Again, It has been WAYYY too long since I wrote in this! I think a lot has happened since then! Let's see..First, my job situation...which I will go into, but first I thought you should see a picture, on the left, of where my office is everyday now this summer..unbelievable.
And now back to reality.. :) ...For the last couple months, I have been teaching children from 4 families, 7 children total, along with 2 adults I had private lessons with, and of course, my time spent with my host family's son, Giuseppe. So overall, I was speaking English through lessons or just conversation with 10 people. It was a great experience and I think I really got better as a teacher and learned the best techniques for each students ways of learning and levels of English knowledge. It was a lot more challenging then only being a nanny and I enjoyed pushing myself in the end. Here is some pics of my kids I taught... This first one is Giuseppe..my little boy :) - him and I have gotten very close over the months I've been here. He's like a little brother to me. We miss each other when we dont see each other for a couple days!
He's a sweetheart and has gotten extremely good at speaking English. Sometimes, his mom says she can't even understand what he says in English! I can speak with him as I would normally to a native English/American speaker..he's a very lucky kid to know another language as well as he does and such a young age! One day, his mom told me that he asked her, "Mom, but why can't Brittany come play with me on Sundays? It's not that hard of work to play with me!" :) again, such a sweetheart. He also told me one day that I am one of his best friends and one of his favorite people to play with!..I say this with great honor :) He's a cuddler, which I love, and makes me laugh constantly. His favorite words or expressions lately are.." I detest it!, Unfortunately or Fortunately.., You can forget it!, if something is "valid" or "invalid".." and many more hilarious comments :) He's becoming very Americanized and I'm proud of it! :D This beauti
ful 5 yr old girl is Caterina. She is a friend of Giuseppe's. She has one of those cute little raspy voices and is always dressed in the cutest clothes. She always is spunky and knows how to stand up for herself when she plays with Giuseppe and the boys. :) She doesn't have a huge passion to learn English, so she can be a bit difficult to stay focused, but she has challenged me to find new, fun,
and exciting games to learn English with! I also have 2 brothers that are good friends of Giuseppe's, Armando an
d Stefano. It was another challenge to teach the brothers at the same time for 2 hours in a row since they were at different levels of English knowledge..but we did the best we could. Overall, very nice boys and I continue to see them when they come play with Giuseppe or at his sailing classes they have together. The picture with the cute girl in pink on the right is Gloria, my Friday student. I love Fridays, well, who doesn't..but she always made Fridays more enjoyable to work on. She was a great student, cute girl, and a lot of fun to teach! I see her at the beach every once in awhile as well this summer! Her birthday party was my first Italian kids bday party! Great food at those I have to say.. :) I also went to Istanbul in April! That was unbelievable! I realize I wrote about it in my last post but I forgot to actually post it so i'll write a bit more about it.. I had such an amazing time with my friend Naz. I really didn't do a whole lot of touristy things, but I basically got to live in the life of my friend for a week- which is a life I loved living! :) Her family was very kind and generous and welcomed me right in to their house and lives.
Istanbul is a fantastic city with a lot to offer. Compared to Palermo, the city was much more modernized and a lot of the city reminded m
e of a big city in the States, like Chicago or New York. My friend basically let me live her life for a week and it was great. It was exactly what I wanted to do, and I also got to see some tourist spots as well like when I rode a ferry around the Bosphorus Sea. It was so neat to be in 2 continents in one day within about a 5 minute ferry ride across the sea. The whole city of what I saw was beautiful. My friend liv
ed in a beautiful house that overlooked the Bosphorous. We went to this huge mall they have there with a ton of high-end stores which was a lot of fun to shop at! We celebrated my friend’s birthday/graduation from Coe while I was there and she threw an awesome party..we had an amazing day of going to work out at her gym, which was probably the best gym I’ve ever been to, then we got our hair done, got all dolled up for her party, we each bought a dress for it as well…great time..
April marked my first holiday that I always go home for normally, Easter, or Pasqua in Italian. I knew that I had friends here that also would not be with their families, but I still was going to miss being h
ome knowing my brother would be home and my whole family would be together. In the end, I went to a city near Palermo, Balestrate, with my friend from New York, Danielle. We ended up making a good ol’ American meal of omelets and French toast haha. Overall, we had a great day on the beach and then spent the even
ing relaxing together. In Italy, they also have a holiday called Pasquetta, which is the day after Easter. For this holiday, my friends and I all went to a girl’s villa in a village nearby and had a barbeque in the sun. It was a lot of fun! There is something about going to a villa, or summer home, that is so relaxing and fun to just hang out somewhere beautiful, have some drinks, and eat great food all day long! My friend who was grilling had my try some intestines for my first time..I think from a pig but I don’t remember…anyways, not good. Haha The coil part was chewy and ya, I won’t go on. BUT..there was a ton of other great Italian food we had..and of course, plenty of vino! :)
When the summer started approaching, my lessons started to die off and a lot of the families stopped with the lessons for the summer and will start up again when school begins in the fall. I was a nice little break, but I kept my adult lessons going. I also moved out to Mondello, near the sea, with my host family. The house is amazing with the most beautiful view of the sea (Pictures: the terrace part looking at the house and the view from the terrace of the sea and beach). It is located up on t
he mountain a bit, so the view is fantastic. This is what I wake up to every morning. At first I wasn’t sure I was going to like living in Mondello because all my friends still lived in Palermo, which really is only a short bus ride away, but I can’t just easily go for a drink or something with a friend without making an effort to make sure I have rides back and forth. I also can stay at my place in Palermo if I need to, so that’s nice to have that option as well. After moving and getting settled in the house in Mondello, I really like living with the family. As I was hoping, I am able to spend more time with not only Giuseppe, but the mom and dad as well. They are a wonderful family and are always there for me if I need anything. I really enjoy spending time and getting to know Angheli, the mom. She reminds me a lot of my own mom, which gives me a sense of feeling at home..as much as it can without actually being home.
