Ken getting ready to get on the train for his 10 hour journey through to Nice! The end of a fantastic few days.
Communist Rally... yes it was the communist one!!
At the top of my street... no traffic whatsoever for about three hours.. and I was carrying two heavy supermarke bags down the hill!! I was not impressed
and still more coming down the hill... they went in waves.. looked as though their was perhaps some law or whatever which meant they had to let so many go and then another lot.. not sure but there were 1 or 2 minute breaks betwen the waves and the whole front line were in a row.Yes, believe it not I am more than half way through the CELTA course and it's extremely difficult. In fact, I am not doing very well at all. The other 5 girls are nice and friendly which makes things bearable.. but the workload is horrendous. I am at school every morning at 8.15 (when it opens) to print my lesson plan and activities I have planned.. or for some other work which still needs doing, lessons start at 9 and go through until 5 .. and then its more work, either on asignments or lesson plans. Yes we teach real Italian students who are learning English. We are taught how to explain everything in English as we can't use Italian (not that Iknow any anyway!!) and then its tutorials and that night there is working on the next assignmetn (one a week) as well as lesson plans. Lesson Plans are detailed.. almost every word you are going to say for the hour lesson. I rarely turn the light off before 1am and allthat time is spent working on school work. I will get to see Rome AFTER the course has finished.
Last weekend there was a huge political rally through the streets of Rome. Actually there was one the week before also but I didn't have my camera on me. This time I got some shots.. coming down my street.. or the main street my little private road goes on to.. Merulana is the name of the main street down from Termini.. and there were literally thousands of people, big trucks with music machines on the back (bloody loud too) and people following with flags, flaggons of wine.. you name it.. they seemed to be having a good time. And we have two days off this week.. a public holiday on Thursday and an extra day on Friday.. so 4 whole days to work on stuff for school lol!!! Then to complicate matters further for myself Ken was in Rome for a few days.. and I had a great time.. going out for meals, walking around looking at shops and generally having a relaxing time. Not that I am complaining.. it was absolutely fantastic to have someone here I could talk to about the real world.. and we went out to a nightclub where one of the girls at schools plays in a band (when she isn't spending 100 hours a week studying!!) Unfortunately for me I tried to have a few drinks.. not a good look. I hadnt drunk anything for so long and hadnt been eating and was dog tired.. I will leave the rest to your imagination!! And Ken was not at all impressed.. I think if we had been in Auckland he would have disowned me! No more g and t's with 80% alcohol!! That was Thursday through until this morning.. so now I have to get my A into G and catch up on a Assignment due Wednesday and a lesson plan on conjuctions.. at least its only conjunctions 'cause those adverbial clauses, infinites and present continuous tenses really do my head in!!
The weather changed last weekend and it was abnormally cold.. read freezing for me after two summers in a row!! I had to buy myself a pair of trackies for pj's and a warm thick jacket for Euro 5. It isn't the type of jacket I would wear at home but at five euros.. it will do me.. especially as its warm. And yesterday while I was out shopping I saw an electric blanket for fifteen euros.. so that will be my next purchase. However, luckily for me the cold snap has passed and its actually warm and sunny.. and has been for the past 4 or 5 days!! Things are looking up.
