With a nod of her head, as well as her own continued smile, Rita silently returned the thought. "You may call me Rita," the formal tone of her speech was softened by a quick quirk of her lips. "It is what my friends call me."
She missed the other woman's embarrassment, if only because she felt that she might have been too forward in her wording. However, it was passed over, it seemed, as nonoffensive. A fact Rita was glad of. Most of the time she clearly understood the mannerisms of the Western world, but on occasion she found herself on unsure footing.
"It's perfectly alright Lisa," a touch of encouragement bled into her tone, as Rita found some of her own nervousness draining even more away. With each equally nervous, it actually lessened the nervousness of both, she had found. "I am glad that you sought to learn," it would have been horribly disheartening for her first class to have been left lying unattended. "In all honesty," Rita shrugged one shoulder lightly, "I was not sure what to expect. But we may begin, and if others choose to join us, they can. If not, we will simply continue one on one."
Rita walked over to the stack of rolled mats, picking up two, and brought them back over. She held them while Lisa prepared herself.