SNOW

Rome!!

So I went to Rome by myself today!! Amazing I know...I'd never go to a city by myself in England.
I got the train at half eight and was in Rome by ten, I managed to successfully navigate the metro system, which by the way is no where near as complicated as London and Paris as there are only 2 lines that run through (around actually) the centre.
First I went to Piazza Navona to the christmas market it was more for families with small children, lots of sweets and toys, a few very touristy stalls but no craft stalls like I was expecting :(
Then I went to the vintage bit of a Rome, a road called Via del Governo Vecchio and found an Irish Pub but I'll get to that later...
I then got lost a few times wandering around random streets but not lost in a sense of "oh no I'm lost ahhh" more in a sense of I have no idea where I am or where I'm going which was really nice I got to see lots of random streets and shops and also walk past the pantheon about 3/4 times! So I now know this area quite well hehe.
I went to an exhibition of Georgia O'Keefe which was really interesting and then had an espresso in the cafe there and got a free cake, the barman was this really friendly old man and kept chatting to me, I didn't want to leave!
I went back to the Irish Pub after wandering some more and had ROAST BEEF AND MASHED POTATO and Magners of course, the waiter made me have a pint, he like "you can't be an Irish pub and not have a pint that's disgraceful, you'll have to have a pint" in an Irish accent and all, most of the people there were  American so it was to be surrounded by so many English speakers.
After I went shopping, to the vintage shops and bought a handbag, you can't live in Italy and not buy an Italian leather handbag lol, and then to Zara one of the few shops in Rome I know and bought a green top with long sleeves, very sensible for winter :) and then I went back to Piazza Navona, more by accident than design. After I just wandered some more and then got the train home at 4.30.
Here is my handbag and also the Trevi Fountain, I found it again eventually on my way back to the metro...

New pet and Xmas...

My new pet ( I found him dead this morning, after living on my window sill for a week)

and my army of santas - advent calender I made :)

(there are only 16 cos that's how much longer I'm here for!!)

Fashion...

The staple fashion of young people here is jeans and grey cardigans, leggings, and you need to have a Disney hoody, everyone owns one! Also tracksuits here are a plenty, but the people wearing them actually participate in sports unlike England ;)

Boys wear baggy jeans, timberlands and smart jumpers or tracksuits, or smart trousers with a shirt and bright coloured jumper. Trainers are a must for all, branded of course.

For women, its smart trousers and cardigans with shirts or plain tees, wedge shoes or boots are a must. You need a designer handbag, a quite big one, whether it’s real or not, also a belt proclaiming D&G or something similar and designer sunglasses or glasses. Make up here is extreme, think dark eye shadow applied heavily all over the lid and lots of foundation. For the slightly older lady, a matching skirt suit, patterned or in a bright colour is a necessity, worn with heels of course.

For men, sunglasses, jeans, tracksuits (especially if you are a little chubs) or suits with ties and sports jackets or knee length dark coats.

Red heads are rare; this is one of the main signs of me being foreign, that and the fact that I always wear dresses and boots with tights, and my handbags really small. The only other person that fits in worse than me is one of the French teachers who is actually French, and lives in jeans or black trousers and giant jumpers, always with messy long curly hair and no make-up, so unlike all the completely made-up female teachers.

Food

Georgia’s staple recipes!

Omelette

I’m not going to give you an actual recipe for an omelette, just make a suggestion that next time you make one, make it with parmesan! It’s so tasty.

Chicken pie

½ courgette

½ chicken breast

1 roll of puff pastry

Knob of butter

Some milk

Salt and pepper

Melt the butter, cook the sliced courgette and chicken then stir in the flour.

Gradually add the milk and then the salt and pepper, bring to the boil and let it thicken.

Leave this mix to cool.

Roll out the pastry, cut in half and fill with the mix then fold the pastry in half and fold in the edges, cook for 20-25 minutes at 200.

Minestrone soup my way

Passata

Vegetable stock

Chilli

Peas

Pasta – tortellini or that thin witch’s hair stuff

Heat the passata then add the vegetable stock - about 250ml per person.

Bring to the boil then add the peas and pasta, cook for 2- 4 minutes (depending on the pasta).

Add some salt and pepper and chilli.

