French Riviera Road Trip

Just got back from my first ever road trip with friends. Before I’d gone on drives with my family from Massachusetts to Florida and back and those were great times, but it is just a different kind of road trip. This time I was with two other guys that teach here in Milan who I’ve made friends with and spent lots of time with in the past few months. Before setting off, we picked up supplies- a car phone charger, an AUX cord to connect iPods, a paper map just in case, and snacks- granola bars, cookies, apples, pretzels, cheese balls, Pringles, etc. etc. When we got to the car rental place we got the sad surprise that we weren’t getting a Fiat 500 because those all get chosen earlier on in the day. Kind of like a first come first serve deal. We ended up getting probably the most uncool car they had in the lot- a Toyota Aygo. Yes- I GO. This is what happens on friend road trips. Surprises. Because we can’t plan as well as our parents yet and because we like taking chances. Things go wrong and you end up laughing about it later. Mind you, before leaving we hadn’t booked any places to stay or anything like that so this was going to be very much improvised. Had an awesome time in the end.

Day 1: Monaco, Montecarlo, and Nice

Driving out of Milan and down to the coast wasn’t too eventful but we were all thrilled to be getting out of the city and heading towards the sea. One of the things I miss about Lynn and Massachusetts in general is the proximity to the ocean. I just find it comforting and I’m not the only one! Our first stop was Monaco, which- for those who don’t know or for those who have forgotten like I had- is one of those countries the size of a city, like Vatican City. Montecarlo is it’s most well-known city I believe and we decided to park the car and spend a couple hours watching the elite frolic in luxury. I can tell you that I have never seen so many damn Ferraris in my life. I couldn’t stop staring. Lots of red ones too, which I think are the sexiest ones. My goal is to drive one some day. In Italy, there is at least one place where people go, pay, and drive them around for an hour at a time. Bucket list! Anyway, back to talking about Montecarlo. The town is down by the ocean and if you look up you’re just surrounded by mountains. The town itself is made up of winding streets that go up, up, up and are filled with itty bitty shops where you could blow your life savings in no time. One of the hotels way up on the mountain runs a paragliding business so the view in the distance was spotted with colorful parachutes slowly floating around in the sky. Our first stop was the beach where we got to see up close the blue waters that this region is known for. The weather was ideal that day.

After leaving Montecarlo, we went straight to Nice. The traffic was heavy so we ended up getting there around dinnertime hungry like the wolf. Although we hadn’t booked a place we had searched hostels a bit and stopped at one we had liked the looks of online. Hotel Baccarat. In the end we stayed there for the next two nights and had a great stay. After throwing our backpacks in the room- taking valuables with us of course- we headed out on the prowl to find a restaurant. We ended up paying out the wazoo for a place that had a appetizer- main course- dessert deal for 30 euros, promising ourselves that we would eat on the cheap for the rest of the trip. The food ended up being to die for and completely worth it. Fun fact: Yes, in America we use the word entrèe for the main course but in France they actually use it to refer to the appetizer. Doesn’t seem easy to mess up, but we managed it! Speaking of languages, I never studied French and apart from bonjour, bonsoir, merci, and au revoir, I just stuck to English. My friends spoke French so the people would speak to them in French and when I spoke in English just took my lead. I don’t particularly like doing this, especially now that I know how great it is to learn a country’s language and feel completely at ease communicating with people in it, but what can you do. 

