First day for teachers

It's back to the teaching world again. I'm starting my 19th year of teaching...gee that makes me sound and feel kinda old. Today was the first day back for teachers at my school here in Hungary, and we started with an hour-long staff meeting about 3/4 of which I actually understood! Then it was on to the English Dept. meeting, which was conducted in Hungarian, so it was good practice for me. I could have missed it...I had permission to leave, but stayed til 11:30, and then went home. Tomorrow, I have to be at a meeting at 10:30. Then the next one I'm required to show up for is Friday morning, 8:00. For those of you who are teachers in the U.S., I know I'm making you a bit jealous; but, here's the catch: I won't even know my class schedule til Friday, and classes begin on Tuesday...so much for early preparation. Actually I already KNOW my classes...except for one 9th grade group, so I could start planning now. Many old faces are gone due to retirement or attrition, some new faces too. I now fall into the category of being "one of the veterans" here...wild. AND, the biggest milestone is that starting on Tuesday, I will have taught overseas more years than I taught in the U.S. Pretty cool!