Today I returned to Cividale del Friuli, a gorgeous little Lombard town about 19km from Udine. It was actually the first place I visited from Udine, back on October 3rd. That time I was taken by my new Italian friends, and we had a lovely walk around but didn't visit anything inside. This time I wanted to spend some more time doing the sights and museums, and again took advantage of the splendid sunny day (last time it was a bit dull)

This is the Natisone river. Breathtakingly picturesque. You stand on the so called Devil's Bridge and look across at this... it's incredibly beautiful.  Just look at that sky! Have I ever mentioned that I love blue sky?! hehe. 

Had a lovely time wandering through the little old streets. Of course it reminded me a lot of the first trip there, which was less than 3 weeks after I first arrived in Friuli. It's amazing to think how much time has passed and how much better I know those friends (at the time I barely knew them at all really!). 

Apart from wandering and enjoying the weather, I also got a combined ticket to the Archaelogical Museum, the Cathedral Museum and the Lombard Temple/Monastery complex. The former two both had things of interest, but the Lombard temple was the most interesting.  
I also went down in some odd Celtic cave thing. You had to ask for the key from the bar next door, and let yourself in and go exploring. I couldn't get the light to work so I had to get the guy to come and help me! Good fun though... little bit spooky down there. There was this bit of rock which really looked like a scary face - not sure whether it actually IS a scary face or not, but I didn't spend long down there on my own I can tell you!! 

The Lombard Temple - Il tempietto longobardo

l'Ipogeo Celtico - scary face/rock formation on wall! 

ETA: Just re-reading my Rough Guide to Italy, I found this said about the above faces - so it wasn't just me who was unsettled!! "The hypogeum was probably used as a tomb for Celtic leaders between the fifth and second centuries BC, but there is still some dispute as to whether it's artificial or was merely adapted by its users. Either way, the spectral faces carved on the walls make it a most unsettling place."

Anyway, two trips in the space of 4 days! Now the weather's looking up, it just makes me want to go to as many places as possible! 
Cividale is very much Friulan - here's the extend of my Friulano for you! It's the Friuliano word for 'ciao'. Though spelt with an 'a', it sounds to my ear like the first part of Monday!  

Since I have neglected to update this since February 6th, I'd better update with the news re the summer - all sorts of things have happened since I last wrote! (Two blogs in one day - aren't you lucky!)

In the end, I applied to three different summer schools. All with some family ties/interest... one based near Somerset, one based in Horsham and one based in Dulwich. Somerset/London were about equal in my mind in terms of the deal (responsibilities, hours, pay, dates, length etc). But, Dulwich just tipped it because of the location - being close to Alex and Caroline (if they are around!) and the new niece/nephew (I'm going with nephew , but we'll see!). The Horsham one was less favourable in terms of pay, and much more difficult in terms of date as it had an earlier start date. But as a back up, it was worth applying. So, once the applications were all sent out, I waited. 

So, first I heard from the school who run the Dulwich one, asking me for a phone interview, which we arranged for last Tuesday evening (9pm).  I had the interview, and was offered the job on the spot (informally - needed to await formal paperwork). 
The following day I heard from the Horsham school, asking me for a phone interview. Not having heard from the Somerset one, I initially decided to go ahead with this one, in case it all fell through with the other one... but then realised the dates would no longer work (as in the meantime I had booked my flight home - yay!) and so cancelled it.  
On Friday, I had an email from the Somerset school, informing me that they had been expecting to do a phone interview with me that day, and had rung while I was teaching, but upon checking their sent items had realised the email had never got to me to confirm this interview!  I re-arranged it for today (Weds) while still awaiting the paperwork for Dulwich. 

Finally, I received all the paperwork from the London school yesterday and have signed my provisional contract (got to get a CRB check etc etc). Woohoo!

So, my summer now looks like this:
End June - finish this academic year
July 4th - fly to Bristol
July 9th? - move to London (residential boarding school accommodation)
July 10th - Induction. Work for 6 weeks until August 22nd.
August 22nd - back to Taunton.
End August/beginning Sept - hopefully to Taizé for a couple of weeks before returning to Italy for the new academic year around mid-Sept 

Yay! That means almost all the decision are made... just the big one of where to live now! I've been weighing up pros and cons, and there are many many pros for staying here, but the cons are still swaying me towards moving IF I can find somewhere affordable to move to!

