So on Wednesday, one of my 4E class interrupted one of my lessons to ask if it would be okay for them to have some sort of meeting in the time I usually go to their lesson (Thurs at 8.50am) and for me to go the following day, at the SAME TIME. Ie. Friday at 8.50am. I was a bit annoyed as Friday is my day off, and it would mean coming in just for that one lesson. However, I couldn't really say no, so I agreed. I checked that the video room was booked for today too, and the student had done it, for 8.50am on Fri.

So, I turned up at 8.40am to set up my laptop (having lugged it in yet again). The room was in use, lights off etc. So I went to start setting my laptop up outside. Then the teacher came out and said "maybe they didn't tell you about the time...". Huh?! Yeah so basically the student got it wrong, and I was supposed to take the lesson at 7.55am instead! She was very apologetic that I had come in for nothing, as it was their fault, but really very annoying! Especially given that it's raining, and I woke up with a sore throat, runny nose etc today so obviously am starting a cold. Grrrr.

Annoyance number 2 is that they still haven't paid me. So in the "assistant's rights" thing, it says we have to be paid by the 5th of the month. Now that's BY the 5th, it doens't have to be ON the 5th, others have been paid a lot earlier. So anyway I had been to the office to check it would arrive by the 5th so I can pay my rent etc (bearing in mind that this is now 7 weeks I've been in Italy basically senza soldi). I checked at Barclays yesterday (oh and that's another rant, but I think this one is long enough for now!!) and it hadn't come in. Grrr. So Elena (my tutor) had said to me to let her know if it hadn't come on the 5th, because she would be very cross and go to the headmaster etc. So I emailed her to say that it hadn't been paid and that even if they have transferred it, it's supposed to ARRIVE with me on the 5th etc. She has just replied saying that she has checked and they've done it all, and to check again!! So I have to take their word for it, but have no idea when Barclays Italia (idiots) will put the money in my account. Grrrrrrr. Going to go there on the way home (well, out of my way on the way home) to see and to tell them that internet banking still isn't working and is therefore completely useless to me at the moment.

Oh the frustrations!!!

While I am complaining... I have 2 Wind sim cards, one for my mobile and one for my internet. The internet one should have a round number of credit on it, but it doesn't. For no apparent reason, they have subtracted €3.94 from it. However, there is NO record of why they have done this in my detailed account statement. It says 0.00 spent on calls, in fact it says no calls made. It lists all the connections to the internet (which I pay for monthly) as 0.00. So WHY have I got less credit than I know I am supposed to have? This country......

They also informed me that if the school paid me on the 5th, then it won't arrive until the 10th. My rent standing order leaves on the 10th. If the school give me something which says they have transferred the money on the 5th, then I won't go overdrawn, but if they don't (which I can't see them doing) then I will. Excellent.

The only good thing that has happened today is that I left school at the same time as Luigina, one of the teachers I teach with, and she gave me a lift almost to home which saved waiting around in the rain for a bus!

Saturday

Yesterday I had a particularly exciting Saturday trip - GARDALAND!! This is "Italy's No 1 Amusement Park", situated (funnily enough) by Lake Garda. From Brescia it's about 25 minutes on the train to Peschiera del Garda, with a free shuttle bus from there. Brilliant!

I went with Elisa, who is also doing British Council not far from here, and her lovely little 4 year old Elliott.
Of course it was Halloween, so the park was completely done out for that. They'd put a real effort into it and it looked great, as did all the costumes lots of people were dressed in! Enjoyed going on lots of rides, and my highlight had to be the Colorado Boat log flume ride which we ended the day with (don't think Elliott would agree!!) - below, the picture from yesterday (which we just had to invest in) and for comparison's sake, the equivalent from Alton Towers about 15 years ago...spot the terrified child in each! (Second picture isn't that clear, but when up close you can see the look of fear!!!)

The whole day was a lot of fun, and also really enjoyed being able to swap British Council stories... always nice to chat to someone in the same boat as you!

Sunday 
Was quite exhausted today so had quite a nice long lie in! I then decided on the spur of the moment to try and make risotto from scratch. My dear friend Emily is teaching me to cook, but from Bristol, so I'm sort of on a distance learning course! She's sending me recipes to try and then I do them. I've been waiting to do the risotto for ages, and finally got round to it. So glad I did, it was really fun!! It came out really well and I was very pleased to have made it completely by myself.

