New year, new location.

Why not return to public epistolary form with the following:

Hastings is a town on the south coast of England, populated (it seems) largely by old people.  Now, this is based on a small sample size of walking a corridor from the northern outpost I live in (more on this later) to the downtown area....but I feel I can say with confidence that the aged are holding sway. Now, perhaps the young people are all hiding inside next to TVs or some such...I suppose I'll know more once school is in full swing.

I'm here with a job to teach the subject of English to a bunch of English boys; that sounds a bit silly, but there it is.  The school clearly needed somebody to fill a space for them, so why not me?  At least the hiring process was slightly more vigorous than that job in the china.

My house is expensive, populated by expats, and close to the school.  I've been learning about sundry additional expenses above and beyond rent, all of which are depressing and largely unavoidable.  I foresee at least a couple months of serious belt-tightening in my immediate future, which makes me wish I'd had more turkey these last weeks - alas.  The only bit of positive financial news I've received today is there is apparently a gym at my school that is free for teachers to use - if I have the energy to do so.

The other teachers speak dauntingly of how busy they are when things are in session, which I take in with a certain weary forbearance... it's been too long since I've been at work.  Well, it all starts tomorrow.  Cheeri..oh.