Day 2: Nice 

The weather on this day was kind of chilly and cloudy but we didn’t let that stop us. The girl at our hostel told us that pretty much everything to see in Nice is in Old Town, which is the neighborhood by the beach. After sleeping late, we popped out of the hostel around lunchtime and grabbed some sandwiches before starting the day. Nice is smaller than I expected actually and we only needed to walk about fifteen minutes down the street to get to where we needed to be. The main square was very pretty. I felt like the pace is all the cities and towns we saw was very slow. People go to the south of France to relax and enjoy themselves and that was what you could see all around. In the center of Milan you cannot walk across Piazza Duomo without getting stopped multiple times by very insistent street vendors selling you bracelets, lighters, and trinkets. In Nice, no one stops you. The place where we spent the majority of our day was Castle Hill, whose name is self-explanatory. We took the stairs up- although there is an elevator both for those who actually need it and for sissies- and along the way are multiple vantage points that make it possible to observe the beauty of the city at all angles. At the top of the hill, besides the castle there is a really impressive waterfall which I really liked. It was a popular spot for taking pictures and at one point, a girl came up to ask me for one. The best part was that she led off with, “Do you speak German?” I like that people aren’t always sure about where I’m from. It is nice to have at least a tiny bit of anonymity. After coming down from the hill, we took a short walk along the Promenade and then stopped by a boulangerie or bakery to grab a pain au chocolat- side note: in this case, we got it as a snack, but this was also my breakfast pastry of choice throughout the trip- and a chocolate eclair. Eclairs really are God’s gift to people with a sweet tooth. The coolness of the filling is just so refreshing on a spring day like that. Finally, we headed off to the grocery store to get wine, baguettes, cheese, and meat for a very French and very cheap dinner. My friend asked the man at the deli for a diverse selection of French cheese and each one had it’s own particular consistency and flavor. One was brie of course so very soft and a bit stinky. Another had some spice to it. I’m getting hungry...

Day 3: Cassis and Les Calanques

The most gorgeous weather of the trip. After spending the entire day in one place the day before, we were ready to hop in the car and hit the open road. We drove a couple hours east and stopped in a town called Cassis which is near the better known town of Marseilles. I absolutely loved Cassis. Right on the water with colorful boats bobbing around and colorful houses and storefronts to match. People usually stop here so that they can hike up to Les Calanques which I’ll put up pictures of later on. If you have time, stop for a second and Google them because they are breathtaking. Basically they’re cliffs by the sea and the water surrounding them if possible seems even bluer than in the others places we saw throughout the trip. This was essentially a day filled with natural beauty more than anything. Halfway through the hike we saw that there were some huge rocks by the water than people were napping and relaxing on. One of my friends used to do rock climbing so he coaxed me and my other hesitant friend into climbing down to a more private area of the rocks where we could finish off our wine and cheese without anyone else around. If he sees this post, he’ll laugh if I make too big of a deal about our climb down. It’s not liked we strapped on ropes and harnesses. It was just a rockface a couple feet taller than us, tall enough that we couldn’t just jump down. He needed to give us a bit of advice on where to place our feet and hands so that we didn’t slip. I was proud of myself because without some convincing I would never have tried that. We stayed there for quite a while, just soaking in the sun, the sights, and the complete relaxation. Afterwards, we reached the top of the cliff we’d been hiking up and got a last look at everything before heading down again. My buddies are seafood lovers and that was more or less all there was in this town so that’s what we got for dinner. I don’t completely hate seafood- shrimp and certain types of fish are fine- but there is a fine line and I’m very strange about what I’m okay with or not. To my left I could see a bunch of fish on ice in the window because the place we went to doubled a poissonnerie or fish shop. I love that word because- given my pickiness about seafood- it makes me laugh that the word looks like ‘poison’. My friends each got a bucket of mussels and I ordered a filet of mackerel, thinking I was ordering something I could handle. However, it ended up showing up on a plate with head and tail attached so I just had to keep calm and carry on. That night, we weren’t so lucky when it came to lodging because this town was too small for hostels and when we followed the GPS to the one place we found online it led us to a dark residential area that seemed to lack all forms of life and could possibly be filled with zombies so we got out of there as fast as we could.

Long story short, we drove to a rest stop and ended up sleeping in the car. Before that though, I got my first ever lesson in how to drive standard. On my first try I was able to turn on the car, put it in gear, and start moving without stalling so that was a small victory. However, I didn’t really remain that consistent over the course of the next half hour or so. I’d really like to learn and reach a level where I’m just as comfortable in a standard car as I am in an automatic one. I applaud anyone who has learned to drive this way and even more so the parents who have had to watched their kids mercilessly abusing the car during the learning process! Anyway, sleeping in the car was horrible as expected but at least we saved some money and ended up on the road earlier than we had been during the first few days of the trip. 

