Whirlwind
18 May 2011 1 Comment
in Daily Life, Work Tags: Daily Life, Italy, teaching english, translation
Hi everyone. Sorry I have been missing but it has been an absolutely INSANE period in my life right now. I really don’t know what has happened. It has been tough for personal and work reasons and I am finding myself running around like a chicken with its head cut off. Run, run, run and getting nowhere fast, then collapsing in a heap at the end of the day, dead to the world.
We’ve been prepping for Trinity (International English Exams, 150 students, lots of strange parents) for the last few months, as we are an exam centre. This was my first year actually being on the organizing side and believe you me I have a much higher appreciation of the effort that goes into these things. First organize the courses, get the teachers, get the books, test the students at the beginning of the year, then again at Christmas, tell them what level they are, help them prepare their topics. Explain their topics to them, test them again. In the meantime, in the office, get all the kids registered, triple check misspelled names, catch the mistakes, triple check again, gather payments, send payments, get documents, battle with the fax machine (why do you hate me so?), make timetables, redo timetables three times (once was for a missing period – I mean come ON!) then tell the schools to tell the parents, parents complaining because the school haas scheduled the last field trip of the year on the same day (what’s more important here? English test for your child’s future or a field trip to Turin – a simple two-hour drive??!), then, and this is the best one, hysterical parents complaining that the tests happen during a weekday….and during school time! Well we have permission slips and half the school is doing it, the kids will not be punished FFS!! Parents who didn’t know about the test because their kids didn’t tell them and they didn’t bother to find out until the day before the test – other parents who never registered their kids in the first place but were convinced they had because they registered them in the course at the beginning of the year. Not the same thing people! Don’t you listen when we organise parent-teacher meetings and send out notices? Nope. Needless to say I think the parents are the worst part of the whole thing! So OT at work and add to that regular lessons, translations and daily things to do at work and you have this: overtired me, spread thin like not enough jam on a very large slice of bread and so the consequence is…I make mistakes. I screwed up three times in one week at work! So you have a very tearful me at the end of the day. The only thing I do is check my mail and crawl into bed, and just lay there listlessly.
I haven’t checked my blog, haven’t done any of the photography goals I’ve set myself to do this year and haven’t even read the book I’m supposed to be reading for my Book Club this month (sorry C!!)
Then add to the mix family drama on both sides of the pond and you have one very stressed out individual, oozing guilt from her every pore because I have totally pushed all my obligations aside just to handle this period in my life. Oh ya I also forgot – finances are at an all time low so of course I have had to give up the one thing that helped me to relax – my beloved yoga lessons 
I feel guilty because I spent too much money, guilty because I screwed up at work, guilty because I am ignoring my darling hubby and my adorable kitties who are desperate for attention, guilty because I haven’t been pursuing my hobbies and the work that goes with that (like blogging, checking out blogs, commenting and so forth). Guilty because there is stuff going on that I can’t fix and guilty because all I want to do is sit there and do nothing at all.
BUT I have done a few nice things and had some adventures (post office you say? No! City hall!!! That’s for another day though!) and done some nice things (like climbing a tree and picking cherries!) so I will do my best to post soon. But bear with me folks, I’ll get around to it sooner or later.
In the meantime…anyone know someone who needs a translator or editor???
Every Cloud has its Silver Lining
22 Dec 2010 7 Comments
in Daily Life, Italy, Wales, Work Tags: amt, Apricot and Brandy cheese, buses Genoa, Italy, traffic, washer
Yesterday I was reduced to tears. First they were tears of anger and frustration and, yes, hatred – then they turned into tears of happiness and love.
A couple weeks ago our washer broke and was leaking water (we bought it in April here people). I phoned the customer service number (NOT toll free) and waited on hold listening to cheesy music and recorded voices for 20 minutes guaranteeing them a slight income from my phone call, only to have a machine tell me to leave a message with the reason for my call, contact information and they would call me as soon as possible. I did. One week and a huge pile of dirty clothes later, still nothing. So, I took the battle to a higher level – I wrote them on the website putting myself in Cc so they would know I was serious. Within three hours I was miraculously contacted (!) by a young lady who told me that the repair man would be at my house Tuesday morning from 830 onwards (more precise times – no of course not) and that of course I would have to pay for the repair and the call. But isn’t the machine still under warranty? It’s only six months old, and we paid extra for an extended warranty! No, sorry, service is free for the first six months, and the six months finished for you just two days ago. (Blood pressure rises, but I keep my peace).