Serve with a sprinkle of parmesan.

Olive bread (again not really a recipe)

1 pizza base (in Italy it’s called ‘pasta per pizza’)

A dozen olives

Some olive oil

I’m sure you can guess how this goes, roll out the pizza spread olive oil over, push olives into it and bake for 10 minutes.

I also live off mozzarella on toast with variations with ham, passata and pesto!

For breakfast I have brioche or some other type of pastry thing, at the weekend I have imported porridge J Italian’s normally have biscuits and coffee.

I have pasta every day for lunch, normally with a pre-made pasta sauce, pesto or with olive oil and pancetta, which is my fave at the moment, I also love prosciutto crudo tortello or tortellini it’s so yum!

Mountains..

Today there was frost during the day so I tried to take a photo as it's practically snow...but it didn't work so instead you can all be jealous of constant blue skies!!

 

Also me and Rob found the 'forest' it's a small area of trees where everyone goes running but it seemed pretty busy when we walked past and I hate running when people can see me! And it's too cold to go in the mornings.

And here is me trying to keep warm!!

Rome

I went to Rome on monday! Just spent the day wondering around with Rob, we saw the colloseum, pantheon and trevi fountain, had icecream and lunch in the jewish ghetto I had seafood risotto and Rob had clam pasta it was so yummy! I forgot my camera so there are no photos...
We found some traditional Abruzzan biscuits, ginger diamonds with dark chocolate and brutti ma buoni basically uglies but tasties...they were like meringues with nuts.
The weather has gotten a lot colder it's really frosty and it's about 10C sometimes colder, in the afternoons it's always really warm though. No signs of snow yet though.
I can't wait to come home now! I really miss england and having proper conversations with people I can go the whole weekend without speaking :(
xxx

This week...

Okay the wedding was on saturday it was really good, there fireworks were amazing and me, Rob and his best friend spent the evening sat on the green.
I planned a lesson on phonetics for tuesday and wednesday and then we didn't do phonetics!! Grrr
I lost my house key so I had to get a copy, I got lost looking for the shop it turns out there are two tunnels so where I turned right and left was in the opposite direction! But I asked for directions and someone printed me off a map and drew directions! I found the shop eventually and managed to get a copy...speaking in Italian of course and then to find my way back home I followed a mountain and the rail track hehe...this now means I know how to get to the centre of Avezzano!
Carmine's lessons were as horrible as ever today. Someone guessed my age to be 24 or 26 :( and asked if I had ever seen an UFO but he ooophoe I had no idea what he was trying to say.
Rob's coming to visit on Monday so we're spending the day in Rome so I might actually be able to buy postcards for you all :) 
Next week in most of my classes I will be teaching a bit on bonfire night because the Italians know nothing about it of course.
I think that's everything...xxx

Chicken Pie

I made pie for tea so I've decided to share it with you all :)

Avezzano

I'm not how much I've told you about the town but here's what I know...it was built at the beginning of the 1900's and the farm land on one side used to be a lake that got drained 50 years ago, it's mainly farmed by 'north african immigrants that refuse to intergrate and therefore cause problems' a nice bit of Italian racism for you!
There's a theatre and a cinema and about a million gyms, everyone here is sporty but there's not much else, there's a tiny patch of grass in the centre of town and that's all they have with regards to a park.
I live in a street of blocks of flats called 'palazzi' there's a bar (cafe/bar/tabacconist/gelateria/stamp seller), a butcher, a corner shop, a bakers and a hairdressers. I live 10 minutes from the nearest supermarket, it's tiny and doesn't have much variety in the way of food, it sells pasta, chocolate and wine mainly. The Italians seem very opposed to foreign food! There's a larger supermarket 20 minutes away and the only difference is that it sells some electrical and household items and has more fruit and veg. There's a hypermarket in the outskirts of town but it's about an hours walk from where I live but it's like shopping centre.
That's all I can think to tell you at the moment.
Bye xxx