Day 4: Saint-Paul-de-Vence

We stopped at two medieval hilltop towns on the way back, one called Saint-Paul-de-Vence in France and one called Cervo which means ‘deer’ in Italy. I loved seeing the south of France and had a great time, but I can’t tell you how much of a relief it was coming back to Italy. We ended up sitting on the steps of a church and just people-watching for a very long time in the center of town. I love being able to understand the little things, like when a kid says something cute to their parents and everyone laughs or when someone says that the beautiful weather is making them crave a gelato. I just feel comfortable here. It is like a second home and I’m happy to be back.

Update

I haven’t written a blog in a while I know. For Christmas I went to my boyfriend’s house in Calabria in the south of Italy. I had a great time like always except that, even though people always joke around about how much food southern Italians will pile on your plate until you can’t take it anymore, I actually lost my battle with my Christmas dinner. I think that last piece of Pandoro (a type of cake, which you slather Nutella onto before eating it) was the straw that broke the camel’s back.

I only got to stay for two weeks because when you’re a teacher you have to be back fresh as a daisy at the beginning of January. I miss college where we got that extra week. Side note: Some Italian universities don’t start courses until MARCH. 

Since the new year started, I’ve discovered some new places. Nadaba Theatre is a bar that has really talented bands for live music. Ostello Bello is a hostel where you can basically come and go as you please- not in the rooms obviously- but in the bar area and the lounge. I guess it is one of the top hostels in the world. Top 10 I think. They’ve got a ping pong table, foosball, guitars for people that can play, board games, and lots of couches/seats. The other day I went with my friend and he played guitar while I sang with a partner who was equally as enthusiastic about singing even though we don’t know how. There was also a group of drunken Italians singing/screaming with their own guitar on the other side of the room but we managed to hear ourselves somehow. The place is packed every night of the week. We went on a Tuesday and it was ready to burst.  Going there is a nice reminder of the fact that although at first it was lonely working here on my own without the built-in support group that I had on a college campus or studying abroad in class every day with Italians my age- I AM IN EUROPE and there are all kinds of characters out there to meet and exchange stories with. The other night for instance I talked to a Dutch male model here for work, a girl- also Dutch- here with no agenda exactly except that she is traveling the world and this is one of the stops, and a Canadian guy and Brazilian girl here for study abroad. Another place I have heard about but haven’t seen is Corso Como. It is apparently an entirely pedestrian street near the Garibaldi metro station I believe. With the chaos and business that characterizes the rest of the city, that street must be a gem. I have to go! 

P.S. I am now doing 4 private lessons per week and finally making decent money. Word of mouth seems to be the best way to get these gigs but it just takes some time. Anyway, I'm happy about it!

Life gets busy

It is a good feeling being busy. Also, one of the positive things about living with a host family is that I personally wouldn't feel as comfortable sitting around all day doing nothing in someone else's house as I would in my own house or apartment. It makes me get out more.

About a month or a month and a half ago, I actually started getting annoyed at myself for not going out and meeting new people. Part of what fascinated me about study abroad was that I was meeting new people every day. Being in a big university city, you makes friends with the friends of friends and so on and so forth and the cycle never ends. Being a teacher and not a college kid though makes things harder. So, when I realized I was getting cabin fever I decided to make a profile on Meetup.com which is a website which tells you "meet ups" that are happening in your city. A couple of the ones that I remember were:

-"Indian dinner" which was a group of people that meets up once a week to eat out at an Indian restaurant because they really love Indian food.
-"Young Professional Women" which is exactly what it sounds like i.e. young professional women getting together to socialize, chat, discuss their experiences

I decided to join a group called "Cheers Milan" which organizes an English speaking night at a local pub every Thursday. The afternoon that I made this decision was actually a Thursday, so I made up my mind to go out that night. Yesterday, I just went there for I believe the fourth time and it is always a good time. Most of the people that show up are Italians who want to practice their English so they always get excited and want to talk to my friends and I. I'm not complaining! As with all pubs, there are always a few characters in the mix and people always have crazy stories to tell that make me die laughing. It is great to get out.