Forgetting it was Sunday, I then put some washing on. Doing washing on a Sunday is a big no no. The reason? The electricity goes off every single time I do it. Either it's because everyone is at home and using lots of power on Sundays, or there is limited power on Sundays, but anyway, if we have the boiler in the bathroom on, and computers/lights etc and then someone puts the washing machine on, it blows the fuse. It's always fine again if we just turn the bathroom boiler thing off, but it's a bit annoying! I'll try and remember not to do it again!

Think I'm ready for all my lessons next week as I am doing a presentation on Bonfire Night with all my classes. I'm going to use the same topic for my private lessons, but have yet to think of a way to present it to the younger kids...

I’ve been to Milan twice before, both just in passing, i.e. just a quick whizz round the Duomo, castle and other sites, but not staying long or really seeing it properly. Once was in December 2006 when it was grey, dull and rainy as anything, the second was in May 2007 when it was better weather, but still not the bright sunshine that makes sightseeing all the more pleasurable.

From Brescia Milan is only an hour on regional trains (€5.55) or 42 minutes if you want to pay €14.20. So basically just up the road – yay! So I’d been looking out for a day when it might be nice weather, determined to see Milan at its best at least once. The forecast for yesterday was sun sun sun and 19/20 degrees, so I decided to go for it!

I had to get the train to Milano Lambrate (the one to Centrale was a bit earlier than I wanted to go), and then from there get the tube. It was a very easy journey with one change (Milan has 3 metro lines).

Arrived at the Duomo stop and made my way up into what was indeed a bright sunny day! One thing I was looking forward to was seeing the Duomo without scaffolding all over it, as last time it was covered. Brilliant – except that yesterday the whole of Piazza Duomo was cordoned off as they were preparing for some event and putting up staging and seating... so right in front of the Duomo was a whacking great stage instead! Still, it was a much better view of it that I’d ever had and I managed to get plenty of views of it against my favourite blue sky  

During the course of the afternoon I visited the castle again (also better with blue sky!), various churches (in particular San Maurizio, Sant’Ambrogio and Santa Maria delle Grazie). I will have to return to see The Last Supper, as I hadn’t booked in time (they’re booked up until November) and it being a Saturday there was no chance of being let in. My friend Izzy went quite recently with lots of people and they all managed to get in by just refusing to leave, but it must have been a weekday.  Anyway it’s near enough to go anytime when I manage to book a ticket!

Also, amusingly, there was an exhibition called “Discover Jordan, Giordania svelata” with pictures from all over Jordan. Amusing because my parents are currently on holiday there, so I was able to look at pictures of all the wonderful sights they have just been seeing!

The highlight of the day was climbing the stairs to the Duomo roof terraces. I hadn’t done this before (mostly because it would have been rubbish in rubbish weather), but yesterday was the most perfect day for it. Having climbed up to the top of the tower in Cremona (502 stairs), this (210 or something) was a breeze. I feel a bit of a stair pro now!! Anyway it was stunning up there, and really sunny too – lots of people just sunbathing on the roof. Brilliant for the penultimate weekend in October! 

So Milan has grown on me now – I guess I didn’t see it in its best light last time. Still not a place I would ever want to live, but plenty of stunning sights to see.

I caught the train back from Milano Centrale, and realised that there is basically next to no chance of me making the train I’m hoping to when I fly back after Christmas. The station is just too big and it took me ages to find which platform my train was on because there were 3 trains leaving at the same time, all of which could potentially have been going through Brescia. Basically on January 5^th I arrive in Milan Malpensa at 20.00 and there is a train at 22.30. If everything runs on time and I don’t have to wait ages to collect my bag or to get the bus to the station (which takes an hour) then it could still be potentially possible. If not I will have to hang around dodgy Milan station until 00.15 to catch the next train, and then arrive in dodgy Brescia station area at 1.15am... I’m sure I’ll survive either way, but clearly the former would be preferable!

