I'm baaack...

I have returned from Scotland. Tired. A little under the weather. But good. I asked students if the year's worth of fund-raising (over $97,000) was worth it. They replied, on the first day in London, it was all worth it. We spent 2 days in London and 12 in Edinburgh, Scotland. We performed 4 times at a professional venue and here's the best part... We were reviewed by the Scotsman (THE paper to get a review in) and were awarded 4 out of 5 stars! Pretty much unheard of for a high school show. The review was brilliant. Here's the link to it if you want to read it: Scotsman Review

We got the review the day after our first show so our run was special as people from all over came to see our show, and not just American high school kids who were part of the festival. The best part about it was that this was an original show and they GOT IT. They understood what our message was so clearly. I feel like we were beyond successful with this journey and it truly changed my students' lives in so many ways.

Monday was the first day back to school (jetlagged, yea!) Today was the 3rd day and I told my beginning students (7th and 8th graders) about my adoption plans. A few had already heard but for the most part they were excited. I have just one more document and then I'll be done. I'm very excited about getting it all turned in. I also will take my first parenting class this Sat. at IAN. I've heard the best parts of these classes are to meet other parents going through the same process.

Exciting times! Back to school! :)

The Inconvenient Truths...

This week has been crazy. Basically, I am back to school-- 3 weeks early. On Monday night I leave for two weeks to go to Edinburgh, Scotland with 46 students and 10 parents/teachers to participate in the largest Theatre Festival in the world. We were nominated and "won" the opportunity to be one of 50 high schools featured at the Fringe through the American High School Theatre Festival organization. We created our own original show and have been working on it since January. We performed it for the first time in May and the second for a full audience tonight. We hadn't performed it since May until this Monday. We've been in rehearsal all week from 9-3 daily. I have two more papers to get done before my dossier is complete. I need to get on it ASAP. I am planning to do one of them tomorrow and if I can, I'll do both -- I don't know if the police station will be open to get the clearance. And then bright and early Monday take it all to the Secretary of State to get certified. Ahhh.. That's the plan. I just don't know if it will work. So I will be blog-less until I return from Scotland on Aug. 17. Cheerio!

PS-- the title of our original show is "The Inconvenient Truths" :)