A couple of days ago when I went to close my shutters, this lizard was running down the wall beside my neighbour's window (right by my window). Really quite cute! Obviously I've seen a lot of lizards around here, but I still find them quite novel (not having them running about in England) and I was quite surprised to see one so high up on the 5th
storey...

In the free paper I was reading on the bus to work this morning there was an article about how schools across Italy are struggling due to a lack of funding, and how even toilet paper is now being rationed. I wasn't too surprised to hear this, given that it was hard to find loo paper in both the school in Turin, and here. 
Whilst doing Erasmus it was also non-existent in most uni toilets. I think the students nick it, and this was confirmed when one of those huge rolls turned up in our bathroom courtesy of my student housemate who had obviously got it from her faculty.....

Anyway, reading a bit further on it turned out that they were talking about TEACHERS and not stuents. There were stories of people being asked on the way in how many sheets they needed...
The financial difficulties are also meaning that teachers across Italy are not being allowed to photocopy anymore.
So I started wondering whether this was going to affect me in my school (I need a lot of photocopies as I am going to be making a lot of worksheets and stuff). So far so good, I got copies done when I got to school this morning, before then trying to find out which floor all my rooms are on (so I can actually find my classes). Luckily people around the place are helpful, even if really these are things the English teachers should have just told me!

So, about the toilets. In Turin and here the teachers have separate loos (as in all schools, I guess). However here they are under lock and key. In Turin each teacher had a personal key, here a key is hanging up on each floor, carefully guarded by the staff who look after each floor. I don't know how to describe them as I don't think we have an equivalent, but basically nothing here is left alone. So anyway the teachers' loos are normal, as you would expect anywhere type bathrooms. The students' are another matter...they are the Turkish style, stand and hover (for girls and boys). So I don't know if it's just because we don't have them in England and so we're not used to them at all, but I for one find it really odd... luckily as I said, the teachers have "luxury" ones (we even have loo paper...) but I just find it funny that the students a) have to use one of those standing toilets and b) have no loo paper and have to bring their own...

Class today was interesting. I had three classes, all 3rd year (16-18 ish).
The first one was with the same teacher as yesterday, but luckily I had prepared today, so I played a game they had taught us in Turin, where you take in a load of personal objects and then get the students to look at them, discuss and then ask you questions about them, and then you describe what they are. This then led into another game about daily routine (which is what that teacher had asked me to cover). I think it went quite well...

The second class...well...the teacher never turned up! Technically I'm not allowed to take classes alone, for legal reasons, so I suppose I should have gone straight to tell someone, but I was quite enjoying the class and they were good kids. I did the game with them too and managed to spin it out a whole lesson! They were very well behaved and friendly, and I felt a lot freer without a teacher. In effect I have taken all the classes by myself but with another teacher sitting in the room. Anyway my mentor happened to walk past the class, so I said that the teacher hadn't come, and later she went to the headmaster about it!! But she said next time just to go and find her and she would sort it out. Anyway thankfully they were a well behaved, and relatively small (20) group so it went okay!

The third class I ended up doing with my mentor, a class I will normally see on Mondays, because another teacher was also off. It's another big class - 28 or 29. I was able to do the game with them too, but then she wanted me to cover the stuff I had done off the cuff in the lesson yesterday (UK vs Italy), and luckily I was able to lead the objects into talking about cultural differences which worked quite well. They were all talking and it was fine. The teacher sent a girl out the class for misbehaving, but I wasn't quite sure what she had done! Anyway, I'm glad that normally there is a "proper" teacher there to discipline and I can just get on with the job in hand...

I have just asked my mentor whether I can use the same lesson tomorrow as I have three classes with her, and she said yes. It will be boring for her and me but hopefully not for the students. I have two other classes as well, Thursday is my fullest day. Then a 3.5 day weekend to recover!!

Right, going to go home now. I have been taking advantage of the internet in the staffroom. Need to find out if it's a wifi zone here as then maybe I can bring my laptop occasionally...

Okay, perhaps sometimes you can listen to them, but I certainly shouldn't have listened yesterday when my tutor/mentor said "no don't prepare anything for lessons tomorrow as we will talk about it tomorrow" and "yes you can just observe for a week" (like I'm meant to be doing...)

