"Y'all fixin' to?"

Whew. It's been a while since I've posted. I JUST got internet, like, two days ago. I'll do a quick update.

I'm living in Fort Smith, AR. I have met some really wonderful people, and I'm enjoying it so far. It's hot, but that's what I wanted. I found a cute little duplex that's been completely redone and I love it. The only thing I'm not too impressed with is my neighbor--who smokes and has a dog that never stops barking (in a non-smoking/no pets apartment. We'll see what happens with that. I'm just a little annoyed with coming home and having my house smell like smoke, especially when it's not supposed to.

The school I'm at is great so far. Almost everyone is super nice and welcoming. They are really involved with the kids and are open to me trying whatever I want--which is wonderful! My school is 97% Free or Reduced Lunch, and a lot of my students' parents don't speak English. My Multicultural class is very much coming in handy! The district I work in is pretty big--around 17,000 students. Arkansas puts a lot of money into their education system, and you can tell when you really get involved in the schools. I definitely feel like I'm in the right place right now. As for getting here...

I had an almost uneventful trip down. I had my car loaded up with my car topper equally loaded on top. It was strapped down and ready to go--or so I thought. It kept making weird noises, so I'd pull over and check it. Then, somewhere before Green Bay, WI, I hear *plunk*. It was a very uneventful sound, but one that caught my ear. I happened to look in my rear-view mirror and I see my huge car-topper barreling through the air on the highway. Luckily, the only vehicle behind me was far enough back that they could swerve and miss it (it was an RV, and hopefully nothing in there went flying when they had to deke my topper).  Anywho, I threw 'er in reverse and proceeded to drag my topper to the side of the road. This thing was HEAVY. Thankfully, about five minutes later, a man in a van with his two teenage sons passed. They stopped and tried to figure out how to fix my topper--that wasn't happening. They then got it back on top of my car, which was a struggle. He pointed me to the nearest gas station and said that I should get some ratchet straps.

I get to the gas station... and there are no ratchet straps. I go to the gas station across the street... and there are no ratchet straps. I ask a man who has a fishing boat behind his truck--he seemed like he was from around there--where I could get ratchet straps. He said that there was a grain and feed store in the town we were by about three miles away. I thanked him and headed on my way. I get to the grain and feed store and walk in. There's a young teenage girl sitting there with three cats--I really don't like cats. I'm immediately swarmed. I tell her what I need and she goes in the back to get her mum. Her mum comes out and points me in the direction of the ratchet straps...ONE LEFT. I grabbed it like it was the last item on sale on Black Friday. Then, I had to swallow my pride and ask if anyone could help me put it on. Luckily, her husband had just gotten to work and a farmer who was buying feed had just pulled up. The two men ratched it down assured me that I could take flight before that thing would come off again... and they were right. I made it!

The only other thing that happened was my GPS failing me in St. Louis. The exit I happened to take was Stadium Dr., which happened to go DIRECTLY to the Cardinals' Stadium, on an evening where there HAPPENED to be a game about to start. Needless to say, the detour tacked a bit of time onto my trip.

That's about all that's exciting that has happened so far. My birthday was very fun. We went to the land and swam and lit fireworks and it was good :).

I'll leave you with a somewhat funny story. There a young girl at my school who is a bit rough. Very sweet, but a bit rough. Around thirty or so different languages are spoken in my district, so I never really know what to expect. This is how the exchange went. Keep in mind that she is seeing me for articulation difficulty, so pronunciation was a bit skewed:

Girl (G): Bonjourmesamies.
Me (M): What?
Girl (G): Bonjourmesamies. That means, "Hello, how are you?"
Me (M): OH! Bonjour, mes amies! Yes, that means, "Hello, my friends" in French! I kind of speak French!
G: No, it doesn't. It means, "Hello, how are you".
M: Oh, okay.
*We continue to work on articulation*
M: Say, "ra".
G: (In a throaty voice), RRRAAAAA. That's "r" in French.
M: Oh. I see. Say "the".
G: (Again in a throaty voice), TTTTHHHEEEUUUUGGGH. That's "the" in French.
NO. IT'S NOT.
M: Fascinating.

She continued to do this for the duration of our session. Funny thing in case you didn't know: apparently every word in French is just the English word said in a different accent. WHO KNEW?!

I love kids. They are fantastic and make me happy.

Oh! I went and saw Merle Haggard on Friday at the Choctaw Nation Labor Day Festival. It was fun :).

A few of the teachers at my school have made it their mission to get me saying "y'all" and "fixin' to". I've come close a few times, but haven't actually done it. We'll see how long I can hold out!

I guess that's all for now. I'll try to update more seeing as I have internet.
Love y'all ;) !