Summer proper is
when you can invite folks for a meal out – i.e. to sit outside, embraced by the
balmy atmosphere, surrounded by the sounds of nature- : bats flitting by to
drink, night birds trilling, crickets chirruping, owls hooting, soothing sounds
of us all enjoying summer together.
On July 26th my sister-in-law celebrates her name-day: here is Voula with her brother,
and next to them is her son, Nikos, with his lovely wife, Foteini.
Voula’s daughter, Katerina, is
very pretty but it is her son, Christos, who steals the show. I am glad to say
he really liked my bread-crumb-coated chicken – or was it the accompanying
Marie-Rose sauce that he preferred? Anyway, his enjoyment is evident …… and
smeared all over his left cheek! Here he is with his uncle showing his blue
dolphin and pink pig. For a time at the check-out Lidl supermarket gave its
customers paper pouches containing little plastic animals. These quickly became
collectors’ items for seven-year-olds. Christos was delighted to get two new
models which he intended to add to his stash rather than trade with his little
pals.
Finally, our neighbours’ daughter
kindly allowed us to share her birthday table
at Aghios Prodromos, a nearby
village in the Halkidiki prefecture which is famous for its roasted meats– it
claims to have gained an award from the government of New Zealand! After
scoffing the succulent, well-seasoned souvlaki, we then made great inroads into
her delicious cake – isn’t Black Forest gateau just the best?
Many Happy Returns, Zoe!
August saw me down in Athens to
do some assessment of candidates who
had been following a diploma course in teaching English at CELT Athens Teaching Development Centre. In the picture below to
the left is Alexander, one of the tutors, and next to him, my dear friend,
Marisa Constantinides, owner/director of the centre, strong cyber presence,
inveterate teacher trainer and popular blogger – catch her on TEFL
Matters. With them are two candidates sharing
a glass and a bite after the tension of their exam day.
In the next picture two other
candidates flank members of the class they taught for the Methodology component
of the exam. The class was a cheery band
of multi-national, hard-working learners.
And on the topic of multi-national, CELT Athens attracts clients from
all over: these good people had travelled from Spain, Serbia, Transylvania and
Denmark to follow the course.
The Athens area of Exarchia ‘enjoys’ an element of
notoriety, to the extent that the US Embassy has warned travellers to stay
clear. But it’s not all anarchists and unrest. As I enjoyed a quiet stroll
there it seemed more of an exhibition of amazing street art.
Certainly, the grotesque-headed
figure holding the incendiary device and with the ‘Welcome to Athens’ sign
pinned to the window on the right has its political statement to make. And our
pretty bubble-blowing lady means business too – the badge she is wearing and
the ‘Antifa Forever’ slogan are associated with an anti-Fascist magazine.
I think the building that hosted the following piece also
housed a Christian book shop. To me it exudes the sense of a strong, supporting
unity that religion can provide for some. And amid all the urban chaos and
graphic noise, isn’t the calm scene of an innocent, sleeping child just superb?
I love this!
Local people make good use of
graffiti; here a stationer employed a street-artist to paint his shutters. The
result is a beautiful riot of colour: pens, erasers, scissors, highlighters all
blend into a glorious advertisement left untouched by simple wall-scrawlers –
surely a mark of respect to the painter?
Such establishments do great
business at this time of year when kids go back to school. Well, for some, like
a friend’s daughter, it means going back
to school but not necessarily being taught. Believe it or not, parents were
told by the headmaster that their children in Primary 5 class were ‘unlucky’ in
that they had no teacher. The teachers had selected the classes they wanted to
teach – this one, being an exceptionally large one, had been non-preferred.
Teachers with permanent places at that school who had requested transfers, had
been allowed to leave without any stand-ins being secured beforehand. Add to
that sad scenario a headmaster who is obliged to work at least eight hours but
is not prepared to do so. This is the third time this pupil has been left
without a teacher (that’s how ‘unlucky’ she has been) and that situation could
have gone on for months. This time, however, the parents had had enough and
went to the appropriate offices to complain. Today our pupil sat in her
newly-formed 18-student strong class that now boasts the kitchen as their
classroom - and the headmaster as their Maths teacher!
An improvement, yes, but not a
solution. That’s the extent to which things can deteriorate when there is no organization, no responsibility being
assumed, and there is inadequate
supervision and inspection.
Once again, things educational and otherwise
are on hold until after the elections. This week-end, once again, we go to the
polls - votes being our GDP, the Greek Diversionary Ploy. You’d think after so
much practice we’d start showing signs of improvement?!
On a more pleasing academic note,
I end this post with a beautiful thematic blend of education and street
art. In central Athens as I was about to
get the metro to the airport, I came across this wonderful piece of art. A partial
pastiche of Raphael Sanzio’s ‘School of
Athens‘, which was painted between 1509 and 1511 and is housed in the
Vatican Museum. It depicts two great Greek philosophers, Plato (428-347 B.C.) on the left and his student, Aristotle (384-322 B.C.).
In the original, Plato, an Athenian, is pointing upwards –
said to signify his belief that ultimate reality (The Forms) lay beyond our
experience.
Aristotle, from Halkidiki, extends his right hand on the
horizontal plane, allegedly alluding to his tenet of our empirical world being ‘more
real’ than that of the Platonic Forms.
Now it may seem droll that the street artist
has introduced a wee bit of whimsy with Plato spinning a football on his index
finger. Equally anomalous and anachronistic,
but true to the original, is the copy of Ethics that Aristotle is holding.
Given that the printing press was not invented
until around 1440, I’m afraid a book as such at that time was not a reality in
either of their worlds!
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