School

So this week I've had to teach part of two lessons, they were both on the English education system, which by the way is impossible to explain when one of the teacher's you're working with worked in a grammer school and was really confused when I said you would study anything at A-level and he scoffed and said sarcastically even sewing? And I was like yes actually even sewing...that showed him hehe.
I was also in two new classes this week with Lucia we did lessons on the environment and body parts so not very interesting but easy vocab to teach, I'm going to be alternating each week in these classes and the others.
Next week we have tuesday off for a national holiday so I might be going to Florence to meet up with some of the girls I met in Turin.
Also next friday there is a student election they get to vote for all the important people in the school and also a student is elected for each year group, this takes up the whole day but I will be in Nottingham anyway so it doesn't affect me.
For anyone that wants the dates for me being England they are:
3rd november: flight at 7pm and coach from Stansted to Nottingham at 10pm
7th november coach to Stansted 8.30am and flight at 3pm
xxx

This week...

Okay I have decided that the top two oddest questions I have received since arriving in Italy are:
Do you like squirrels?
And is ganja legal in your country? Which is a quite an inappropriate question haha
I managed to teach the crazy class for 15 minutes alone in the classroom and get maybe 5 students to listen so an improvement on last week! The oldies are easier to teach as they actually want to learn!
Next week I have to do a 30 minute lesson in a year 2 class...on the english school system and then a whole lesson on the same with another teacher...
The weather here is crazy...it flooded in Rome and we had a storm but today it was boiling hot! I was wearing a coat for most of last week and today I could've worn shorts silly global warming!
Bye!
xxx

Thursday 20/10/11

Today Carmine asked if I was from Bristol, I said nearish and he told me it shows when I speak!!
We did pronounciation in Lucia's lessons today and the students are copying the way I slightly over pronounce 's' at the end of words...it's not good they all sound really silly!

I found out that the Christmas Market in Rome doesn't start until 26th Nov. but that it's the best in the country! So I'm excited but I have to wait a month!
I also found a few exhibitions I like the sound of...I just need to get to Rome and figure out how to get around...there's absolutely nothing to do in this town so I'm pretty bored especially as one of my housemates never leaves her room and the other is never in :( also I got given house rules today regarding cleaning!!

Here's a photo of the duvet cover I bought the other week...it's really horrible! hehe

 

Also it rained and it rained and it rained today!! And there was thunder and lightening and the electricity died in the 'containers' it wasn't so fun but everyone was like georgia's happy cos it's raining it's like being in england haha

Thursday

Today I met someone at the school that was under the age of 40!! She's a student studying history and philosophy and doing her placement year at the school I know this from osmosis, we haven't said more than ciao to each other but I'm determined to make her my friend haha
Today was a little stressful there's a boy in one of my classes that can stay sat down or shut up and is just a general disturbance so it makes it impossible to get the class to concentrate, also my teacher wants me to teach the whole class?! He thinks we study teaching methods at school and that I have experience at taching I was like NO! but he didn't pay any attention! He says it will be good for when I'm a teacher...I don't want to teach! ever! It's just too stressful! So anyways now I've decided I don't like him which is going to make those lessons a tricky two hours to cope with :(
xxx

Tuesday..

Went to the supermarket today and the checkout lady rememebered me and spoke in English, it's not helping my language learning at all haha
At school today I had to read aloud from Robinson Crusoe, teach nationalities and airport vocab which we've been working on for 3 weeks, next week we progress to hotel vocab :)
xxx

Class 5D

I found my favourite class today, it's full of geeks and they've promised to take me to Rome and to the cinema and to the best pizzeria in Avezzano...

Monday...

I got my first bit of post today so now I've decided you have to all send me letters!!

I tried to work out how to get into the town centre today and failed...
I also went to a 'bigger' supermarket today cos Tiz said it would be better it wasn't just a longer walk with heavy bags! I was planning on making chilli for tea but I couldn't figure out the vegetable section and then I couldn't find chilli and then I couldn't find kidney beans but on the plus side I got 1 kilo of arborio rice for 1 euro!! but no stock cubes...hmm not a very successful day...
I found some pilates lessons at a gym but it's half an hour walk away and I don't know how much they are, I might ask someone at school if they know a good place to go...
xxx

My new mug so I can have decent sized cups of tea...

First hints of winter! The view from my kitchen this morning :)

My flat and my room at Emi's house

 

Some photos...

The first photo is the garden in the first house I was in and the last two are photos of the school or containers I'm working in.

