Reporting from the Marriott...

No exciting photos today, I'm afraid. I have a pending post regarding Lexington-style barbeque that involves some tasty food photography, but we have no internet in our rooms here, so we have to come down to the lobby and the camera's in my room and my feet hurt...so, that will have to wait.

But a brief update! A) I'm 25 today. And I think I'm making my peace with the quarter-century mark, slowly but surely. B) I'm here in Charlotte for Day 2 of Teach for America induction. "Induction" sounds a little like we're shaving heads and passing out saffron robes, but it's really just orientation: to the city, to the school district, and some overview training on TFA's core values. Today was mostly spent at a meet and greet (i.e. short interviews) with principals. Right now there are three high schools hiring Social Studies teachers, so I met with all three. We all get jobs regardless, but I think the schools can express their preferences better if they've met us. The school district here seems to have a really great relationship with TFA, and the principals all seemed to want us, but they also asked a lot of questions about behavior management, working with at-risk populations, and being a new member of a team of veterans who already had a system in place (read: are you going to rock the boat too much?) It was nice though to actually meet real people who lead real schools with real student - it makes it easier to imagine this job as an actual job that exists in the real world, instead of a nebulous sometime-down-the-road kind of thing.

Tomorrow's going to be employee paperwork with CMS (the school district), signing up with UNCC for the masters program, and then some kind of cookout event at night. Then Thursday is the last day here before heading down to the Whiting's lake house on Friday on my way to Mississippi! And then on to Anjana's! It's been really great to catch up with so many friends the past month...I got to see Kristen this past weekend for the first time since we graduated!! And Taylor Kitz! And Alyssa! And Guts! And Nelson! And Mitchell! And Z! And Shan! With an appearance by Brian Locco! It's kind of fantastic having so many of my friends within driving distance. I miss Chicago a lot, but the east coast is starting to feel like home again.