Can’t  believe it’s been only a week since I last wrote when it feels like 3 weeks cos so much has happened! I’m now sitting in a hotel room in Catania Sicily, soon to launch into the next stage of this trip, but first, some reflections on the week that has passed…

Apologies if the last blog was a bit sooky but I have to say yet again, these two weeks in Florence have been quite challenging on so many levels. And you know, challenges are a good thing because they can be your growing edge. At least that’s what all the self help books say! If that IS the truth then I think I must’ve grown at least two dress sizes bigger this week! Probably hasn’t helped that I’ve been eating pasta and gelati and the best cakes in the world, all week!

The move to the new apartment did make life somewhat easier and I enjoyed having better creature comforts to come home to, at the end of the long and tiring days. The idea of things being a moveable feast extended to school as well. I arrived last Monday morning at school to find that the class I had joined the Thursday before, had now doubled in size and had a different teacher. I had missed the grammar  lesson due to sleeping in (the bed was just tooooo comfy!) The group had had one teacher (Monica) for the grammar lesson and now had another teacher (Carola) for the conversation lesson. She was a very young 20 something with piercings and faded green and blonde hair and I quickly picked up that this was her first trial at running a conversation class. She was probably  a student teacher. Because I  was late, the only seat left was beside her. She realised and admitted pretty quickly that her understanding of English was limited. Guess who became class translator?? I  found myself translating both what she was saying in Italian to the class and what they were saying to her in English! The members of the class we had joined with were a rowdy, unruly lot and I also ended  up stepping in to rein them in at times. In short, I  was kinda the teacher that day! Lol! 😆 Carola thanked me profusely at the end of the lesson for helping her out! We laughed a lot! She was funny and sweet!

Lo and behold on Tuesday  when I turned up (late again, after all I’m in Italy! ) I  was in a different class again! They had obviously  decided that there were too many in the class yesterday so they banished all of us Aussies into another room and now our teacher was Augustino, the guy I had the first few days. The unruly lot stayed with Monica… what was really interesting about all this class swapping was that I found out that they had given the group of Latino students I’d been with, to a very hot, young, male teacher! Maybe the school thought it best that the young stay with the young and the old stay with the old! So now here I was with four over 60 something single women who were truly beginners with horrendous Aussie accents but keen and trying! Augustino was a good man and was very patient with them and actually seemed more at home with us oldies than those pretty young latinos. He told us lots of interesting  stories during the week. He also proved himself very kind and compassionate as well, when I  arrived on the second last morning feeling a bit homesick, tired and teary! He picked up quite astutely that I  was probably just feeling a bit nervous about my upcoming journey to Catania and the very new experience of living with and teaching to, an unknown family. Full marks to Augustino!

Two weeks of intensive Italian lessons may not seem long enough to become fluent in the language but immersion in the language is! I am proud to say that I am becoming increasingly proficient in getting about my daily business in shops and cafes and on buses etc speaking the lingo! And I gotta say, it’s kinda fun! It is also greatly appreciated  by the locals when you try to speak with them in their language.

I was also adopting some local traditions! Apart from constant lateness, I also enjoyed the morning rush ritual (mostly cos I  kept sleeping in). Conveniently with a cafe next door to my apartment and the bus stop  right there as well, I  would rush into the cafe and order “un espresso e un brioche per favore.”  Standing at the bar, I would swig down my coffee in two gulps (there’s not a lot in the cup) munch my croissant and then race out the door just in time for the bus!

And speaking of bus travel, that is an adventure all of its own! There are two kinds of buses in Florence, big ones and little ones! The little inner city ones are these tiny electric (I think) 12 seater things. They reguarly carry WAY more than 12 people, bump and jump along the rutted roads like leap frogs, swing around corners on 2 wheels, are never on time and would have to be the most uncomfortable ride you can imagine! You can also not be in the least bit precious about personal space, body odour or eye contact!  Still, I have had some good conversation practice on some of these rides and once had an entire tour of the city when I inadvertently took the “wrong” bus! It took me over 30 minutes to get “home” instead of the usual 5 mins but was actually a great “mistake” cos I  got to see parts of the city I hadnt got to, on my tired feet.

Italian supermarkets are also an adventure of their own. In an effort  to feed myself and not eat out all the time, I went to the supermarket a few times. The one near where I first lived had incredibly narrow aisles, was always crowded and was frequented by a multitude of nationalities and students. The one near my second apartment was much bigger and seemed to be a bit classier in looks and clientele. What was common to both of them was the array of unrecognizable food, illegible labels (my vocab isnt that good!) and bored looking check out chicks who kept asking if I wanted a “busta”! In my italian dictionary  a “busta” is an envelope.  Why would they be asking if I  wanted an envelope?? Took me a whole week before I  discovered this was a Florentine colloquialism for plastic shopping bag! Instinctively  I was saying no to this request and in any case I was taking a cloth bag with me on these trips. For a gal who likes to fill up the trolley back home, it was a real art in only buying a few things at a time! I  learnt fast after the first time lugging an overstuffed bag back to the flat!

There is a bit more about this week that I  would like to share but this blog is already over a 1000 words and it’s after midnight and I need to sleep… so as they say here

“A domani!”