Speaking of home, I have had some wonderful visitors from home! First, my friend Katie, who I have kn
own since middle school (left), came to visit! She spent a week in Palermo with me, and then we went to Rome where I met my Mom! It was so nice to have people from home come see my life here and bring a piece of home to me here in Italy. Katie and I had a great week of exploring Palermo, meeting my friends, the beach, and of course, some vino here and there (I think our family members can confirm that with our lovely Skype calls in the wee hours of th
e morning my time!) J. When I arrived in Rome, I took the train to meet Katie, and what do you know! My mom’s friend and her family were on the same train as me! (we're 
all in the pic on the left having dinner in Rome) I knew we were meeting them the next day, but it was crazy to see them randomly on the same train! Anyways, I had one night with Katie in Rome where I stayed in my first hostel, great experience, and then we met my Mom and her boyfriend Bob at the train station in Rome! Katie and I had a great Italian meal, met with a college friend of mine who lives in Rome, and had a great night out in Roma! The next day, my mom arrived on the train later than I expected, so I started getting nervous because there was no way to communicate to her if something did happen. I was also excited and anxious to see her…so when she finally arrived, I had so many mixed emotions of happiness and nerves built up, that I started crying when I saw my mom! It was so great to see her because I have missed my family so much! We did some great site seeing with the help of Katie’s great map skills ;) …We walked around the city all day and saw the most beautiful buildings, fountains, and Roman architecture such as the Coliseum, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, caught the USA world cup game in a pub that was full of Americans- which I haven’t been surrounded by so many English American speakers since I left America!, had a great dinner with all of us and my mom’s friend’s family to celebrate my mom’s birthday and another girl’s birthday. Then we said goodbye to Katie the next day, and left to return to Palermo/Mondello. Fortunately, my family was moved into the house in Mondello and my mom was able to stay in the smaller house above ours for the week in Mondello. The view from this house is incredible..there’s nothing like it as I have said before! I say to myself still after 6 months of living here, “I can’t believe this is my life, my job, and I am actually living here in Sicily!” :)
So far, this summer has been great! I love living in Mondello and with the family, with the option of staying in Palermo if I prefer or need to go back to the city. My friends
have been great at organizing new places to go out or go to
each weekend, which in the summer, is usually places located on the beach near Mondello. Some of my friends and I have started Sunny Sundays or Sunday Funda
ys- whichever way you want to say it, they’re great! We have been going every Sunday to a different beach in a city usually nearby (like the one pictured above with me and 2 of my girl friends)! It’s so great 
to go somewhere new each time and see yet another amazingly beautiful city of Sicily with great friends and of course, beautiful weather and beaches.
I also got to celebrate another holiday in Italy called Santa Rosalia (parade statue of Rosalia is on the left)...she is a famous saint in Italy, as well as some other countries, and is celebrated with a parade in her honor because she sacrificed her life for Jesus. They also have great fireworks after the parade.
My job has been going well too. Giuseppe and I have gotten really close- he’s such a sweetheart and is always making me laugh and smile. His mom told me that he actually said, “Mom, why can’t Brittany work on the weekends too? It’s not that hard of work to play with me..” :) so I am thinking he is enjoying our time together as well! In June I would go to the sea with him during the day until lunch around 2. My friend from Canada, Sabrina, also does the same kind of thing as me and our boys have become great friends at the beach- which makes our jobs even more enjoyable to be in the sun and have a friend there as well! Sabrina and I decided to get some new “work clot
hes” (swimsuits) for the “office” (beach). We always say to each other, “Well, see ya at the office tomorrow!” We love our jobs. This week I started also working with Giuseppe’s cousin in the mornings. I go to the sea with Fabio (3 1/2 yrs old) and Giorgio (1 1/2 yrs old)... (Giorgio is on the left..adorable!), Giuseppe's cousins, in the mornings till lunch and then eat lunch with Giuseppe and stay the afternoon with him since he has sailing lessons in the morning anyways. We always go through the club that my family belongs to and to the beach part near other clubs to swim and play, so we usually see the same people every day and the kids become friends and have them to play with which is very nice. These boys were a little difficult at first because they didn't want to stay with someone new and they only got to see their parents on the weekends because the parents flew back and forth from Florence, where they live. But overall, very cute kids and I have learned a lot working with them...a lot about patience! :) I thought it would be more difficult to work with them because the 1 yr old doesn't know English, or at least definitely can't speak it, and the 3 yr old can only understand some as well and knows a few words..but they have learned a lot and are getting better every day!
In August, I am looking forward to visiting home finally!!! I haven't been home since I left in January and can't wait to see my family and friends! It's been too long since I've seen my dad and brother's faces, other than on Skype! Seeing my mom in June only made me miss her more and I can't wait to see her as well! I also have my 5 year class reunion in August and the next day after that is my birthday, so I have lots to celebrate when I'm home! I hope to write more often this summer and hope to see all my friends and family soon in August!! Cheers and Love,
xx
Britt