The only shame about the day was that last night was the Taize service, but I didn't find out until I was on the train home, and by the time I got home to my flat at 7pm, there was no way my tired and aching feet and legs (which had done a LOT of walking round Milan) were going to let me go out again. Especially as the service wasn't til 9pm and was the other side of the station again. So I missed it which is a great shame But hopefully I will know about it next time and be able to NOT go on a day trip that day!!

Photos are in the same album as Bergamo/Cremona, from number 91 on: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=183739&id=223300445&l=74eb4ec598

Lessons since Monday have been much better! Just the big Thursday to get through.... at least afterwards I have three and a half days to recover! No, seriously, yesterday and today were actually good. I'm still not loving the really big classes, especially the ones where the teacher does absolutely nothing, but otherwise they've been ok and my lesson plans seem to going down well, although we keep running out of time to finish the activities, so I'll have to start shorterning the plans somewhat I think!

I've been looking into the possibility of doing a TEFL course whilst out here. There are lots of intensive weekend ones in England, for about £300, which I considered doing. However the best one is probably CELTA (Cambridge run) but in England it costs £1200, and in Italy €1500... rather a big investment for something which I may not necessarily end up using then. There is a course in Verona though which would be perfect - it's from January to June, part time just on Fridays (which happens to be my day off...). Verona is easy and cheap to get to, and the cousre is from 10.00-18.00. I was seriously tempted, until I saw the price! That said, I also started looking at the PGCE course options last night and that is £3225... but I've always said I don't really want to teach modern languages in the UK, I would much rather teach English...either abroad or in the UK but at private language schools etc. I will have to think some more....
There's been a lot in the news recently about the MoD having to shed 10,000 desk jobs etc etc, so I'm wondering what the chances of there actually being a job there for me to come back to are... still, they have collected references and done the security and medical checks, so it's progressing, but there are still rather too many months for them to decide not to take me on after all...

I'm exhausted, and it's only Monday! I only have two classes on Monday. The first are a nice class, and only 15 of them so easy to manage. The only problem is that they do a different syllabus from every other group, which means I have to spend much longer preparing for the lesson. However, so far the lessons have gone smoothly and the teacher is also nice and helpful, so I'm happy.

The second class, not so great. They're one of the biggest classes (29), and typically noisy and difficult to control. The added problem is that the teacher for that group does absolutely nothing to help, so it's entirely up to me to get them to listen and do what I want. They don't understand a lot of what I say which makes it quite hard. I've just been reading all the British Council advice on dealing with large, noisy classes and think I've got some new tips to try next week. It's just very hard work at the moment. I'm hoping that with more interesting topics (e.g.next week we are doing "the British pub") they will be more prepared to listen and do the tasks. Trying to get that many teenagers to talk in English to each other in groups is a nightmare though. Groups is the only set up in which they will be able to talk to each other, and yet as soon as you split them into groups they just start talking in Italian (of course) and being noisier, and I can't be with every group all at once! I know I've only been doing this 2 weeks though, and it will get easier as I get to know the classes better and learn how to handle each one. Tiring in the meantime though! Next week I'm starting the first of my private lessons too... four 9 year old boys!! Oh joy!! Now that really IS going to be exhausting!

Today I had another lovely day out in Lombardy, this time in Cremona. This was very much a spur of the moment decision, as I had been intending to go to Lago d'Iseo today to meet up with Elisa, another British Council assistant, but due to transport problems we are postponing til next week or sometime, so I decided to go elsewhere today, and Cremona was on my list.

I've been so lucky with the weather, the sky was azzurrissimo again - my favourite: bright blue sky. Well, in the afternoon it actually got really grey and dull, but it was clear, sunny and gorgeous for all the important bits. I love how in Italy even when there is a biting cold (and today it really was cold), it can still be so bright and beautiful.

