Yesterday was Saturday and my first day here. I luckily slept through the night since I chose not to sleep much on the plane. I think I was able to bypass the jetlag for the most part. In the morning a woman from the school, Victoria, brought us bagels and cream cheese. They were amazing, just like Big Apple Bagel! After breakfast we stopped at the school. It is about a five minute walk from the apartment and seems really nice. I even got to see my classroom. It seems like I will have all the supplies I will need and the room was really cute. I have the whale class. They are the youngest in the whole school. 3-4 years old. I will be there first foreign teacher. It is exciting to think that I will finally have my own class for an entire year. It is even more exciting to think that it is in another country!

After stopping at the school we went shopping for groceries and a handle for the kitchen sink. First we went to a place called B and Q for the handle, it was basically a cross between Menards and Bed Bath and Beyond. After that we went to the grocery store which was really a combination of stores, the grocery store was on the first level and the bottom level was like Wal-Mart, it had pillows, bikes, small appliances, clothes, etc. There was also a pet shop and pharmacy nearby. The pet shop seemed really clean compared to the ones in China. They had rabbits, turtles, hamsters, iguanas, and a snake. I was happy to see that all of the animals were well taken care of. I know what everyone who knows me is thinking and no…I did not buy anything, but I am thinking about a turtle :)

The grocery store had everything you could want including peanut butter, spaghetti sauce, pasta, Oreo cookies, milk, cheese, and yogurt. They even had a selection of Kraft salad dressing as well as mayo, Hunt’s ketchup, and barbecue sauce. There isn’t much I won’t be able to buy here. There were also a lot of people standing around with samples. I suppose it is a good way find out what you like. There was even a girl handing out Heineken Beer. It was sort of bizarre. After the sample of beer, I tried tomato juice, which was okay but needed salt, and yogurt, which was really good. We also bought fresh fruit smoothies and I bought a stick of three already cooked fish balls, which were not good at all.

After all the shopping, we went home and had dinner across the street and a really beautiful vegetarian restaurant. It had kind of a Door County charm and they played soft classical music. It was nice and fairly inexpensive. A great way to end the evening.