Also, while for the first 2 months not a soul seemed interested in a private English tutor now I'm being flooded with requests. I guess word of mouth has a delayed, but strong response. I actually had my first two tutoring sessions this past Wednesday.

One woman rents out apartments to foreigners so she speaks English for work and wants to become completely fluent. She really takes the reins, knows exactly what she needs me there for, and is full of questions. If anyone who is reading this is in Italy, is thinking about giving private lessons, and wants to know what is a good price per hour you can ask me.  The teachers at school told me what the typical price is and it was actually much more than I expected and much more than I would have ever asked for if I hadn't double checked with them first. Don't sell yourself short!

Anyway, the other lesson was more informal. We just met up for an aperitivo and she paid for my drink, which in Milan can be fairly expensive so it worked out well as a payment.

Berlin

Had a great time in Berlin! Overall it struck me as a city with a lot of personality. I first got there on Friday night and then headed to the airport Monday afternoon for my flight back.

Friday: I got to my hostel around midnight and just went straight to sleep because I was exhausted. The place is called Heart of Gold Hostel and I'd recommend it to anyone who goes to visit Berlin. Free Wifi in the lobby which is spotty but again free, lockers in the rooms, sunglasses you can also rent out if you forget yours like I always do, all-you-can-eat breakfast 8 to 12 each morning for 4 euros, and best of all really catchy music in the reception area which puts you in the mood to socialize with the huge variety of people who you're going to meet there. I was really nervous about staying in a hostel by myself, especially because I chose to stay in a six person mixed room i.e. males and females. 

When I entered the room, it was empty except one guy sitting with his computer and said hi so of course I immediately assume he's a serial killer. Just kidding, well 99% kidding, 1% you-never-know. He ended up being a Chilean-Spaniard and the others who showed up later were Polish, German, and Italian. The funny thing is that I actually ended up inviting the first guy I met out to a bar with us and we spent most of the weekend together. One of my favorite things about traveling is making friends at the drop of a hat. He was even nice enough to accompany me to the airport on the last day. Aww.

Saturday: A few days before leaving for the trip, I signed up for the "Berlin Food Tour" which is a four hour long tour of the Mitte neighborhood of Berlin which my friend called the Manhattan of Berlin.  Basically, it is where you can find an endless amount of cute shops, restaurants, etc. The tour is really legit and has all kinds of reviews on Trip Advisor and the most amazing part is that it is all a one man show. The same guy- Bastian- does all of the tours himself and has it all down to a science. Anyway, we went around to I think about 15 specialty shops and restaurants and tried all kinds of things, including currywurst and local craft beer. My tour buddies were two American couples. One was living in Germany because the guy had some kind of army job there. The other couple basically up and quit their jobs in September to travel around Europe together for a year. How awesome is that? Here is the professional photo our guide took took of us:

We also saw all kinds of street art and someone I met there told me, "You can't talk about Berlin without talking about street art." Here are a couple examples:

Once I got out of the tour I was able to meet up with my friend who is studying abroad in Berlin right now and we took a walk around to see some of the more touristy sites. That night we went to a wine bar where you pay 2 euros, they give you a glass and you can drink as much as you want. There was some food there too so I ended stuffing my face as well. On your way out you leave a tip based on whatever you think your experience was worth I guess. The suggested amount is 2 euros a glass but people pay whatever they want or can. Saving some money and drinking some wine will always make for a night full of laughs. :p