When I got to the main square I was wondering whether I was actually going to get to see anything because of course Saturday is market day, and in Cremona the market was right in the Piazza del Duomo (or whatever it is called there...) and I thought it might interfere with seeing stuff. It didn't too much though, and also it was gone in the afternoon, although the sky had darkened by then as mentioned. Anyway, my first stop, as usual, was the tourist office. Armed with map and guide to Cremona I set off. My trusty, if a few years out of date, Rough Guide had also informed me of the possibility of ascending the tower in the main square. Now the Rough Guide author had simply said "if you have the energy you can...". Now, I love a good tower. I love a good view over an Italian town. In Turin we went up the Mole Antonelliana (only possible by lift). In Bergamo I went up the tower there (took the lift out of choice). No lift in Cremona. No, this was the real thing. The tower is 111m high, built in the 13th century. It claims to be Italy's highest medieval tower. The sign read "502 steps, ascent only possible on foot". Well, that certainly put the height of my palazzo into perspective... I only have to do 92 steps on a usual day! Anyway, I decided to go for it - like I said, I love a good tower!

I got to a point at which I was convinced I must nearly be there. Surely... surely... please... Erm, no. It was only then that I realised that at the top of each staircase there was a number engraved on the wall - the number of steps you had already climbed. It read 127. Hah. Kept going, not entirely convinced this had been such a good idea! After a little while the square staircases became a round spiralling one (still stone steps), which to me signalled the nearing of the end. It did indeed come out onto a platform, the first bit from which you could see out. It was pretty high. Not high enough, however, there was more! Now it became a wooden staircase; one of the type I hate (steps with gaps between). Up I went...up and up and up. Got to the top, only to discover that there was yet more to do...this time a wooden spiralling staircase.  Finally, I arrived in cima, right on the very top Oh and how worth it it was! Such a clear, beautiful day for it as well. The view was stunning! It wasn't half an effort to get to though!! The first staircase to go back down (the wooden spiralling one) was pretty unnerving. My legs were so wobbly and shaky I thought I was going to fall off... and after I got back down the 502 steps and onto the flat of the piazza again, it was quite a struggle to get my legs to keep walking!!

However, walk they did...! After a quick visit to the Baptistery, I stopped in a bakery to pick up some lunch, and then set off on a trek round the town. I was particularly going in search of a church which is said to be the 2nd most important after the Duomo, on the outskirts of the town. I walked and walked, and got to the point which I thought was it, and found a church (shut, of course, it was lunchtime). It turned out it wasn't the right church though, and in the end I gave up trying to find the other one (turns out it was another 15 minute walk away but the roads weren't on my map and I didn't really want to get lost), so that was slightly disappointing as in the end it was an hour's round trip on foot (on tired feet!). I'll have to go back to Cremona again and find it.  Anyway, then it was back to the town.

Now by this time it was almost 2.30pm, and I knew the Baptistery reopened at 2.30pm, so I assumed the Duomo etc did too. No. 3.30pm. It's really quite frustrating on days out to have a whole chunk of the day (3 hours from 12.30-3.30pm) taken out because everything is shut. It's not like I had anywhere to go for a siesta or anything, and I had to get the train back at some point too so couldn't stay there all evening. So I just had to sit until 3.30pm, waiting to go inside the Duomo. Having done so, I then took a scenic walking route back to the station, via all the other sights marked out on my tourist map (some 10 churches or so, various palazzi etc). All very pretty. All in all, thoroughly enjoyed the day. My feet are definitely looking forward to me going to bed though!!

Photos of Cremona: - Numbers 43-90 of album here

This morning I finished the Italian book I've been reading, and as I really enjoyed it I decided I'd like to read another by the same author (Stefano Benni). I happened upon the town library on my travels and decided to go in and register.

This system makes no sense to me. I suppose it means they can keep track of all of the books all of the time, and somebody once told me that it's because people steal them otherwise (in the university library at least), but surely the whole point of a library is to be able to browse books. If you want to look at all the books on a particular topic, how frustrating would it be to have to just search for keywords and then get them to bring out every single book so you could have a look to see which ones were relevant.  Oh well, each country to its own....

Oh dear! As I started to think about writing this entry, I realised that I was thinking to myself in that slightly slower, forced English ("foreigner English") which I have had to get used to using with my classes over the past couple of weeks! It's a shame, before starting work I had got into thinking mostly in Italian, and now suddenly I'm not only thinking in English, but it's not even proper English!

Anyway, today I met the last of the classes I hadn't yet taught, so now I can tell you a bit about all my classes.

