La Pasquetta

Ciao Ragazzi,

I am writing this whilst listening to the rain bounce off my shutters because i'm in Italy and it's Easter and notorious for it's bad weather over this weekend.

In the last couple of weeks I have been given a plethora of information about what Italians do at Easter (Pasqua) and the general gist is THEY EAT! of course they do, munch munch munch!
Every small town / region / city  has their own particular food that is traditionally made and eaten at Easter. In Milano its the "Colomba" a dove shaped cake that symbolises peace.

 

The Colomba de Pasqua is made from flour, butter, milk, eggs, candied fruit, almonds and sugar. It tastes like Panattone!

Shadone - the Italian Easter Pie.

Easter Pie is made from Eggs, Salami, Ricotta, Queso Fresco, Pecorino Romano and salt and pepper.
Traditionally eaten  on Easter Monday, La Pasquetta (Little Easter) After they stuff their faces on Easter Sunday they have "Little Easter" of course!! Usually this involves a picnic al fuori, Friends and family meet and eat!

 

 

 



Easter is the second most important holiday after Christmas so it's a big deal here! It's quite nice to have such a lovely atmosphere and to be able to experience things the way that Italians celebrate.
The Easter eggs here are HUGE! the cheapest i've seen is 10euros and it would feed a family of 4!

 

Easter Bread is also quite spectacular, I think it's just the lovely coloured eggs which are nested into the bread that make it look so appealing!
I haven't tried it yet but I would hazard a guess that its like a hot cross bun!

 

 

 

Something else I have noticed, is a lot of people carrying Olive Branches. Especially last weekend. I don't know where the term "handing someone an olive branch" came from but it is a tradition at Easter in Italy to give people olive branches. Maybe because Easter symbolises new beginnings.

 

I'm sure that there is a lot more to Easter than just food but food is always interesting!! Buona Pasqua 





UK-TEFL - My TEFL experience

Ciao!

I'm Hannah, I'm 29 and from the UK, I completed my TEFL in April 2013 after being made redundant for the second time from jobs in Marketing and as a Career Adviser and realising that my job in Insurance was making me extremely unhappy.

I knew I needed experience immediately to put all of my new skills to good use but I wasn't in the position financially to just up sticks! Instead I did some research around my local city, York, and found a volunteer group and a number of Language schools. After getting in touch with these schools and the volunteer group I managed to secure a position over the summer of 2013 teaching in the English Language Centre in York and I also volunteered as an English conversation teacher for Refugee Action York. The experience I gained doing this was invaluable and really cemented the idea of becoming an EFL teacher and moving abroad.

I have dreamed of living in Italy for a long time. Who doesn't want to live La Dolce Vita? So, I decided to just go for it. During my training I was given some good tips on how to find a job in Europe. It's not as common to have a Skype interview or to be hired without meeting your employer face to face if you want to work in Europe. I didn't want the expense of having to keep flying to Italy and back so I decided to just move to Milan and "wing it." About 2 weeks before I went I  put a free advert in an English publication here in Milan called "Easy Milano" I advertised myself as a tutor and I also advertised myself as looking for a job as a Teacher. This was a really useful thing to do because by the time I got there I had a couple of people interested already.

I gave myself a month to find a job. As soon as I got here I was straight on the case. I located as many language schools as I could, wrote a *functional style CV and started ringing and emailing and even visiting some of the schools to make connections and to find a job.

*I chose the functional style CV because it has a more "skills based" approach, I don't have alot of experience and a chronological CV would just be full of useless and irrelevant information so a Functional CV works better in this case, the employer can see all of the relevant information straight away if you highlight your skills and back them up with evidence using short and concise bullet points.

By the end of the first week I had a job working 3 hours a week tutoring children. By the end of the second week I landed another job at Wall Street English. I found the school by chance when I was walking to work, it was raining and I was feeling a bit miserable, I walked passed it and decided to go in and ask if they needed any teachers. The next day I received an email from the Service Manager who invited me for an interview the following day. By the end of the week I had a job offer!

I have been working for just over a month now and I have received some excellent support from my school. The only trouble is, if you are on an Italian contract the pay isn't as good, however, I just love to teach and I have the option to work for another school if I want to/need to.

My life has completely changed and the thrill and excitement of being somewhere new is motivating me to continue to do what I love and to learn more about the culture and learn the language.

I live with a family, they found me from an advert I posted on a website. You can live with students or other professionals but I wanted to live in a family home and really get the feel for the way Italians live and to emerse myself as much as possible, in and around the times I'm teaching, my rent is discounted because I offered to each the child English!!

So if you are thinking of taking the plunge, DO IT!!

Hannah

#tefl #travel #teach #EFL #ESL #CELTA #TESOL #TEFL #blogs #italy

Milan in March

Woahhhh March delivered some challenges! I have had some ups and some downs so here's a little round up of my life this last month.

If I'm honest I didn't think I'd make it past February and thought my sorry a$$ would be on a cheap flight home with my tail between my legs by 25th! I'm still here though! remarkable! I have run out of money but I get paid next week so don't worry about me!

I've had a few moments where I've wondered "WHAT AM I BLOODY DOING IN THIS CITY", but for the most part I know I'd rather be here doing this than be in the UK doing a job I don't like.

I've made some more friends and spent a couple of weekends hanging out in the sun at the park with everyone else in Milan!! The park is like an American high school movie, you have your gym jocks, your music geeks, the expressive arty types who just stand on their heads all afternoon or move about dancing with a lot of emotion but everyone gets to enjoy the space whatever their interests and hobbies. I played my first gig a few weeks ago, one of my friends bought his guitar to the park, it was nice to have a little jam and a sing along!

I feel more relaxed here now but I don't want to feel comfortable, I don't want to lose the excitement of being somewhere new and exploring something different so when I get hold of some money I'll be exploring the countryside around the city!

March has been tough because I'm already losing touch with friends back at home and it's making me a little glum, BUT, I am returning home for a week in May so maybe i'll be able to catch up with some people then. You can't carry all of your friendships through life but some that I really thought were deep rooted seem to have just fizzled out. In any normal situation people just make new friends, have new experiences and just move on but being in this situation gives you a lot to reflect upon, if you lose one good friend its hard but losing a few is like going through a break up!!! Maybe a few doors need to close and a few more might open, patience is something which I'm learning a lot about! I should count my blessings and not my problems!

My first month at work has really confirmed that I love to teach! If I don't stay here for more than 6 months I'm already thinking about going back to University and doing a PGCE in the UK, best get saving haha!  If I don't do that I want to become a florist! I'm 30 next year but SO WHAT! it's never too late to learn something new! I have a real thirst for knowledge and all I want to do is learn learn learn! I learn something different from my students everyday, for example, in each town/city there is a different type of cake or sweet that is made at Easter! I have advised them all that I would like to try ALL OF THEM! 

Italians have a way of being able to describe things in such a beautiful poetic way. The language that they use is like velvety chocolate melting in you mouth and I really love how passionate they are about life, I feel lucky to be able to meet so many people doing my job and hopefully i'll be able to stick at it for a little while. :)

New words I've learned

Spagliato -Incorrect
Andiamo - Lets go
Aspeto - Wait
Salute - Cheers
Salve - Hi
Spazzatura - Rubbish
Storico - Historic
Pasqua - Easter
Perche - Why?
Che cosa questo? - What's this?
Non Capito - I don't understand
Ti senti meglio? Do you feel any better?

Heres some pics :)