Our Trip to Virginia

The trip was a success! We got to Richmond around 11pm Saturday and found our hotel in the dark. It wasn't the best place to stay but it was cheap (for good reason too!). Corey came down with two of his friends from Northern Virginia. They took us on a tour of some of the complexes and downtown Richmond and had our first experience of CiCi's Pizza (an all-you-can-eat pizza, pasta, and salad buffet). It was yummy!The rest of the time in Richmond was devoted to finding an apartment, getting more information on teaching positions in the area, and visiting VCU campus to ask some financial aid questions. We will be living in the Legacy at Mayland apartments. They are being renovated right now and we will be the first to live in the apartment. It has hardwood floors, all new appliances, a balcony, den, and the area is awesome. Matt was mostly concerned with the area and the feel of the complex since I'm the one going to spend the most time there. Everytime we drove by there were kids outside playing baseball or riding bikes. There are a lot of other dental students living in the complex so I can hang out with the other dental school widows.
I had an interview with Richmond City public schools. The interview went really well and she sent me to a school that same day to interview with a principal for a preschool position. The preschools are part of the public school system in Richmond so the teachers are on the same pay scale as all other teachers. The interview went really good but she didn't say if I got the position or not. The principal said she would get back with the district lady and she would call me. My class would be 98% black, so different from here!
I also got the ball rolling with the other two districts in the area, filled out the applications, showed them my test scores, sent my placement file. One of the districts said they usually don't hire the bulk of their teachers until June and July so I might not have to fly out again.
We got everything done by Tuesday so on Wednesday we decided to go to a botanical garden. It was amazing! Matt was loving it. We were getting ideas for our future gardens. We really liked the idea of the "sunken garden" with the reflection pool. They also had a children's garden (good fieldtrip idea). The climate in Virginia is so different. Going down the freeway was wall-to-wall trees. We never really knew which way was north. We had a good time and now we are more excited for our new adventure to begin!