My youngest group, who I will only see every other week, are 15-16 year olds (although there was at least one 14 year old). Although I am working in an Istituto Tecnico (which would normally be business specific courses), one or two classes are following Liceo programmes, of which this group is one. From what I can tell, this means their level is a bit higher, as although they are the youngest (a 2nd year class), their English was pretty good, even in comparison to some of my 3rd/4th year groups. In the third year they start studying literature on this programme.

I have six 3rd year and six 4th year groups. 3rd year is 16-17 (although in pratice could be 16-18 or even 19) and 4th year 17-18 but again, could be 16-19 pretty much. Basically they are the equivalent of 6th Form. I don't have any 5th year classes, but 5th year is the final year (18-19) which is when they usually leave school.

With some classes I have been asked to follow a textbook which covers UK culture and history. So with the 3rd years I have to do the culture module, and with the 4th years the history module.
At first they told me I would be able to do the same lessons with all my classes. It has since emerged that some classes don't have this book (today my tutor told me that she told her pupils to sell that book....) but have completely different ones! So I have drawn up a programme for the classes who are following that book, of whta I will do each week (although it has already gone a bit out the window because I had to start at different points with different classes). Then it looks as though I will be covering Literature with one 3rd year group and then general topics of conversation with a 3rd year group and a 4th year group. Hopefully I will still be able to recycle lesson plans and adapt them to use with different levels!

I've been enjoying planning lessons and thinking of ways to make the topics interesting! So far they have been going down well. I'll have to come up with some general lesson plans that I can use with the classes who aren't following books, and also maybe some fillers that I can use in case a lesson is going badly!! So far I haven't needed any, but I'm sure I will at some point!

Tomorrow will be interesting as my tutor isn't there and I have 2 classes with her on Thursdays normally. She has told me that there will be a substitute teacher and that I am to force them to stay this time (last time they left!). So I am effectively taking the classes on my own anyway as there won't be anyone there to intervene or help out if they really don't understand. However, last week they were good classes I think so it should be okay. I have to think of a topic for the second group though as they are the ones who don't have the book! I guess that's my task for this afternoon!

Another teacher asked me today about teaching her 9 year old and some other children after school, so it looks like there are plenty of options for getting that extra bit of income I was talking about in my last entry!

The news here yesterday was full of how "the cold is on its way" - temperatures may drop by up to 10 degrees, snow in high areas, storms, rain etc... weather to get your coat out for...

Up until now it has been really hot still, for October! 24 degrees and I've been overheating on a regular basis. Today I did indeed wake up a bit chilly, but then it was 6.15am. When I left the house at 7am it was very fresh air and I was definitely glad of my jumper (first day I've left the house with one since arriving). However, looking out the window now it is bright and sunny, and I would say pretty warm looking, so I expect I will overheat again on the way home!!

I've just booked a flight to Cagliari, Sardinia for the long bank holiday weekend of 7/8 December (they have 2 days off to celebrate the Immaculate Conception on the 8th). I will go over there on Friday and come back on the Monday, so 3 days and nights on the island. Really looking forward to it as it's another region to check off. My goal is to go to every single Italian region. I've ticked off almost all of the North, it's the South I really need to get down to. Will have to see when I can make it to Sicily, Puglia etc...

Lessons continue to go by without incident. By the end of this week I will have met all my classes and worked with all 6 different teachers, and hopefully established roughly what I am expected to do with each class. It's kind of a shame I have to follow their textbook syllabus as some of the topics are really boring and it's hard to think of activities to make them more interesting. I don't want the students to get so bored that they dread every lesson... hopefully after Christmas when I am going to be allowed to choose my own topics and lesson plans things will pick up as I can pick more interesting stuff than the UK Economy and Pre 1066 British History... still, I am endeavouring to do interesting activities each week, I just feel as they want me to get to the end of the syllabus I can't really spend time playing games or doing other things.
Some of the classes (and teachers...) really do struggle with understanding English, so conducting the whole lesson with no Italian is difficult. I have to stick to it though so I am just trying to speak as slowly as possible and repeat things often. I guess they will get better and I will get more used to it....
Anyway, I'm still enjoying it, and enjoying coming up with different plans! I guess in a way I should be grateful I do have a fixed syllabus as when I have to come up with the ideas each week it will probably take more of my time!

