May 7, 2009 – Bill's Blog

All during the school year I spend my Wednesday afternoons with the Administration Team of the International School of Belgrade. We get together to discuss school issues, events, initiatives, and programs. The bottom line is student learning, and all of us work together, with the feedback and cooperation of the staff to always be improving.

The meetings usually last a couple of hours and since we spend so much time together, we have all grown close. From left to right in the photo are Eric Sands, (Director), Branislav Nikolić (IT Coordinator), myself, Snežana Hasanović (Business Manager), and Tim Moynihan, (Elementary Principal). They are all dedicated professionals and very good people. I have learned much from each of them. Despite differing opinions sometimes, and the occasional stressful situation, we get along very well. I have really enjoyed the camaraderie and professional collaboration and interaction. It has made me a better educator.

We are shown above in Dr. Sand’s office working on the new school web site. The intense efficiency, teamwork, and production was somehow captured in this action photo. Thanks to Neša for the photograph.

This is another sign in our neighborhood. On a street that runs perpendicular to our street in our neighborhood of Senjak, I saw this street sign. Since the street signs in Belgrade are all in the Cyrillic script, this will take some translating to get the message.

Serbia used two types of alphabets. The one above is Cyrillic, which is the Eastern part of Serbian culture. They also use a corresponding Latin alphabet. The first line in the sign is “Ulica” which means “Street” in English. The name of the street is “Ljube Jovanovića” which is a Serbian name.

Some of the letters have been blocked out by spray paint. What is left are the letters, “OBANA” which is very close to “OBAMA.” I noticed this was done in October, just before the elections. US President Barack Obama is very popular here in Serbia as I blogged about in November. There is some Obama supporter here in Senjak. At least the sign will be good for at least four years.