I live a blessed life. Truly. One of the blessings in my life is the fact that each day when I get up and go to work, I get to LIVE my life’s mission. Yes, super cheesy, but I do in fact have a vision statement for my life- Do good work with good people for good people. So simple, yet, so complex. The bottom line here though is that being an elementary school principal is awesome, exhausting, challenging, rewarding, sometimes tedious (I HATE reports), exciting. There are moments that are bittersweet, and days when I walk away feeling like I conquered the world. There are also days when I walk away with my head hanging. All said and done, I love what I do, the people I do it with, and especially the little people I do it for.
Those of you that are public educators, or that love a public educator know that we are NOT in it for the fame and fortune. Some of the best job perks include gift cards for coffee, candles, hand drawn cards and pictures. I am blessed because one of the perks of my particular job is chaperoning my school Bi-annual International Cultural Exchange trip to Austria.
This is no small undertaking. We fundraise for two years! The proceeds pay for the chaperones and reduce the overall costs for students. It takes a tremendous amount of planning to arrange host families for the students, make travel arrangements, plan excursions, itineraries, parent communications, and many, many meetings. This is time well spent as this is the trip of a lifetime for some students. It is an unforgettable experience.
This was an amazing adventure with My IB coordinator Elaine and my German teacher Kathryn. These two ladies are absolute rockstars. We spent 12 days in Innsbruck Austria visiting many historic sites, mountains, and museums. The following entries chronicle our time in Austria.
