Yes, I've been a little MIA on this blog...okay, a lot MIA. I have been trying to keep everyone updated via Instagram with little snapshots of my life. But today I'm going to write a novel of a blog post, if not for my 3 readers, for me.
We left off with me in Florence. Florence was a wonderful experience, and I was almost tempted to stay. It was familiar and I knew people, but I went to Rome. That first week was so incredibly overwhelming. Rome is huge, and public transportation is late, weird, and confusing. I spent most of September learning the city and interviewing at various schools. Unfortunately school didn't start until October, so I had a lot of free time.
My free time in September:
So I didn't delete my tinder when I said I would. I had some fun. What was great about Tinder (now, I promise I do not have it) was that you get to meet a new person and have a new little adventure each time. In Rome natives want to show you their city, so this is how I got to see a lot of historic sites, was told information about each (that I don't really remember, some snippets I can tell you), and got to practice a little Italian, or just got general tips about living in Rome. My Tinder spree was probably the most helpful thing I could have done. Do I want to do it again? Not particularly, but it was fun.
October I started teaching. At first I didn't have that many hours which was frustrating (I need money!), but each week I get a few more. I'm still not where I'd like to be, but I'm grateful that it's a gradual increase. Teaching is extremely overwhelming.
6/7 year olds:
I love 6 year olds, 7 year olds can be monsters. Six year olds are still terrified and will generally be quiet or talk amongst themselves when given an activity. Seven year olds are sassy and want to run around the classroom, talk over you, or just come up to the front of the room and tug on your shirt saying "Maestra, maestra!" At first I was like "I'm never having children!" I'm still saying "I'm never having children!" But they have all grown on me SO much. They are now the classes I look forward to the most. I feel like Ellen in the classroom, because I'm always dancing around. Sometimes when they get a correct answer I'll dance and say "Perfect!" Or "Very good!" And they glow. One kid, Alessandro, got a correct answer and I shouted "Perfect!" And he waited for me to dance, and I didn't. And he started shaking his body like "Hello, dance?" I was like "Oh!" And started dancing and saying "Yeah!!" They are wild, and I totally understand why in Recess the kindergarteners are portrayed as savage, but it's fun. Exhausting, but fun. I need to learn Italian because sometimes a child will run up to me and say "Maestra blah blah blah blah!!" And I'm like "No capito" and they are so disappointed in me.
7/8 year olds:
I just had my first class with them yesterday. I unfortunately had stayed up all night so I was a little manic. It takes place in a church and the kids are actually really great. We have to get the keys to the classroom from a Parish priest in this cool looking monastery. He opens his second floor window and then comes downstairs. All the parents were there for the first lesson and the owner of the school accompanied me and had me demo like 5 minutes of my lesson. Sooo that was terrifying and also not great after no sleep and being handed this class last minute with no preparation. BUT, I am SUCH a good actress. So it went well. They are very smart, but like all kids, after an hour are DONE and start running around the room.
Scuola Media 12 year olds:
UGH I CAN'T. They are my problem. They will not shut up and they always talk over me. I like them, really I do, I just need to figure this one out.
Liceo (High School) 15 year olds:
I have two regular classes. My general English high schoolers crack me up. They all probably hate me, but I don't care. Unfortunately the very first day was awful for me. I wrote on this giant white board (or what I thought to be one - it felt like one and there was a marker by it) and the kids all LAUGHED at me. I was like what? And tried to erase my half picture of a cat, and it smeared. Turns out it was a smart board. I seriously had this moment of "I'm not Josie Grossy anymore!" One kid had to go get a janitor to clean it up. Any respect they had for me was lost in that moment.
Things are getting better with them. They usually sit in the same seats, but this past week there was a switch up. One kid sat behind a girl. We'll call him Matt, and Giorgio was like "Why are you sitting over there?" And he was like "I need to." He very clearly is infatuated with this girl Bea. He was flirting with her throughout class. I gave them the assignment to write about 5 family members and 2 friends using adjectives. When Bea read hers (I said choose 2), she said "My best friend's name is Paolo. He is 17. He is very nice, tall, and slim. (Italians all use the adjective "slim" which I find amusing). He is from (some exotic area), and I like him a lot." Matt's face FELL, at first he looked confused, then angry, then sad. I WANTED TO BURST OUT LAUGHING. That shut up Matt for the rest of the class.
My other highschool I teach geography. They all are fascinated by me and had a million questions. Are you American? Yes. Do you have babies? Ew no. Do you not like kids? Yeah, I guess. Do you like us? Sure. Why are you a teacher? I don't freaking know.
Unfortunately this class has already learned all the material I was told to prepare. Another problem that needs to be fixed.
Private Students:
I have quite a mix of private students. My favorite is this 60 year old man from Potenza. He is very smart, works in IT, and is very enthusiastic about learning English. His biggest struggle is syllables. In Italian they always pronounce the "ED" at the end of past simple words. Like "published" becomes "poo-blish-ed" I told him that he needs to clap syllables and that most words don't pronounce "ed" with two syllables. He told me that when he was doing his homework in the car waiting one day he was clapping and everyone who passed by him thought he was crazy. We both laughed.