Oh, and I'm not quite sure why I'm so excited about having signed my summer away. It's going to be a ridiculously busy and exhausting 6 weeks. Four 90 minute lessons a day Mon-Fri (which doesn't leave much time for planning: basically it's a 9-5.30 day but will undoubtedly end up being longer. With TEENAGERS (12-17 year olds). Gosh, at the moment having teenagers for 1.5 hours three times a week is bad enough - times that by four and then by five.... EEK. 
Plus, on 3 days a week we have to wake the kids up from 7-8am. SEVEN AM. Plus if we are housed off site, that means walking and being at the boarding houses for SEVEN AM. That means being up and ready at like 6.30am. My body clock will not like this! It's not set to that kind of time!! Anyway, then there is also optional attendance at the evening events from 7.30-9.30pm, and compulsory excursion accompanying on one of the weekend days. 
So, it's going to be a 6 day full on week... I will be dead by the end and will certainly need 2 weeks in Taizé to recover!! 
But, with all those challenges, I'm excited about it... it'll be a good experience, and I think I will probably enjoy it overall. At the end of the day, I need to work, I need to get more experience in that area, I need some UK based experience, and whether I end up loving or hating it, I will get through it!! I do love a challenge

The good thing is, if I totally hate this school this year, next year I can apply to one of the others! Both of them replied to the emails that I sent to cancel the interviews by saying that they'd be pleased to hear from me next year...

Oh and... I had a lovely birthday the day after I last wrote. I have to say, I've never felt so lucky on my birthday. I have fantastic friends, a fabulous family and amazing colleagues who all helped to make it a wonderful day. Plus, the cakes I had made didn't turn out quite so bad in the end... or at least everyone was very polite about them!!  

I have also done my first workshop at work. These are extra, fun lessons that take place on Saturday mornings  - open to all of our registered students. I had decided to do a Valentine's theme, and went for a mix of traditional (a Shakespeare sonnet) and modern (Speed Dating). I spent far too long preparing it (read: worrying about it), but it was worth it as it was a success and the students all seemed happy at the end. The best bit was getting direct feedback from some lovely ladies who came back to congratulate me and to chat...you don't often get nice feedback in person from students (or I don't anyway!) so it was really nice to hear how enthusiastic they were about the whole thing!!  My next one isn't until the end of April... better start thinking about it now then 

 BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

Non-fiction: Gino D'Acampo's "Gino's Pasta". I got this for my birthday from a friend. I've only cooked one recipe from it so far, but it was SO incredibly delicious (and simple too) that I can't wait to work my way through the rest of the recipes, and want to share them with everyone!! Seriously, I have never been so excited about pasta before!

Fiction: One Day by David Nicholls. Another birthday present - a fantastic novel which I finished on the coach today. Well worth a read...

Fiction/Non-fiction: The Castle in the Pyrenees by Jostein Gaarder. One of my favourite authors. I've just finished reading this in Italian (I've read all the others in English, but since they're all translated from Norwegian it doesn't make a huge difference). Brilliant book. It is a novel, but the themes are Gaarder's usual: philosophy, science, religion. Really interesting and intense, but ultimately very moving and enjoyable. 

Next up: Everything is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer. I read Extremely loud and incredibly close or whatever it was called, and absolutely loved it. I've heard mixed things about this one though, so I'm looking forward to seeing what it's like. 

Aquileia (in Friuli-Venezia Giulia), one of the largest and wealthiest cities of the Early Roman Empire (180/181 BC), was destroyed by Attila in the mid-5th century. Most of it still lies unexcavated beneath the fields, and as such it constitutes the greatest archaeological reserve of its kind. The patriarchal basilica, an outstanding building with an exceptional mosaic pavement, played a key role in the evangelization of a large region of central Europe.

Romulus and Remus statue under the bell tower

I've had the past two Wednesdays completely free, since both group courses I previously had that day have now finished, and new ones have not yet begun... bliss!
Last week the weather was fairly miserable, so I had a lovely relaxing day at home. Today the forecast was for sun sun sun, so I decided to go somewhere! Top destination on my list was the city described above - Aquileia. I particularly wanted to see the mosaics in the main Basilica. According to my rough guide, this mosaic carpet is the earliest surviving remnant of any Christian building, and it was definitely worth the visit. So nice to finally be able to go somewhere! 

