Mia Vita Bella~* my beautiful life

Ciao!! So it looks like I’m slackin on writing on my blog more than once a month.. J Well a lot has changed for my job over the month. My job started out a bit rough since I wasn’t prepared to start teaching when I got here. I thought I would just be more of a person who would speak English to their children to help them practice,etc- BUT that’s not the case..at all! I really am a private teacher for mostly children of different families around Palermo. It’s been a tough month trying to all of a sudden become this amazing English teacher with games, lessons, homework all prepared for every lesson! Plus, it’s not just one level/grade of children..it’s all ages and levels of English knowledge! I have now taught people ages 4-35…big range huh?! So the other families I wrote about in my last blog didn’t work out the way we had planned. They were all rather large families that wanted something different than what I was offering to their children..they wanted to really get what they paid for if they were going to put money into English lessons since they have such big families to provide and pay for. I totally understand what they are saying, but on my defense, it was a bit hard to adjust to being a teacher and knowing what the heck I was doing ..and to be really good at it too! (This is a random picture of one of the markets in Palermo..those are always fun and interesting to go to!)

So, in the end, my private lessons didn’t work out great..at the time, it crushed me, but thank god for my loving and comforting parents, I eventually got over it and just realized things can’t always go perfectly and moved on! I was lucky for my host mom, Angheli, to be so kind to help me out. She knew I was pretty upset and felt bad for not being able to work out for those families, so she has been so sweet to constantly be helping me find families to work with and to set them up with me. Right away, I started with a couple other families! These ones have worked out great so far! I have really been enjoying the kids I have started with..right now I currently have 4 families of children, not including my host family..And I have some leads to some others! I also have been doing a private lesson with a middle-aged lady- each week we meet to have conversation in English, read articles in English, or things like that. This has been going great and I really enjoy it..she just needs to practice her English so it works out great! I should do the same with someone only to work on Italian..I think I might ;) I’ve been getting a little stressed out about making sure my lessons are well-planned out, finding new ideas and games, etc. I’ve been second-guessing myself and have been stressing myself out because I don’t want another family to reject me. That sounds so sad haha…but ya can’t be great at everything right? J Well anyways, I hope to be a good teacher and have this work out for me, because now I have all these great tools, games, books, workbooks, flashcards, etc to work with and use (thanks to my wonderful mother and Angheli). And every day I go to a bookstore near me and search books for ideas or I go online to look for ideas, so I really am trying hard to be successful at this and make all this worthwhile. It also wouldn’t hurt to make some more money too! ;) I am trying hard for Angheli as well because she has been so great to get me these jobs and I don’t want to let her down when I’m sure she talks to her friends or these families about me. The picture on the left is of Teatro Massimo..its by the bookstore I go to..just thought it was a cool pic! ANYWAYS, jobs going ok right now..not the best, not the worst- but hopefully it’s on the up curve! J

Palermo is such a beautiful city which I hope to have some extra free time soon to explore more of the beautiful parts of Palermo and Sicily! I’ve been really working hard on these teaching jobs, so I haven’t given myself much free time during the day to tour things…but it will come. Also, when it gets to be summer, I will not be teaching, I will just be the nanny for Giuseppe, my host family’s son. We will most likely be moving to their place in Mondello they rent for the summer. Mondello is a GORGEOUS city about 15-20 away from Palermo..it is right on the sea where everyone from here goes usually if they want to go to the sea. I’m excited for the summer and being able to spend more time with my host family because right now, I honestly don’t spend that much time getting to know them. I only see Giuseppe at night after he finishes school, sports, and homework. I also give him a bath and eat dinner with him, so a lot of our time at night is spent doing that. I also work on Saturdays with Giuseppe since we don’t get a lot of time during the week to just play and hang out. I get to spend more time getting to know Angheli and Antonio , my host parents, as well. I’m excited for that this summer too because I am thinking we get to relax and go on the sea, etc. They are really a great family and I am very lucky to have been put into their hands! But I have gotten to go to some really amazing places..I went to the Port of Palermo (the 2 pictures on the left) one Sunday afternoon where it was about 65-68 degrees outside! So beautiful and relaxing! I’ve also been to some really great parties my friends have had and some new clubs...it’s always fun to try new places, but we also have our regular clubs/pubs we can always count on! One night, I actually stayed out until about 8am..birds chirping, sun is completely up…took a few days to catch up on that sleep! J The picture to the right is of a street that I enjoy going to once in awhile for a drink at a pub, coffee, or dinner!

A funny story from this past weekend..so I have made 2 great friends that live near Palermo that are also from the US, which has been great to get to know them- amazing people! Anyway, this Saturday afternoon, my friend Danielle and I were walking back to my apartment building when we saw a stray dog sitting in front of the entrance door to my building..we ended up standing around waiting for this dog to move out of the doorway for about ½ an hour because whenever we got close, he would bare his teeth at us and growl! He was a big dog that was cold, hungry and angry! Haha So, we ended up going down the street and buying the dog a slice of pizza to try to lure him away from the door! HE DIDN’T WANT THE PIZZA!! Haha, oh man..this was just hilarious to us because we were a bit hungover and all we wanted was to go inside to take a nap J Finally, after waiting around, not knowing what to do, considering even stopping the cops to see if they had a tazer gun or something!!, but the dog finally saw another dog and got off the steps- HILARIOUS moment in Palermo I’ll never forget! This is a pic from my window of the dogs paw and the pizza sitting there..he came back in front of the steps after we finally got inside!

My friends here are great. It just keeps getting better the longer I am here because I meet new people, make new relationships, and get to know some really amazing friends. Every week I get closer to these new friends and love Palermo even more! During this journey, I have realized you really get to know yourself on a new level. I have learned a lot about my personality and what qualities in friends makes me really, truly happy. I know I have made some lifelong friends here, and it feels great! (The picture to the right is of some good friends of mine- right to left, they are from Venezuela, Canada, New York, and Palermo!)J I really do miss my friends from home and family too! I hope to stay in touch with all of you and to share all of my experiences here with you as much as possible! It’s so beautiful here and I am sooo glad to be on this journey. I miss you all and hope everyone is doing well!! Ciao!!!

Oh, I have also booked my flight for my first trip in Europe…Istanbul, Turkey!!! So excited to visit my friend from College, Nazli!! J I will be going there in the middle of April!

~Britt xoxx