Changes

Life seems like one big change right now, which is a little exhilirating and a little scary at the same time. Even just sitting in my living room today, doing absolutely nothing except watching "Family Guy" and cuddling with the puppies, I realized that in just a couple of months I won't be able to ever do that again. I mean, there will be tons more "Family Guy" and puppy cuddling sessions, but they won't be in this living room, because it will no longer be our living room. Those times will be 700 miles away. I keep going back and forth between wanting to enjoy every last minute here and feeling uncomfortable being here now all seems so temporary, so unsettled. I think I liked settled. Then again, it seems every time "settled" comes around we get the urge to make a change, so perhaps I'm not as much of a "settled" person as I think.

Either way, I'm committed to eeking out every ounce of fun, relaxation, and good times that this summer can bring and have one last fantastic Indiana summer to remember (for now, as we never know what the future holds). The summer is looking a whole lot brighter after Gearry found out yesterday that instead of starting at CIS on June 18th, his new start date is July 1st (to coincide with the start of the school's fiscal year). Therefore, since today is his last day at the resort, that means three whole weeks of Gearry! It will be the most I've seen him... probably ever. We already have a list of all the things we want to do before he goes... Drive-in theatre, lots of lake & boating time, lazy days at the clubhouse cabana bar, dinner at Story Inn, etc., etc. I hope that three weeks together will make the month we'll be apart a little easier to handle. I start my summer job at camp on Monday, so I'm going to be working quite a bit these next few weeks, but it's nice to know that when I come home at the end of the day he'll actually be here.

A lot of people keep asking me what my plans are for Savannah. I am hoping, praying, and keeping my fingers crossed for a teaching or teaching assistant position and have started sending out some resumes. Like the public school system here, the Savannah-Chatham system is in dire financial trouble, with something crazy like a $35 million budget cut. That makes things a little challenging, but since it is such a big system, they are still hiring a few positions and I have applied for those. There is also a HUGE private school system (one of the largest numbers of private schools in a city that size in the U.S.) and they hire a position here and there, so I'm keeping my eyes peeled. Most hiring will likely be done in the couple of weeks (or even couple of days) leading up to the start of the school year, so I unfortunately have to be very patient. If the beginning of the school year comes and goes and I am still jobless, then I will subsitute or tutor or both, whatever I need to do to get my name out there. I would be completely fine with serving for another year as a teaching assistant, so I'm hoping that if a full-classroom job doesn't pan out, a paraprofessional or some sort of assistant job will. I just want to be in a school, doing what I love.

I'm learning more and more about the area we're going to be living in through internet research, talking to people who live there, travel forums, etc. Our neighborhood, Talahi Island, is a small island between two larger islands, Whitemarsh Island and Wilmington Island. This world of "island suburbia" is halfway between downtown Savannah and the beach. The islands are highly residential, although they do have their own restaurants, shops, etc. From where we are living on Talahi Island, we can access an 8-mile bike path that leads all the way out to Tybee Island and beach life, which is pretty cool. I should have no problem staying in shape there! We also learned that Tybee has a very strict no-dogs-on-the-beach policy, so if we want to take Bailey and Zoey for some beach strolls we'll have to do it at Hilton Head (just to the north) or one of the several beach areas to the south. We also learned a little bit more about our "duplex" we are renting for four months. Actually, it's not a duplex at all. It's an attached guest house/mother-in-law-suite of a large home on the island. So I guess technically it really is a duplex, but not in the traditional sense. The house looks really nice and we're happy to have found a place in what seems to be such a nice neighborhood.

Let's see, what else have we learned? Oh yes, I discovered today that even though it is the south and when I think of southern cooking I think of meat, meat grease, and gravy, Savannah has quite a few restaurants downtown with vegetarian options, mostly because it is home to SCAD (Savannah College of Art & Design) and you gotta cater to those hippie vegetarian art students :)

A woman who I have been communicating with via e-mail who is from Boston but owns a home in Savannah and spends as much of her time there as possible, with intentions to retire there in the next few years, has been giving me lots of wonderful insights on the culture of the place. I asked her about the attitude toward northerners who move in there and she offered this: "It is quite a cosmopolitan small city. So many 'Yankees' have moved in that a lot of the 'old south' of the place is gone. We are ALL over the place so its not a novelty being a Yankee. There are great people and there are jerks everywhere, so once you ignore the accents, we are all the same."

Alright, so if I can only get past the accents...