Working in Roma

Ciao ciao, sorry for the long gap between posts. My internet in my apartment is currently a bit dodgy, which puts me off. (This is also the explanation for the absence of photos from Facebook...I'll add more as soon as I can get the quick method to work).

Anyway, things here are still good. There have been ups and downs recently, mainly due to the fact that I've started working properly, for a language school. I'm currently teaching part-time hours - about 3-4 a day on average - as work is quite hard to come by in Rome in the summer, but it feels full-time due to the fact that I'm doing alot of travelling. Almost all of my lessons are teaching "in-company", which means going into people's offices to teach "business english", usually one-to-one. It's VERY different from the group teaching I was doing at teacher training, and last week I really felt completely at sea - I was rushing around Rome, trying to navigate the (not particularly reliable) public transport system and locate addresses, then negotiating the generally non-English speaking receptionists and security desks, locating my students, and figuring out what the hell to do with them for an hour or two. Teaching one-to-one is weird; it's all on you and there's no option to just pair them up and make them practice exercises from the book together...but on the other hand in some ways it's much less stressful, and if they're fluent enough you can just chat to them and correct the odd mistake.

I've been yo-yoing between feeling fine, good and competent, and like a ridiculous cowboy who's taking money for nothing. I've been asked so many grammar questions about which I had no idea - "when do we use "did" in questions in the simple past and when is it not necessary?", for example...if you know off the top of your head I congratulate you, I had to research it and teach it at the following lesson! - and generally have felt very unprepared. Also, some of the office clients have a bit of an attitude and seem to intentionally set out to intimidate me, especially this one creepy guy who I see twice a week. Sample question: "How old are you, twenty?" and "when you grow up you'll understand this," etc. I feel really lame for not speaking/understanding much Italian, especially with elementary students: I'm happy teaching purely in English - that's what the CELTA training is all about, and I do think it's a good system - it's more about negotiating the pleasantries/practicalities. It makes me feel automatically wrong-footed, especially when students talk to each other and I don't understand. Must work on that.


ah...reunited

Anyway, aside from work, which is going much better this week, anyway, I have had some very good times recently. Jemima stayed last weekend which was fantastic - amazing to see her and so exciting to show her all the places in Rome that I love, show off my apartment and my friends, etc etc. We ate alot of very good pizza, drank way too much of everything and had loads of fun. We failed to get up early enough or be energetic enough to do much substantial sightseeing any of the days she was here, but she's been to Rome before so we decided our priorities lay elsewhere. It was so good catching up, and made me miss London more than I had up til now, really - all the in-jokes etc...they remind you what you're missing. We taught my Yank housemate alot of fun English colloquialisms...he is now fixated with the idea that we shorten all possible words and add "y"...cardy, sarnie, footy. I just introduced him and my Italian housemate Diego to the word "Blighty" - they found it hilarious.

me, Jemima and my American housemate Ben

I've been expanding my circle of Italian friends which is cool - this weekend just gone I went out clubbing with an Italian boy and his friends, which was both weird and fun...he started off by cooking me dinner at his apartment, and not to stereotype, but all italian guys can cook amazing meals in 3 minutes flat. He made me pasta with zucchini and cream and it was delicious...then we drove to Ostia, the nearby seaside town which appears to be the Blackpool of Italy, full of discos and arcades, and hit the clubs. I was amazed by all the cleavage and fake hair and nails on show...any delusions I had about Italians being sophisticated and different from trashy binge-drinking Britons have been well and truly destroyed.

It's weird with Italians my age - people here seem kind of younger, not necessarily in a bad way, but they do. Most people I meet of about 25 are still students (university lasts longer) and most still live with their parents (housing is expensive, it's not usual to leave your city for uni, and families tend to stay together much longer). On the other hand, people (especially the boys) are very attached to their cars/mopeds...I think it's the independence they symbolise. People marry very late and you see middle-aged men joking around in cafes calling each other "ragazzo"...which means young man/teenager. I commented on this to an Italian friend and she was like "yes, we stay young for longer here!" I think it's true.

I just got a lift home on my friend's scooter/moped/whatever you want to call it, and it was so much fun. Not really scary at all - I always thought passengers looked so precarious, like they're clinging on for dear life, but it was actually really comfortable and I didn't feel like I was in danger of falling off at all. I've got to get one...waiting around for buses in the heat (it's around 35 degrees this week) is driving me crazy. Also Metro line B does not have air-conditioning...torture.

I cooked some crazy giant pasta