seven bottles of wine, four ales and several pints............I feel shit!

My last day at college for a week and a half. Oh yes.
Had some good news about one of my classes yesterday. A group of studes I'd entered into the PET exam all passed, five of them with merits! Now, PET isn't the hardest English exam in the world, but it gave me a warm glow to get a whole group through. Now I just need to wait and see how my CAE and IFP groups go........can I get a 100% pass rate this year? Let's see.

I'm not feeling terribly active today - actually, there's not a huge amount for me to do before I hand over the summer school activities to another teacher. That's nice. Looks like I'll just have to lounge around here till the evening, then go home and get drunk or something. Or look round for a new job. I was at a ball on saturday evening: My wife's company bash. I was sat next to a woman who does corporate training - like teaching, but miles easier. I found out how much she's on - five hundred quid a day. Five bloody hundred sodding quid! A bloody day! that means she earns what I do in two months! Cow.

Friday! Hurrah!
I am sooooooooooooooo bloody sick of marking academic English stuff. Still, the course is reaching its end. I'm pleased with my students though - honestly, if it hadn't been for them, I'd have been off to another job before now. They've all got decent offers from good universities, even great ones. One girl has an offer to do law at SOAS, which is fantastic.
Talking of jobs, I put on my application for Curriculum Manager yesterday. I don't think I'll get it: There's one other candidate who, it seems to me, is a shoe-in for the post. Oh well, no harm in trying. I must say, however, that I'm totally frustrated with struggling to make ends meet and catch up with what I was earning (in real terms) four years ago in Istanbul. Bluh. Hell, what can a teacher do? My profession earns no respect in other spheres. I'm not asking to have a million dollar a year job, just something that'll allow me to live comfortably and pay off all my damn debts. And lounge on a hammock, drinking.
Oh well, back to marking.......enjoy your weekend!

I'm feeling bloody knackered. Setting up and running the efl summer programme in the space of less than a week has been a complete sod. I've been running round all day, booking trips and trying to find people willing to accompany the studes. Bluh. That, and my Academic English class - presentations today: the sodding laptop and computer went up the spout, so I spent a merry half hour finding a room with functional equipment. Then the presentations were so boring that I actually started to fall asleep. Thank god it's nearly the end of the day.

Ahh! The blogging screen's changed yet again! An improvement, however....
A v. quick blog - it's high time I gave another recipe to you all. Hre's one you can try on the barbecue with a glass of raki (or ouzo, if you must go downmarket :) )
Sis Kofte
for this, you will need:
250gr mince
half large onion
1 thick slice bread (preferably dry)
small bunch of flat leaf parsley (or coriander for a spicier effect)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chilli flakes
3/4 tsp coriander powder
a dab of cinnamon
salt pepper
grate the onion. Using a blender, whizz up the bread(remove crusts!) and parsley. place all in a bowl. Add mince. Add herbs. Knead everything together for at least five minutes. If possible, leave overnight to let all the flavours blend. Now take your mixture, and take a moderate handful. take a large, flat-bladed kebab skewer. These hold the meat far better than a thin skewer. push the mixture to the midlle of the blade, then work it outwards towards each end. repeat with another skewer until you've finished the mix. Cook under a medium high (160-170 degree) grill, or on a barbie. Total cooking time: about 5-8 minutes. Taste: delicious. serve with a really fresh green salad, pitta bread and bulgur wheat. savour with raki. best eaten outdoors on a warm night. Afiyet olsun.

The fun and games continue. I found out on Monday that I was programme leader for the summer school. Seeing as we had our first students appear for it that very day, I was, to say the least, somewhat taken aback. Mike, the temporary Curriculum Manager, had muttered something about summer school back in March, then had promptly forgotten about it. So, now I have to organise testing, classes, schedules and teachers within a week, plus organise a roster of social activities and find the money to do so. Oh joy. It's such fun being dumped in the shit at the last minute, isn't it? Grrrr......
Yesterday was a ghastly one. I had to attend a meeting regarding observation of classes ahead of November's OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education) visit. Dull, dull,dull, dull. The trainer was a softly spoken Ulsterman with the magnificently camp name of Bradley Lightborn. It lasted all day. You know how long meetings drain you of your very life essence. I then chaired a meeting of my son's after school club in the evening, which provided comparatively light entertainment.