Aquileia is approximately 45km from Udine, and 10km from the sea at Grado (where I went during the afternoon). So, at 9am I caught the bus, having had a lovely breakfast in my new-favourite cafe which is near the bus station. An hour later, I was within sight of the Basilica. The town itself is tiny, so everything is an easy walk, and easy to find because it's all right by the main road! 

First stop: the Basilica. The mosaics depict various episodes inspired by biblical stories, e.g. Jonah and the Whale, as well as Roman imagery. You can pick up a leaflet which guides you along the platform, pointing out the most interesting things. Below you can see some of the fishing scenes, and a fight between a tortoise and a cock. 

Anyway, Grado is lovely because it also has a beautiful little historic centre. It's made up of little alleys and squares just like Venice and I enjoyed visiting the main sites there too.

  

All in all, a lovely day out! Back to work tomorrow..! No Wednesday off next week unfortunately, although I'm not starting until 6pm on Monday! New student on Tuesday though... it's all change! Lots of one-to-one students have finished recently, as well as all the groups. Only got 5 groups at the moment (3 of which are teens...).

Apparently February arrived while I wasn't looking? Gosh, today's the 6th (just - it's 1am - what am I doing up?), which means tomorrow is the 7th, and we all know what that means 

The answer to the "what am I doing up?" question is that this week I have been doing most of my work at this time of night. I think perhaps a slack period in my timetable (compared to some of the reallllllly busy periods we've had, this week has been quite quiet for me with lots of students and groups having just finished) has meant I'm not really tired enough in the evening, so instead of sleeping I've been getting things done. It's report writing week for the teens which I have been slightly obsessing over. Thankfully they are finished now and I can get on with middle-of-the-night grammar sessions instead. That's both "Grammar for ELT teachers" and "Grammatica avanzata della lingua italiana". Oh I DO lead an exciting life don't I! Sad. 

Anyway, the order of tonight isn't grammar but applications. Yes, since my last post, I have made some of those decisions I was talking about. 

1. I think my first choice will be to return to the UK this summer. It'll be really good to get some experience working with multilingual groups, and more experience of teaching teenagers in a different setting. I'm already excited about the prospect and really hope I get one of these jobs! I've only applied for two so far but I have suddenly found several that I'm really keen on so I'm churning out applications. Tailoring them all to the specific requirements is so time consuming!
They're all in different locations (some near home/family, some totally random). Any of them will be good. Some of them have the problem of starting very early in July. My contract here goes until the end of June and I don't particularly want to rush immediately into the next job. Might have to though...
I am quite disappointed that most of them will prevent me from going to Taizé around the time I wanted to (first week of August), but I expect I'll be able to go the first week of September instead. Might not get to use my brand new Christmas/birthday present tent though!

2.Very excitingly, I have had my mind put to rest about next year. As I said last time, I wasn't expecting to know about this for ages, but when I was checking with my boss that he was happy to give me a reference for these summer jobs, he also said (without me asking, obviously) that there would "definitely be a place" for me there next year if I wanted to come back. YAY! I was literally jumping up and down when I got that email! So so happy - I'm over the moon to know I can stay here, it's really put my mind at rest. I've been saying for ages that I just wanted to spend at least 2 consecutive years in the same place, and I'm really glad that I will now be able to do so! Just the big decision of where to live/whether to bring my car or get a car (which are slightly tied together as if I want somewhere to park, I'd have to move to somewhere which has parking space available as the school car is in the school flat's garage!).  Anyway, plenty of time to worry about that later...

I should probably go to sleep now. Last night I was out playing darts until quite late! Yup... darts. It was BRILLIANT fun! We had choir rehearsal and then afterwards I went with Francesco, Roberto and Daniela to this bar outside of Udine where they have loads of pub games. Beer + darts - brilliant! So glad I'm getting to spend more time doing social things with those guys these days.  (see, it's not ALL about grammar  )

Oh and this afternoon was spent failing to make a cake. I'm quite exhausted after all my failed culinary efforts. Don't ask for details because I don't want to talk about it!!! 
Buona notte!  

It's January. It seems way too early to be thinking about the summer, but if it were you who were facing the prospect of 3 months with no pay over the summer, and you saw that applications for several summer camps are open NOW, you'd be worried too!

Yeah...the joys of being an EFL teacher. Contracts go from October-June, which means those lovely three months - July, August, September - with no work and no pay. The no work bit sounds blissful, but if there is rent to pay... 

