oh I love sunshine!!!!

I love sunshine and I love everything that goes with it! I love being warm, I love lying on a beach, I love eating ice cream, I love being able to wear pretty summer clothes (not that I have any),I love the sea; watching the sea, listening to the sea, smelling the sea and going in the sea (haven't done that yet but I will) and I love the way people are when it is sunny, they seem more cheerful, more hopeful and more likable and I feel more cheerful too! Oh and I love getting a tan, but the freckles are a bit annoying, I look really young with freckles, which I suppose at 28 is a good thing and I should be pleased... also tanning gives you wrinkles which is not good but I have loads already and I am learning to live with them! OK, maybe I am stil a little bit freaked out by wrinkles, especially ones that used to only appear when I laughed and now never dissapear... oh, life!

So, yes, it has been sunny here for a while now, with a few days of haze and cloud but generally really nice and I am really happy about it! Can you tell?! I like the way that I am really talking about weather as a typical English girl, but also that the Italians are not yet as excited as me, though when I went to the beach the last two weekends there were some in bikinis and shorts, but the vast majority were in coats and scarves but at the beach and eating icecream and sitting in cafes outside in the sun. My students keep telling me that soon it will be even hotter and though they tell me off for wearing t-shirts when it is 22 degrees they are all really pleased that I like their weather and enjoy their lifestlye. They enjoy it too and are proud of their culture, and their weather, so it makes me happy to make them happy...

Next week is Easter and as a good catholic girl I will not be working for 5 days and instead will be off trying to see some more of Sicily! Yes, I am a Catholic really, but, no, NOT a good one! I am not sure what will happen yet, but I am sure I will have fun!

I'll keep you posted...

The Future

This week I have been thinking a lot about the future, although I kind of don't want to! I am really enjoying living for now and doing what I want to do now without a care for what will happen next week or month or year, it is refreshing and not nearly as scary as I thought it would be!

I have always been a worrier and a planner, I liked to have an idea of where I was heading, but then that led to worry when things didn't go as planned! I thought I had my life sorted on more than one occasion, only to find out that things change, I changed, my circumstances changed and I know now that nothing is certain and moreover that lfe is short; I need to make the most of now and worry less about the future. I decided to come here to Catania on a total whim, I saw the advert, applied and decided that if they offered me the job I would take it and they did. Now I am here having a whale of a time!

I am planning ahead for a big trip with Steph, she is flying to Catania and we are spending the weekend here before heading to Rome and then leaving from Venice to get home, and in between maybe Florence and Milan or somewhere else, it will be awesome!!! I am looking forward to it SO much and so thinking of the future in terms of this trip has been really exciting.

But what about the future after June...? I know that I can't wait to get home and see everyone, my famly especially! I can't wait to see Tara walking, see all of my friends and their families... I know it will be great to be home, in my house with all the home comforts I don't have here; like an oven and carpets - I miss carpets!!!!

After that, well who knows, I have so many options and lots of time of time to think about it. I will not waste more time planning and stressing and worrying about what I can't control, I will make my decisions when I need to and try to enjoy the moment. I said TRY!

So, I am off now to eat lots of delicious Italian food as I am hungry!

never have I ever....

Well, another week has gone by, so quickly it seems! They say time flies when you are having fun, or maybe when you work loads! Last week was a very busy week, the first since I got here that I taught every lesson I was supposed to, oh, apart from on Monday when me and Mark got to go to the beach in the sun instead of one of our lessons... hahaha! It was also the week when I gave out my reports to my students and met the parents of my young learners - scary experience! Only one of the adults cried and no children, I am loosing my touch, once I held a record for making the most children cry in one lesson, but I suppose I was a Victorian then!!!
The weekend, was wet and rainy but full of fun as usual!

We have been playing a game, never have I ever, you know the one, you probably played it in school! Well, I have been thinking that Italian life has changed me a lot and now I have done a lot of things I never ever did at home.... not in a bad or naughty way (I was always bad and naughty!!!) but here I have been doing lots of things I have not done before, including a lot of drinking of new drinks. It is not my fault that they don't have Blue WKD here, so I have had to turn to alternative sources, including, amongst other things red wine! I hated red wine all my life, the smell gives me a headache, usually! But here I have been drinking it with my pizza quite happily! Gin, oh my new frend gin, introduced to me by Luisa! I love it now, it goes down like pop (dangerous!)but when I used to work in a bar I hated it, especially with tonic which I still do not like! Weird how things change!

