That sure went fast

They say: Time flies when you are having fun. Well, I am not entirely sure if I have been having fun or not. But, time has sure flown. The milestone has passed; we have finished our first complete school year here in Bitburg. (I still have a month, almost, to go before my own vacation, but the kids and teachers are done as of Friday.)

It felt much shorter than our year in Casablanca, in fact, it is funny to think that we have been living here in Germany for now the same amount of time we lived in Morocco.

I'm working the same hours, and with the same intensity, with a steep "first year" learning curve. I am surrounded, as I was in Casablanca, by wonderful colleagues.

But, somehow, things are different. I know my family is happier here. I'm enjoying the bratwurst. And the Bitburger. The kids at school are super, on the whole.

Maybe I am having fun.

Sleepless

I have developed a new sleeping pattern which I am evaluating for effectiveness. OK, I've already evaluated it: it is NOT effective. Here's how it works. At about 8:30 or 9:00pm I collapse, exhausted from the day, and fall blissfully asleep. At about 12:00 midnight or perhaps a bit later (or, earlier the next morning, if you are into technicalities) I snap wide awake. Now, my family is fast asleep (except for my fourteen year old son who has adopted the sleeping habits of a vampire hamster) and I am reluctant to do anything noisy like watch TV, do last night's dishes that we lazily left for later, or vacuum the sofa. Also, it turns out that while wide awake, I am unable to muster a genuinely alert mental state that would be useful for actually catching up on work, or paying bills, or doing taxes, or anything that requires actual decision making of any caliber.

At least I am catching up on light reading.

Under the wire

With a self-imposed goal of "one post per month" I have achieve 25%. We have done better on some of our other goals this year. Last New Year's I was in Europe (well, London), but living in Africa (well, Morocco). This year, I am in Oregon, but living in Europe (Germany, precisely).

It has been a year of mobility, of consolidating belongings from two continents to a third, of learning a new set of rules for a new job, and another for a new culture.

It has been exciting. It has been difficult. It has been fun. It has been stressful. Todd Whitaker said, "Change is inevitable; growth is optional." It has been a year of change, and a year of growth, for me and my family.

Maybe disconnected is OK.

Since moving in to our new house, we have been without the Internet. Well, not exactly. The Internet connects with our lives though the under 3x5 inch window that is my iPhone. And it connects with my life at work, in the firm of an almost nonstop stream of email.

I am writing today's blog--and I will stay with my past practice of calling a blog entry "a blog" even while typing with my thumbs--from my iPhone with an application made to facilitate that. In fact, the whole reason for today's blog is to test the app. So, more later, or maybe not.

Once a month

My last post is about not posting much. That was a month ago, now. How boring would it be, if now, a month later, I posted about the same boring lack of posting. Boring.

Here is the other reason I have not been posting, much: I have been "playing my cards close to my chest," so to speak.

Part of the "lot going on" I referenced, was a difficult and emotionally draining family process that ultimately resulted in a decision to resign my position here as principal of Casablanca American School.

It wasn't something appropriate to blog about, but it was forward (right behind doing the best job I know how to do at running a school) in my thoughts. Thus the "radio silence."

Further, the school community needed to hear about that decision before general public (the two of you, blog readers). Now, they have. Here is what I said:

"What’s Up: January 8, 2010
FROM THE UPPER SCHOOL PRINCIPAL

Dear CAS Family,

I have the unpleasant task this week of making a difficult announcement to the community. I need to let each of you know that, essentially for family and personal reasons, Arlee and I will not be returning to CAS for the ensuing school year.

I would like to take the liberty of quoting a segment of the letter I sent to Dr. Lee:

It is a pleasure and a privilege to work for and with you, and the administrative team, and the fine faculty and staff. It is truly an outstanding group of educators that comprises the CAS crew; that reality has made this decision an especially difficult one at which to arrive.

Students, staff, and parents, we are deeply grateful for the warm welcome, and for the support we have received from so many of you. We look forward to a productive completion of this year and will work towards a smooth transition to new staffing of our positions for next year.

Under Dr. Lee’s executive leadership, and with the hard work of a fine staff, a caring board, and an involved parent community, I know this institution will continue to prosper, and will continue to move in a positive direction."

So now what? We made the difficult and professionally costly decision to cut short our stay in Morocco. We know as a family that it is the right decision for us right now. At the same time, I would not trade the experience for anything. I have learned a lot, and have enjoyed many aspects of our short time here. I know those two things (fun and learning) will continue, along with frustration and challenge. But, we have plunged into personal and professional uncertainty, which is a stress and challenge of its own. As my good mother would term it, "A self-inflicted wound."

I've been busy.

I had a great week in Berlin. I was a strong finalist, but not the chosen candidate, to take over the American High School Principal position at John F. Kennedy School (a German public school with a bicultural, bilingual mission). I learned a lot in that week, as well. And, met some wonderful people, made new friends, and consumed substantial wurst and bier. I practiced my German language skills, and connected with my Teutonic roots.

I have very selectively forwarded a small number of other applications, looking carefully for potential "fit" for my whole family. Making those contacts is time consuming.

So, don't look for a lot of blogging, or even for more posts about how there are not very many posts.

But, let me know if you know of a good school looking for a good leader. Or, possibly a good coffeehouse looking for a rookie barista.

I'm looking.

A lot going on

My largely imaginary audience may have been disgruntled to notice that there have not been very many updates--posts, which I like to incorrectly call "blogs," since I began as principal at Casablanca American School.

To you, then, I apologize. Let me say, I've been busy. On a steep learning curve. Learning. Having fun, working long hours, and, learning.

Plus, I get to write, or, actually, I am required to write (not that I'm complaining, just to be clear) an article for the "What's Up," the bi-weekly parent and community newsletter that the school puts out.

That, I guess, has been feeding my need to blog. Also, Marti (the admissions director, and communications person), is good about including a (usually flattering) picture of me along with my article. That is always good.

I suppose I could write here about some of our family adventures on holidays--we have been to Essaouira, a seaport city to the southwest of us here in Casablanca, to Marrakesh, the European "exotic vacation" center, and to London, this Christmas--for a dose of English, of order, and of ale.

But, I am making posts about that to Facebook.

What can I tell you, dear readers (both of you): watch this space for updates, and perhaps things will change.

Or, perhaps not. That will be OK, too. In the meantime, thanks for your support.

Oh, yes, and a very happy new year! 2010 will be a great year. Mark my words.

Too many exclamation points.

The last two blog titles (OK, like Mike Smith of The Principal's Page Blog, I misuse the term. A blog is the whole thing; this is a "post," or an "entry." I don't care. I'm calling this a blog). My last two blog titles end with exclamation points. I don't like to think of myself as that excitable of a guy.

Positive, OK. But, I always cringe when I see extraneous exclamation points in others' writing. Exclamation points belong at the end of sentences like, "Ouch!"

Multiple exclamation points don't belong anywhere!!! (I don't think I ever did that before. Alright, it was kind of fun. Fun!!! Huh?!? Holy punctuation, Batman!!!!)

So in the future I will try to control myself, and limit exclamation points to true exclamations.

I have found, that as we adjust to our lives in Morocco, each member of our family is more apt to "exclaim" than we were before. It is simply the nature of things here.

Maybe that explains it.

(!)