Accidental Hospitality

So, yesterday we found out that there was a Japanese student staying next door. Through a still unknown series of misfortunes, he's been stuck at the neighbor's house with their two teenage children, and nobody else. One of the teens works full time and isn't home except to sleep, and the other won't get off the couch except to use the bathroom. It isn't a completely gloomy story though, as a family on our cul'de'sac has been taking him up into the mountains for morning hikes, and tonight we took him with us for my dad's birthday celebration up at Terry Ranch, a sprawling bison and other animal ranch/restaurant up on the Wyoming border. It was so fun, his name is Keisuke Yamamoto, and I've never had a better guest to entertain. At least, not since Dawn was here. It was a long drive, but well worth the trip, as our new friend earned the title of Cowboy by single-handedly destroying a 20 oz. T-bone cooked rare (or not cooked by my opinion), and all the other trappings of dinner. My dad seemed glad to have the company of someone who could pace him at the table, even if the kid is half his size. My Niece and Nephew adore him, and he seemed too happy to be engaged by other humans to be annoyed by their persistent attention. The adventures at Terry Ranch could take me all night to go over, so I'll paraphrase in extreme fashion. Large animals + Japanese guy who's bravely facing such beasts for the first time + small children = gutbustingly funny. After dark, and a careful perusing of the gift shop for a knick-nack for mom back in Kawasaki, we loaded up and came back to the Kramer Ranch for pie. Kei brought over some scrapbooks he had put together with family pictures and magazine clippings and gave us a tour of his home. He's seventeen and a second-year high-schooler, with designs on the prestigious KO(?) university in Tokyo as a political science major. We had all bonded pretty fast, and I was honored that he said he hoped we would be able to make it over for his graduation and to wish him luck on his entrance exams. I think tomorrow night or Wednesday after work I'll try and steal him away from his adopted families and show him around CSU's campus, then take him downtown and show him all the cafes and spots that my friends and I have occupied for years.

It's sad and kinda weird that his actual hosts won't be home until the 20th, and he leaves to go back home on the 25th, but it gives us the opportunity to play our favorite roles as tour guides.

On the drive home he told me, "You are all very nice. Americans are so nice."

"Oh, not all of us. Lots of people here like to keep to themselves, mind their own business."

"It's not like back home, everyone is a secret. I like the American way better."

I was tickled. So, not all foreigners hate us, just most do. I hope we have the decency to elect a president who'll work to undo Bush's legacy. I get so delusional when I'm in a good mood.