I'M IN MOBILE!!!!!!!

Wow. This is pretty much what the entire summer has been about. I'm finally getting settled in to my new home here in Mobile. I spent a great week at home - my family took its annual trip to Aransas Pass and spent time on the beach in Texas, and then we went to an Astros' game on Tuesday (don't ask about the outcome). After the game, we stayed the night in a hotel in Houston. Wednesday morning, I got up and headed for Mobile; the rest of the fam headed back to Castroville.

I arrived at about 4pm yesterday evening. My housemates helped unload my car, and after I had time to put about 2 things away, it was time to head out the the Notre Dame Alumni Club of Mobile's send-off party. The Mobile Club informed us that they buy our groceries once a month and invite us to all their events. Awesome. Apparently (as we learned today), the different schools that we teach at also take turns giving us groceries. It just happened to be my school today that dropped food off. So, our kitchen is currently bursting with food. I am happy to report that Southern Hospitality is very real.

We had orientation meetings today, which were pretty standard. We covered who people in the central (Diocesan) education offices are, we covered "good touch/bad touch," and we got to know the other teachers new to the Archdiocese of Mobile. After those meetings, I headed over to my school. I got to meet my principal, Sister Nancy, who is apparently 82 years old (although I don't think she seemed any older than 60). My school has newly-polished, beautiful wooden floors, a new paint job inside, ridiculously high ceilings, and large windows in the classrooms. All this makes for a very pretty, very echo-y classroom with lots of space to decorate. I'm planning to start sorting through my supply closet (which has books, school supplies, and posters) tomorrow (Friday) to see what I have and what I still need.

I will keep you posted on my progress in settling in in both the convent and the classroom. I will try to find a way to post pictures of both somewhere. In the meantime, know that our wireless internet is not working in the convent. That means that seven of us are sharing one desktop. I will have intermittent internet access for the foreseeable future.