DECISION NUMBER ONE
To work or not to work?
Wouldn't it be lovely just to have a few months with no job. I've got lots of other things I would like to do. Things I plan to do (time spent at home; last week of July and first week of August in Taizé, for instance). Realistically, I could probably put aside enough to see me through those summer months if it were just a question of living costs (not rent), but that would mean definitely coming home for the whole time, and really I'd like to do like last year and be in Italy for at least some of the time. But that's where the problem lies... if I want to stay in Italy, I need to pay rent on my flat, which would be near impossible with no money coming in. OR, I put all my stuff in storage (maybe even with a friend) and go off and do residential Italian summer camps. Last year it was easier to decide. I finished work at the end of May, I was able to afford the (cheaper) rent over the summer, so I went gallivanting off doing a month at Italian summer camps, went home for a bit, went to Taizé for a week, came back and did another 2 week summer camp, had a few weeks off and then started this new job. 
Actually, I'd much RATHER work...not only from a financial point of view.  What a shame there aren't really summer schools in Friuli! I did enjoy the Trentino camps last summer, although I have to say I preferred the latter one which was teaching only (no trying to teach 8-12 year old Italians how to play rounders in blazing hot sunshine!)

DECISION NUMBER TWO
Italy or England?
If I decided to do summer school again, I might just as well go back and do them in the UK - much better paid, good set-up in many cases (teaching mornings only with separate staff leading the afternoon activities etc etc). Good for professional development and experience (more experience with kids, multilingual classes, exam teaching at some etc). I've got my eye on one or two good ones, not a million miles away from home either. They totally ruin my 2 weeks in Taizé plan though, and would mean I couldn't really spend any time in Italy as they cross over July-August (half way through each), so it's not like I could say "ok, I'll spend July in Italy and then work in England in August" or vice versa. I suppose I could do July/August in England then come back for September. Hmm.

DECISION NUMBER THREE
To move or not to move?
Once I've decided whether I'm spending the summer in England or in Italy, working or not working, I need to decide about my room and whether to keep it over the summer or not. I'm assuming that's even an option. Of course at the present time I have no idea whether I will actually be able to stay in my current job next year or not. Can't count any chickens, who knows what the situation will be. If I were thinking along the lines of being back here in the same situation in October (which would be my ideal), then I'd need to decide whether to stay in this school flat, or whether to try and get a place on my own. Location wise, the flat is ideal, and I absolutely love it, and it's so much easier just having the rent taken out of my pay etc. The downsides are that it's not exactly cheap (50% more than what I was paying last year) and I'm sharing with 2 students, which isn't what I want to be doing at the grand old age of (nearly) 26 (not that they aren't nice, just that it's time I had my own space!!).  But, I really can't worry about that aspect until I know whether I even have a job here next year. But I won't find that out for ages! 
Of course, if I DON'T have a job here next year then I'll be looking for one elsewhere in Italy! Perhaps I'll have to go back to one of the now THREE schools who have contacted me in January asking if I might be available now! That would mean another big move though, which I would do anything to avoid. I just want to be in the same place for at least 2 years running for once. I really like it here. So, fingers crossed everyone!

Anyway, back to the summer...the trouble is, all the decisions merge into each other a bit. If I do X, I might be able to do Y or Z, but if I do Y I might be able to do Z or even X. Argh! But, if I decide to do UK summer camps, I need to apply NOW! The one I've got my eye on most of all looks a bit scary though - classroom observations etc. Being observed is horrible at the best of times - being observed during a 6 week summer camp, with children...well, what a nightmare! But, it would be very good for me. Of course competition will be strong for that one (and others) anyway, so can't count chickens there either. Maybe I should just apply and see what happens and then worry. At least the Italian camps won't be organised until much nearer the time  

I've had a really very nice weekend indeed. A good way to end the first week back at work, which hasn't been too traumatic at all! No new students yet, so there weren't any surprises and it's been a good week. 

On Friday night, after finishing with the teens and UCAS form amendments (helping out with a personal statement took me back a few years...gosh, to think we had to do it on paper not electronically!), I went with a group to Medeuzza, near San Giovanni al Natisone, to the monthly Taizé prayer there. It was really really nice... especially nice to be able to go - it's the first one I've been able to, as usually on Fridays we have choir and so can't. The fact that choir hasn't started up again yet meant we could go. I would actually go occasionally (missing choir) if I had any way to get there...or rather to get home. Trains go to San Giovanni al Natisone at about the right time, but there aren't any coming back late enough after so I'd be stranded. 

