Home Sweet Home

I have been away from my computer for a while now, first because I finished school and then went on a little holiday with Steph before coming home and then because I have been busy seeing people, washing clothes, unpacking and getting used to being back! Now I am here, hme in Winlaton and can relate to you my adventures getting here!

After school finished I spent some time at the beach and then Steph arrived in Catania, just in time to watch the England match (not the last one, we won't mention that!!!) and to catch some sun before a few cloudy days (me and Stuart both burnt but Steph didn't, typical!)
Then it was time to say goodbye to Catania and to my friends I am sorry to anyone I didn't see, it was all so sudden in the end it seemed! I had a few tears, saying bye to Luisa and Diana and of course Stuart were the worst, but I will see them all again so it was not too bad and not really goodbye!

Steph and I went to Rome first and spend a lovely few days being wowed by the sites, we had some rain but it coudn't spoil our time. Our hotel was lush and the ancient lift gave us a few laughs as well as scares! We took the open top bus to try and see as much as possible in our short time and it was really good fun, with lots of info and it made our legs happier too! Maybe best for me was the Coleseum, I have been before but it is majestic, even when full of tourists there is something of the past which hangs in the air and makes you stop and think of all that went on there, I loved it. Didn't love the theiving Gladiators outside who charged us a fortune for photos with them!!!!!

Then we were off to Florence, we left the rain behind and had glorious sunshine there and it was also the feast of San Giovanni (St John the Baptist) so we were lucky to see a fantastic fireworks display one evening.
We saw David, and the fake David and the bronze David, and we saw a LOT of churches! I loved the atmosphere, the narrow streets, the beautiful buildings, the lamps which rekindled my love of taking photos of lamps (started in Prague last year!)the river and the views of the city from the hill abouve. I loved it all.
A few crazy moments, first our room was on the third floor, up 6 flights of steps, nightmare! A man helped me carry my bag up and I just threw it down, much to Steph's amusement! Nothing broke!
There was the cape incident which I think will make me cry with laughter for years, but probably you had to be there... Steph had to cover her shoulders in a church and though the nice robe they gave her was a cape with a hood, then she found one arm hole, it has one arm she said, where is the other... on your head was my reply! Oh, you had to be there it was so funny, unfortunately no cameras in the church but the recreation in the hotel had us crying again! Oh Steph, thanks for that memory!

We only had a short time in each place and so it was off to our next destination which was Treviso for Venice, Davide (Luisa's brother) was kind enough to offer us a room in his appartment for our visit to Venice as Treviso is not far at all, it was great, he really looked after us and we had nice comfy beds and lovely shower...
We got the train to Venice and spent a lovely day there complete with a gondola ride (don't ask how expesive, it was worth it!!!) Definately a great exprience, greatvies and a cool breeze on a very hot day in Venice. We sampled our last ice-cream, I am going to miss Italian ice-cream (maybe I can find some here..)

Finally it was time to come home, only a little bit delayed and we got back to Winlaton at midnight after a KFC (left overs as they were technically closed when we stopped!!!) and I climbed into my own bed on Sunday night and fell fast asleep, excited for the mrning when I would see my family!

Now it is Tuesday and I have been settling back in nicely, almost feels like I have never been away now.... Not quite sure what the next move is, need a bit of time to decide, but I am sure there will be more adventures coming soon!!!!

some random thoughts!

I have so much to say but I can't say any of it yet, I am full of so many emotions I want to spill them out onto this page and maybe then they will make sense, but not yet!

I have only 2 weeks left in Catania and I am sorry to say (to my Italian friends) that I am glad it is almost time to go home. While I have thoroughly enjoyed my time here, I am ready to go home.
I am starting to miss things now, I want to eat Walkers crisps and Warburtons bread (hope I can advertise on here!!!) and of course, much more importantly I want to see 'me mam'! and Aunty Janet, Tara, Louise and her bump, Kath, Rich and William (not so much Eric - sorry) and Phil! ALL of my family and friends who I have not seen now for so many months.
I know it will not be hot (I can cope with a drop from 40 degrees) and I know I won't be able to do some of the things I love doing here, I know I will miss some people I have met here (but I know I can't get rid of you so that is good!!!), but, although I really love to travel, I love home too!

