Faculty meeting fun

Today was the first day that the whole faculty was gathered together. We started with breakfast. There was fresh fruit and cinnamon rolls. As I had eaten yogurt with homemade granola for breakfast I just had coffee. After breakfast we all gathered in one of the 3 theaters on campus for devotions and school wide messages. The devotion was inspiring and energetic. In addition to a spoken message we sang several songs. I knew two of the songs that were sung and followed along to the others as best as I could. The words to the prayers and the songs were projected on a screen on the stage. After the devotional there was a morning of speaking by the administrators. Mostly good stuff that everyone needed to hear. Before lunch a staff photo was taken. It reminded me of taking club photos in high school.

During the lunch break I came home and took time to book my flight home for Christmas. I was told that I should book a flight early because near the holidays flights out of Seoul can fill up. It took a little longer than I expected, but I am very happy to have my holiday trip booked. I will be in Florida a little over two weeks. I hope that I'll be able to make it up to Baltimore in that time, but I'll have to see who will be around.

After lunch of Bulgogi and rice there was a presentation by the school nurse. The school has a full time nurse and two EMT's on staff. They are available during the school day. We are lucky however to have a huge teaching hospital a few short minutes away on foot. The hospital has an international clinic that is very familiar with the school and takes good care of us. The school also presented us with instructions on what to do if we need medical help after the clinic is closed and they gave us a letter to assure payment that we can present to the hospital should anything go wrong with our credit cards. It is nice to know that in an emergency I will be well taken care of.

The last meeting of the day was our divisional meetings. The high school faculty came together for the first time. The other high school teachers seem great and I am very excited to get to know them. The meeting was loads better than the last two years of faculty meetings. It is nice to have a principal that can fully and efficiently articulate his thoughts.

The newbies had another shopping trip lined up at the end of today. We visited two used furniture stores and a food market that is similar to a farmer's market. In the second furniture store I found a used microwave that was about 50% less than I had been seeing. I quickly purchased it and arranged for delivery. The food market was good and after many hand gestures and a few words I came away with a small selection of fresh fruit.

This evening I dined alone in my almost presentable apartment. I whipped up some sloppy joe's, rice, and corn. It was not a meal I would serve anyone aside from my former roommates and myself. The sloppy joe's turned out very very sloppy, but very tasty. I now have enough left overs for the rest of the week.

I am happy to say that I am feeling more at home each day and my shopping list is getting shorter. The things left on the list are things I would like to have but can survive very easily without.

One week from tomorrow classes start. I have a lot of work to do between now and then so don't be surprised if these posts become shorter and fewer in number.