He met his girlfriend's father and yet he is still alive...

Where to begin? As usual, so much has happened.

I left Patrick's house with a tearful goodbye at 7 in the morning on August the 3rd. It was reminiscent of a sad, sad movie from a time forgotten. He and I pressed against the opposite sides of the cold and unbending glass of the bullet train's window, crying and desperately trying to touch one last time. As the train departed he ran in a fleeting attempt of catching me and keeping me forever, alas, the train can go up to 200 kilometers per hour and he can only run up to 157.

All seriousness aside, I owe Patrick a lot. He was a great host and kept me entertained and alive for the 6 or so days I stayed with him. 　どうもありがとうございましたパット先輩。 I will send you some more Canada care packages in an attempt to repay you.

Anyways, back to my romantic story:
I arrived with little trouble even though I had to transfer 2 times to different trains. Thanks to my wonderful electronic dictionary I was able to figure out how to say "Which number car is this?" Whether it was accurate Japanese or not didn't matter (for now) as the nice old lady understood me when I talked to her. Once hearing my crap Japanese, her 3 grandchildren decided to swarm around me and spew phrases with reckless abandon, even though I only understood a 1/3rd of what they were saying. So it was a fun trip.

Fumi met me with a little trouble at Hakata station, because she told me to go to the wrong exit and her father (dun dun dunnn) picked us up and drove us to their house. Yoichi-san told me to call him "Fumipapa" which is a nice amicable start and I find he is very funny and silly, kind of like my Dad. We were both sizing each other up and nervous during the ride home as there were a lot of awkward pauses, but I think in terms of still being alive I can say: "mission accomplished".
I met Fumi's mother again, and to my pride (even though it's mostly politeness) she mentioned how I had come a long way in speaking Japanese. I have a little bit. I haven't really learned anything new, I'm just developing confidence in utilizing the language. Which is great, having studied it for 2 years and never really used it. Fumi's brother is a really funny guy as well and is also a bit shy though he doesn't look it. He has the stylings of a very laid-back "cool cat".

The 4th was my birthday and the Sakata family invited over their friends for a party in my honour. It was an amazing time. Yoichi-san insisted upon my having 21 shots of sake. What I had to do was go around and pour each guest a shot (there were 19) and they would pour me one in return. I didn't get very drunk, surprisingly.
That party tested my Japanese language skills quite a bit as I often was called away from Fumi (my active translator) to go speak with her parents and their friends. It was so fun though, and we were able to communicate fairly freely, though not clearly.

Oh, I forgot to say: The weather here is insane. Just-broke-out-of-a-mental-institution-and-is-going-on-a-murderous-rampage insane. I sweat constantly. Everyday the temperature is something like 34 degrees, but nowhere except convenience stores is there air conditioning. My room in Fumi's house (which is HUGE) has a unit, but I'm not spending my days here in couped up in a room.
Tonight is the fireworks festival (hanabi) and I get to dress up and look like a fool in clothing called Jinbee (jeenbay).

I'm sorry I haven't updated in a while. The only internet is in Shougo-san's room and I don't want to bother him.
I will have pictures up in a day or so.
Sorry for the wait, and I hope everything is well back home.