So I turned up and went to the first classroom. I introduced myself to the class of 29 third years (I guess ages 16/17) and then the teacher was flicking through the text book. Since I had heard my tutor saying to her that I was just observing this week, I sort of expected that was what was happening. I had handed round my postcards of Bristol and stuff and then was just kind of waiting as well. Well then suddenly the teacher said "they are waiting..:". Oh, ok, right... so anyway the next 50 minutes (lessons are 55 minutes) was me just bumbling my way through some comparisons between Italy and the UK and stuff, writing random things on the blackboard (chalky fingers now!!) and trying to follow the pages of the text book. Thank God I'd already read it, but it would have been useful to know which pages we were actually going to be doing today. I asked her the pages for next week but it turns out they are doing about 8 pages of the book for the next THREE MONTHS. So basically got to prepare materials and lessons from outside the book. It's ok because I have quite a few ideas and will be able to use the resources on the internet and stuff, it was just a bit of a shock today because I had specifically been told not to prepare. Anyway I hope I got by okay and didn't look like too much of an idiot. At least in that class the teacher was chipping in and stuff. She made me set homework which I thought was a bit unfair...so next week we are making posters and stuff. Could be interesting. Gonna have to work quite fast to build up a bank of lesson and activity plans...it's all a bit real suddenly!!

The second class was even more just me on my own taking the whole class... the teacher literally sat at the desk and said NOTHING all lesson. There was no book to follow, she hadn't even told me what kind of class it was (grammar, conversation etc). Turns out it is kind of just open conversation and it's up to me to get them talking. Well luckily I had the game we played at the induction course up my sleeve, but it didn't go that well as they were talking a lot of Italian and not really understanding, and also being REALLY noisy...the class teacher was obviously quite worried about this, but still didn't do anything. I managed to rescue it I think by ending the game part quite quickly and then making them all sit down again and tell me about what they had talked to each other about (going round the room from person to person so that they all had to talk). Actually it wasn't bad, I might use it again (but maybe with more control!!)...it got them talking. Then we moved on to talking about hobbies and likes and dislikes and stuff. Then afterwards I showed them the postcards too and we tried to talk about England and Italy a bit, but they weren't having much of it. They are an older class (4th year, 17/18) so they should be quite good (the top year is 18/19) so I've just got to make them talk more...they were ok when they were talking, although they didn't understand everything I said, of course. Anyway I survived and they did too. I'm not sure the teacher was too impressed, but anyway. In the first class I made it clear that I had lots of ideas and activities to do and stuff but that I hadn't prepared because I thought I was just observing. Hopefully next week it will be better.

Tomorrow I have three classes, one of which is with the teacher I just had so I am expecting her to just sit there again. It's conversation again but with the 3rd years (a different group I hope!) so I will prepare some games, maybe quieter ones, and topics... she suggested daily routine. It's so boring though and hard to get them to talk about it!! I might try and find something else. Anyway then I have another 3rd year class with a teacher I haven't met yet, and then a 4th year class with another different teacher. It will be interesting to see all the different styles and how much input they are going to give to classes and how much it's just me getting on with it.

I think it will be okay, I just really do need to do a lot more preparation than I had thought, and do lots of worksheets and stuff.

After class I went to the secretary to hand in my forms, and got given about 10 more. Thought then that I'd try and use the internet, so I went to the library, where I had already met the very nice lady. She let me use her own computer, and then took me to the person to get a password from (actually dragging her out of a lesson!) so now I have my own username and password and can use any computer. I was in a computer room and then a teacher came in, so I asked if there was going to be a lesson and she said yes but that I should be able to stay there. When the class came in I decided to go though as it would have been a bit weird typing a lot while she was teaching. Found another computer room next door though with just a man in - asked him about using a computer and he said it was fine, so here I am!!

Everyone around the school has been quite helpful and nice. I guess it'll just take time with the English teachers, to get used to their style and also the classes and what they are doing. At least there are so many resources on the internet. I still can't really believe that they do so few pages for so long, but I guess that just means the text is a very loose base and I will use other ideas spinning off (which is what I had planned to do). I wish I had prepared something better for today, but not knowing at all what the classes were going to be about it would have been quite difficult. Anyway, apparently on Thursday the class are doing the same pages as we did this morning but then they are also looking at Tudor history and stuff. I think www.tudorhistory.org is going to be my friend for the term!! I wonder which class use the ICT book and what I will have to do with them.... I didn't see a sign of a CD player in any of the rooms so I will have to ask about that, in case I want to use songs or even the listening exercises from the books.

