I took a position in the Valley in Texas. We are very close to the Mexico border and have traveled there once, only to find out later that that may have not been a good idea. There is a lot of violence there right now because of the gangs/drug lords. I took an assignment in an outpatient clinic working with pediatrics. This is not something I have much experience with nor do I speak much Spanish. The children are 100% spanish speaking with a few of the older ones (in school) also speaking English. I am learning speed Spanish and hope that I will eventually be able to be more grammatically correct. The children are wonderful though, and can usually figure out what I am trying to say. I really enjoy working with them. Kirk and I are staying in an RV resort not too far from where I work. He is working at the resort for a few hours a week and this covers our rent and electricity and gets him out to talk with the very few people that are still here for the summer. This resort is a 55+ community for the snowbirds so it is very quiet right now. We are told that it is a totally different place come the 1st of November. The Valley gets over 150,000 winter Texans every year. My first day off work we drove to "The Island" as it's called by the locals (South Padre Island). We took the 2 hour dolphin watch boat trip and did NOT see any dolphins, however, we did see some other interesting things so it was worth it. The captain did get a little crazy driving into the waves near the jetty which almost made me wet my pants, but other than that it was a good trip. My assignment here ends October 15th and we are hoping to do #2 in Florida.
