Day 137 - Sunday, August 3, 2008

Day 137 - Germany Chapter 7

OK!!! So today is the BIG day. When mi ago come pon TV inna Germany ...RAYYY!!!! lol ... I only got like 1hr and 30 mins sleep then had to wake up and get ready, because I was packing even at 4:30 am this morning. When I got up I was sooo tired. I went on the tram then to the Congress Center Leipzig and met up with the Mass Choir people and the other rappers... The guys were saying that I look too neat to be a rapper, and that I should fix my outfit accordingly... So I unbuttoned my yellow shirt and made my white undershirt be in full view. A lady from Puerto Rico then gave me her white hat and I had my big board cross pendant around my neck... The guys then said "much better" :) ... instantly just by our appearance, we became Celebrity Baptist Rappers :) and many people wanted to take pictures of and with us.

So after a bunch of people asking for our email addresses and taking our photos, we then sat and watch the opening ceremony. The celebration went live on TV in Leipzig at 9:30 or 10 am I think. We then watched the other performers including a performance from the Jamaican group. The caption on the screen actually said Bethel Baptist Jamaica but there were actually a couple a persons on it who were not from Bethel Baptist. 

They sang a song by Jr Tucker, "Sold out" ... It was well done ... Magnifico !!!! Soon after that, it was time for the mass choir to perform. Suddenly, my heart started to pound furiously and my belly, stomach and throat started to feel funny. This will be my biggest performance ever, even though it's not solo but still. This again will be in front of approximately 6000 people live, plus another couple thousand people who live in Leipzig will be seeing us on their Television screens.

So we all went up and sang to the glory of God and walla it went well. I am of course the guy in the bright yellow shirt and the loud white hat. A video of the performance is at the end of this blog and also at http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=HKtPGd1cNo0 ... My solo piece comes in at 2:57 ... my name appears on the screen at 3:06 and my second little rap piece appears at 4:57 that's if you only want to see me and not listen to all of it :) :) :) .. Yes so our performance was exciting and it was very well done, so say many many people.

After the performance, many of us present, ran around the hall making a lot of noise and praising God. After this celebration, we then all hurried to catch the tram back to the hotel because the other Jamaicans had to catch a bus to go to another part of Germany, then head to France and Belgium, while I had to go to the hotel to meet my new couch surfing friends.

I have to go back in time a bit, because I never told you that I had to couch surf for people in Leipzig as well. That's because I didn't want to stay one more night in that hotel. While I was searching for the Leipzig people... About 10 persons offered me their couch. I now had to shortlist and make a choice... You know already that I am scared of getting lost, so anybody who started giving directions to where they live, I sort of put an X beside their names. I eventually went down to 4 names even while I was still in Leipzig. Out of this 4 ... 2 said they would pick me up ... out of that 2, one said they won't be around until August 2...I told this person not to worry... So I made sure to tell the others that "Hey I don't think I can stay by your place BUTTTT!!! We can still meet and chat... 3 of them all agreed to this...

So continuing...After I got to the hotel, I met X, a couch surfer, and we walked around a bit, I introduced her to a couple of the Jamaicans who still can't believe this couch surfing thing works .. LOL Well I too can't believe but hey it works and works well... So yes X showed me around Leipzig and we chatted. Sometimes I get the feeling that these Germans are on steroids or something. Most of them are very tall and big-boned. When you ask them age, you won't believe.. Anyway, X said she saw me on the Leipzig TV, HEY MI A SUPER STAR INNUH .. LOL a Joke!! Anyway after walking around with X for about 45 mins, another couch surfer, XX came to meet me at the hotel. So I walked around with them both and we ate and chatted. We saw some guys playing some classical music on the roadside, and if you didn't know, I love classical music!! (A video of this is also below). We started to talk about culture shock (of course you know me being in Japan). 

But X said she experienced something wayyyy more dramatic and extreme in Nigeria, than what I am experiencing in Japan. She said she was driving through some village place when the people there thought she and her friends were GHOSTS, because they never knew White people existed. She said at one stage, a tribe guy jumped in front of their vehicle and started cursing and working some weird voodo business to try to get rid of the so called "GHOSTS"... That's just Crazy... She also said the police in Nigeria started to throw plastic bottles at them.. yes the "POLICE" ... 

Then after her traumatic experience, she said that, the part of Nigeria where she went was on some list in Germany saying "If you go to this place, don't even ask us for help, you are on your own".... Mi seh no star.... The 2 girls sort of started to cuss me off saying that I should not have applied to so many people and tell them all yes I am willing to stay by their place. (Blow wow di girl dem a fight ova me.. lol..joke joke).. HOWEVER my defense was that, I wouldn't be sure who would back out at the last moment or not, so I sort of waited a while before telling them not to bother.

After this meeting and chatting, my final couch surfer friend arrived at the hotel, O... She came with her boyfriend who drove me to the place where I would sleep for the nght. The house was sort of old, well not sort of it was old. So she introduced me to her roommate who spoke English, German, French and a little Russian I think. She is currently doing her Masters in clinical psychology. She, had piercings all over her face like someone I would only see on TV. She was really cool though. They then brought me to have a little snack at a place nearby, where we met up with the psychology girl's boyfriend. 

He also had many a piercings everywhere and looked like a rock star. The girl whose house I stayed at had a dog and a cat that actually listens to commands when you speak. They said that they trained the animals themselves. I saw at one point when she said something and the cat came running. I also see where they told the dog many a things in German and he responded favourably to them. Sugoii ne!!! ... Any way, she then told me where the necessary stuff were etc... I then went straight to bed..