Another Rotterdam photo, while I'm talking about Taizé things for a change... (oops, sorry!)

Then, on Saturday afternoon I went, with the same lovely people, to the post Rotterdam meeting. The groups from San Giovanni al Natisone and from Gemona talked about their experiences and showed some photos and video clips. I was the only one who had been hosted in a family in Rotterdam and do feel quite glad that I was! But, of course everyone had had a great time, and it was interesting to hear different perspectives. I chickened out of telling them my experiences which I really regret now, I should have just been brave! But there were about 30 people there and I froze! That said, I did talk a bit about going to Taizé at Easter a bit later on... and could really have just talked about Rotterdam. One day I will have enough confidence to speak Italian in front of lots of people!! Or even in front of just a few people!!! 

Afterwards I was invited to Francesco's house for pizza and fun. Bit of a saga getting there... the Taizé meeting was on one side of town, and I thought "ok, I'll get the bus back to the station and then get the bus from there to San Gottardo". Well, I was already late and a bit stressed, and then the bus I was on (which should have gone to the station) ended its course and threw me off...in the middle of nowhere... I had no idea where I was, or where to go, and luckily have very kind friends here who came and rescued me! The evening was really nice. Actually, it was the first time I have really had a really relaxed evening of good fun (I mean in a smaller gathering with select people, rather than with a lot of people in a more chaotic atmosphere) and I REALLY enjoyed it. The game of choice was Monopoly, or should I say "Monopoli".

Now, I might be a bit biased, but the Italian version isn't a patch on the original! I didn't actually play but it was good fun watching... the boys reminded me so much of playing with my older brother (competitive etc!!). Left about midnight and got a lift home. It does feel strange to have gone from being the one to give people lifts home (in Bristol, for example) to being always reliant on other people to collect me, take me home etc. Buses stop quite early on which is a real pain. I feel like I have lost a bit of independence because of that, and I do hope I'll be able to get a car or some form of transport out here at some point... (but if I stay in this flat next year there's nowhere to put a car as the school car is in the garage...). Ideally I'll be living on my own next year anyway, but that poses problems of its own. Lots to think about for next year! Got to sort out the summer first, as potentially working in the UK might affect what I can do out here (as the plan is NOT to have to take all my stuff back and forth...I've accumulated far too much for that to be practical). 

Today I woke up really late in the morning. Then I decided I'd better do something with my afternoon, and when I looked out of the window it looked like a gorgeous blue sky day, so I decided to make the most of it and go to Gorizia, a town I've been meaning to visit. It's right on the Slovenian border and has a fantastic castle.

I got on the train and then realised the sky had turned really grey. When I first got into the town centre (about a 20 minute walk from the station) the sky had actually gone back to being blue, as in this picture:

While I was up at the castle, a dense fog started falling. The views are supposed to be stupendous back over the old city and over the whole surrounding area,  but I unfortunately couldn't see a thing! I'll have to go back! Still, what I did see was impressive, especially before the fog fell

Porta Leopoldina  

The castle before the fog fell

Looking across to Slovenia

Cappella di Santo Spirito by the castle

The church of San Ignazio seen through the fog from the castle
 

 Influences of Slovenian and Germanic cultures...

 I also took a detour to visit the Methodist Church.  
It's linked to the one in Udine (which I didn't get on with).
A far more impressive church though, this one...

I also bought myself a book in UBIK. There was a 30% off sale and I couldn't resist when I walked in and saw a book by one of my favourite authors, which I had meant to buy last year but then bought something else instead. The author is the  Norwegian, Jostein Gaarder, author of Sophie's World. I have all of his books in English, but last year I noticed this one in Italian which I didn't recognise, and then discovered it hadn't yet been translated into English (but strangely had into Italian...). I had forgotten all about it until now. I see that it did come out in hardback last year in English, but isn't due out in paperback until May. So, I'll give it a go in Italian...hope my philosophical Italian is up to it! It's called The Castle in the Pyrenees.

