Over the last few weeks we have had the chance to travel around, which has made October fly by. For the Eid, we were off for a week, and we headed off to Athens and Santorini. Santorini was at the end of the busy season, so there were still people there, and it was still gorgeous weather, but not nearly as crowded as it is in the summer. We stayed at Kamari Beach, which is a black sand/rock beach from the volcano. We had the chance to rent a car there and drive the very small island to the Red Beach and to Oia and Fira. Oia is the famous place to watch sunset in Santorini. It has the white houses and blue roofs. We found a restaurant on a rooftop at the tip of the island, and were able to walk in and get the best table do to a cancellation. It was really incredible. We had a lot of great food, but mainly just relaxed on the beach.
After coming back, Ryan and I both had different conferences to attend. Ryan had an athletic directors conference in Bangkok. He managed to ride a lot of different methods of transportation while there, including a scooter taxi, which I imagine looked hilarious. I'll let him write about his trip more later.
I was presenting at the IB conference in Rome. This conference was for IB Schools in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Over 1300 people attended, with most being Heads of Schools, Coordinators, and principals. There were a few teachers as well, but Gretchen and I were definitely in the minority. This process started last October when we submitted a proposal to present at this conference. We found out in March we were accepted and then we finally got to go in October. We presented on work that we have been doing in our classes, including building rapport with students, making sure the lessons have meaning, reflecting on our teaching and making sure the students have mastered the content. It was a really great experience to work with Gretchen putting this presentation together. We also had some time in the evenings to go out and celebrate in Rome. We enjoyed eating and shopping and managed to come home with some new bags and shoes.
This week we have a full week of school, and with our homecoming festivities on Friday. Ryan has planned a lot of activities, including a pep rally, swim meet, volleyball matches and rugby on Friday. Saturday there is a Cross Country meet and a halloween fun run, as well as a street fest and fashion show. Luckily, we have Monday off for him to recover!
