A Return to Japanese Lessons

Had it been three weeks since we met, dear Kaneko-san?  Seeing you again I would not have believed it to be more than a day.  Still there, your laugh; still there, your excited handwriting; still there, your reliable excursion to the copier for scrap paper, deferring my readily waiting notebook.  Your words seem softer, your ears more open, the rhythm of our exchange finding a center through the time elapsed.  Perhaps it is a slower, calmer exhalation which allows me to linger past noon, clarifying words beyond the gestures which explicate that I should pay my monthly lesson fee.  Yes I know this, but what is the word for "fee?"  Please let us have the time to learn a little more.  Raishuu, Kaneko-san.  Until next week.