The well-tested Yard. Doç.

I think I griped in a previous entry about having to jump through yet another hoop for my Yard. Doç. (Asst. Prof.) rank, namely an official German exam. Well, today was the day. Bright and early, Meltem drove me to the campus of Istanbul University, where I sat in a classroom with about 50 other people for the three-hour ordeal. (Like the SAT all over again!) The exam wasn't too bad, but it did put the fear of Gott in me, especially since with German I tend to coast on my experience as an exchange student in Germany rather than fall back on the solid foundation of any formal training. This can result in scary moments when the question turns on a tricky grammatical point, but there we are. Anyway, I think I did fine, so hopefully NOW I have proved my academic worthiness to my august employer. (A few weeks ago it was announced that people who were hired after a certain date also have to take some high school equivalency-type exam. Glad I got in under that particular wire!)