sweet Fudge - we welcome everyone here (even Brits just being nosey who have no intention of moving this way!)
You can usually find good cheese, but you want to find a deli. some supermarkets have decent (ok, rather than GOOD) cheese in their deli section. I'm surprised where you are that you don't have some international shops.
Blackcurrants - I teach 8th Grade. It's part time, but 70%, so still feels like a proper job.
In the UK I taught secondary school. Here I'm in a small private school, and it's so much easier (I did FT for 4 months as mat cover last year) than teaching in the UK. Even state school teachers get significantly more time off for planning, less meetings, much longer holidays, and less targets and grading achievements.
Having said that, if you care at all about the children you work with, it's a never ending job.
I used to do a lot of the in-class training with student teachers in the UK. The ones who coped best were (generally) those who'd worked with kids before, and/or parents. They just got that there would never be an end to the 'to do' list, much like parenting, and coped with that aspect of the job. For me, that's the hardest part, that emotionally it's impossible to switch off at times. Recently we took 8th Grade on retreat. I loved it, but was completely exhausted - like new born child exhausted - even though I didn't do any of the physical activities (I had a kid with mobility issues, and I have a big wussy fear of heights). All of us that slept there agreed - you just sleep with one ear open when you're with kids 24/7.
Personally, I think you have to really love being around kids, as well as the subject you teach, as they are both important to doing the job well. I'm afraid that I'm not very tolerant of half-hearted teachers.
Fudge - it's Jaffa Cakes we miss the most, but Kroger's imitation just about keeps us sane.