How y'all doin'?

Well we've arrived in location and settled into our temporary digs - comfy enough but without anything less than a car ride away. The jet lag has finally subsided and apart from a few lurgies we seem to be ok. 

Checking out the grounds

We've met a few of the other families here and it seems like they've settled in well with nice homes and kids in local schools and the like. I think it will take time ... Isabella's worried about her new school and making friends, which we expected but with other antipodeans living locally, she'll always have those.

Faith is certainly front and centre down here and I'm not sure how long we'll go before being asked the ol' classic "where do you worship?" I've tried to prep Isabella about the prospect of being served a healthy dose of southern style religion, but it's only serving to make her anxious. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

The accent is certainly a drawl, and it sometimes takes a while to get a handle on what's being said. Almost every transaction down here starts with "how y'all doin'?", which is mighty friendly, though I did get a fist waved at me the other day by a "gentleman" in a "truck", during my first foray into driving on the right side of the road . (I may have contributed to his consternation by veering slightly into the left lane in a car park.)

I was shown around the local Krogers supermarket by another Aussie and pointed in the direction of a few items, such as unsweetened bread, butter, cereals, etc. So far, we've been surviving on pasta and rice. I'm not keen to set up a comprehensive pantry until we're properly settled. The kids were taken by the trolleys.

Apart from security guards in banks, we've not spotted too many gun-slingers, though one inspiring bumper sticker stated:

"Kids who hunt and fish
Don't steal and deal"

Mm, interesting!