The CELTA course is finally coming to an end and while it remains a huge time commitment, I’ve had to think about the next step. I had a moment of panic in which I was looking to book a flight and flee Istanbul for South America, but I think I’m passed that now. I have been offered two jobs, one at a language school which pays 500USD for 40hrs and hires me out on a week-by-week basis. The other is at a private university, which I’ve heard is where dumb rich kids go after they’ve failed to get into the more prestigious state schools. They pay about the same as the language school, but I only have to teach about 25 hrs/wk. I’ll probably end up taking it as all the good schools have long since filled their faculty positions, but I still have to sort out some “minor” details like who’s going to be paying for my work permit and how am I going to get there every day (it’s on the “asian side” – on a side note, this whole euro/asian city divide reminds me somewhat of west-side story for inexplicable reasons. I’ve never seen the play and don’t really know what it’s about. Snapping fingers? Shark week? Something like that). In the meantime, I’ve spent somewhere around 60 hours each week in this building:
Speaking of the cats, I’ve been told that they are called Oscar and Wilde, but I still don’t know which is which. Both Brigid and I call this one Fatso. She says their names don’t matter because they don’t listen to us either way. One of the nice things about living with someone who has travelled the world is that they have a completely different relationship to material things. Since my arrival, Brigid has thrown out two large pieces of furniture because she didn’t feel as though they belonged. At the same time, the coffee drinking process is always accompanied by a heart-shaped tray, a bowl of sugar cubes, and a wooden mixing spoon. Yogurt is eaten out of clay bowls only.
The nights have gotten cooler and the days more bearable. I’m almost to the point where I can turn the fan off at night, and when I arrive at school I no longer do so with a steady stream running from by brow to the tip of my nose. I think I offended the students once because I was so sweaty. They looked horrified when I walked into the classroom. The balcony on this house is a great spot to sip whisky after a long day of CELTA. I took this picture at night with a long exposure:
Soon I will have a certificate with Cambridge’s pompous name splattered next to mine and I will be a happy camper. You can expect more upbeat posts after this Friday’s post-CELTA binge and my subsequent beat-the-heat escape to the Princes' Isles.
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