Orientation Week

My adventure in service officially began on August 1. Tania, Kirsten and Carrie arrived and we got settled in - sort of. Instead of being able to move in to the house a couple of weeks before Tania, Kirsten and Carrie arrived we got to move in a couple of days. And since there wasn’t a unit last year we had a new house and a lot of things were in storage with various people. I had my own orientation the week before the girls arrived and thought I’d be back Sunday afternoon to help get things a little settled before everyone else moved in. Nope - my hour layover in Dallas turned into a 24 hour layover because of weather. So I can’t help move the house stuff, I can’t get myself settled, no one’s really sure who has what in storage, what we might still need and I’m still not sure what I’m supposed to be doing. Stressful week to say the least!

We were able to get settled little by little the first week - we got furniture, beds and food - the important things. The support committee brought us dinner for the first week. It was nice not to have to worry about that while trying to learn everything else. We rearranged the living room at least 3 times - every time we got something new and had to fit it in. We learned where the library was - very important for Tania who reads 5 books a week. I thought I was a bookworm. We found out where the grocery store and thrift stores were. We visited Old Town for the Salsa Fiesta. And Carrie & Kirsten tried to make cookies without really following the recipe. I learned that chocolate chip cookies with powdered sugar substituted for granular sugar still taste pretty good - no matter what they look like.

All-in-all it’s been a pretty great first month. We get along, we have fun. I’m not sure if I taught them everything I was supposed to during Orientation Week but I think we’re getting it all figured out together.

peace