Right, well Day 1 is over...thank goodness! Hopefully this cold will go soon too so I can actually talk....

Oh yeah, and the whole "we'll discuss what you're doing tomorrow" (as in today) thing didn't seem to happen. When I saw her she said "so I'll see you tomorrow" (as in Weds), so still none the wiser about what's happening when.... gotta love this country

Went to open my bank account this morning, or at least to sign for it. I had forgotten that most of Italy is closed on Monday mornings...luckily Barclays was open. When I got there my account pack was all sitting waiting for me on the side. No idea whether they had already tried to call me or what, but I hadn’t heard anything from them, so I thought I might be going in to hear that they couldn’t open it after all, which wouldn’t necessarily have been such a bad thing...

So basically in Italy you have to pay to have a bank account – either an annual charge, or a monthly. The average is about €9 a month. The one I was opening was only going to be €3 which seemed okay. But nothing else is free...it costs €10 to have a card sent to your account (so I assume I will be billed automatically for the arrival of my Bancomat (debit) card), it cost me €4 to make a transfer to pay my rent. It does say in the contract that if I do it in a self-service manner then it’s free, so I’m hoping that once I have internet banking and my borsa di studio (study grant) is paid directly into my account, I might be able to hopefully do the transfer myself for nothing. Otherwise having an account is fairly pointless as I found out I could have just withdrawn the grant in cash from the school bank. Oh well! It says somewhere that the Bancomat card costs €15 a year as well, so I’m expecting that will come out of my account too.... and apparently you have to pay to close an Italian bank account as well, so I’m looking forward to that in 9 months time.

Anyway, at least the account is open and I have filled out the paperwork for the school. I have also paid my October rent, and know how to do it (well, if I want to pay her to do it every month...).

Next stop was the transport office to get my bus pass. I was umming and ahhing about whether to actually get one. The school is a 40 minute walk away, and although it was a nice walk when I did it the other day, I didn’t have to be there at any specific time. I’ve got my timetable now and 2 days I have my first lesson at 7.50am, so really getting the bus is going to be a lot easier. It’s €27 a month for the Zone 1 pass which is nothing compared to what I was paying to get to work in England, so I’m happy. Had to fill out a form for that too, provide a photo (luckily I had one!) and a €5 deposit. The card is pretty cool though, it’s basically like an Oyster card – they call it Omnibus Card, which I quite like! I have to swipe it every time I get on the bus, and top it up each month that I need it. It works out a bit cheaper if you get 2 or 3 months at a time, but I want to see how it goes first.

Third stop was a print shop to do some printing. It’s quite annoying not having a printer at home, but I’ll get used to it! I found a university bookshop/copisteria all in one (of the type we used to go to print and photocopy all our stuff in Trento) which had printers. It seemed a lot more expensive than I remembered, but at least it’s done. There are a few places around which do printing so I guess I can try a different one next time.

My timetable looks pretty good. They’ve left me Friday and Saturday off, so I am working Mon-Thurs and school only takes place in the mornings.

I am basically doing:
Monday: 10.50-12.35
Tuesday: 7.50-9.45
Wednesday: 8.50-11.45 or 9.45-12.35 (alternate weeks)
Thursday: 7.50-1.25

Which means I can travel places from Friday-Sunday. I’m also free to do private lessons etc (if I manage to set any up!) in the afternoons. Yay!

Last night, after getting back, I was really pleased to be able to go almost straight out to the Notte Bianca dell’Arte e della Cultura. This was a cultural event happening late night in cities such as Paris, Amsterdam, Lisbon, Tel Aviv, Toronto etc and...Brescia! They were very proud of the fact that it was the only European non-capital city. All the museums had a special late night opening, there were various concerts on throughout the centro storico, an Austrian market outside the Duomo, art, music, dancing etc. Again, I was so glad that I chose to live right in the centre as it all happening only a few steps from my house.

