As much as I try to make it seem otherwise, my life isn't all travel, fun, and mayhem. Today was one of those days: I spent the morning addressing emails from around the globe trying to keep my affairs in order - my upcoming return the United States requires a lot of preparation to ensure everything is in order - and then I spent the afternoon and evening at Tokyo Tech. Between classes and meeting with professors to hand in work for my week-long absence, I also spent a few hours in the laboratory working on my computer programs to finalize my test data. In early August I will make a capstone presentation, and as my schedule is eternally busy I am using every chance I can to inch closer.

Working in the laboratory gave me an opportunity to deliver the South Korean and American OMIYAGE (souvenirs) for my lab-mates. I brought back a dozen packs of KANKOKU NORI (dried Korean seaweed, famous for its use of vegetable oil and salt) while I had my mother bring Wal-Mart sized packs of Reeses Peanut Butter Cups, Sour Patch Kids, and Twizzlers. Everything was an instant success, with the exception of the Twizzlers, which the Japanese thought was incredibly "strange" (in Japanese-speak, this means "not tasty at all!") I suppose licorice, especially the oddly shaped licorice characteristic to Twizzlers, is an acquired taste.

At 5:00 p.m. I turned out for football practice and delivered the same gifts to the team, and once more the reaction to the food was great (except for the Twizzlers, obviously). I busted my ass in practice because I felt bad about missing the past few practices because of both my Korea trip and my mother's arrival, but I am popular enough on the team that no one minds at all. (That, or maybe everyone simply likes the OMIYAGE I bring back.) Regardless, at the end of practice I apologized once more because tomorrow morning I will fly to Japan's southern island of KYUSHU for six days of travel. I blamed everything on my mother, but in truth this is my first chance to travel extensively in Japan - the high cost of travel in Japan has previously ruled out such an option.

I bought beer for everyone on my way home, arriving back at the house at around 10:00 p.m. to find freshly grilled YAKITORI (焼き鳥, or grilled meat) waiting for me. Initially, I was more interested in drinking beer and relaxing as I was utterly wiped out, but Maki-san's cooking was too good to turn away. Unsurprisingly, I ended up finishing off everything at the table. I never would have thought I would eat such things as chicken heart or ox tongue without finding them at all strange...

I stayed up working at my computer and planning the upcoming trip with Maki-san until nearly 2:00 a.m., but I made sure to set my alarm before passing out... The wake-up call would go off at 4:00 a.m., only two hours later...