I've discovered that there might be a way to get to Llubjana. The problem I had encountered when trying to find a way to get there before was that for some reason there's only one train a day, even though it's only about a 3 hour journey, which leaves at 11pm and gets there at 2am! Now the last thing I really want to be doing is arriving in a foreign city, in a country where I don't speak the language at all, at 2am. Plus it's difficult anyway as I would have to go on Saturday night, so I'd be arriving on a Sunday morning... not very practical, and getting home would be impossible in time for work on Monday. All very frustrating considering how near I am. But, today I have discovered that there are trains from Villach, in Austria... it takes 1.5 hours to get there, and 1.5 hours (on a fast, more expensive train) or longer on other trains to Llubjana. The timings still might not work, and probably not for a normal weekend, but if ever I have a Saturday off due to cancellations, or a long weekend, then I will look into it further! Would be silly not to take advantage of being so near a border! Then next stop Croatia!!  

Happy New Year!  2011 is here! That's twenty-eleven by the way, not two-thousand-and-eleven... anyway...

Yesterday I got back to Udine, after what has been a whirlwind of a holiday. After an enjoyable final week at school, I flew to London on the 23rd December. Unlike last year, the journey posed no problems. I had left plenty of contingency time which meant I had a long wait in the airport, but I'd much rather have it that way round! The flight was Easyjet Venice-London Gatwick, just like in the good old days when I was based in Trento... actually, it was slightly delayed, but not enough to have posed huge problems.  This year Mum and Dad were heading to Alex and Caroline's the same day as me and so were able to pick me up from the airport. In fact, I also had the very exciting experience of being met at the plane door by my cousin who works at Gatwick. I stepped out of the plane and there he was...obviously I wasn't expecting to see him in the slightest, so much so that I pretty much walked straight past him, before doing a double take when I realised! So that was fun anyway - got an escort through the airport out to arrivals where we met the parents.

Christmas was lovely as usual. On Christmas Eve we tried out a different church for midnight Mass - and hit right on the most Anglo-Catholic one you can get... as the usual laugh goes, it was almost more Catholic than a Catholic church. So much for my Anglican fix before heading back to Italy. Oh well!  But, it was a lovely service anyway with some excellent singing...I do like a good carol and I had certainly missed out on them this year! 
On Christmas Day we were joined by Caroline's brother and so were in six. Oh dear...saying "we're in six" is the Italian influence of "siamo in sei"... it does slip out occasionally! Anyway, had a lovely Christmas lunch and day, and the same on Boxing Day.

On the 27th we had the pleasure of watching the resident urban fox in the garden... particularly musing when it decided to chase a squirrel (spot them both in the picture sequence below!)

 
Then it was time to go to Rotterdam for the 33rd European Meeting of Young People held by the Taizé community. I set off with a small number of fellow pilgrims from the UK on the overnight Eurolines coach. The coach on the way there was interesting...the driver stopped the coach to come down and tell us that we "must close eyes", and then not long after that we arrived in Rotterdam, at 4.30am, 2 hours earlier than anticipated. With nowhere to go at that time of the morning we were forced to wait in Central Station, absolutely freezing, until we were able to travel to our welcome point. Things looked up from there though as we were hosted in a fantastic host church, by an amazing host family (a lovely couple aged 76 and 80) and the whole meeting was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, as is always the way with Taizé!  
This time I was working at the evening meal distribution - our task was to stop people coming in through the exit, and to stop people taking food out of the hall. Not always the easiest job, but a perfect vantage point for seeing familiar faces.  I was especially pleased to catch up with Ada from Brescia (she was in the group I went to Taizé with last Easter). 

Our London group made small inroads into the 30,000 total  number who attended

Without a doubt one of the best ways to spend New Year. Last year I went to the 32nd meeting in Poznan, Poland and next year it will be the 34th in Berlin. We'll see whether I end up there as well or not! The advantage of Poznan and Rotterdam were that they were both new cities for me too, and I enjoyed the opportunity to explore the surroundings whilst there. For example, on our 3rd day in Rotterdam we headed in and had a look round the town. Below is the Erasmus Bridge, the main symbol of Rotterdam. 

Then from Rotterdam it was back to London and on to Horsham for a family gathering. Lovely to be able to catch up with everyone whilst briefly back in the UK.  

After that I had a few relaxing days at home in Taunton, before flying back to Italy yesterday. First time on a new route: Ryanair Bristol to Treviso. Quite straightforward, but lots of hanging around time. We landed at 8.40pm and the first bus wasn't until 21.34. Was at station by 21.50 and train wasn't due til 22.35. It was then 30 minutes late, so didn't actually get home until 00.20. At least that's when living right opposite the station comes in handy!

