"I'm an Iowa Girl"

One evening we stopped to eat dinner in a well-lit Chinese restaurant.  The young hostess/cashier displayed an unusual familiarity and comfort-level with foreigners.  She explained items on the menu to us, for example, "This is beef and this is chicken."  That's pretty good English for Japan!  She asked where we are from and we replied, "The United States."  She asked where in the U.S.  We replied,  "the middle."  She asked where in the middle.  We replied, "Missouri."  She lit up.  "Oh! Missouri! I lived on home-stay in Cedar Rapids, Iowa!!"  When I told her that Iowa is my home state and Cedar Rapids is not far from the farm where I grew up, she said, "I want to talk with you about IOWA."  I wrote my email address on a piece of paper and she held it close to her heart.  "I am an Iowa girl," she said. 

At 2 a.m. she wrote to me:   Thank you for coming  today :)  I was soooo excited because you are my first Iowan visitor! lol   My first homestayed in Iowa when I was 16 for a month. And I visited them again during summer 2years ago and last summer.  I'd like to talk with you a lot more! How long will you be in Japan? Are you going as a tourist, or are you on business?  I'm looking forward to see you again :)

I wrote her back and am awaiting her reply.  I hope that two Iowa girls can get together here, in a city where this Iowa girl never dreamed she would live.