Sunday: Sunday we tried to go to a flea market but it was closed so we headed off to see a palace in a neighborhood called Charlottenburg. Unfortunately, despite a long train ride and walk in the cold non of us really felt like spending the 8 euro entrance fee so I can't say we really learned much about the castle itself! One happy consequence of this wild goose chase around the city was that my friend and I had a huge appetite for an early dinner at a traditional German restaurant. Not touristy at all. In fact, I had to ask my friends to help me out because I didn't understand the menu at all. It was called Wirsthaus Hasenheide if anyone is interested. That night, I ate schnitzel <3 which for those of you that don't know- I didn't know before this weekend- is according to Wikipedia: "a boneless meat, thinned with a meat tenderizer, coated with flour, beaten eggs and bread crumbs, then fried." Looks kind of like this:

That night, I got back to the hostel and wasn't at all ready for bed yet so I went on a mini adventure with my Chilean-Spanish buddy to the East Side Gallery, which is a fairly long part of the Berlin Wall which still stands and is completely covered on the eastern side by murals and works of art that were done in 1990. It represents freedom and artistic expression after such a terrible time in the city's history. After seeing that, we popped by Checkpoint Charlie and then headed back to the hostel.

Monday: On my last day, I spent the few hours I had left in the German History Museum which right near "Museum Island," an island full of museums on the Spree river. I guess it didn't fit. :p Anyway, it goes through the entire history of Germany which you probably guessed from the name, but I really only wanted to see the exhibitions about the World Wars. It turned out that that was plenty to see in three hours. Of course, everything was just jaw-dropping and heart-breaking but fascinating at the same time. After leaving the museum, I met up with my friend and went straight to the airport to head back to Italia. I didn't want to leave and I have to admit all I want to do now is hop on a plane to go somewhere else! I missed the feeling of being completely new to a place.

Halloween and more about work

I went to my first ever Italian Halloween party on Friday and the people that organized the party who some of the most enthusiastic Halloween lovers I've seen here. There were all kinds of decorations- the spider webs, little orange candles, orange pumpkin lights, other types of streamers and a fully carved Jack-o-lantern. Plus, everyone was in costume. However, I had to laugh when I saw the types of food that were on the table and I said to one of the guys who did the decorating and who seemed most excited about everything, "This is the best Halloween party ever, but you can tell that it is Italian. I'm not sure how many American Halloween parties have a bowl of mini mozzarella balls and a bowl of olives as appetizers!" He laughed too. Man, was there a lot of food...I haven't been that full in a while...P.S. I dressed up as Cupid and of course took no pictures because I always forget.

Anyway, tomorrow I start my first after-school conversation class. I'm doing three 20-week courses, one that meets every Monday 2:30pm-3:30pm, another that meets on Tuesday at the same time, and another on Wednesday at the same time. I'm already thinking about ways that I can make the class my own and give it structure. I think I'm definitely going to use one of the tricks my first ever Italian teacher used and give each student a little cheat sheet of English expressions that they can use to avoid using Italian in the classroom. For example, I'm going to include how to say, "How do you say _______ in English?", "What does _______ mean?", and "I don't understand, can you repeat that?" You'd be surprised at how often students will revert back to Italian just to say, "Come si dice _______ in inglese?" ("How do you say _______ in English?"). It seems innocent enough, but it really breaks the flow of speaking in English and makes it harder to concentrate on one language. Another thing is that a lot of students use the structure, "What is _______?" instead of "What does _______ mean?". For example the other day a student asked me, "What is 'cuddle''?" and yes it sounded very adorable and all, but I'd rather that they spoke like a native speakers! I hope the cheat sheet helps....

Another idea I might use is one that I learned from several of my professors in college. I think it would probably be best to have the students sit in a circle during class, especially because there are only 12 of them in each course. The idea is that if you are standing in front of the class and they are all facing you listening, it isn't the ideal environment for encouraging conversation between the students. Furthermore, in Italy students are much more used to the "You lecture. I listen." format of class and it can be hard at times for them to participate in a discussion-based classroom environment. Yet another reason to avoid making them feel like that is what this class is about!

