-Thursday, October 26th- 2:20AM
-I meant to blog the other day, but I went to sleep when I finally got home....the last couple of days have been crazy hectic, compared to my last several months of taking it easy....I've had to get used to a steady schedule of work again. Well, the first day went well even though it seemed like information overload. By Tuesday I was able to teach a lesson or two alone....there was someone observing me though.....and last night, I taught 4 lessons alone....it was nerve racking but went very well....each class is supposed to last 40 minutes and there are predetermined elements that should be addressed in each lesson...like I said, nerve racking, but the anxiety of it all has passed and I feel a lot more comfortable with doing this now.

-So, why am I writing this late, or should I say, this early in the morning? Well, my classmates, one of the instructors at the training branch, and I went to sing Karaoke. Now this was unlike any Karaoke that I've ever seen. You pay your money for a couple of hours and then you get a room with this gigantic big screen TV, and couches and you have at it.....it was sooooo much fun. I know I'll do it again....luckily, I was able to catch the last train coming back to Chigasaki....If you miss the last train, then you're basically out of gas, because a cab would be over $100 US dollars...which is ridiculous.

-So, I'm on the platform waiting for my train and I see another brotha....so I give the nod to acknowledge and let him know that hey I have to acknowledge you because there's not many of us here....so we talk and I find out he lives in Chigasaki too....what a coincidence? He's Nigerian, so I mentioned to him how my cousin travels to Sierra Leone on the regular basis because of his mining diamond business.....so we talked and went to a bar...I only had gingerale and water, I promise....anyway, it was good conversation....he gave me some tips on how to save money, so I will utilize them in the future....Tomorrow, or rather today, I have off so I'm sleeping in and later I'll take my trial run to my teaching home branch....

-Sunday, October 22nd
-I had to get some rest today because every evening around 5:30-6pm, I get extremely tired, and so I knew that had to still be jetlag...so I forced myself to sleep in so I could be well rested for my 1st day on the job...I did go out today though....Around 4:15pm I left home to go to Ikebukuro...I hope I'm spelling it right. Anyway, it's in the greater Tokyo area, but I had to get off in Tokyo to take another train for aroun 25minutes to get there. I went to church. It was interesting in Japanese and English...very modern. It was an International Church. I won't say the name because I didn't feel the most welcomed....Don't get me wrong, everyone was cordial, during the service there was a meet and greet, but after it was over with, everyone had their folks to talk to....now, it may just be my own issue or my own insecurities...I liked how they had a game show of Bible Trivia in the begining...that was very engaging. There were about 25 people in total there....white, asian, indian or pakistanian, and of course black (me)...

-Speaking of, I did meet someone of African descent yesterday....His name is Kirby. My roomates introduced me to him. He's from NY, and he's Jamaican. He has a story for everything...all good though....we were laughing yesterday because he asked me why I decided to do this, and amongst the obvious (the experience), I said because it would look fabulous on my resume, and he was like, "Great minds think alike."

-I saw another black guy in Tokyo....we just nodded to each other, but it was a nod that said, "Yeah, we're here too."

-I need to make a correction from my last blog...I think I said the restaurant was named Okuru, but it was actually Otoya, or Otoyo....anyway, it was gooooooooood.

-Well, I'm going to sleep now, so I'll write tommorow about my 1st day....