and using chopsticks and all that stuff. makes me feel as though i've been here forever...