As I was going down the stairs I could hear a choir singing, and it turned out a stage had been set up in the square outside, and it was the Coro Lirico or something like that. They were very good anyway. I watched them for a while, and then made my way over to the Duomo as I wanted to hear the organ being played. En route I stopped off to watch some contemporary dance in the courtyard of Il Broletto, and then had a look round the Austrian market. The organ was good, and atmospheric inside the old cathedral, but I didn’t stay for the whole concert as there was so much else to do and see!  

The main attraction for me was a guided tour of the clock tower in Piazza della Loggia. It’s a beautiful 16^th century clock (1546) and usually the inside is closed to the public, but they were opening it up. They had said 9, 10 or 11pm, but when I went past at 8.40pm the queue was already way back, so I decided to head there early for the 10pm one. I started queuing at 9.30pm and eventually got in at about 10.35pm. Demand was much higher than anticipated so they were just running the tours on an in/out basis all night until 2am! It was worth the queue though – really fascinating to see inside and hear about the workings of such an old clock, one of a type whichthey said is fairly unique in Italy. 

A street artist was doing the old fire juggling trick, and then he brought out his unicycle, dragged two not so willing volunteers out of the audience to hold a rope and spin it while he jumped over it (can’t remember the name of that playground game...). He was quite good and very entertaining.

I slipped off to have a look at some of the street artists in Piazza della Loggia, before heading to my final stop which was going to be a concert of the Brixia Symphony Orchestra in a church not far from my house. I hadn’t been to that particular church yet and I’m so glad this was in it because otherwise I might not even have realised it was there. It was a huge and highly decorated church which I actually loved. The nice thing as well was that there were lots of people sitting listening to the concert but there were also lots of people exploring the church. I did a bit of both. The concert was due to finish at 00.30, but I was feeling a bit sleep deprived and full of cold, so I left after the first half.

It was so so nice to see the streets of Brescia totally packed out with people just everywhere. Felt totally safe wandering around. It’s the first time I’ve been out quite late in the evening here and it was really nice to see the monuments by moonlight – full moonlight at that! 

Today I learnt the slight drawback of being so close to the action - some sort of African drumming band has been playing/singing outside on that same stage for about 4 hours non stop. I can hear it through my window (really loudly) and I have to say, it's not the greatest sound to be listening to alllllll afternoon!!

When I woke on Thursday ready to go to Turin, it was still dark...gradually the light crept up, and when I left just before 7am the streets were already surprisingly full with people milling about – workers, children going to school, shopkeepers, randomers etc etc. School starts at around 7.45am in Italy so I suppose that was to be expected.

I remembered to stamp my ticket before getting on the train – it’s funny, after coming back from year abroad it always felt wrong not to have to stamp a ticket (I used to find myself looking for the machine to do it) – going to have to get used to that again!  Incidentally when I got on the bus to go to Ikea a ticket inspector did come on, so I was glad I had stamped that time...

The hotel we were in was quite far out of the centre, it was in the area built up for the Winter Olympics held in Turin in 2006. Anyway it was a gorgeous 4* affair, but it wasn’t until later that we realised quite how lucky we had been. They had put people in 3 different hotels, two of which were in fact hostels (had to pay extra for towels, to have room cleaned etc)...while we were enjoying a bit of luxury...all expenses paid, as it were. We were all put in double rooms, with quite a few people actually sharing double beds (mostly with people they hadn’t met before...).
I was in a twin room with Lydia, from Yorkshire and going to Catania, Sicily. She had also done Erasmus previously, and in fact I think the ratio of current students to graduates was about 50:50 which surprised me, I had thought I might be in a small minority.  Most of them had just graduated this year, rather than last though. 

 
Anyway, the course itself was ok. The first day was really long and boring – just all the welcome talks from loads of different people, and not much new information.  The second day was better as we were split into groups from each country and we did specific stuff – discussing possible activities, queries and worries etc. The session was led by an experienced English teacher (Italian native) which was useful. A representative from British Council Scotland was also there. He did Erasmus in Verona about the same time as I was in Trento and was also therefore a recent graduate, lucky enough to have got a great job using his Italian! I really want that job...  anyway, he was really nice. That evening we had the choice of either a bus tour of Turin, or a visit to the National Museum of Cinema. I’d heard the latter was really good, and as I didn’t make it last time I was in Turin I decided to go. Ended up in the queue with the British Council guy (Edward) and an Exeter student, and we had all opted to pay a bit extra to go up to the top of the building where the Museum is. Enjoyed great views over the city, and then thoroughly enjoyed the museum itself as well. 
Afterwards we went back to the hotel and went to the hotel bar with lots of the other British contingent. It was nice to meet all the current Exeter students (4) and reminisce about the Italian department... 