I have changed my bodyclock too though, I used to be in bed by 10.30 every night and although I still love my sleep I have managed to change here to work until 9.30 and stay out til midnight before getting up to work at 9 in the morning, I could never do it before except for quiz night Wednesdays, at the Shep (miss you Tommy)and even then I was always really tired on Thursdays... It is a change for the better obviously, means I can do more, enjoy a life outside of school, otherwise I would only sleep and work.

I Had better go do more work now....

Hapiness is ... blues skies and good friends

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.

So, another week in Catania, full of fun and games, gin and playing pool but today I am not going to talk any more about my drunken weekends, instead I will fill you in on my school days! Yes, I do actually do some work here and I am enjoying it almost as much as the time off!

My week is pretty hectic, I work in the mornings except Mon and Wed at state schools, and the afternoons, at the English Study Centre. Most days I work from about 9 or 10 in the morning til 8 or 9.30 at night but I have a break in the middle for lunch and checking Facebook!

I work at two state schools, the first Lombardo only on a Monday, and I am glad about that! The classes I teach have no teacher present just me, and as I speak no Italian and the kids speak little English we have some fun! The Italian schools are nothing like in England, I thought I used to talk a lot in class but they put me to shame, at least I tried to be a bit quiet... they shout! My first lesson in Lombardo was hilarious and the second, terrible but they did manage to speak some English so at least I made an improvement!!!
The second class I have there are better, they don't speak at all so I get over my headache in the hour and a half of painfully drawing teeth - or making them speak English!

The other state school, Galileo is much better, there are teachers in the class who control the noise levels (a bit) and the kids want to learn a bit more so listen to me and speak. I have met all of my classes just once but they are all really nice and have funny kids and some really interested kids too so much more interesting for me.. I can talk about just about anything I want so we will hopefully have some good lessons in the future.

In the afternoons, I teach at the English Study Centre and really like it here, I have a very small classroom so have to swap about a bit for bigger classes, by big I mean more than 6 (I have a few classes of 8 students). I have 4 kids classes and I love them, there are some naughty/cheeky kids but they make it entertaining, my fave kids are always the cheeky ones, I can't help it! Most of them don't speak much/any Enlish and so it is a lot of games and drawing and sign language, but they are all nice kids.

I also have teenagers and adult classes which is when have to be slighly more serious as they want to pass exams, lots of questions aout grammar and pronunciation and I enjoy it as they ask really varied questions and make me use my brain a little bit (so better try not to destroy all of my brain cells at the weekends...)

So, that is my working week, I like it, I like the variety of ages and abilities, the differences between the different places I work, from a class of 28, 14 year olds who can't listen, to a class of 14 girls who won't speak; to teenage boys who ask if I will try on horse masks in class... yes he had a horse mask in his bag!
It has been good so far and now I have met them all I can get down to real work and help them all which is what I love doing.

my long weekend of festivities

Wow, there is just so much to write about I don't quite know where to start, but I will try and keep it a bit shorter than last time and just write more often! OK Salvo!

I have been here in Catania for 11 days and I have to say they have been 11 brilliant days. I could not have hoped for more from this experience so far, well maybe a bit more sleep! I have had so much fun, and if you have facebook you can see some photographs of some of the fun I have been having...

This weekend was a religious festival in Catania, the feast of Santa Agata (I think that is spelt incorrectly!) the partron saint of the town. The story goes something like she was here in Catania at the time of the Romans, an important Roman 'wanted' her but she would not give in to him, so he cut of her breasts! They sell cakes called Agata's breasts, they are round with cherries on the top!
Her remains are kept in the cathederal and on this festival they are paraded through the town with hundreds if not thousands of followers, many who wear a white outfit which shows they have been helped by the saint. They carry huge candles so the streets are now covered in wax, as are my boots!

As part of the celebrations the state schools were off for 3 days, and we were also off on Friday. That meant Thursday night food and drink and dancing, Friday night food and drink and dancing and watching a big fireworks display at 4 or 5 in the morning and then saturday night food and drink (and then home as too tired for any more celebrations!)

On sunday we, the teachers and staff of the English Study Centre, were invited to a military base, as two students at the school are helicopter pilots... they cooked us lunch, a big affair with meat and cheese, two pasta dishes, a meat dish, fruit, tiramisu and cakes, and a lot, and i mean a lot, of alcohol!! all served by men in uniform! NICE! I mean for most of the day I had no idea what was going on as everyone was talking Italian but I had fun watching the singing and dancing and may have sung a song or two myself, no photographic/video evidence I am glad to say!!!

