Change

Nearly another month has passed. We have photos now which I am posting in prior blogs as well!

My big news is that I found a job teaching elementary children at an international school. It is ideal in the sense that they have a daycare/school for Matteo. We both started this Monday. Matteo went for just one hour and nonna Luciana and I were with him in the same room. He seemed to feel comfortable and had fun playing with all the new toys. He has a cold so he did not go on Tuesday or today. For me, it feels really strange to be back working full-time. This week consists of only half days and I have been tired after only four hours with the kids. Most of my classes will be teaching mathematics and english to second and third graders. I also will teach some theater. I teach the children in English and then have Italian teachers who teach the main subjects in Italian as well. My kids speak only the most basic english and they vary in their abilities. I have one new girl who does not speak any english. Almost all of the children are Italian and many of the parents run the school (it is an association/nonprofit) so I guess the kids sometimes threaten to have you fired. It is already quite a contrast to the American schools I have taught in with the children coming up and hugging and kissing the Italian teacher and sitting on her lap.

Tiramisu

It has been a really busy couple of weeks with my applying for jobs, finding a job!, and getting ready for the big transition from being mainly a stay at home mama to teaching elementary children english and math (more on that later). I had a lovely birthday. Luciana made me homemade Tiramisu (see the picture). We had a dinner with the entire family and I received some hot italian fashion (jeans with tight ankles, and shirts or dresses that are brown, gray, green, purple, or black). I'm curious if these fashion trends will reach MN. I also received calls and emails from many of you which always cheers me up. Giovanni organized a birthday celebration on the weekend with 20 of his friends and we drove to a beautiful villa in the wine country of Treviso and had a five course meal. Before arriving at the restaurant, we stopped at an outdoor wine bar where we drank local wine out of ceramic bowls. This place was quite particular in that it had an old amusement park of mechanical rides including a roller coaster. The rides were based on mechanical principals and did not use any electricity. There was no one supervising and all of us ran like wild children to try these thrilling and dangerous rides. This would be a huge liability suit in america. I have never seen anything so risky left to the amusement of wine imbibing adults. No one got hurt and I had so much fun. Unfortunately, the roller coaster was on the bottom of the curve and it looked unlikely that the pulley system was working. The guys spent quite a while competing at launching a heavy metal car around a circular track. Matteo was amused with the old military tank. After this episode, we spent the evening eating together. His friends surprised me with a fancy brief case for teaching and a beautiful shawl. They sung happy birthday passionately in italian and english throughout the evening. It was a warm birthday even though I missed being with my loved ones back home.