I am feeling very happy at the moment; the things I am doing here, the people I am spending my time with and the fact that it is 22 degrees on a February morning with lovely blue skies are helping me to achieve my aim of being happier! A lovely Sunday roast yesterday was the icing on the cake of another great weekend in Catania, with shopping for more shoes, drinking a bit too much and lots of fun playing ‘have you ever?’....
I have had a lot of stress here over my washing machine and power cuts – caused by me using the stupid washing machine which seems to love my clothes so much it never wants to let me remove them! (deep breathe) But the biggest problem I have had recently is whether to wear a cardigan to work so that all of my students, who will be wearing several layers and coats and a scarf, won’t be upset with me and warn me I will get ill!
I have been spending a lot of my time laughing, my students make me laugh, especially the kids. I tell them every lesson I don’t speak Italian but still they tell me all sorts of things in Italian! I have been trying to learn some more Italian (not just the swear words which I was fluently using in the first week!) and have been asking my students to help me. I did the same in Greece and it is a good way to learn, each class tell me something useful or something I ask for and they write it for me, I write it phonetically and the next lesson I say it for them... so far I can just about say what is your name, my name is Claire; do you want a cup of tea, how old are you and how are you? I forget the endings a lot but apparently the Northern accent makes my pronunciation quite good! I am not so sure about that! I feel like I sound ridiculous as the Italian language is so beautiful and when Italians say anything they make it sound beautiful, the way they say Claire with a roll of the r is much nicer than when English people say it! The older students at the schools make me laugh, at Lombardo just for their absolute lack of interest and the way many of the girls spend the lesson applying more mascara! My adult learners are so nice and we have a good time even when talking about grammar!
My friends here make me laugh so much too, I am so lucky in that wherever I have worked I have met wonderful people and here it is no different. Everyone is so nice and we have had so many good nights out and break times at school are made even better by the fact we can have a chat and a laugh and more often than not a bit of a moan about the students or our timetables, but we all know we love it! So, to those of you from the English Study Centre who read this, thank you! Thank you for making me feel so welcome and for making me smile, oh yeah and for making me an alcoholic!!!
I am also lucky that my friends from home and my family are so good, making me smile with texts, emails and Facebook chat sessions! I have not forgotten you and I am glad you haven’t forgotten me! Wow, I really feel happy now thinking about all of the wonderful people in my life. I can only wish that this will last, and that everyone who has had a positive influence on my life is also blessed with happiness.
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