All in all a VERY good weekend...

Travel update!

Wow, so I am in Sicily! Where do I start to tell you about my adventure so far? It has only been a few days but it feels like so much has happened already, I will give you a quick synopsis of events! Today (Sunday 31.1.10) I am writing at home and will take this to school to post.

My journey here was very smooth; I flew on time from Newcastle and did not have to pay for the extra 8kgs of luggage I had, found out when I got on the plane that was probably because the other 10 or so passengers were all business people with only hand luggage! Arrived in Brussels and eventually found my way to the gate, the airport is like the metrocentre with loads of floors and shops and weird art and sculptures everywhere. I slept most of the way, only waking for food and a lovely view of the Alps and then as we were descending I woke and got a fantastic view of Mount Etna, covered in snow with wisps of smoke coming from a crater! So cool! I am looking forward to being able to see it again close up, you can get a train or a cable car up it and I really want to do that while I am here.

A lady in black came to collect me, she spoke no English but was being very friendly, her car temp said 16.5* so I was happy! Her driving was scary to say the least, my foot was on the brake the whole journey, but, as she was chatting on her phone and overtaking, I noticed that everyone else was worse, cutting each other up, driving over two lanes... but we made it to my new flat in one piece.
At the flat I met Helen, I was to replace Helen at the school and also in the room she was renting, so I was staying in the spare room until she left. The flat is very basic! Photos on Facebook asap! I have a room with two single beds together to make a double, a desk, sort of drawer thing and a wardrobe (a lot more than the flat in Devicka in Prague!) it also has a door out to a large balcony; then I share a bathroom and kitchen (they say kitchen....) with two women. The worst thing about the flat is that the road outside is very noisy, all day and all night with people tooting their horns at every possible opportunity! I am sure I will get used to it, or as Mam suggested, get earplugs!

I then went to the school to meet my colleagues and learnt that another new person was arriving the same day as me, two people are leaving and so two arriving! The school is nice, a lot of classrooms, a listening lab, a staff room and reception with two lovely Italian secretaries. I met a few classes I will be teaching and then headed back to the flat for a sleep! When I returned to the School I met Mark, the other new teacher and we all went out for drinks and food... there is Lisa, Jacqueline, Diana, Stuart, Luisa, Valeria and Tiziana who work at the school and Duncan and Helen who have now left and we met some students, former students, partners and brothers too! It was a great night, we went to a nice little bar which plays English music, serves nice, cheap, white wine and gives us lots of free snacks!!! Then we went to the restaurant next door which called Saloon and had food (more food I should say!).

On Friday Mark and I went to the state school where we will be teaching to meet the staff and get our timetable sorted, it is like any other secondary school except the kids all arrive on mopeds! And have fashion sense! Then we got our timetables and all of the info we need from the teachers who are leaving and then we went out for more drinks and free food! Oh yeah, somewhere in there I also went to get food, tea and a new SIM and number which I have if anyone wants it!

Saturday was a more relaxed day; I swapped rooms and unpacked then I went for lunch and a look around with Lisa - in the rain. We went to the market and we both bought some boots! Well, I was very sad that I couldn’t bring as many pairs of shoes as I wanted!!! Then I went to Lisa’s for a cup of tea! She is from ‘up north’ too, Cumbria, and is pleased to have a fellow Northerner with her at the school!

When I went home my house mate Tamara, who is Romanian but speaks Russian and Italian too (NO English!) tried to have a conversation with me, which, quite frankly, was hilarious! She showed me how to use the cooker and washing machine which I got but then we spent about 20 mins talking to each other and not having any clue what the other was saying! She tried again today and we established each other’s age; she is 47 and has two children, a son in the Military and a daughter in Moldova at university! She is religious and goes to Church! See my Italian is improving already!!! She is very sweet and hugged me lots! I am hoping to learn some Italian anyway and Luisa is going to give me lessons so hopefully by June we can have a conversation that we both understand!!! Maybe....

So, I am having a nice time settling in, I walked to the sea today and it was gorgeous, clear blue and surrounded by volcanic rock! I am looking forward to starting work at the school and the people I have met are all really nice.
I think that I will be ok here.