Müjde

(That means "good news" in Turkish.)

Today I signed a contract for a New Job. Yes, that's right, I am letting my contract with my current employer run out (on August 31), and switching to a new career track, sort of. My new employer is a place called Turkish International Prep Schools, or TIPPS. (Their website is here.) They provide tutoring and consulting services to Turkish students who want to get into American universities, mainly by helping them pass the SAT and TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) tests. Officially it's a part-time job, but since the demographic that wants this service is pretty well-off, the potential for making fat wads of money is darn good. I need to "self-train" as an SAT instructor, but should get my first students next month or August at the latest. Best part: The school is in a very nice neighborhood WALKING DISTANCE from where we live. Oh, let me repeat them, the sweetest two words I have let roll off my lips and keyboard in a long, long time: walking distance. (Whence this urge for a cigarette?) Anyway, I went there today to sign the contract and have lunch with them, and I was really struck by what an incredibly friendly, even familial environment they have cultivated, at least among the staff. And judging from a Turkish bulletin board I checked out, they are intensely beloved by their students as well. So things are looking very, very up indeed, at least at this moment.

For an idea of what I'm leaving, here are some gems of knowledge I picked up from my current students' final examinations:

• The Cold War ended when Jean-Jacques Rousseau died.
• The U.S. Constitution was written by Joseph Stalin.
• In WWII, the Germans invaded other countries "directly, without foreheads." (I love this one.)

(Let me hasten to add that I had a handful of really nice, intelligent students who fully earned my respect and whom I will miss a lot. Not enough to make me want to stay, though.)