I have some teenage girls, and I'm getting more. They're fun. The problem with all my classes, is with me they want to have fun (and I do too!) so when I have to teach "test prep" and make them do the work they're like "whaaaaaat??" I'm like sorry, your parents are paying a ton of money. I find test prep so boring, I prefer general English, or just having them talk, they know more than they think. At first they are shy, but as they speak more to me, they get more comfortable and their English improves. I wish I could just teach conversation classes. Test prep is killer.
Overall teaching, preparing lessons, the hours involved that you are not paid for, and transportation is very exhausting. I totally understand how teachers get burnt out so quickly. I also have no idea how someone can teach the same class all day. I can't handle more than 90 minutes with a group. Right now I have the attitude of "If I get through this year of teaching, I can get through anything."
I teach with one guy a lot, and we're always given Lara as our chaperone. We love her. She likes to yell at other drivers and is learning English. She's so nice to have when we need a little extra help with the kids. And then there's also this cat:
This cat loves me. But this is his "GET THAT CAMERA AWAY FROM ME" face.
My life in general:
Outside of school, I joined a yoga studio for a month. This was overwhelming because all the classes were in Italian (except for a few English ones at the very end of the month), and I felt like such an idiot. But, my Italian did improve forcing myself to go. Every day I kind of have to force myself out and be like "You can do this!" I feel like the idiot American ALL THE TIME. I'm also now to the point where people are not being so understanding towards me if I accidentally say "hi!" instead of "Ciao!" At aerial yoga they're like "Okay, you've been here for a bit now, you need to be using Italian or learning it better." A little bit with the boy I'm seeing he's starting to talk more in Italian and expecting me to do the same. UGH.
Literally how I feel everyday. Also, not my best angle.
Charlye came to visit! And that was nice to have someone from home. She took this picture of me, which enforces how my students all call me white. One pale girl in the liceo came up to me to compare our skin and she's like "You're whiter than me!!" And was so happy.
Casper Status
I have also lost some weight, and that's been an adjustment. I was surprised to see the difference from January until now:
January
October
This coat used to be tight on me.
In a size 6 jeans, and I think I can even go down a little bit. (except for my calves)
I still feel chubby though, and I still am a little bit. I keep referring to myself as curvy or plus size and Maigan is like "I hate to break it to you but YOU'RE NOT." Even clothes that I just bought are starting to be loose (probably from the fact that I have to line dry everything) I need to start buying things even smaller to begin with. It's funny that after all this no carb dieting before, eating straight up carbs, very little meat, and tons of gelato is doing the trick (that and walking). It's the best! I do have a problem with Italian pastries though. If I eat a croissant or any "sweet bread" I'm immediately sick. I guess I can't have everything. Oh, how I miss an American doughnut. I tried to eat a donut last night here (and only ate half of one), and at 2am I had to run to the bathroom and threw up. They really don't agree with me.
Even with all these changes, I'm still very much me. I still say the wrong things all the time - just like my students who struggle with English, I know I've said some stupid things in Italian. I also still fall ALL the time. Like in Paris at the Louvre, I fell down a giant marble staircase and a child laughed at me. There are little spickets outside in Rome that you can fill up water bottles with - I've fallen into one. I trip all the time. In aerial yoga I'm always the one who can't figure out what she's doing (because they do things so differently here!). The boy I'm seeing is convinced I can't cook (because Italians are convinced their cooking is the best), and I haven't exactly proven him wrong. I also look like an idiot because I can't find simple things like bread crumbs or sugar at the supermercato. Again, the boy finds them no problem.
I now use some Italian phrases automatically, the most common being "Va bene" - Alright. Or "Ah, capito" - Oh, I understand. Or "Aspetta" - Wait. I do still say "Hold on!" occasionally. I said this to homeboy the other day and he's like "What is this? What does hold on mean?" And I said it means "Aspetta" he said "No! Hold on means you hold something. Why do you tell me to hold on?" Once he understood later I asked something and he said mockingly "Hold on." His English is getting SO much better.
One of my favorite things that Italians do is say "Good morning!" When they are leaving. Instead of "Have a good morning!" Same with "Good work" or "Good job" they're saying "Have a good day at work!" Or "Have a good day at your job!"
Every day I feel overwhelmed, but that I'm also in a movie. I watch my own telenovela with my roommate and her boyfriend next door. She lived over there when I first moved here, now she's moved back here when they broke up, and now she's spending a lot of time over there (yay!). Some days I can hear them arguing from here, another time I could hear them blasting Lionel's "Hello" (Ew). When they were broken up for that week I kept running into her boyfriend everywhere and he would talk to me and I'm like "What's girl code for this??"
This is definitely a growing experience for me, but I also really love living here. Even on really hard days I'm like "I have ham and potato pizza, my life is amazing."
