I know, I know, I haven't written on here since February 26th. That's a long time... and a few of my faithful readers have asked if I'm ever going to write again. Well, here I am. I don't really know why I haven't written, as it hasn't been for want of doing things to write about. March was a pretty busy month at work as well though and I guess I just didn't really find the time, then got out of the habit of doing so. Or perhaps it's because I discovered a way to watch BBC iPlayer even from abroad, so have been able to amuse myself with good British comedy and rubbish British soaps again!!
Who knows whether I will write again after this, but as I've had a nice long weekend this week (a full two days!!) I've got a bit of spare time to bring this blog back up to speed!
A year ago today I was heading on holiday to Le Cinque Terre with Auntie Dee, having finished my Language Assistant placement, and having finished CELTA and thus qualified as a "proper" English teacher on May 28th. I honestly can't believe that was all only a year ago. Maybe it sounds like a bad thing to say that this year has felt much much longer than a year, but I don't mean it as a bad thing. I think it's just that I now feel quite settled and feel like I've been doing this longer. It's certainly been a whirlwind year, and I feel very lucky to have been offered a job where I was, as it's certainly given me a good grounding in the world of ELT, with experience in many different areas that I had none in before.
Things are winding down a bit now, with most of the group courses having finished (or nearly so, I still have a few this coming week), and fewer one-to-one students too. However, for 2 weeks from June 13th we're doing an intensive summer school with 11-13 year olds. Same set up as I was doing last year in Trentino, but different age group (that was 8-12). Hopefully it will be quite good fun, if tiring!! I did enjoy it last year...and this one is more like the one I did in August/Sept (mornings only - no sports afternoons!!). Then I've got another week with perhaps a few lessons here and there, before flying home on July 4th. Up to Dulwich on July 9th for the 6 weeks of summer school - I'll be in good practice by the end! Not totally convinced I am overjoyed to be doing 8 weeks of summer school now, but hopefully it won't kill me!! I'll also finally get to meet my baby nephew who was born on April 20th. I am definitely looking forward to a bit of UK time... and then I've booked 2 weeks in Taizé from 28th August to 11th September, before flying back here on 20th September. So, it's all go! No rest for the wicked...
Anyway, this will have to be brief I suppose, but here's a quick run through of some things that have happened since February 26th when I last wrote!
MARCH SUNDAY AFTERNOONS ETC
Continuing the tradition of Sunday afternoon trips with Carla and Renato, on the first Sunday of March they took me up to Gemona del Friuli, about an hour North of Udine in the mountains. This little town is famous because it was the epicentre of a major earthquake tragedy in 1976 (yup, it turns out Friuli is on quite a fault line). Just under 1000 people were killed, with a couple thousand more injured and several thousand made homeless. The Duomo was one of the buildings that was completely destroyed. It's a very pretty little town, and it was interesting to see the photos of the devestation and reconstruction that followed the earthquake on May 6th 1976 and the terrible aftershock on 15th September of the same year which caused further damage still. Here's the Duomo as it now stands... inside the pillars are at an incredible angle following the quake.
On the same afternoon, we headed on to another nearby town, Venzone, also hit by the earthquake. There's a famous pumpkin festival here in October, but it's also worth a visit just for the nice setting, surrounded by medieval city walls. You can also visit some interesting mummies that were found nearby...they're pretty gross to be honest.
This pic shows the damage in Venzone following the aftershock on 15th Sept 1976
Another little Sunday afternoon trip a couple of weeks later saw us taking advantage of the much brighter and warmer weather, going for a little walk in the countryside near to Pagnacco, a village not far from Udine. Finished the afternoon off with a proper gelato... might have been the first of the year actually!
Also in March I was taken out for pizza by one of my classes, and after the pizza we ended up heading into town for ice cream, and then on to a bar for cocktails, Uno and table football. All very civilized and lots of fun!! Going out with that same group again this Friday...I wonder if the same things will be involved this time!
The following day our choir sang in the Duomo at a Lent vigil. The Pentecost one is this coming Friday but it clashes with the above pizza night out...shame that they clash, but I've chosen to go out with my class!
APRIL EVENTS
At the beginning of April, Mum and Dad came to visit for a few days, and I think they'd agree that we had a lovely time jaunting about Friuli and beyond. I took them to Cividale on Saturday (see the last post) to share those delights with them. On Sunday we went to Trieste and managed to pack in most of the sights, some of which I hadn't been back to see since my first trip to Trieste in 2007. On Monday I was lucky enough to have the day off work (having worked on Saturday morning as usual while they explored Udine by themselves) and so I accompanied them to Treviso, where we spent the day together before they got the bus to the airport. I hadn't been to Treviso since going there in October 2006 for the Ombralonga wine festival (which no longer takes place) with ESN Trento (Erasmus Student Network), so it was nice to see the town without being heavily under the influence of sangria and wine!!
We did drink our fair share of Spritz during their visit... and good wine too. They took me back to "Ai Frati", a trattoria that I first went to before Christmas with a class. Had a true Friulano dish...polenta and frico. Don't dare imagine how many calories that plate held... check it out!!
The following week there was a fantastic (and free!) concert of Mozart's Requiem on in the Duomo which I was delighted to be able to go to. We arrived quite late and the whole place was totally packed...well worth it!
Afterwards we went on a wander round town in search of an open gelateria, but ended up going instead to the fairground which was set up in Piazza Primo Maggio. Carla dragged me on to the Pirate's Ship with her, something I haven't done for a long time, but very much enjoyed!! I wanted to go on so many other rides, but C & R had to go home and I wasn't about to go on them by myself... next year I'll be making a proper trip out of the fairground (or Lunapark as they call them here!).
