8/26/24
Hello loved ones near and far. It's hard to believe that we’ve already been in Morocco now for for six weeks and in our home for four weeks. There is so much I’d love to write and share, but time just hasn’t been available. Living in a developing country, you find that you’re always moving, as it seems there’s more to keep up with- whether that’s smaller batches of laundry that all need to be hung out to dry or more frequent trips to the market, Mike and I are definitely staying active. Then again, I kinda that’s in the fabric of who we are.
Thinking back to our last international exchange in Istanbul, I had a few months where I wasn’t working, had time to freely blog, take language classes, and helped settle in the family. That hasn’t been the case this time around.
So we’ve started our new jobs at GWA where I am the Director of Teaching and Learning and Mike is the Primary Principal. As is often the case when surrounded by educators, the people are lovely. While the school enrollment is only 700 students, there are 215 employees at GWA. This includes custodial/maintenance/operations, finance, marketing, purchasing and departments as well as the primary and secondary schools. The kitchen alone has about 12 employees. While it sounds overstaffed, oddly, it feels like most people are occupied. Yet, this is also where I’m seeing communication channels get jumbled because of the different departments and a hierarchical structure. There are layered steps needed to get tasks completed and materials ordered that often involve paperwork, stamps, signatures, and different departments involved. This is the part that becomes a bit exhausting, especially given how many systems need to be reorganized that I’ll be heading. Regardless of the tasks, my priority has been relationship building, as I’ve learned that’s the best avenue for getting anything accomplished.
I was proud of how the new educator orientation and welcome back staff inservice went. It was a lot to coordinate and orchestrate, but the energy was high and positive, now it’s all about maintaining that momentum and the plans going forward.
This upcoming week the students return, there’s an open registration for parents, and we have a full five-day work week.
That is a big staff! But you are right in that educational environments often attract the nicest people!