Since being back I seem to have done nothing but sorting, washing, shopping and cleaning... from tomorrow things will be back to normal though. Then back to work on Monday - eek! 

Well, it's been rather a long time since I updated! A few people have pointed this out to me now, so I'm trying to rectify the situation, but am doing so without really having that much to say, so don't expect much from this entry!

It's coming to the end of the first term at work, would you believe! A short while ago I had a look back through old posts (on here and on Facebook) and was amused by those where I was considering what would become of me this year...where I would be, which job to go for, which job to take, whether to take this one or wait and go for the other interviews etc etc. In the end, as you all know, I cancelled the interviews for the following day and accepted the job here. I am SO glad I did! I really do feel 100% certain that I made the right choice. I'm sure the other schools would have been good schools too, and maybe the people there would have been as nice as the people I am working with here, but I doubt it... everything has tied together so neatly here, and I'm really very happy. I feel like I've already got so so much more experience than I had when I started, through having been exposed to different levels, different coursebooks, different types of course etc etc. Sure I've still got a lonnnnnnnnnng way to go, but I'm definitely in the right place to be undertaking this professional journey!! I love it!! 

All being well, I will be flying home a week tomorrow! Let's all just hope that it doesn't snow at either end. I do NOT want another experience like last year... so, fingers crossed on that front. I am teaching tomorrow, Friday and Saturday and then Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Although it turns out I only have one lesson on Weds (I thought I finished at 8pm as usual, but I only have one at lunchtime - bonus!). So, from Wednesday afternoon it's holiday time, and a much needed holiday it is too! As said in the previous paragraph, I am really enjoying my job, but that doesn't mean it isn't completely knackering at times! (Well, most of the time really!). I do, however, feel that I have got used to the routine now and it all feels completely normal.

Last week I went on my first outing to the local shopping centre and multiplex cinema there. In fact, we had a day off work mid-week (I do love mid-week bank holidays!) for the Immaculate Conception, so I took advantage of that and braved the Christmas shopping crowds instead! The funniest part of the day was trying to get on the bus! On bank holidays and Sundays the bus services can be quite limited, and this particular line didn't have any buses running in the morning at all. So, the first opportunity to go to the mall by bus was at 13.45. Now, luckily I was getting to the first stop (the station)...along with what seemed like the rest of Udine! The bus arrived and everyone dashed to get on, pushing and shoving etc etc. The driver had made what seemed to be a wise decision to only open the front doors, so that everyone had to go to the front to get on. It was obvious not everyone was going to make it. But then, suddenly, we noticed that the back and middle doors had been opened too, and had to quickly make a mad dash for those instead! We all piled on somehow (well, plenty of people DIDN'T make it on), with no space to breathe or move, for a 20 minute crush of a journey. Still, we made it, and that's what counts! At the other end it wasn't so bad...the mall was a real labyrinth...just a little bit too big really. But I now know where to go to find anything I ever need! The cinema was really nice. I saw Harry Potter... nice comfortable, reclining seats, not too expensive (€7 a ticket) etc. I enjoyed it! 

This week I've been feeling a bit under the weather, with a cold. Actually it was funny because the worst day of it was on Saturday, when we actually had our first choir concert (ie.trying to sing without coughing and sneezing all over the place was interesting...). The second concert is this coming Saturday. Anyway, I now have lessons straight through from 9am on Saturday mornings, so it's actually the only day of the week I actually have to be up early (groan, after being out at choir etc on Friday nights!). So last week I was feeling pretty rough all morning, and then for some reason I ended up trudging all round town for 2 hours, with my supermarket shopping in tow, looking for something in particular which I then found in a shop right near where I'd started. The shop was, of course, closed until 3pm, so I had to wait until it opened (in the freezing cold) to buy the thing. So that was quite annoying.. then I went home and slept, before heading out for the concert. I really enjoyed the whole evening (a variety of performances, both choral and theatrical, from different groups), but just felt SO ill that evening. On Sunday I decided to stay at home and not go out, and I slept a phenomenal amount - almost all day! It was bliss!

Right, well I did say I didn't have anything to say, and I apologise for the mundaneness of this blog. I will try and update more regularly. I could actually have written a wonderful rant about my trip to the post office to post Christmas cards a week or so ago, but instead of writing the rant here I just ranted at work instead and bored all my poor colleagues to tears 

Yesterday in Italy the 14th edition of the National Day for Food Collection took place. What this consists of is that you arrive to do your shopping at the supermarket (any branch of any chain in any city) and you are given a small yellow plastic bag. As you go around the shop doing your own shopping, you are invited to put aside some food to donate to the poor (the usual non perishables). When you get to the till, it goes through with your shopping and then the volunteers take the yellow bag off to add to the boxes of food they are collecting. 