I am looking forward to the future with a new perspective which I have found here in Sunny Sicily, with the help of Stuart. And hopefully my new future will not be without him. Stuart has made my stay here more than memorable and I want to thank him, though I have thanked him a few times already, for being the wonderful, genuine, kind and caring person that he is, for making me laugh, putting up with me crying and generally being the best friend a girl could have wished to find here! Hope you read this and blush Mr Fassam!!!

Back to work for another afternoon of crazy Italian fun with my classes!
XXX

the search for the future has begun

So, I have started to really think about what happens after Catania, these last few months have been so wonderful in so many ways but I know that this fun time must end soon, in fact in only 4 weeks time!

I have been looking for jobs, which is a nightmare as I am still totally torn between travelling more and going home!
I have had two interviews, one for the sunny Maldives and one for sunny Scarborough! Not too different really except one is on the equator.
I have also been applying for other things, trying to keep my options open!

I have also started to get into exam mode for the end of term, my students are all feeling a bit stressed now and we really have to work hard to make sure we give them as much practice as possible so been really busy with that, though I have no students who I am terrified will fail their test! I want them all to do well and to succeed in their futures, I want to help them pass and then they too can move on to bigger better things.

What will the future hold for me? I know that I want to continue to be happy as I am now, I want to pursue things which are interesting, inspiring and exciting and never settle for things. I know I want to keep in touch with all of my wonderful friends from around the world as they have the power to make me smile and keep me laughing.

I know now that I have been untrue to myself in the past and it has led to nothing but pain and heartbreak, I know I can be better to myself and to others and only in this way can I be happy and that is my plan for the future, wherevever I go and whoever I meet along the way.

I hope you will all stay with me on this journey.... until next time x

My good friends and my new friends

I have had a very interesting week, with some drama, lots of sunshine and of course - drinking! (Those of you who know me well know my drama but I am not going to talk about that!) Man, I sound like such an alcoholic, maybe I have a problem and need some rehab! Somewhere hot please!

I have made some very good friends here in Catania and have lots of great friends back home and around the world and this week I was lucy enough to meet lots of nice new people and make some new friends....

On Wednsday Mark suggested a midweek drink somewhere new so we went to bar called Bonu which really like as it is very different (lots of kitch) and good food. Jacqueline, Lisa, Mark, Stuart and I were joined by one of Mark's students. The bar was good but the most fun was had on the way home with Jacs and I being a bit crazy as usual, she makes me laugh so much!

On Thursday I went to the English Conversation Club (it does exactly what it says on the tin) and had a really nice time meeting some new people, lots of friendly Italians who want to practice and/or improve their English and a lot of English teachers too. Also many Americans and a few English/British (The English Study Centre staff made the English count go up a bit)and a token German! I met a girl called Lauren from London and we became fast friends, we had a real laugh together about the idea of making everyone at the conversation club queue up for their food (as it was all gone by the time we got there)and this turned into quite a debate! Valerio, Lauren's boyfriend, stated that queueing is a form of slavey! If you are interested there is a video of part of the conversation somewhere on Facebook! Funny! I don't think it will work, only the English form a queue for everything!
This weekly get together is now definately on my list of priorites for the week, I will be trying to get there earlier whenever possible to actually get some food and to meet some more lovely people.

I also went to a few new places this week, a nice bar near the port and a club in a different part of town which led to a mini adventure! Pippi was driving and somehow,he may have haad some alcohol.... when reversing down a hill, managed to get his car stuck up on a wall, so that the car was leaning over to the side and only two wheels were on the ground. Pippi, then decided to reverse more and gt it well and trully stuck! Now, I am no stranger to being in a car tilted on its side and being completely stuck, but I was lucky enough to be stuck on a country road where a farmer passed by with a tractor to tow me out! Pippi's car was in a quiet street at about midnight! (no tractors around - haven't seen any tractors here at all)
So, we got out, looked at the car, tried a bit of pushing, a lot of revving the engine and a few swear words, nothing helped! Then it started to rain!
Mark and Pippi eventually decided the only way to move the car was to lift the back up, Luisa took the driver seat, Mark and Pippi took their positions at the rear of the vehicle and I stood well back and supervised! They lifted the car, it moved, all was well!!!! We went to the club laughing at Pippi and worrying a little about getting home.
The club was very full and the DJ's were loving random English music, playing everything from Shout to Losing my Religion and Baggy Trousers and everyone was singing along and dancing like mad, it was fun.