Mole Antonelliana, Torino (Museo Nazionale del Cinema)

I’ve come back with a cold, which I am sure that as most of the past 3 days has been spent in a room with 30 Brits must be a British cold. Not impressed about starting school with a cold!

Oh, and the train journey back was good because Edward (British Council guy) got on same train as me to Milan so we sat together and had more time to chat which was really interesting.

My poor weak internet connection doesn't really enjoy uploading photos, so posting them to both Facebook and Xanga is a bit difficult. As I have just uploaded a load to Facebook I am therefore posting the public link here instead of reuploading them...

(Il Broletto, Duomo Nuovo e La Rotonda)

As my Rough Guide to Italy tells us, Piazza Paolo VI in Brescia is “one of the few squares in Italy to have two cathedrals”. It continues with “though, frankly, it would have been better off without the second”. I visited the old cathedral a few days ago when I spotted it open, and today managed to get into the newer one, and I have to say that I didn’t find it as bad as to warrant that statement.

The older, the so called Rotonda or Duomo Vecchio is a circular 12^th century building, made of local stone. I found it fascinating both inside and out. It contains the tomb of a 13^th century Bishop of Brescia, Berardo Maggi, who apparently brought peace to the town’s rival Guelph and Ghibelline factions (which took me back to my studies of Dante in 2^nd and 4^th year!).  
From the outside it has sunk below the level of the current piazza. Inside you can go down into the crypt which still has some frescoes, and part of a Roman mosaic revealing remains of Roman baths.  The ceilings towards the front of the church are beautifully and artistically decorated, while the round section is entirely plain stone.

The second, it is true, is a rather heavier affair which took over 200 years to be completed.  Standing right next

door to the old one, it does rather tower over it, but I actually think it’s quite striking in itself. I was struck by how plain most of the inside is – lots of stone pillars and white statues. However, there are many interesting paintings and statues to be seen, many reflecting the church’s dedication to Pope Paul VI.

Completing the square is Il Broletto, made up of architecturally interesting buildings from various ages (13^th century on, I believe) which now houses various town offices.

All this a 5 minute walk from my house!

In non touristy news... tried to sign up for the Bicimia bike sharing service today so that I can cycle to the station on Thursday morning as I have to get there early to catch my train to Turin. Unfortunately they have run out of membership cards! Doh! So I have to wait until next week... annoying, but fairly predictable.

Didn't have much more success opening my bank account. To be fair, I should have got the ball rolling ages ago. Anyway, I have half opened one with Barclays, having had a chat with the manager of an Italian bank as well, it seemed much easier to do in a British bank. In theory...
I found out what I needed in the morning and returned with the required documents in the afternoon. They said it would be no problem, but it kept refusing to do it. When they phoned another Barclays branch in Brescia (there are about 5!) they were having the same problem, so basically she is going to open the account for me and then give me a ring when I need to go in and sign the documents. That seems okay... I need to give the account number to the school at some point (and this being Italy, sooner rather than later)...and need to pay my October rent by the 10th. Ahh well, plenty of time! 

This morning I attended a service at the Chiesa Valdese di Brescia. This is the only Protestant church in Brescia – officially a union of Waldensian and Methodist churches – the translation they give on the outside is United Reformed.

Having read the website I knew I was expecting a cultural mix, and probably quite a lot of English. I was not wrong.  When I arrived, scores of Africans in their wonderful Sunday clothes waited outside the church. I went in, having chatted to one of them, and picked a seat near the back, and had a look at the service sheet and hymn book I found nearby, inside which there was an interesting introduction to Protestantism in Italy. The church started filling up, probably 80% Africans, 18% Italians and 2% other... the other being myself, a Dutch family of 5 who sat in front of me and were very chatty and helpful (showing me how the service worked with the bilingual hymn book etc), and an Irish lady who has obviously been living in Italy a long time as when she spoke English she sounded Italian.  By the time the service started, there wasn’t an empty seat in the house, and as people kept on piling in late, there was soon no standing room either... they need a bigger church!