On the 17th, we went to see "Alice in Wonderland the Musical" in Pordenone. Actually I went to visit the town first on my own during the day, and then met the others for the evening's entertainment. It was a lot of fun...quite difficult to understand in places as they were speaking very fast (even the Italians said they were struggling at times..) and singing, but it was enjoyable. Afterwards we went backstage because one of the male dancers was Renato's best man's son, so we went to congratulate him!
April 20th saw the birth of my nephew, as mentioned above. Perfectly timed to fit in just before I headed to Taize on the 21st, with a group from Veneto. Another little adventure... met some great people, and caught up with some friends from Brescia (from the group I went with last year), and generally had the usual good time that Taizé involves. It was a very short trip this year, we arrived quite late on Good Friday, and left on Easter Monday. It usually takes some time to get into the rhythm of Taizé and this year it did kind of feel like we'd been flung into the middle of it and then pulled away too soon as well. Going straight back to work when we got back didn't help, and this year it took me much longer to get back to normality. It is absolutely beautiful there at Easter and definitely well worth the experience, but I think now having done it twice I won't necessarily do it again. (I've said that about not going to Berlin at New Year for the European meeting too...we'll see whether or not I actually end up going to one/both...).
The Source at Taizé
MAY 2011
The big thing in May was going down to Ferrara with my housemate Rita to see the Palio di Ferrara. Very simliar to the famous Palio di Siena, only in Ferrara...it's actually older, dating back to 1259, but not as touristy. Very much a local tradition, these festivals see the several "contrade" of the town competing in various competitions to win flags and honour. They start with a huge procession through the town in medieval costume, with flag throwers, bands etc etc, and the event culminates in a square which has been turned into a race track. First the boys (i putti), then the girls (le putte) then the donkey race and finally the horses. The donkey race was the funniest as it took them ages to get them in the right place to start, then there were THREE false starts in a row, which takes ages because then they have to get them all back in the right place (and these donkeys just didn't want to BE in the right place) and then start again, three times... eventually they were off... we saw someone get de-donkeyed right in front of us, and trampled on by another donkey (but luckily he was ok!). All quite an excitement! Obviously the horses are the real thing though. It's the first time I've ever been to a horse race, although this is quite a different affair (bareback jockeys wearing the colours of the contrade they are representing), bribes and deals being made before everyone's eyes before the race (google Palio+bribery and you'll find loads of articles about this little affair...)... all quite interesting really! Good thing to experience once I guess...
Above: Rita and me in front of the Duomo, Ferrara. Below: Ferrara Castle
Above: Part of the Procession, one of the Contrada flags. Below: Another contrada's band
Below: Flag throwing during the final part of the procession
Above: Donkey race. Below: Horse race
JUNE 2011
don't think anything else happened in May really, and now it's June already! On the 2nd we had a day off for the bank holiday (Republic Day) which was very nice. Mid week bank holidays are great, though it would be even better if they also managed to work out that if a bank holiday falls on a Sunday, it's a good idea to move it to the nearest Monday... we've missed several this year because they've been Sundays (May 1st being one example!). Anyway, on the 2nd I experienced my first ever Italian grigliata. Now anyone who knows me will know that I'm not meat's biggest fan... well Italians like meat. A lot.
After eating, we played tombola (bingo) which was great fun, even if I had no idea what was going on at the beginning and had had far too much wine to be able to work out which numbers had or hadn't come up!! Anyway, all good fun. Followed by attending the latter part of a HUGE family party (an annual event on the 2nd) with Carla's extended (and there are LOTS of them) family! Afterwards, and after having had goodness knows how much alcohol (red wine, wine wine, Prosecco, dessert wine, whisky in coffee etc etc), Renato decided to hand me the keys to his car and ask me to drive it down 2 roads to meet him after he'd taken some rubbish up there. Absolutely hilarious... the first time I've driven since last September, and only the 2nd time in Italy, and I actually didn't remember at all as I was getting into the car quite how much I had drunk.... thank goodness it WAS only 2 roads!! Once I'd remembered that Italians never use the handbrake and leave the car in gear it was ok...took a while to manage to get it started with those problems though!! All good fun though... I do miss driving!!!
Last night I went to an open air concert of Gen Verde - an "international performing group" - the members are from 14 different countries. It was a spectacular show, but the best thing about it in my opinion was that we were sitting there in this stadium, totally open to the elements (from 9-11pm), and the whole time the show was going on you could see HUGE flashes of lightning just behind the stage, and hear the thunder, and yet we stayed totally dry! A miracle really, as on the drive home (about an hour back to Udine) we realised how wet it had got in other parts. So we were really lucky, and it certainly made it a very atmospheric experience!
Afterwards, just like Alice in Wonderland, we went backstage to meet one of the performers who Renato knew... the second show I've attended with them and the second time I've been backstage!! All good fun anyway, and after leaving at about 11.30pm we went on a quick wander around the village (Cordovado) where the performance had been... a very pretty little village which would be worth returning to in daylight if I can sometime!
So, there we go! That was a "short" run through of all the things I should have written about at the time but didn't, and now I'll try and remember to write again a bit more regularly!!
). I won't know whether I'm working Saturday or Sunday until I arrive, and it will probably change on a week to week basis. That's a shame as if I had Sundays off regularly I could get quite a good Anglican fix I'm sure! Either way I hope to visit my brother, sister-in law and baby nephew on my day off whenever I'm allowed! 
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