Hey y'all! This is the final part of my PCS?! What the What?! Series. If you haven't seen the first 5 parts, check 'em out here: PART 1, PART 2, PART 3, PART 4 & PART 5
This final portion is about getting to know your new location. I touched on it a little bit on Part 4 but I want you to know something ...
YOUR NEW LOCATION IS WHAT YOU MAKE OF IT.
No. Seriously.
You could be stationed to the middle of no where and STILL have a blast, as long as you set out to make the best of this move.
I talked about all the stress, complained about all the issues, expressed my frustration on pretty much everything about this first PCS for us. But you know what?
I am ready for a new location for my family.
I want them to experience this new culture out here and to enjoy themselves.
Even if this move was a total inconvenience for ALL OF US.
First things first, find the local newspaper.
You know, that black and white paper looking thing that folds out to a ginormous amount of information?! I mean, hello. I know the print media is slowly slipping away, but the best way to find out about your new location is their local newspaper.
Before we left, I began to check out all sorts of information about El Paso. The newspaper talks about crime rate, government climate, the ACTUAL weather climate, organizations that are involved with the city and the most important thing for me, EVENTS.
I'm a busy bee. I mean, if you couldn't tell by this entire blog ... I like to stay busy.
Number one on my list is knowing what there is to do around town. Some might say learning about the Post is the first thing to do ... but face it, the military isn't number one in my book.
GASP.
I know right?! I certainly just said that! ha!
The local community is most important when it comes to my family enjoying themselves.
I Googled pretty much everything there was to do and see in El Paso. I asked in local Facebook groups where to hang out, eat, babysitters, ect.
I also was lucky enough to know two people currently living here in El Paso; a high school acquaintance and a prior military friend. Both my husband and I reached out to them and asked about dentists, daycares, places to live, things to do, ect.
Word of mouth is the BEST way to find out anything.
When my husband and I arrived here, we found out the city has a damn app! I mean, when I heard that I KNEW this city was going to be awesome. The App is full of information on events and what not going on in the city and around in nearby towns. We also hit up Facebook events to find out what people did in their spare time. Through those Facebook event finds, we also talked to people at events and found out even more to do. When I finally found myself a hairstylist here, he told me about all sorts of things to do here since he was born and raised here.
Like I said, word of mouth is the best way to figure out things to do.
I am a very community oriented person, so I made sure to stop by the chamber of commerce, the visitor center, the libraries, Fort Bliss MWR, and even attended the "new comers" brief on post. I mean shit, if they're going to offer these things, you might as well go right?!
We've found out about museums, baseball games, concerts, FREE movies and events, festivals, running races, water parks, playgrounds, murals, trail hikes, ghost tours, arts shows.... name it we've found out and continue to find out more.
Just this past weekend, we found out about how awesome this place becomes in October due to Halloween and Day of the Dead events. I mean, hello?! If we hadn't stopped to check out a local art gallery I wouldn't have found out about the paranormal society here and the amazing last Thursday artist showcases!
HELLO?!
If you are going to sit and mope about having to move and being in a place where people call it "Hell Paso." Of course you're going to hate it! You make it what it is. If you think it sucks, it's going to suck.
Shit, we made Fayetteville fun and exciting. We can make any town or city exciting.
Get out there and explore y'all.
I mean it. You are going to hate life if you stay cooped up inside your house doing nothing.
So put your adult panties/boxers on and get out there!
(unless you free ball it ... then just make sure you're wearing pants that don't have holes in them)
Good luck!
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