Market

Today I went to the market with Morena and bought a hideous duvet cover and a bath mat, because apparently we can't share! I also went to a shop called Acqua and Sapone, soap and water I think...I love it it's like a giant Boots haha I got some fantastically terrible slippers with ears and a tail but at least now I have warm feet!
My internet is working a bit better today, but I have to use it by the back door which really isn't practical...also I met Marta today, my other housemate but only for about 5 seconds to say Ciao and that was it.
I don't think I have anything to say so bye for now :) xxx

Internet

I have the internet now but it's not very good, it only works it certain places in the flat...

Turin

Turin was good, it's surprisingly nice for a city mainly known for it's industry.
I met some really lovely girls, Lucy from Nottingham, Steph from Essex, Lucy from somewhere else...I can't remember where hehe and Lilliah whose half Dutch and from Bournemouth, it's mainly girls that do the asstistantship there was about 4 boys.
I met Lilliah at the airport so we could get lost together, not many people figured out the confusing bus system so we all took taxis everywhere. The first day was introductions, then Lilliah and I went to do some shopping and to McDonalds, it was cheaper than getting a taxi back to the school for our free food. On saturday, we did learning activities like role play and listening then had our free school dinner. We visited the cinema museum which was really interesting with all it's old movie sets and films were played everywhere on random screens and then we headed to one of the piazza's for live music, ice cream and cocktails, by the time the other assistants were heading out we were heading home so we didn't really meet many people.
The actual training wasn't that useful, most people are teaching 14 to 19's and most of the activities seemed more suitable for younger students. But at least I get to visit Florence and Sicily hopefully at some point :)
xxx

First proper week...

Ciao,
I'm borrowing Maurizio's computer and internet...
I haven't been up to much this week, I moved into my flat on monday. And didn't have work on monday and tuesday. My flat is nice, it's cold all the time but boiling outside it's so strange and annoying.
So far I've taught weather, talked a lot about myself and english life and that's pretty much all we've been up to in school, I'm being used mainly as an excuse for the teachers to plan lessons haha.
I'm living off pasta and pesto and toast as usual, the nearest supermarket doesn't sell much but there's one about 10 minutes from the school so I might go check it out after lessons today. I still haven't found the post office...well I have but I don't understand where the actual post office bit of it is, it's more like a depot or sorting office or something.
My flatmate Morena is engaged and is studying education, she wants to be a primary school teacher. My other flatmate is called Marta and she stumbles in at 1 or 2 in the morning and sleeps all day so I have yet to meet her.
On saturday there's a market in the town centre, Morena says she'll take me so I can buy stuff for my room.
I'm a little bored here what with the lack of internet and being so far from town, which doesn't even have decent shops...

Flat

I went to see my new flat today, it's not very big, but my room is, it's 195e a month not including bills.
I'll post a picture up when I move in on sunday, and if I have internet.
I'll be living with two girls, one's 24 and the other 22 they're both students.
I'm going shopping soon with Annamaria and her friend Liglia to buy things to make it pretty :) and hopefully I will be able to borrow some of the other girls cooking stuff...
It's near a pizzeria, a bakery and a butchers, 10 minutes from the school and 15 from the station and nearest supermarket so it's a good place to be.
xxx

Teaching

Today I didn't so much teach as get asked lots of questions about weather, I thought I was supposed to be doing a 15 minute talk then a few questions on what weather was like in England but Tiziana thought I was supposed be teaching the whole lesson!! So I don't think it went very well...
On friday I have to get the bus for the airport at 5.40am! :( But another girl gets in at around the same time so she says she will wait for me so we can go into the city together yay! Maybe I won't get lost hehe
xxx