Last night I went to Taormina with Luisa, Sturt and Pippi and some of Luisa's friends, Lauren and Valerio met us later. I had the BEST night!
Taormina is so beautiful, really touristy in some ways and really Italian in others, I had some fun spotting tourists and then being a big loser and posing for touristy photos (loved it! British Pharmacy!)We went to an Irish bar and then to a REALLY expensive bar to drink a REALLY terrible cocktail and then Lauren and Valerio took Stuart and I to a bar called Deja Vu wile Luisa and Pippi went to some other club... we danced and drank more, I enjoyed myself so much!
Then we went to meet Luisa and Pippi and had a random 'discussion' with some Sicilians about somehing I don't remember, along the lines of Taormina is part of Messina... Lauren and Valerio left ad we went to to find food and more drinks until Luisa was ready then we made our way back to the car with some more fun photo stops on the way, oh, and I may have fallen over, three times!
Stuart and I feel asleep on the way back and got home at around 5 to a beautiful sunny day! (I didn't see much of the day to be honest....) All in all a very good time!

I love Sundays when I get to speak to 'me Mam', and do my blog, it makes me realise how lucky I am, I have such a great family and such lovely friends at home in the UK and so many great friends here too. Thanks Mammy for being so wonderful and thanks to everyone who makes me smile...

frogs legs, fish and chips and fish bones

I've had a good week this week, some rain, some thunder, mostly hot days and nights and no working in the mornings! I had some good and strange eating experiences this week...

Last Saturday I went to a Chinese restaurant, I was firstly surprised that they didn't sell pizza OR pasta and then moved on to order some food including spring rolls, beef and bamboo and of course, a must when visiting a Chinese restaurant in Sicily, deep fried frogs legs! We got these to share; I was there with Luisa, Pippi, Stuart, Mark and Lisa, but the others were less eager to eat them. I thought they tasted mostly of the batter they were fried in, were a bit boney for my liking but the meat tasted of nothing realy... just like chicken!!! We had deep fried ice cream for desert and I couldn't really tell the difference!

The week at work was really good, we have finished working in the state schools now so my mornings are free, I have slept, been shopping, gone for 'coffee': which for me means tea and been out in the sun in the mornings this week instead of walking for an hour to have large groups of teenagers ignore me (actually I miss some of them, they were interesting and some classes were a pleasure to teach).

On Friday we went, as usual, to Ligresti bar and I had a few drinks (Southern Comfort not gin this weekend) and then we (Stuart, Mark and I) decided to go into the town centre for food and more drinks, we were a bit too late to go to a restaurant and I fancied a kebab (they are nice here, not like in England!)but instead we went to a small place which sells fish and chips! Yes, we ate fish and chips with salt, vinegar and ketchup in Catania! We then met some Italians, one of who is Stuart's student and they took us to a nice bar where we had cocktails.

On Saturday, I went to the beach, the local black, rocky beach where there is more dog shit than sand, but it is the closest place to go and enjoy the sun so we went there! It was relaxing and so lovely to be sunbathing in a bikini on the 1st of May! After the beach Stuart and I went out for dinner, we went to a fish restaurant where the first thing the waiter said to us when we entered was 'only fish' (in Italian), we had understood that it was a fish restaurant so we continued..
We had an antipasta of fish, squid, octopus, prawns and bread (lush) and then I had spaghetti with clams, prawns, tomato and zucchini (amazing but too much). However, there was a bit of a problem I got a fish bone stuck in my throat, right in the back of my throat. I was coughing and it really hurt, I went to the toilet to see if I could do something about it, like maybe make myself sick (which I can't and couldn't do!) but it wouldn't move, I tried to gargle with water and wine, I tried to swallow huge mouthfulls of spaghetti to dislodge it but nothing worked at all (poor Stuart, he offered to try and get it out too), anyway, I left it and hoped for the best. I woke up this morning and it is fine! I did however dream that my garden was flooded with water and loads of sea creatures were stranded there, octopus', fish and stuff and I had to rescue them! Never had a fish dream before!

Today, Sunday, I have been to the beach for most of the day, I enjoyed looking at the people there, one man in particular who obviously didn't want white marks from his small, small trunks so had them rolled down exposing most of his ass! And one woman who had a similar problem to one I had at Easter, she was at the beach in the boiling sun with no bikini, so she just stripped down to her underwear... I was pleased it is not just me!

