Month: August 2018

We could use the money, no need for the work!

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teachers-protest1

And a bit more about Cypriot schools.

Right now, under my windows, public school teachers in Cyprus are protesting. The picture above isn’t from this protest; it’s from the website www.parikiaki.com, where they covered the teacher protests in 2013.

I haven’t conducted any journalistic investigations, just observing the situation through the news and what some local acquaintances have said. So, I’ll share how I see it, without claiming complete accuracy.

First, just a few facts about schools. Being a teacher in Cyprus is very prestigious and lucrative. Teachers in public schools earn MORE than teachers in private schools. To secure a position in a public school, you have to wait in line with other hopefuls. I don’t know the exact details, but one of my acquaintances has been waiting in such a queue for about 20 years. Yes, you read that right, about twenty years! And this person holds a fairly high-ranking position as a department head at a private British school.

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Simon Sinek “Leaders Eat Last”

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The book Leaders Eat Last by Simon Sinek initially caught my attention because of its title. It immediately sparks different images in your mind, and you start imagining what the author meant by such a title… so it was worth reading to find out.

I read it almost in one go and took more notes than with any other book I’ve read. However, I struggled for a long time to decide what rating to give the book, as well as what I really liked and what still needs further thought. That’s why I’m writing this review three weeks after finishing the book.

The book is about what it means to be a leader and what the right company culture should look like.

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Fredrik Backman “A Man Called Ove”

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I’ll start with the strong points. A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman is the best piece of fiction I’ve read in at least the last five years. I didn’t even know about this author until my wife recommended the book to me, saying, “Read it, it’s about you.”

Fredrik Backman is a Swedish writer who started out as a truck driver, then began writing articles for a newspaper, eventually opened his own blog… and later wrote the novel A Man Called Ove about a character who first appeared in his blog. And his life changed. The novel became popular, was adapted into a film in Sweden, and was later nominated for an Oscar. After that, Fredrik Backman continued writing, and his subsequent novels are also said to be very good.

The book tells the story of a simple man, Ove, and begins on the day he retires. No, Ove isn’t exactly a simple man. He’s a person with very straightforward views on life (compared to many others), yet he has a strong backbone and firm beliefs. Beliefs so firm that they can lead him to fight for justice through official channels for years, or refuse to speak to a neighbor for twenty years because of them.

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