Yesterday morning at 830 I was dressed and ready waiting for this man. I didn’t dare do anything overly important since I knew I could be interrupted any minute. I waited until 1pm (morning, was it?) – again my blood pressure rose, but I kept my peace and forked over 60 Euros. Got ready and went to work (all my mornng plans of course in the trash).
Work went well, and I finished at exactly 730. I bundled up and stepped out of the building into the freezing wind and driving rain. I went to my bus stop and waited for my bus (number 14). (Note, I live about 30 min bus ride out of the downtown area, in the “suburbs” so to speak). Two buses going about halfway to my house (Rimessa Gavette) went by in over 30 minutes. At the third one, I realised that it was hopeless, and at least this way I would get closer to home (it would have still been about a 40 minute walk!) and end up with the possibility of one extra bus to take me home (nos. 14 and 13). I got on the bus and warmed up. Warned Andrea that I had no idea when I would get home, and please eat without me, then got off, back in the wind and rain, and waited. Oh look, bus! Rimessa Gavette. 5 minutes. Oooh 2 buses! Rimessa Gavette, Out of Service. OK. 10 minutes. I can no longer feel my legs. Bus? Rimessa Gavette, Rimessa Gavette, Out of Service. OK I’ll ask the next bus driver what the HELL is going on. Stop the next Rimessa Gavette. Ask bus driver. Answer, Look lady I don’t know! Thanks for being so kind to me buddy. Back in the cold rain. No feeling in my nose, ears or fingers or toes. Point of the story? In 40 minutes waiting SEVEN Rimessa Gavette and THREE Out of Service went by and finally, like a giant can of sardines, a 14 came trudging up to the stop and loaded on yet another hoard of bitching, angry bickering passengers, including myself. I was poked at by bags and umbrellas from every direction, but my fury kept me tall.
I got in the house and just started crying and swearing. How could I possibly have arrived at 9 o’clock when I left work at 730? I don’t live THAT far away after all? Why was no-one helpful? Why did no one tell us what was going on? How hard would it have been for the bus driver to say, Look there’s a problem, call a taxi? They have radios, cell phones, luminous boards! So many ways, yet nothing was used!
But my thunderous clouds were dispersed by a warm hug, a steaming bowl of hot tortellini made with love by hubby, a surprise phone call from a good friend in Canada, just to wish me a Merry Christmas, and three letters waiting for me: A Christmas card from my Mom, my best friend (with pictures, and a home made card from her daughter), and a package from Wales, containing one of the most delicious cheeses in the world – Welsh Apricot and Brandy. I cried again, but this time with happiness. Oceans have not stopped the affection and love I have of so many people, and I came home to a wonderful loving man and two purring balls of fur. So there, in the end, was my silver lining.
Day 22: Italian Emigration
22 Nov 2010 11 Comments
in Daily Life, Italy, NabloPoMo, Work Tags: abroad, competition, Italian Emigration, Italy, job opportunity, Na.Blo.Po.Mo, work
The other week I wrote about immigrants in Italy, well today I am going to talk about Italian emigration. A few weeks ago, I came across this article in Time Magazine’s online version. It speaks about the Great Escape of all the good Italian brains abroad. This article is really well written and (living here I can see it), truthful. I teach English as you well know, and you will not believe the boom in young people, fresh out of university or still in it, that are coming to us to get internationally recognised English Language Certification, or to do the IELTS or TOEFL tests for immigration and study purposes. When you ask them why, the answer is always the same: We have no opportunity for work here.
The other day, I received a comment from a girl named Elena on my blog. She is Italian and she moved to Canada. Why? As she writes in this post, she had no opportunity.
Even my husband, who is extremely attached to his family (only child, boy, Italian – you do the math) has moments where he is like, screw this! I am going to look for a job out of the country! I don’t know if this will ever happen, it will be a last resort I am sure, as I said he is very attached to his parents, but how is it possible that an engineer, in a specialised field can earn barely enough money to cover rent and living expenses. He is consistently unable to put money aside. How are we supposed to have a family when the two of us can barely make ends meet?