All in all a good week full of sun and seafood (do frogs count as seafood?)

brief update

Where does time go, I feel like it was just a short time since I was last writing my blog but I realise now that it has been almost two weeks! That is the problem with not having the internet at home...

So, what has been happening in my life these last two weeks? Not too much really, I have been working, enjoying my classes loads actually, all of my students are so nice, even the crazy children! My kids classes over the last two weeks have been a bit mad as I have been giving them tests, but then I feel bad so the next lesson we play games and then they get too noisey so I think next time I will give them a test, and so on! They seem to be understanding me more which is a bonus! And, I am starting to understand them more too, my Italian is still terrible but now when people speak I can often understand what they mean or at least some of what was said, but I still can't answer them or join in!

I have a new flatmate, she is also Italian and we can't communicate with each other but she is very loud, together with my other housemates she is helping me understand Italian while I try to sleep! Her sister came to visit today and I had just had a shower, my door started rattling and I went to see if I was needed but there were about five Italians staring at me and then they all laughed and were embarassed as they were just trying all of the doors, I quickly got ready (had been in my towel) and then went to see who they were and the sister spoke to me in English which was good, wish she was living with me!!! My Romanian flatmate is still very odd, she opens her door and peers out when I walk past and she talks to me all the time about her illnesses and has kissed me twice since last time I wrote, once on my shoulder randomly after we had a long but barely understood conversation when I was trying to go to bed, the second when she shouted at me for walking around in bare feet when it was 'cold' so I put some shoes on and she was really happy!

Well, going now, we are off for a chinese meal tonight, should be nice. A change from pizza and pasta, though I have been eating some different things recently, including horse meat, which got a big reaction on Facebook. It was actually nice, sweet and sort of juicy, nothing like any other meat, it is a local speciality so I had to try it! I also ate a delicious meal last weekend of swordfish and prawns, the seafood season is here and everywhere is serving fish dishes, which I love! mmmmm hungry....

a midpoint update

So, I have now been in Catania for 10 weeks and in 10 weeks time it will be my last Sunday here, I have reched the halfway point of my stay here!

I a feeling kind of pleased about it, because that means in only 10 weeks I can go on my exciting trip with Stephanie, to Rome, Florence and Venice, and in 11 weeks I will be back home in Winlaton and will get to see everyone who I am missing.

I am also happy because the next 10 weeks are going to be great, I have had such fun here and am looking forward to having even more good times with my friends here, and the weather is improving all the time so now I can spend my free time sunbathing!

Last weekend was Easter so we had some time off work which was great, I needed a break as had been sick and still wasn't feeling my best. I went to a gorgeous beach on Thursday, a place called Gardini Naxos and relaxed all day in the sun, it was really hot, the only problem was that I have not got a bikini, my mam has sent me a parcel now with some more suitable beach clothing. When I got there and it was really hot I just took off my jeans and sunbathed in my vest and knickers! Well, nobody knew me there! I tried to shop for a bikini here but the weather isn't quite hot enough for the shops to be full of summer clothes and there were none in the shops I went to that fit...
I also went to Siracusa, a town not far from Catania and went to some Roman and Greek ruins, the wather was fantastic again and I was really sad that I didn't have my camera to take lots of pictures of me doing things that did not involve gin! I also took a little detour off the marked path and stole and orange and a lemon from the massive garden near the ruins! I didn't realise, however, that orange trees have thorns!!! I got a huge thorn stuck in my arm and still have a big mark on my arm from it!
I spend the next 2 days eating! On Easter Sunday (Pasqua) I went to my boss' house and had lots of lovely food and on Easter Monday (Pasquetta) I went to an agroturismo, a diversified farm, we ate for hours and dranks some delicious limoncello and then I watched the others ride horses (I don't really like horses) and we went shooting - however, we were the last group of the day and there were only 15 pellets left for us to use, so we had 3 shots each. I managed to hit 2 out of 3 so was pretty pleased with that! Then we played football but I had to sit out in the end as had totally innappropriate shoes on (pretty, silver shoes)and every time I kicked the ball my shoe flew off! I did score a few goals, with the ball and the shoe! All in all a very enjoyable day, and a really relaxing and lovely holiday.