First Day of School

Unbelievable but it's true. Today was the first day of school for Coram Deo. There were many surprises for me and I really don't feel like a "director" of a school and today I definately didn't look the part with my youthful braids. The teachers really dress up here so I felt I should wear a nice skirt. Thank goodness I brought a few with me.
So of the 80 students registered only 27 showed up today and Karen said this is better than last year! I think we may have to offer a free Mardarin lunch for all the students who never miss a day or come late:) Seriously, we are going to think of a reward for all those students because attendance is a major issue here. Overall the day went quite well. There seems to be very little structure and I'm torn between introducing structure right away or sitting back and observing for a while. I'm leaning towards sitting back and just observing and slowly introducing some structure. I know it's harder to establish routines later on the in the school year but at the same time I don't want to arrive from another culture and another country with all the "answers" and try to change everything. Anything that works well I want to keep.
I spent the morning sharpening pencils for the students (because no one brought one) and feeling very unlike the dignified director that I am:) The rest of the day I made ID cards for the students for when their parents come and pick them up at the end of the day.
Overall it was a good day. I feel sort of lost still but I'm sure I'll get into the groove soon.