Last update: my advisor didn't really know anyone who needed private lessons but she helped me make some mini flyers that I'm going to put up today when I go to town. The other American assistant also mentioned that she could hook me up with some potential clients which is great.

Updates

Since I last wrote, I been busy. Last weekend, Giuseppe came to visit and we spent the entire day in Milan Saturday seeing new sights and getting more familiar with the city. A friend of mine is currently doing her Master's here so she was nice enough to bring us around. One of the cuter places we saw was a church that has a sort of optical illusion inside. It is called Santa Maria Presso San Satiro. Essentially the back wall is painted in such a way that when you walk in it looks like this:

but when you walk further into the church and look from the side, you see that all that is painted above is actually painted on a single almost completely flat wall:

I thought that was awesome. Besides that, we mostly just saw the more touristy parts of Milan. This weekend, Giuseppe came back along with my beloved friend Katherine and a few of her buddies from Andorra. We did the touristy run through again but also made some useful discoveries about public bathrooms. 

(Bathroom side note: Just so everyone knows, there is a *free* public bathroom at Sforzesco Castle and one that costs fifty cents in the Burger King in Piazza Duomo. It prints out a little voucher so you can get your fifty cents back paying for a coffee or something.)

On Sunday, we went to Lake Como which was beautiful as expected and surrounded by mountains. Apparently, George Clooney's house is nestled further back from the part of the lake that you can actually see from the town of Como. Sadly, it isn't there for everyone to see. Anyway, here are a couple of the pictures I took. As you can see, northern Italy may not have anything on New England but the trees still get colorful here in the fall. 

I'm really liking the gym and the other day, I saw the hot tub for the first time and I think I fell in love. I also understand now where the high membership price comes from...It is a dream. Huge. Jets upon jets upon jets and neon lights under the water. Having access to something like this during the fall and winter time is just wonderful.

School is going well so far. I feel bad that I still haven't learned very many names, but I have 16 classes total and I don't think I'm going to be able to keep them all straight! This week, obviously I'll be talking about Halloween in a few of my classes as well as the books Gulliver's Travels and the Great Gatsby. Luckily I just watched the movie because the teacher for that class asked me to show some scenes for discussion this Friday.

Soon I'll be teaching three afterschool conversation classes probably Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday 2:30-3:30pm. In this case, I'll be the teacher and not the teacher's assistant so I hope that the kids are respectful...Anyway, for each of those classes I'll receive a stipend at the end of the year. It obviously won't be like the salary of someone with a real full-time job but it will be a few hundred euros at least. Yay for big pay days on the last day of school! I also asked my advisor about doing private lessons because that is the main way that people like me who are doing assistantships make extra pocket change. I love my free time here but I still think I could manage to fill more of it up and still have plenty of time to relax.

School and more...

I haven't written in a while because I've been super sick...Before I got sick I had my first proper night out in Milan last Thursday. An Italian guy who interned at UPenn a few years ago- and came to several of the Bryn Mawr Italian department's events- invited me to an aperitivo at his office. If you don't know, an aperitivo is basically like a buffet of appetizer-like snack foods you eat along with some kind of alcoholic drink. Anyway, this was more specifically an art exhibit/aperitivo. I didn't really know him too well before going but after a few minutes I was shocked to hear that he was 28 years old. His friends, who met me at the subway and walked with me to the event, were 29 and 33 years old. I thought they were only a few years older than me and definitely felt a little self-conscious for being the baby of the group, not to mention the only one without a Doctorate or Masters degree or a full-time job. Everyone else at the exhibit was in their 50s and 60s and whatever age you were, you were dressed nice so it felt like more of an elegant event. There was unlimited wine, like always, plenty of little triangle sandwiches, other snacks and also some dessert. Aperitivo is one of the best parts of Italian culture.