It's an absolutely fantastic idea. It really encourages everyone to think about those less fortunate than themselves, and it takes no extra effort to just put some things aside in the trolley. Everyone who went through the same checkout as me had contributed something. 

I don't think anything like this happens on such a scale in the UK (correct me if I'm wrong, I've never seen anything like it though). Often at church there was a collection box which was taken to a local charity which distribute food to the poor, but nothing like this which involves the whole of society in such a simple gesture of solidarity. Plus as I said before, there's no effort involved - you don't have to remember to take things to donate, you don't have to carry them anywhere, you don't have to do anything at all really, just pay for them! 
According to the website, 5 million people donate and 100,000 people volunteer their time. Last year they collected 8,600 tons of food (equivalent to €29 million). That's a really really good effort! I'm impressed.

In other news, I now have a way of paying for things on the internet (BAD news for my bank balance ). I wrote a little while back about the annoyance of not being able to use my "debit card" online. Well, I discovered that I could order a rechargeable credit card equally easily and use that. It arrived a couple of days ago and I have already enjoyed using it on 3 different websites (2 UK based and 1 Italian) and it's working like magic. I still can't believe how terribly complicated the banking situation was last year when it could have been so wonderfully simple like it is now!

On Friday it snowed, but although it was very heavy snow in the air (looked like a blizzard!), it didn't settle. I had a lesson cancellation at lunchtime, so after an hour of Teacher Development in the morning, I only had the teens to teach from 3-6pm - another lovely Friday! Then in the evening I was at a party for the patron saint of musicians, Saint Cecily. Great fun! 

Yesterday after work, and after supermarket shopping, I wandered into the centre to check out a market that's taking place at the moment. Very very similar to San Faustino in Brescia bascially - the same crowds, the same stalls selling all the same things (magic mops and potato peelers and other gadgets of the moment). I resisted buying anything, except a nutella crepe... nice atmosphere though.  

It's taking place in the huge square (which is actually entirely round - piazza doesn't always translate well as square!) below the castle, so after looking around the stalls, I trekked up the hill to have a look back down. In fact, I haven't gone up to the castle since I arrived in Udine! I went on the day of my interview and haven't been back, so it was nice to do that. I didn't make it into the museum this time as I got up there too late and it was just going to close. I did see a beautiful sunset from up there though! 

I've gone on about the place enough for all of you to know by now that the place closest to my heart is Taizé, in France. I'm not alone in this, and as I have mentioned several times before, it is fantastic to have found people who share the Taizé love, in each of the cities I have spent time in in Italy. 

Some of you may remember that when I had only recently arrived in Brescia, I got in touch with the Taizé group there and the first meeting I went to was one that happened to be being attended by a group of young people from Poznan who were touring Italy to publicize the European Meeting which was going to be held in Poznan that year (and which I had already booked to go to).

Me with some of the young Poles in a village just outside Brescia, October 2009

Well, out of 35,000 people who travelled to Poznan, I managed to bump into one of the girls I met in Brescia (the one in the far left of the above photo). Then, I met her again in Taizé at Easter. Then, I met her again at Taizé in August. Already quite amazing. Then.... guess what....

Yup, she was there at the preparation for Rotterdam meeting tonight, which was in Caneva di Tolmezzo, about 50km north of Udine! What a small world it is when it comes to Taizé And how absolutely beautiful it is to sing Taizé chants far away from Taizé, but in the company of so many people who have been there and experienced the real deal! Amazing though...she's Polish, I'm English, and we have met in Italy twice, once in Poland and twice in France at Taizé, all in the space of little over a year!! Incredible!

The evening was absolutely wonderful though...SOOOOOOOOOOOOO glad I was able to go, and it was really lovely to spend some more time with Francesco, Francesco and Emanuele (pictured here below)

 
I am really very happy this evening  But, it's 1am now and I have to be up at a normal time tomorrow as we have a choir practice at 10.30am, before mass...which means getting the bus at 10am or something. Eek! Better go to sleep now or I'll be tirrrrrrrrred Charis tomorrow