And he is not the only one mind you – many friends of his have just picked up and left, some went just across the border to Switzerland – only a few hours away. They are happy earning lots and getting ahead in their careers.
This is a problem that goes back to the beginning so to speak. People cling to their jobs. The mentality is that they get in one, stick to it for life, and just do their duty, nothing more. The problem is, no-one moves up, there is no development, no competition. People who are active and want to improve are stuck. They leave. Young people want to come into a new job? Sorry can’t hire, to many oldies still working here, even though they should have retired years and years ago. Politics is the greatest example of this – the sex-loving Berlusconi is 79. But I won’t get into this – it’ll be for another post.
In general, Italians don’t like change. I understand this, but sometimes change is good. And incentivizing merit-based promotions is an excellent way to get the competition going and pull this country out of the stagnant puddle it is in. Unfortunately, it seems like the only people who have realized this, can’t make their voices heard, and so, in silence they take the next flight out of here, to a country that might just listen to them.
Day 20: Sleep is the Best Remedy
20 Nov 2010 1 Comment
in Canada, NabloPoMo, Work Tags: english-teaching, ESL, Na.Blo.Po.Mo, sleep
And it’s true!
I’ve had a nasty week. Two teachers out at the same time, reduced staff + increased lessons = stressed administrative staff, i.e. yours truly. Also, since we didn’t have enough teachers to cover everything, I had to do some subbing myself, which is fine, I love teaching, but as soon as I came out of the classroom between one lesson and the other, I was (rightly) asked about administrative things and had to multitask that at the same time as tell my student that I was his/her sub and get them in the classroom ASAP.
Phew! Of course the stress caused me to dream about work – oh yes, it happens! And I am a light sleeper as is so even when Andrea got up to go to the bathroom at night, I would hear him, wake up and the brain would kick in. Please. Just. Stop. NO!
But, yesterday was Friday, and the good news is that both teachers are back next week and we are happy to get back to normal! And I went out last night for a good meal and a great film (Harry Potter!!). We got home late, around 230 but I was so relaxed and tired I touched the bed and I was gone, slept straight through until 1030. Solid. Like a log.
I feel like a new person. I am energized and motivated, and have done a tonne of stuff in just a few short hours today.
So it is true – sleep is the best medicine!
Day 12: On the Fly
12 Nov 2010 Leave a Comment
in Daily Life, NabloPoMo, Work Tags: Daily Life, Na.Blo.Po.Mo, work
Dressed: Check
Animal flashcards + memory game for 3 year old hellion…oops…students: check
Bag ready to go: check
Granola bar packed (no lunch today): nope (note to self – remember or you’ll be starving later!)
Phone in bag: check
Cats fed and drugged: check
No cat locked on balcony by mistake: oh dear….
Daily post on blog: check – as of….
NOW!
Day 5: Gulp!
05 Nov 2010 4 Comments
in Daily Life, NabloPoMo, Work Tags: children, english-teaching, Na.Blo.Po.Mo, sheep puppet
Yesterday we held a staff meeting at work, and things ended up that someone (yours truly) was assigned a last-minute class. No problem you say, but what if you only had less than 24 hours to prepare yourself to teach English to a class of 3-year-olds? That’s right, my reaction exactly – Gulp! – Swallow hard and start thinking.
Last night I was exhausted and tried to sleep, but between my beloved but snoring husband, and the many ideas coming into my head and then being discarded as “too lame”, “for older kids” and “what are your thinking?” sleep was a long time coming. And then it came to me! Brilliant! The kids couldn’t look to me, they would be terrified, but what they need is a friend…a plush toy or something that will be making the English teaching process fun! Then we can learn and play and colour and, it’s only an hour, they’ll survive, right? It’ll pass, RIGHT?! So I thought a puppet would be the perfect answer. Plenty of puppets on the internet, a darn shame that none of those puppets would ever get here by this afternoon A quick trip to the nearby toy store this morning told me that if I wanted a puppet, I would probably spend the rest of the day looking for it. Alrighty then. I can handle this. I have a little sheep that came with one of those lovely comfy fleece blankets that are perfect for couch snuggling. The little sheep is hollow. He can work as a puppet, right? The only problem is he is HUGE, there is no way I can make his little legs move like arms, and his head isn’t hollow and just sort of hangs there. Hmmm. I have just finished inventing an internal pulley system with ribbons to try and make him move. If all else fails he will remain draped on my arm and move his giant head slowly to talk to the kids. Now…I just hope this doesn’t frighten the poor suckers!
