From late July (2000) until mid-August, I headed home for a visit, as a vacation from Japan. I managed to visit loads of people, and go to a number of little get-togethers.
I arrived in California at about 4pm on a Thursday, completely exhausted after my layover in Taiwan and subsequent 12 hour flight. I visited with Rickmond and Lucy (both of whom thought they were picking me up) and we had some mexican food and hung out until my flight that evening.
Arriving in Detroit the next morning, Jason Allgire met me with a bottle of mountain dew and some oreo doublestuffs. This was to set the stage for the rest of my visit home, as I ate my way through much of the rest of the week. We went to his home in Royal Oak, had breakfast at a thoroughly delightful Diner, and went shopping for everything. Then we met Care at her parents house before heading to her apartment in Lansing for a moving party the next day.
The next morning, Erik, Sabrina, Fin, and Misty arrived to assist Care in her move to Ohio. I made my escape to the TOAD reunion party, where we did all the usual socializing, frisbee tossing, etc. before heading to Jackson for ice cream. I was unable to partake, as my dad was picking me up for my return to Vicksburg. On the drive home I was caught up on as many recent events as my head could hold. Daniel and Amber were awake to welcome me home, and I crashed soon after, pausing only to take in bad American TV.
Sunday dawned bright and early, and I rested and visited my mom and dad, my aunt and uncle, as well as my neighbors, mike and sandy. This continued merrily until Wednesday, when I drove over to Livonia to visit the Vecchio family. That evening Julie, Lindsay and I went to Canada for dinner with some friends and some random folks. I remained in Livonia until Friday morning, when I returned to the west side of the state for a dentist appointment.
Over the weekend, I headed up to Beth's house on the lake for a dinner party and some random socializing and shopping. Rob was also there, having just passed the bar. The weekend was intended to include fireworks, as it was Coast Guard day or something, but the rain made short work of our plans. The next day cleared up enough to allow us lunch and shopping, but my drive home Sunday evening was a mess of water and lightning.
The rest of the week revolved around packing my suitcase and boxes, as well as visiting Tammy, who was able to spend the day with me despite her extreme pregnancy (she was past due). She helped me send off stuff (using her mom-mobile), and we grabbed lunch at a drive in on the lakefront. I also made a run to Albion, where I was able to visit Martha, my former professor, next door neighbor, confidant, etc. And then I made a Charlie's run, with Fin, Misty, and Sabrina. Then a visit to Matt's to see him and Jen.
Wednesday my family, Bobby (a family friend), and I headed to Detroit so I could fly out. Despite a suitcase 30 pounds overweight I managed to get in the air, arriving in LA around 8pm. Holly, the amazing woman I met in Rome back in 1996, picked me up at the airport and took me to San Diego, where I hung out with her and made a quick trip to Tiajuana. That evening we went body boarding with Holly's sometimes boyfriend. We also picked me up a new suitcase so I could carry even more stuff. Ack!
Friday morning, I snagged an amtrack for LA, where Rickmond picked me up. We went for lunch with his family to an incredible Chinese place (I might have been the only caucasian in there, and Chinese was spoken far more than English). Then we picked up Kelli and made a quick run over to Long Beach so I could see Julie's boat, then we spent the day wandering around, meeting up with Lucy in the evening to see Hollywood and a quick tour of Beverly Hills before Lucy took me to LAX for my departure from the United States. In the queue, we managed to bypass security, so my bags were never scanned, which made me a little nervous. But finally I was on a plane back to Japan, by way of Taiwan.
I arrived in Taiwan Sunday morning around 5am, and spent the day in the peace park observing the people. Around 2pm it was back to CKS airport to head to Fukuoka. Then a bus home, and off to sleep ASAP!