Anyway, the moral of the story is coming up. After the aperitivo we went out for more food and drinks at a nearby bar and while I was talking to the ex-intern, he brought up a very good point. I was asking him about his experience in America and how it was and he said something along the lines of, "Being in a different country in an entirely new city is a life-changing experience. Whatever you are invited to, you say yes. You do things you wouldn't normally do, you spend time with people you wouldn't normally hang out with...Would you usually be out drinking with 30-year olds?" I had to laugh because when I got his invitation to come to this event, I said yes, yes, yes. I had school the next day and I should have spent more time planning the lessons, but again, "Whatever you are invited to, you say yes." I love that line because it really captures the essence of the experience.

Anyway, I should probably talk more about my experiences at the school. I have my hours finalized and therefore, I'm starting to settle in and fall into a routine. I'm in several different classes and I see each one either one a week or every two weeks. Each week, my hours in the classroom add up to 12.

I should explain one last detail. In Italian high schools, the students stay in one room all day and the teachers move around. Each class is labeled with a number- 1 for first year students, 2 for second-years, 3 for third-years, 4 for fourth-years, and 5 for fifth-years. The only reason I listed them all out was to draw attention to the fact that in Italy, students do five years of high school and then three years of college. (side note: If you do law or medicine, you do more than three years.) From there each class is labeled with a letter. So there's 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F, 1G, 1H...and I haven't heard letters beyond that. So apparently depending on your group, you're with the same 20 or so kids all year or for all of high school. I have to ask someone about this..Anyway, here is my schedule. I want to write the teachers as well to give an idea of how many different people I work with. The names are made up as you will probably notice.

Monday:         9:10am-10:10am with Mr. Michelangelo's 1B class

                      11:20am-12:10pm with Mrs. Da Vinci's 2A class

Tuesday:        10:10am-11:05am with Mrs. Da Vinci's 1D class (every other week)
                      10:10am-11:05am with Mrs. Loren's 1E class (every other week)

                      11:20am-12:10am with Mrs. Loren's 2H class (every other week)
       
                      12:10am-1:05pm with Mrs. Da Vinci's 1G class (every other week)
                      12:10am-1:05pm with Mrs. Loren's 2G class (every other week)

                      1:20pm-2:10pm with Mr. Michelangelo's 4D class

Wednesday:   9:10am-10:10am with Mrs. Da Vinci's 3C class

                      10:10am-11:10am with Mrs. Loren's 1H class (every other week)

Thursday:      10:10am-11:10am with Mrs. Maria's 1F class

                      12:10am-1:05pm with Mrs. Da Vinci's 3E class
                   
                      1:20pm-2:10pm with Mrs. Da Vinci's 3A class

Friday:          12:10am-1:05pm with Mr. Michelangelo's 5D class
     
                      1:20pm-2:10pm with Mrs. Angela's 4A class (every other week)

Next month, I'll start teaching a class for Trinity College London's test on spoken English. From the sounds of it, if you do well, it is a nice certificate to have under your belt around here. For our program, we are technically supposed to do 12 hours of teaching and 13 of "related activities". I'm still trying to figure out what the related activities are. The only thing I'm sure of is that the Trinity test classes count. The other American assistant who works at the school is also teaching classes after school for the teachers, but I think that's her thing. She also does private tutoring for teacher's kids, but no one has mentioned that to me either.

I'm the newbie. It is definitely a little strange being the new one here where everyone already knows and loves the returning assistant. Today, when I was walking down the stairs with her we ran into another teacher and he started talking to her about some dinner he had planned with a few other people. After I introduced myself, we small talked for a bit, and finally he was like, "I should probably invite you too..." Another teacher randomly came up to me today and was like, "and who are you?" The getting oriented process is a little awkward, but I like to think that I'm friendly enough and will eventually be part of the community. All of the teachers I work with personally have been great and super welcoming and encouraging for the most part. For example, it was seriously cute of Mr. Michelangelo is offer to take my picture after my first official lesson to commemorate the moment. When he emailed it to me, he labeled it, "Natural Born Teacher"...Here it is: