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 :)

 

 

 

PA Anonymous

Hi i'm Hannah and I’m PASSIVE AGGRESSIVE.

I always thought that it was quite amusing that I am passive aggressive,  I kind of made jokes about it to hide the fact that it’s really not that funny and I should not be a proud passive aggressive!

Recently though since recognising this, I’ve decided to find out where it stems from and get to the root cause of what makes people passive aggressive.

I think it’s the inability to communicate what you want to actually say. If you don’t have the strength or confidence to say how you feel in an effective rational way then it can come out as passive aggression. For example, if you are not alright about something but you don’t want to say “erm im not happy about that” you may decide that you are going to act In a way that shows you aren’t ok with it rather than actually use your words and express your truth.  Having a strop etc! (Childlike behaviour)

Once I was unhappy about a situation so instead of thinking about how to approach it I went full force and told the person that I thought what they were doing was wrong and I got told to “F*ck off and mind your own business, who the fuck do you think you are”  This turned my aggression into a deep state of regret and I cried A LOT! – I still, to this day, think that the person I was talking to was in the wrong but had I approached it better maybe I wouldn’t have been scolded quite so hard!  But we have to let go and move on (which, by the way, I have I just bought it up for the sake of this blog!) 

Whilst I have been evaluating my approach, to communicating my real thoughts in an effective way, i’ve noticed that other people are much the same. I’m not the only passive aggressive person here, there’s loads of us, like a big gang. Let’s not meet up though because I don’t think it would turn out very well, OR we could just have a wine fuelled frolic and see who survives! LOL!

Frollic! Ha I love that word

So my new thought process goes something like this.

Am I annoyed?
Who am I annoyed with?
If I confront it, will it make a difference?
If the answer is no, its generally a lot easier and healthier for me to just let it go!
If the answer is yes, how do I approach this person.
In the kindest, calmest and most thought out way possible. DO NOT BITE! – I am well known for being easy to wind up, so trying not to bite is quite difficult.

You may think this is a long process to have to “think about what to do” but it’s much better to do this than to go full pelt and explode like a fire of fury.

So passive aggressive anonymous, try my thought process, it may work for you too J

A chi vuole, non mancano modi - Where there's a will, there's a way

Wow  the last 2 weeks have been CRAY CRAY. I wanted to share a little story with you about it all because I feel that "fate" really has played a part in the paths I chose to walk recently.

On Weds 5th Feb, I had an interview for a Teaching position and lets just say, it could've gone better. I felt that I didn't agree with the methodology of the school and that the man interviewing me was, simply, a money maker and did not have the compassion to be a teacher.
He simply played bad cop throughout and I left feeling deflated and wondering what the hell I am doing here. As soon as I walked out of the door I knew straight away that I would not hear from him and I told myself "Hannah, just write it off, you will get another interview with someone else but learn from what you feel you did wrong and apply it next time"

Despite me knowing that I should've taken my own advice, I still spent the rest of the day feeling rubbish and kept beating myself up. I had a tutoring lesson in the afternoon with some children and as I was walking to their house I came across the Wall Street Institute. I've heard of them before but wasn't sure where they were located and a little voice inside my head told me to go in and ask for an email address to send my CV to. I did just that because I believed that after something bad there will be something good and I believed that maybe I saw this place for a reason (that's just how I am!!)

The day after I received an invite to and interview from The Wall Street Institute. I went  the following day (Friday 7th) and tried to remember what I'd learned from the previous  interview and what I didn't want to do this time. I met a very helpful chap who told me all about the company and was really interested in my experience and me as a person, what I like to do in my spare time, why I love Italy etc. I walked away feeling better and thought that I'd done as much as I possibly could.

On Monday 10th Feb I received a call from someone else at the Wall Street Institute who invited me for a second interview. I went along on Weds 12th Feb and had my second interview where I was tasked with writing and teaching a mock lesson. (I was terrified!!!) I got some very constructive but positive feedback and I was told that they would call me with a decision the next day.

Later that afternoon I got a call and was offered the job.

I feel as though this is one of those stories which proves that, if something doesn't go your way to begin with, if you learn your lessons and apply what you've learned and keep trying, you will get there.

If you don't make that first step you will never make the 2nd 3rd and 4th steps either, you can try and skip but you'll just trip and end up right back where you were like a game of snakes and ladders.

My advice to anyone who feels they are in the wrong job or who feels passionate about doing something, JUST DO IT! - (rip off NIKE, soz)

If I can, you can!

Also today is Valentines day so spread your love and tell someone how amazing they make you feel xxx

Friendship Sabotage

Why is it that, as we begin new relationships/friendships, we often do more or go out of our way more for people we barely know than we often do for people who are supposed to be a significant part of our lives? I challenge you to reflect on that thought and apply it to all the relationships in your life, and be honest with your contribution in complacency and commit to getting back to the “bringing flowers” mindset (metaphorically speaking, of course). Because relationships are a two-way street.
Also, reflect on how you respond when people go out of their way for you and do thoughtful things, big and small. Are you grateful? Do you openly express gratitude, show appreciation, and inspire that person to want to do more? Expressing appreciation and gratitude through actions and words is the primary way to keep from falling into the complacency trap.

It's Monday, it's cold, make your friend or significant other smile and send them some sweet words or buy them some pretty flowers or do something small that you know they will love and be thankful for. These little gestures build long lasting friendships and long lasting relationships. If you become complacent your friend or partner will feel less valued and wonder where the person went who tried so hard to prove their worth in the first place! Its like false advertising but friendship doesn't come with a receipt and a 2 year guarantee!

Just something to think about xx

Mi Piace

Ciao

OMG we are on day 11 - feels like LOADS longer! I've been having a bit of an up and down week so far. I had an interview yesterday which was rubbish and made me feel rubbish all day but then after speaking to my lovely friend I felt loads better. Sometimes you just need a friend to remind you that you are ok and that its not a bad life It was just a bad day and to tell you to meditate because they know that it will help you focus!

I woke up this morning FULL of energy, before bed last night I meditated and woke up really focussed. I had a tutoring session for an hour this afternoon in which we just played UNO (surprisingly very educational! Colours, numbers etc) I pretended that I didn't know how to play so the boys had to try and explain in English, they spoke lots of Italian but I understood what they were trying to say and responded to them in English. It was a fun way of making some money anyway!

This morning I sent speculative CVs to lots of schools around the country, the list is huge so theres plenty more to go at! I got a call straight away from a school in Turin  which is about a hour away by train, I have an interview next Thursday with them, my CV seems to be doing its job! I haven't been to Turin before but I am happy to go and check it out, going to make a day of it and get as much out of it as possible.

Each day I feel something different, yesterday I wanted to leave and didn't want to be in Milan, I wanted to go to another city in Italy and try and live there instead. Today I feel less irrational but still interested in travelling to another place to see whats on offer. I don't want to waste this opportunity and leave having only been to Milan, so we shall see, I have another 2 weeks here so by the end of next week I need to have really decided where i'm going to spend March! - Florence is looking like a good option.

Well that's all really, in conclusion I feel like i'm achieving my goals. I've been here 11 days and I have 3 different families to tutor and some interviews coming up!

Mustn't grumble!

x