Currently sitting, finally, surrounded by lesson plans, endlessly playing children accompanied by the murmur of Italian TV. I left Milan Saturday afternoon after one last wander around the beautiful city centre. Struggling through the mass of people in Milan Centrale station I saw a group of 4, standing round a mound of cases and backpacks, all looking completely jiggered and far too hot. Definitely ACLE tutors. I had forgotten how daunting it was coming straight from an intense week of training with people from all over the world, to being put on a train that will take you somewhere in Italy where you will meet and subsequently live with a random family whilst attempting to teach English as a foreign language and juggle meeting and bonding with another group of random people. It's as exhausting as a long sentence without full stops. We arrived at the school and had our first meeting and met our eagerly awaiting families. The moment when you see the group of wide eyed children and awkwardly smiling parents is heart warming. The children are always so excited and hide behind their parents legs, whilst they themselves sigh at the relief that I can speak Italian. It is a blessing for me to always be matched with the non-English speaking family.
This family is especially wonderful. The house is beautiful, I have been spoilt with my room, own bathroom and kindness of this family. They are so incredibly welcoming and have already treated me as their own. After unpacking and being given my own trolley at the supermarket (something I had no idea how to cope with!), we went to the cinema. This was a bit different. The film itself was great, hard work to keep up, but great. The continuous talking and mid-way interval were, however, comical. The audience continued with conversations as if they were in their own home. About an hour in, the screen went blank and the lights came on and every got up and bought popcorn and discussed the first half...in a cinema. The applause at the end topped off the evening for me.
Oh Italy.
Sunday is a family day. After a lazy morning and late lunch, we walked to the cathedral and violin museum (Google: Cremona for further details). As lame as this appears, it was actually a wonderful afternoon, followed by a family bike ride. A group of 6, weaving between cars and through red lights. And a ping pong tournament, were I was thrashed by a 70 and 7 year old!
Camp itself is also fabulous. In a job that is constantly in limbo and changing you have to be immensely flexible, which is difficult if you're thrown into a situation that you're uncertain of or you're bloody tired. However stressed something makes you or however much you don't agree with something it's always best to sit back and let it happen. Better to be the person to clear up the mess than to make it. Despite saying this, the children have been Angels and in fact, the tutors work well as a group, even if there are certain loose parts. Day 1: I tripped in the morning circle, picked a stone that was embedded into a child's knee and was reminded of the amazing skill of switching between tutor and normal mode. By day 4 you'll be using hand expressions and talking at a slow pace even with the English tutors! I do adore working with children. Being brought flowers after lunch and have them cling to your leg as you leave the lunch room to go and collapse in a heap for 5 minutes before having to haul yourself up again to prepare the afternoon games, is marvellous. But it's immensely tiring. Thinking constantly about which child has sneaked out the room, where the pot of pens have gone and what that suspicious lump is under that child's t-shirt while worrying, at the same time, how long this worksheet will take and if you should just play hangman and screw the lesson plan.
After a week of untangling name tags, loosing my voice singing about llamas with emotional problems and post-camp Prosesco, tomorrow is Friday and "Friday is a funky day".
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