Now, most of the service was fairly standard stuff in terms of content, but everything was conducted bilingually, including the singing. The hymns in the bilingual book were standard well known Protestant ones but half the church was singing in English and half in Italian, which made for a rather confusing sound... the readings were read in each language, the pastor did her sermon in Italian and then English after... it was interesting, but also rather confusing.
Apart from one point in the service, it wasn’t as lively as I was expecting it might be either. All very sedate in fact... the one point was when they took the collection. We had been given a Ghanaian song on a sheet of paper, with an Italian translation. We remained seated while they took the collection, and so the first verse was sung sitting down and very sedately... however as soon as the collection was finished, everybody (well, the 80%!) leapt to their feet and started clapping and singing it very livelily which was great! From the comments made by the pastor afterwards, this obviously wasn’t a weekly occurrence.

Afterwards the Irish lady asked me how I had found it, and she commented that it’s “different” and she often doesn’t really like it, but that it’s “that or catholic”. True... however, I think next week I will give one of the catholic churches a go...I’ve found one that looks very inclusive and although obviously it excludes me from being able to take communion etc, the Waldensians only communicate once a month anyway, and in fact, from my experiences of going to mass in Trento, Catholicism is much closer to my usual anyway (apart from the lack of hymns...). Also, the bilingual thing didn’t really do it for me... I’m looking for more integration into Italian society really.

As some of you may or may not know, this New Year I will be going to Poznan in Poland, to take part in the 31^st Taizé European Meeting. This is meeting which happens each year from 29^th December to 2^nd January, in a different European city, with on average 30-40,000 people attending from all over Europe/the world. The meeting is organised by the Taizé brothers (a group of whom leave Taizé each year in about September to go and carry out the necessary preparations to transform the city, along with many local people who help bring it all to  gether).

I was lucky enough this evening to be taken to a Taizé evening in a village near to Brescia called Monterotondo. A group of about 18 young people from Poznan are touring round Italy for 2 weeks, stopping in a different city each day to invite Italians from that parish to go to Poznan and to share a Taizé prayer with them.

 

Having already decided to go to Poznan, I was extremely happy to have the chance to attend this, and meet others who are going (from Italy) and of course the young Poles who will be there. It was quite by chance really – having thoroughly enjoyed regularly attending Taizé prayers in Trento I wanted to find a similar opportunity in Brescia. I found a blog written by someone fairly local, who gave me the name of the contact in Brescia. I wrote to him before arriving in Italy, and he told me there would be a prayer on Sept 26^th in Brescia. Yesterday I rang him to check where/when and he told me that there were going to be some people from Poznan and it was taking place outside Brescia. He offered to give me a lift as I am senza macchina.  Briliant!

At 6.30pm I met him – Andrea – at the bus station. He was accompanied by Federica, and then another car driven by Ada pulled up. Ada is going to Poznan too, and so I went in the car with her to get to know her. She’s 28 and a primary school teacher. When we arrived in the village (after having to stop and ask directions twice!) they were still doing mass, so we waited outside. The music being sung at the mass reminded me so much of the choir in Trento : ) . It turned out that next up was dinner! This was a 4 course affair, with the 4^th course being after the prayer. There was also wine a plenty! Anyway having chatted with various Italians I was suddenly pounced on by most of the group of Poles. This was because various people had informed them that I am English...since most of them didn’t speak Italian, but did speak English, they were glad to chat to me. I sat in the middle of the group at dinner... it was fun, although not great for the old Italian, especially as afterwards the Italians started talking to me in English too (the language of Taizé...)

The prayer itself was wonderful, they set it up very authentically with the orange drapes etc. At the end they played a DVD which was all about Taizé and also all about Poznan. Made me very excited about going!

On our way out they gave everybody a See you in Poznan t-shirt, a copy of the DVD presentation, Polish sweets and posters/adverts for Poznan which will go very nicely on my wall here to brighten it up a bit! All in all an excellent serata.  I also got the email address of one of the girls and she said to write with any questions before Poznan – I already asked her about the weather and she said actually it won’t be toooo cold, probably not snowy anyway!

I look forward to seeing Andrea, Ada, Federica etc again at the next monthly Taizé service in Brescia!