26/27. 9. 11

Yesterday, I sat in one of my host's classes, PE eurgh!! And then went to one of Maurizio's classes to teach english to 18 year olds and then 14 year olds. I had to talk about myself and I told then I loved to make cakes so they demanded my favourite recipe. And today one of the girls in the 18's class came into school today with a cake! It was yummy.
Today, I was in school again but only in two lessons, Maurizio's then Tiziana's class, both young, the students in Tiziana's asked lots and lots of questions, and asked what my surname was and then if I had facebook, I said no, of course! I spent an hour planning something about weather to talk about with Tiziana's class tomorrow and then wandered around the whole school which takes all of about 15 minutes and I mean the whole outside of the school, it's almost on a roundabout.
Flat- I can't have the attic as it's already been rented, but Maurizio's found me somewhere with a couple of students, 20 year old girls, I wanted to live alone! (stamps foot.)
Food- I went out for lunch with Maurizio today and had ham and cheese sandwich and a cappuccino. We then met one of his (our) colleagues Alfonso for coffee, and then they drove me back home and had a "quick" coffee that lasted 25 minutes! They don't rush for anything even lessons! Except when they drive. For lunch yeasterday we had risotto and bread and cheese, peccorino, and the dinner was mozzarella and bread.
Tomorrow I'm in school for an hour and then I don't know but today I made cake and everyone seemed to like it :)

xxx

Yesterday and today...

I spent yesterday sleeping and reading then some of Annamaria's friends came over to practice their english.

Food - We had lots of lunch, tuna pasta then bread and meat and then fruit, all yum of course!
Last night we went out for dinner, with some friends of the family I'm staying with, they decided I was like Mary Poppins when one of the daughters cut her finger and I produced a plaster, and then proceded to sing!! Emmi spent the meal singing beatles songs and other english songs she knew like row row you boat. The restaurant didn't have menus, and was basically a large pretty empty room, I had the tastiest breadsticks ever, ravioli with a mince ragu and then lamb which tasted like it had been coated in layers of salt and cooked for a year :( and salad that  seemed to have been pickled and smothered in oil, but the pasta was really tasty!

This morning we went into the town to see some artists that were painting in the streets, they closed the whole town centre for them, there was a market too but it wasn't very good. Later Annamaria is going to be playing the flute with her band there.

Tomorrow I will be going into the school to meet my classes and see what the school is like, so I'll update you on all that tomorrow...xxx

Food

Yesterday as soon as I got into the house food was thrown at me at speed, I was given pork escalopes and courgettes with mozarella and ham, with bread and was then given fruit and offered coffee, they drink espresso here all the time! And put loads of sugar in! Then I was informed that dinner was served at 8.30, more food! We had bread and potatoes and cooked mozarella and then I was given some ham to try which was okay but tasted really processed...then more fruit and then a chocolate. Then I was shown where all the breakfast stuff was kept and how to make tea, they don't have a kettle everything is made on the hob in special pots. The tea by the way is disgusting but I'm not sure if that is more to do with the pretend milk they have here...it's sweetened! Breakfast is 'biscuits' I'm not sure what they are I wasn't hungry this morning after all the food I ate yesterday!

Avezzano

So I'm in Avezzano, I got in at about 5 yesterday. The family I'm staying with are lovely, the mum is called Emmi or something like that anyway, she teaches dance at the school and sings a lot, the daughter is called Anna-Maria and she's studying to be a dentist, the son is Marcello and he's your average 16 year old boy. Maurizio has this camp slightly scottish accent when he speaks english, he's really lovely and he picked me up from the station and gave me a mini tour of Avezzano, he showed me the school, it's not in mobiles it's in 'containers' they look like the ones you'd put on ships to transport things and the idea of working in one is a little bit scary. I'll be working with him 4 hours a week, also 4 hours with Tiziana and 2 with 2 others of his colleagues. The town is very modern, and surrounded by mountains!, with lots of blocks of flats and the house I'm currently staying in is on a housing estate of 3 story buildings, I have the basement to myself. There's a library in this house, with  a ladder and everything! And lots of other rooms they don't seem to use, there's a laundry room that is bigger than my room at uni!
It's really warm here! I nearly could cope yesterday travelling in jeans and boots. There was this massive storm last night with lots of thunder and lightening!
Talk to you soon...

Accomadation

I got an email from my head of english today, he's found me somewhere to live for 300E a month...it's in an appartment building and I'll be living alone in 'una mansarda' which can be translated as an attic or a penthouse haha should be interesting to see what it's really like!

Six Days!!

I've decided the count down begins today, mainly because I'm at Hannah's and I managed to bribe her into making me a new blog with yummy chocolate mousses.
It's six days until my 6am flight to Rome followed by a train journey then finally a coach to Avezzano...it's going to be long journey!