Day 734 New year, New school!!!

I really hate to brag, but my first day back at
school, at our NEW building on campus, I was
greeted by a talking robot- that actually engaged
in conversation!  (It was a little bit freaky!)

Our newbies, Leah, Noel & Sophie were quite taken by him/her :)

My new school has a coffee shop on the 7th floor, does yours?!

And it has a gorgeous atrium on the 7th & 8th floors- with water features...

...and beautiful lounging places...

And windows with retractable shades as the
sun moves across the sky during the day.
(On the days you can actually SEE the sun)

It is filled with beautiful live plants...

...and it even has palm trees.  This FL gal is in heaven!

Every floor of our building is filled with beautiful lounging places
for students and staff...newbie Chris was working on his laptop.
Each floor is color coded- 2nd is red for the National School,
3rd is blue for math and computer science, 4th is green for
English and foreign languages, 5th is teal for the sciences,
6th is orange for psychology, business, and humanities,
7th is violet for the performing arts, 8th is simply
cavernous space with room to grow.  It's impressive!

  

We have our own cinema at our disposal.
Faculty are getting together for Blazing Saddles
next week!   We can bring our own movies in
on flash drive to show on the big screen- wow.

We also have a 500 seat theater for the performing arts,
complete with an orchestra pit and all the stage lights
and huge dressing and make up rooms.
They spent MILLIONS on our new building!

Every science classroom, for biology, chemistry, physics, and
physiology and anatomy, has it's own lab in the room.
No more scheduling and sharing facilities.

Our first day of orientation for this year began
with the faculty photo in front of the new building.
Represented in this photo I see the USA, Honduras,
Scotland, Ireland, Thailand, India, UK, and China.

I am blessed to work with people from all over the
world.  Our three diploma programs (IB/AP/ AL)
have grown to 77 International teachers and
50 Chinese teachers- amazing :)  I see New Zealand,
Belgium, Korea, Ireland, USA, and Croatia here.

Just look at all of us!  To think they started the International
Department just 10 years ago with nine students and three teachers.
We now have 650+ students grades 10-12, and 127 teachers.

I am on the 6th floor, and I love the energy of the bright orange.
The lounging spaces, and the 'window seats' built in to the
hallway walls, all have outlets and ports for charging electronics.

I am room 601, right by the bathrooms (they know
me well, lol) and next to the Grand Hall where students
do their self study.  It is very quiet on my end and I love it.

The Grand Hall is a huge, and the kids work diligently and quietly.

This is my new room and I freaking LOVE IT.  I have the
smartboard, two wipe off boards, tons of space (my largest
class is 28) and each room was given lots of plants.  The
foliage, coupled with the new state-of-the-art air filtration
system keeps things smelling fresh.  I am a happy girl :-)

The wall of windows in my room looks out
to another atrium, a cavernous gathering
space for receptions, college fairs, etc. I love
all of the natural light.  We have had mostly
beautiful blue sky days since I returned.

My students need reminded to use their words-
in English only!  My first two units I teach
are the history and paradigms of psychology and
the research methods used in psychology.

Today was "Teacher Appreciation Day" and I was shocked to
receive a text that I had a delivery at the security gate.  I went
down to see what it was all about, and there stood my family
doctor, Dr. Bei Dong, who came all the way across town to
deliver a bouquet of roses for me to share with the other
international teachers.  She went to med school at U of K, so
her English is quite good.  I was so surprised to see her
that I started crying!  What doctor gives up her lunch hour
to come all the way across town to thank teachers?!

For Teacher Appreciation Day, we each received
a case of kiwis, and a case of mangoes.  OMG.
The margaritas I could make- if only Len was here...

...like the many mango margaritas we had when
I was home this summer- with fruit from our
neighbor's tree. Sooooo tasty.

Or mango jam! :)  Sadly, I have none of the supplies
or means to make either of these here in the 'jing.

I just have a case of mangoes from Taiwan as
big as a toddler's head!

Opening day of school last week was the usual
extravaganza on the soccer field.

It was complete with a number of student performances,
speeches, fun & games, and of course, the flag raising ceremony.

I still get a bit nostalgic for my own country's

national anthem...but I appreciate their patriotism.

You don't see anyone sitting down in protest here!

To cap off the end of the first full week of school, the
students organized a reception for the teachers to celebrate
Teacher Appreciation Day. We had a buffet of snacks :)

Kids spoke, and shared hand-written letters to their teachers.

I passed out the bouquet of roses from Dr. Dong.

Teachers were asked questions from the students,
like trying to get Mr. Hurt from the UK to sing :-)
(I think they're crushing on his British accent!)

All in all, it was a lovely reception, but it was
5pm on a Friday, afterall.  These are the faces
of some exhausted teachers badly in need
of a cold drink and the weekend, lol.
No school year begins without the typical
back-to-school stressers, and a few curve balls to boot!

So we're off and running for another year at BNDS-

a beautiful new building,

an incredible group of bright and talented teachers,

some incredibly bright and talented students,

and an administration that genuinely cares and

appreciates its faculty, staff, and students.

The school year is full of possibilities.

G'nite, y'all!