God bless all administrators out there.
It is a lot of WORK.
Especially when your students are boarders and you never send them home.
Actually I think this job is probably a lot like being a mom. You are never NOT needed. By someone. A student, a teacher, a counselor, another administrator, a parent. All. day. long.
It has been a busy past week, but Im pretty sure it is only possible for things to slow down from here.
After a week of prep, they have arrived...
...all 153 of them....from 27 different countries.
And because this is me...
...it seems that all day long, all I hear is, "Um..Miss..." followed by the 899th question of the day.
Which I cant fault them for. Many of them speak very little English, and are trying to find their way around our dorms, class schedule, sports schedule, rules, buses to downtown, etc, etc.
So I smile, listen, and try to solve the 899th problem.
This is my office...
And I am in charge of all things student life - rules/discipline, dorm life, dress code, parent communication, sign-out to go off campus, and any other minute detail that might affect a students life (okay, I havent been able to find the apostrophe on my office keyboard, so there will be no apostrophes this summer...) or anything else the director decides he needs help with.
Despite the long days, I am learning a ton. Most notably, I am working through my fear of public speaking. Ever since I was about 22, I get irrationally nervous speaking in front of people, even a medium size group of colleagues. Here I have been forced to speak in front of 200 students and staff members, so I have to figure it out! Ive been practicing a lot, and working through mental tricks, so its been a good experience.
Today is the first real day of classes and sports, and already it has calmed down a bit, as the kids are learning the routines. I have high hopes that Ill soon be able to go for a run, pick up my laundry from 4 buildings down, answer emails, and do other such life tasks.
Sadly I dont have any juicy stories yet. Its too early. Aside from making girls change out of their completely see-through shirts, and telling boys that its in fact not okay to order pizza at 11:00 at night after lights out...its been fairly calm.
Hope all is well in America!
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