Summertime

Leaving politics and economics aside ….let’s talk SUMMER- a subject taken very, very seriously in Greece.  The garden goes into overdrive, necessitating much pruning, mowing and clipping; the heat tells us it’s time to clean the pool.

  Our yuccas flourish, our glorious magnolia tree produces grande flora blooms, our spring efforts bear fruit ….and vegetables.

  Right now we’re in high summer and the temperatures in the upper 30’s in our balcony shade are reminiscent of what we became used to when living and working in Kuwait. I remember our friend Jan, who’d forgotten to take the necessary precautions of covering the dashboard on leaving the car and wearing driving gloves on return, in a rush to get home for lunch, grabbed the red-hot  steering wheel ….and lost the skin on her palms and fingers ! Despite our grass being watered nightly by the sprinkler system, and H doing additional hosing, it’s very parched in places what with constant heat and the searing hot winds. Feels like someone left the meteorological oven door open.

 There’s nothing like a cooling drink: years ago when visiting Jean and Max in Montreal, I was served home-made lemonade. I still remember Jean’s treat as being the height of hospitality on a hot summer’s day. Maybe she’ll share her recipe with us?

In the meantime, here is mine :

Ingredients : 200 gr sugar; thinly sliced rind and juice of 3 lemons ; 1 litre of boiling water

Method : Place the sugar, rind and boiling water in a bowl, cover it, stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved. Once the syrup has cooled a little, (leaving it too long makes it too bitter) remove the rind, add the juice, then strain into a bottle or jug and cool in the fridge.

Served with ice, this is a thirst –quenching long drink.

And, try this : put 2 ice cubes in a glass, add a slug on white rum, two or three slugs of lemonade, add a few sprigs of mint and……enjoy your mac.mojito! It makes a lovely sundowner and is a fine way to welcome dinner guests on a balmy evening.

This week all schools in England are now enjoying their school holidays. In Greece we’re way ahead in the game – schools closed on June 15^th and go back 11^th September – now that is serious summer-taking!

For us, the end-of-school-year focus is on our school-leavers- to use the US parlance, the ‘graduating students’. In contrast to their daily school appearance, it’s sometimes difficult to recognize these sharp young men in suits and the delightful ‘debs’ in their white evening gowns. Each student is named as they take their seats and many are called onstage to receive merit awards for academic success, success in competitions, in music, sports and in a variety of extra-curricular fields, as well as for US university placement.

This brings me to the question, the hot potato of political correctness in education : should prize-giving be abolished in the name of egalitarianism? This in turn brings to mind the incredible short story ’Harrison Bergeron’ by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. which begins :

‘The year was 2081, and everybody was finally equal!’

It’s a sobering read, showing where the dogmatic upholding of such ideas could lead us….

In Britain some schools have abandoned prize-giving on the basis of such thinking while others downplay the merit-bias by also offering endeavour awards. And, while we’re on the topic of education, there is the teacher role question : some school  operate policies of ‘no touch’ for fear of complaints or of teachers being accused of breaching human rights and child protection laws.  So a teacher may well be in the position where they cannot expect professional managerial support where they have touched a child in class either as an act of disciplining or of offering comfort in response to distress. I cannot recognize such an environment as an educational one, where the teacher is a circumstantial victim and not a classroom manager. Michael Gove, as Education Secretary, may have said that England’s teachers not being allowed to touch students is a myth , but where fear takes precedence over good sense then that ‘myth’ is actually being enforced. For who will go out on a limb – or even touch one?- where a court case or job-loss might ensue?  May common sense once more prevail in the classroom!

At any rate what we are doing here is celebrating : our students reaching a milestone in their life path, marking the end of their secondary education, moving on in diverse directions. They deserve their hard-earned awards.

I’d like to offer my own perspective at this point : as a swotty child, hopeless at sports, neither wildly confident nor poised, studying was something I could do and was good at. Gaining merit awards was a form of acknowledgement for who I was.

This year I was the happy recipient of three awards :

• On my retirement from the Panhellenic Forensics Association (more on that later )
• For my ‘long-term and valued service’ to the school and
• The Yale University Educator Recognition Award

 My point here is not a self-congratulatory trumpet fanfare but to express how important for me such acknowledgement was, bringing a lovely closure to my professional career.

 I’d like to make a special comment on the Yale award. It is given ‘for outstanding dedication to students’ and came about due to my being nominated by a former student currently studying at Yale.

 Yianni, I may have helped you construct your CV, but on my CV, which I worked hard to develop throughout my career, you hold a special place in its final entry.

For your generosity and appreciation I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

 Now then, where were we? Ah yes! Summertime in Greece. What’s it for?

 For having fun in the water…….

   Posing by the pool….                

    

 And reaching down for that very last drop of ice-cream!! 

  

                                                           Happy holidays, one and all!