Cross Cultural Experiences

Time for the annual principals' conference at Cedar Springs in Washington.

Oh, how I love crossing the border.

In return for a brief moment of pain, I get to enter the USA, Land of Opportunity. Somehow, everything is different on the other side. Accents change, shopping is better, and tea is called "hot tea".

The brief moment of pain, this time, lasted just 45 minutes. Don't misunderstand me; it really wasn't too bad. As we sat in the border lineup, we got to watch the guy with a very large gun, and a dog who happily sniffed all the cars down the line. We speculated on what he was trained to detect. Explosives? Drugs? Illegal fruit? (Don't EVER try to bring an apple or a plum into the country. I'm serious.) And then there was the guy with the mirror on a stick. He was checking under everyone's car. Maybe some people ride without a seatbelt under the chassis. That doesn't sound too comfortable.

Anyway, we made it through and I fell slightly in love with the grey-haired official who said we looked far too young to be school principals.

At the conference, we hung out with other high-powered principals for a couple of days and talked about very important things. (not really.) It's always lots of fun to reconnect and hear about what's happening in other schools.
It was beautiful at the retreat centre, and we all tried to dress like it was spring. But the temperature didn't match. Brrr, my feet were cold, but I just had to wear open-toed shoes!
We did some shopping on the way home. The Canadian dollar is just above par, and we were able to partake in the delights of American retail therapy without any guilt... Well, less guilt than usual!

How refreshing it was to leave the stress of school behind and escape for a couple of days. And now I have to work all weekend to make up for lost time!