School, Shopping, and Chinese Food

Well, life continues to go well here in Taejon.  I am becoming more familiar with the city.  I have made a few more trips to new downtown and have had the chance to walk around the area around the school a bit more.  I now know how to say hello and thank you with confidence in Korean, but I am still hesitant to say anything else.  Throughout the first semester we will have about 15 hours of Korean class after school.  School starts on Monday--1 week from today! Ahh!--so this week will be spent preparing.  It's kinda nice, we are on a ten-day schedule and all of the students have 10 classes.  I teach 6 classes and have 4 planning periods.  Much of the planning period will be spent with the other world language teachers so it's not like I have 3 hours off in the middle of the day, however, it's not going to be as crazy as in the U.S. where there is hardly time to take a breath.  I will teach 2 6th grade classes, 2 7th/8th grade classes, and 1 8th grade class (for more advanced students).  Because that doesn't give me a full schedule, I will also be teaching 1 section of ESL Bible class.  I am a little nervous trying to teach Bible to ESL students since Biblical language confuses most native speakers, but the curriculum has already been written for me and I just have to teach it.  I'm sure I can handle it.  Besides meetings about school policies and my students, we also have been getting off campus.  Yesterday we ate at Mr. Wongs, a very popular Chinese restaurant chain here.  The Chinese food here is different than in the U.S., but I liked it better than Korean food.  I also think I am getting better with chopsticks even though I still have to concentrate a lot during meals.  Today we went shopping at Costco.  It was so nice to be able to read the labels!  I didn't buy too much, but when our meals are no longer provided, I will be back there to buy cereal and mango juice.  Yum!  Yesterday and today were the first days I really felt worn out.  I'm trying really hard not to take a nap, but I am just so sleepy!  I must have been running on adrenaline the first few days and now jet lag is starting to hit.  Last night some of the new staff got together and played volleyball.  Tonight the returning staff arrive and we are having a cookout/social to meet each other.  I am looking forward to it.  I'm sure they are wonderful people because everyone I've met so far has been incredibly supportive and caring!