I’ll take my little sheep, but stop by just one more toy store first – maybe I’ll get lucky!?
Day 4: Whaaaat???….Zzzzzz…..
04 Nov 2010 1 Comment
in Daily Life, NabloPoMo, Work Tags: Na.Blo.Po.Mo, teaching english, work
Day 4, in under the wire. Must…post. Exhausted. Long, long loooooonnng day. This morning the alarm went off at 630. Yes I know, 3/4 of the world gets up at that time, but I’m no spring chicken anymore, I’ve gotten used to waking up a bit later, like 730ish even 8 would be nice…once upon a time, when I was in university I would get up super early but not anymore!
Going back to teaching has been great, and working at managing the school as well has been cool and definitely a learning experience – BUT I had forgotten what the running around was like and the out of class preparation and marking and the travelling in of itself, and the long (or short) breaks in between, just not used to it anymore!
Wow, notwithstanding my dozing in front of the keyboard I actually wrote two paragraphs! Does that count as a post for Na.Blo.Po.Mo? Me hopes 
Good night guys…I’m sure I’ll have some more to say tomorrow, I swears!
Fame
30 Oct 2010 4 Comments
in NabloPoMo, photography, Work Tags: contest, Daily Life, gattile, photography, pound
Quite a while ago, I entered a photo contest held by the local pound. I had already entered it previously, and didn’t win, but just for fun I thought I would enter it again, plus the fee was for charity, so it was all good.
I sent in a few pictures of Honey and a few pictures of Skitty. Well, actually, WE send in the pictures. Andrea had taken a few, but the whole entry was in my name.
The time when the winners were announced was when I was up to my neck in wedding preparations, so I never went. Although Andrea stopped by the show and saw the winners and the pictures.
What we didn’t know was that this year, in order to help with the fund-raising, the pound actually put out a calendar. The calendar contains images that were considered good enough to be published, even though they didn’t win.
This morning, I went to do a lesson, and my student’s mother says, Oh Elora, did you know about the calendar? What calendar? The one you are published in! Published??? Yes! I got you a copy! Oh she was so sweet and lo and behold, in the month of April I saw my princess staring right back at me, with my name under it!
How exciting! My first publication!!! There was only one problem…it is the one shot Andrea took, not me!
Living in the Modern Age
07 Oct 2010 4 Comments
in Daily Life, Work Tags: computer, english-teaching, mouse
At the school we are now doing testing and registrations for the upcoming year’s courses. Yesterday I tested a little girl, about 9 years old. Part of the testing involves showing the child a picture with lots and lots of colourful animals and objects on it. It is quite cluttered but it is one of those pictures where you have to figure out how many things are in it.
Here is the conversation:
Me: How many pears are htere?
Girl: Eleven
Me: Good! Show me something red.
Girl: This!
Me: Very good! Now show me a mouse.
Girl (looks intently at picture): Ummm…there is no computer – I can’t find the mouse!
Me (to myself): Gasp!
Like a Brother
30 Sep 2010 2 Comments
in Daily Life, Italy, Work Tags: books, come un fratello, ornella rossi
A couple of years ago, I was given a Saturday morning student. Her and I got along really well, and through the years, kept in touch. Over this time I have seen her grow and develop into an even more confident woman than I could have ever imagined.
On one of our dinners, she told me she was writing a book. I felt so proud of her, and even more so when, a few days later, I received a text message: I found a publisher! A few months later, I was holding her book in my hand. The title is Come un Fratello (Like a Brother). I finally finished it today – and I must say, Ornella, that I liked it very much! It is a mystery story with a very unexpected twist at the end.
I know that a lot of my readers don’t read Italian, but I thought it would be nice to post a link to her Myspace Page as well as to a site where I saw her book for sale.
I am simply just really truly proud of this woman who has accomplished so much in such difficult circumstances! Brava Ornella!!
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