people people everywhere but not a one can speak

its been about a week since last hi tthe gera gera internet cafe, and i figured that even though i am very busy you guys deserve a long post.

where to start... quick rundown of last week, tues,wed and thursday i was in ojt training. it went well but i nearly freaked out worrying about my first ever lesson, especially since we were being watched at all times. the lesson went amazingly well, the students here are VERY eager to learn, and they shell out crap loads of money to do so. ive never gotten a straight answer along those lines, but i believe that each 40 minute lesson is between 15 and 20 bones. in contrast, my japanese lessons will be about a dollar for two hours. (i was going to start japanese lessons today, since i dont work until 1 p.m. but today is a national holiday and tomorrow the lessons are canceled as well, so i SHOULD start next week) since training i have been assigned a branch, in western tokyo, called Meguro. The view from my branch is AMAZING! i will take a pic sometime and try to get it to everyone, but just imagine a view of the largest collection of skyscrapers in tokyo, with the tokyo tower in the center. the tokyo tower was designed after the eiffel tower, so it looks very similar, but the tokyo tower is actually a few meters taller. the people in my branch seem very nice, only two girls and they work part time, so the teacher prep area is much like a locker room at halftime.

on the drinking front... thursday night many of the new teachers that went to karaoke earlier in the week got together to go drinking in shibuya (all locations are in Tokyo or Yokohama unless otherwise noted). The party continued on into the night and included a stop at the 1000 yen all-you-can-drink place. here is a question... if you are a business owner and no one is at your club, and you want future business,what do you do when some customers come in? the answer? make their drinks incredibly strong. i mean 80% wild turkey 10% ice, 10% coke. all thisd equals mass craziness. dont worry mom, i wasnt that bad. as a matter of fact, i was out until 9:30 the next morning, not because i was partying, but because i helped another (VERY VERY VERY sick) guy home, he lived an hour north of tokyo and i live 40 south, so you do the math.

heres an observation though that I noticed during that excursion, and it also tells alot about the people of japan. on the train ride home from the guys house (which is much nicer than mine by the way, and cheaper) my other friend blair (Kiwi) and I hit rush hour train traffic. note that we travel right through the BUSIEST TRAIN STATION ON EARTH, shinjuku. even though we were mobbed and crammed into the train like sardines... no one spoke. not one japanese person was speaking. not a peep. the only talking came from blair who was still a little tipsy and kept complaing about the proximity of a mans rear to his privates. i just laughed. the observation, while written in books but must be experienced to believe, is that japanese people avoid confrontation at all costs. the people on the train were going to work, it is not a social time, it's prepare your mind for work time. these people are amazing, Im going to enjoy these daily observations of the japanese people.

friday i slept it off... saturday, sunday and today i worked.

on the food front... i tried what i now believe to be seasoned rubber bands this morning. one of my coworkers takes the same train to work, and this morning he offered me a common japanese convenience store finger food... seasoned dried squid tentacles.... hmmm.... hmmmm.... i think im still chewing some right now. gross. last night however i ate something that seemed just weird but probably very common: seasoned fried mini crab. i have a great picture. imagine a crab, about the size of a silver dollar that you just pop into your mouth and eat whole, shell and all. strange but surprisingly good. (also a convenience store finger foood)

to answer your questions... i dont know about the fiber in sushi... believe it or not i havent had it yet, waiting for a bigger meal, since it is so pricey. as for japanese milk, they have milk here, but it tastes slight ly different, since i had been drinking soy milk at home, i really cant tell how differnt this is from US milk. and the only cheese that i have seen here is in my frig... and it smells like wasabi, gross.

well folks, my time is about up. on my day s off this week i am going to go venture around tokyo and yokohama, seeing the sights on my own, and getting cultured. enjoy the reading, and keep sending short message to my phone, it makes my day more enjoyable.

scott sensei