I was approached by another teacher today about doing private lessons with a group of younger children, which sounds good. I am also apparently going to be doing conversation with a group of teachers, so that'll mean my afternoons start to get a bit busier! That will be good though, and a few extra Euros to supplement my borsa di studio won't go amiss!

I decided that the first day trip I would make would be to Bergamo, a city about an hour from here, not far from Milan, but nestled in the mountains.  It’s one of the places I never made it to from Trento but had very much wanted to, having heard and read good things about it.

I woke up yesterday to the sound of a torrential downpour. Great, I thought, not the best weather for a day trip! Contemplated for a brief moment putting the trip off, but there are so many places I want to see that I need to make the most of every weekend! So I prepared myself with umbrella and raincoat, and ditched the sunglasses (the sky was so grey there was no chance I would need them...).

I had planned to get the bus to the station, now that I have my bus pass, but I had forgotten that Saturday is market day and so my road and all the roads around are closed to traffic. Having no idea where the nearest functioning bus stop would therefore be, I decided to brave the rain and just walk. I’m English, I thought, can’t be put off by a bit of rain! I forgot though, when it rains in Italy, it really really rains... I arrived at the station totally drenched through. My jeans were so wet as to make it hard to lift a leg... my shoes full of water. Not the greatest start to the day, and the prospect of sitting on a train for an hour like that was not too appealing!  

Made my way on foot along the street that runs from the station to the bottom of the hill from where you can get the funicular up to Bergamo Alta, which is the main attraction of Bergamo. The city is divided into the two parts: Bergamo Alta - a medieval village perched on a hill, apparently houses go for no less than €2,000,000 up there, and Bergamo Bassa – the modern city, down below the hills.

The Citta' Alta seen from below

The funicular, and then Bergamo Alta itself, was rammed with tourists... and there were an appropriate number of tourist-tat filled shops, tourist menus pinned outside the restaurants etc to match. Living in Brescia, where there is plenty to see but hardly anyone coming to see it, this was quite a contrast for me. Heard lots of English voices around, and lots and lots of French too.

I made my way to the tourist office to get a map. They also gave me a brilliant mini guide to Bergamo, in the style of the Eyewitness guides. So now, armed with the Rough Guide pages to Bergamo, a mini guide to Bergamo and a map, I set off to see the sights.

They’ve got a festival on at the moment – Bergamo Scienza, and so in the main piazza there was a talk going on, although it turned out the talk was actually happening in the nearby theatre and was being projected on to a screen outside! While the screen was only showing powerpoint slides it took me quite a while to figure this out, I was looking all around for the speaker! The thing I found most striking was that he sounded absolutely identical to my history lecturer in Trento, Gustavo Corni, and I had to wait to see to check it wasn’t in fact him!

Anyway, did the main sights – I won’t bore you with details of each individual one but I went to: Chiesa di Santa Maria Maggiore, Capella Colleoni, the Duomo which containts the reliquary of Pope Giovanni XXIII. I then paid to ascend the Torre Civica which gave a good view back down across the Piazza and the Duomo etc.

View from the Torre Civica back down on Santa Maria Maggiore

Having wandered around the narrow streets for a while I made my way to the other funicular which would take me up another hill to a castle, San Vigilio. This was fantastic...the views back across the old and new city were stunning, even with the layer of cloud. I walked up the hill to go to the castle/park and only really by chance discovered that you could actually go up THROUGH the castle (there was another staircase outside), up the winding staircase to emerge on top of the turret, for some more splendid views.  The sun was actually so bright that I a) wished I hadn’t ditched my sunglasses and b) have caught the sun a bit!

I then visited two free museums – one of Archaeology and one of Natural History. The latter had one of the best collections of taxidermy I’ve ever seen, which I thoroughly enjoyed (except for the snakes...). I finished my tour of Bergamo Alta with a trip up another hill to the Rocca (fortress), another nice castle park, dubbed a ‘remembrance park’ and filled with all sorts of old cannons etc.

Heading down to the new city again I was in time to have a wander there. There was a nice market leading in to the main shopping street which I had a good look down (and spent quite a lot of time browsing in 3 separate book shops!). 

All in all, a pretty good day out! Very glad I didn’t decide to put it off, as the weather was actually perfect! What a difference an hour’s train journey makes!