Adele Never Gets Old...

As I was preparing to leave the states just a few short weeks ago, Adele's "Hello" came on the radio and someone I was near said immediately, "ohmygod I hate this song, change it!" I'm not sure how anyone can hate anything that came from Adele's mouth.  She's down to earth, pleasant, generous, humble and extremely talented.  But that's neither here nor there.

I just got home from my first official day today.   Today was the first time leaving my new apartment crossing my fingers that I had everything I needed.  It was my first time navigating my way to the school on my own.  First time packing a lunch for school in a singular building since 2014. First time reporting to a new team when all of us were there together.  First time in a full faculty meeting with entirely new faces since 2008.  First time navigating a school cafeteria in many years.  First time logging into new technologies I have not experienced yet.  You get the point.  It was an exciting, exhausting day.

I got myself home on the bus - (albeit with several other staff members, so we definitely weren't going to die on the bus) walked myself to the CrossFit that is near me and spoke with a coach there about joining their facility.  I stopped at the other grocery store near me to check it out and compare selection to the first one I went to.  I got home, cleaned a bit and started making dinner.

I'm finally at a point where all of my suitcases are unpacked, the place is mostly cleaned to my liking, and I was able to relax and read before bed last night.  Yes, there is still a ton to do, but I'm settling in. My Apple TV is hooked up, and I decided today that while I was making dinner, I'd listen to the radio instead of "watching" Netflix since I'd not be able to see the screen.

As I prepared to make dinner, I navigated my way through the channels and such on the Apple TV and I chose a station.  I sat on the couch, thinking about this new life when the first song came on the tv.  It was, you guessed it, "Hello" by Adele.

I'm not usually one for signs, but this hit me, and hit me hard.  It was as if it was a sign from home that I had made the right choice.  You see (many of you experienced this live at the TIES Conference last year) we wrote a spoof of "Hello" for the opening videos for our winter conference last year.  I happen to be the singer voicing the song for my oh-so-talented colleagues who were the dramatic beauties on screen.  (click here to re-live the delightful opening video - and if you have some time, watch the whole thing- my team was pretty awesome)  Hearing "Hello" today as I was just getting into my routine of this new normal here in Poland was a reminder of my team at home, and of the great work we did there.

Without that experience at TIES, I would not have been prepared to enter this world I'm in today. I learned more than I taught, and grew as a teacher as the result of the excellent work my peers do there.  Without the conversations we had, the collaboration we did, the growing pains that come with instructional technology(at any level), the events, coaching and workshops we put on, I would not have been equipped to take on this role.  I relied on the gentle leadership of Caroline, the patient teaming of Kari, the technical expertise of Troy, the knowledgable and humor-filled instruction of Mary, the organizational skills of Cara, the tech perspective and experience of Kate, and the positivity and open-mindedness of Ashley.  Without these folks, I would not have grown, changed and matured as an instructor.

Thank you to these great colleagues, not to mention Amanda, Connie, Dorothy, Floyd, Deb, Chris, Danielle, Scott, Mike and all the others who helped me to spread my wings a bit further so I could take on day one in Poland with success.