Maybe I am homesick.

True to myself, I broke the left heel on my brand new Prima Vera heels during training and had to rest my entire body weight on my right calf the entire day and now it's swollen. P bought some medicinal patch to stick on my leg and also massaged it, but it hurt so much I started tearing.

And then my tearing became sobbing because I was tired and stressed.

Here I have to learn everything all over again- from simple things like remembering to turn off the lights when I leave the bathroom, making sure the sink area is clean, figuring out which side of the sponge to use for which type of plates, learning train routes and memorizing incredibly long names of places like Shimokitazawa and Ikebukuro. I can't even order the food from the menu without having to trouble someone else to translate it for me, I haven't figured out where along the Odakyu line to live in and I can't get my cell phone till 2-3 weeks later.

I have been meeting new people every day, which I love doing but P is pretty much the only person here I can really talk about everything to and I hate that I have to rely on him so much. I miss my friends back home whom I could text or call up for a chat when I needed a listening ear.

Training was intensive but interesting. My batch has 11 other instructors- 7 from the US, 2 from Australia, 1 from Britain and 1 from the Phillipines. Most of them have been here for a couple of years and some had prior teaching experience, and definitely some fascinating characters.

The pace will only pick up from here on and I will have to take both a written and practical examination, as well as set up a timing for classroom observation. All within a span of one week.

Also I have decided to try a different brand of canned coffee everyday until I have found my absolute favourite. But P tells me they roll out new flavours every month so the search might never end. Ina.