The Slow South

Life in the south is going to take me awhile to fully adjust too. You definitely cannot be in a hurry here...It is called the Big Easy for a reason! Life is relaxed and everyone goes at there own pace. For now it has been fine because I haven't had too busy of a schedule, but it might be frustrating when I am trying to get things done.

We just started orientation this week. So far, we have just gotten some basic information and they assured us that we would have jobs before the first day of school. I sure hope that I get my placement before that so I have some time to plan and prepare! We have sessions more specific to our placement, so it will be nice to just concentrate on lower elementary objectives. It would be so much more productive if I actually had a job though! They say the ball is rolling, but I am sure it is so complicated with all these new schools opening.

We got some very interesting statistics yesterday:
Only 1 in 10 students from low-income communities will go to college
100% of students in the Recovery School District (RSD) receive free and reduced lunch - that means ALL of my kids!
1 in 3 adults in this community are illiterate
Out of 128 schools pre-Katrina only 54 have re-opened and 12 more are slated to open this fall
100% of the schools in Orleans Parish were damaged or completely ruined by the storm

This is such a time of building for the education systems in the city. These schools were the worst in the country before the storm, so not only is it our mission to rebuild and reopen the schools, but to make them better and more successful.

On a different note our house is starting to feel more like home bit by bit. First step, we got out water running!!! Now we need beds and other furniture. Here are some pictures of our place: