The three most common questions my students ask me are: why did you move here, are you homesick, and were your friends and family surprised when you told them you were moving? To definitively answer: 1) why not? Odessa's a beautiful and homey-feeling city, 2) Not yet, but I wouldn't mind some Mexican food and 3) Not really, they were mostly just embarrassed that they had to consult a map.
I've been teaching here in Odessa since the fall, and couldn't feel luckier to have been assigned here. I've only ever lived in coastal cities (Los Angeles and San Diego, California as well as Helsinki, Finland). Hopefully I can keep moving without getting landlocked.
