I have just returned from Toronto, where I attended a workshop on teaching IB Standard Level Math. Oh boy!! This learning curve is going to be a steep one. I realize now that this is the way I like things - challenges are what bring me joy-even if I do complain about it once in a while. I am not sure that I would call myself an adrenaline junkie, but I seem to get a rush from challenging myself. Does that make me an academic adrenaline junkie?????
While in Toronto, I also met the previous HOD (Head of Department). Ann was able to share many teaching ideas with me as well as answer lots of my questions concerning my new position. Ann was also able to let me know that I will be living in the Blue Apartments, Floor 8. It is a 5 minute walk from the apartment building to the school. I must admit that I am finally getting excited about all of this. I guess it's not that I wasn't excited before, it's just that now, things are beginning to feel real. When my passport was returned to me with the temporary work visa in it, I began to truly understand that this was really going to happen. Prior to that, there was a sense of things being a bit day-dreamy. Now I know that it's happening.
Next week I think I should begin to look at just what it is that I really want to take with me. I realize now, after attending the workshop, that some of the books that I thought I might take with me as resources, I won't be needing. If I want them later, I can have Susan send them over, or I can take them back with me next year.
