ED is back in Sicily after a short hop across to stay in mainland Italy and he says he could get me a job over there with the same people he works for. I'm so sick of being jobless here that I'm really thinking about it. It would be teaching English, which is the first main drawback - I hated being a teacher when I first went to Spain, but I do think a large part of that was to do with the school I was teaching at and the way the classes were.
The whole set-up was a bit ridiculous and the heads of the school were always complaining and making us do extra 'training' which usually made me feel about 2 inches tall. Also, when the lazier students who refused to study were shite in my class it was blamed on my accent; when they were equally shite in the other (southern English) teachers' classes they were told to study harder.
And don't even get me started on the man who apparently told his pal in the class that he couldn't concentrate in my classes because he was so mesmerised by my 'huge tits' - his words not mine. My head teacher told me that someone had said that, but wouldn't tell me who (she obviously knew I'd go mad if I found out who it was) and the result was that I suspected every man in all my classes and was quite shocked to realise that when I mentally eliminated who I thought it was, there were only about 5 out of maybe 90 men who I was 100% sure wouldn't have said something like that. I also noticed, of course, that the head - a woman - heard one of the pupils saying that and never reprimanded him or even let him know that she'd heard. Instead she told me, like it was my fault, and I was the one who had to deal with it.
So, all in all, it wasn't the most confidence-building place and I ended up really loathing it. I was so happy when I got to the end of the year and didn't have to go back. I think now, if I were in the same situation, I would tell them to sack it and just quit, but back then I was new to Valencia, and didn't have much money and I ended up just sticking it out the whole year.
I have heard some horror stories about teaching. My friend worked teaching kids English, and one of them - a wee brat of a 5 year old - scratched herself on the face and told her mum that my friend had done it. I'm not sure if she quit or was fired but either way she never returned and I'm pretty sure the head teacher never had her back in that situation either.
So, that's my teaching experience and it's not something I ever wanted to repeat. On the other hand, I never thought I'd be unemployed for 8 months and counting either. So now ED has told me I could go to Italy and get 1000€ a month plus live in paid-for accommodation courtesy of the school. Doesn't sound like such a bad deal except that I still have huge reservations about teaching again. And I wouldn't want to do it for an entire year anyway, I think 4 months would be about my limit, so not even sure if the school would go for that.
Oh yeah, and I don't speak Italian. Not to sound big-headed though, but I don't think it would really be a problem - I can already understand a good bit of spoken Italian just from its similarity to Spanish, and I think I'd pick it up quite fast if I were actually living there. Wouldn't have much choice, really!
I mentioned the whole thing in passing to my friend and fellow Granada-Erasmuser AM, and she actually said that if she had money for flights she'd go with me! Now, that makes a whole world of difference. Even if I hated teaching, having a friend there who's in the same boat and being able to just chill out after work makes everything so much more copeable. (Is that a word?)
So... Who knows? I still have massive doubts and so far I think they outweigh however much I want to go, but I really am sick of having no job here, and the prospect of having any job at all is massively appealing, without even counting the adventure side of it all!
I'll keep thinking about it. Watch this space.
This sounds like a good opportunity to get out of a crappy situation. I know what it's like being unemployed for so long, it's depressing and demoralising. I def think you could pick up Italian no bother and all you'd need to do is find someone to do an 'intercambio' (what's the English word for this?) and you'd be away. Plus, if AM went with you, it would be good times! Plus, if you don't like the teaching, I'm sure you could work in a bar until you figure out what to do next. It's gotta be worth a try at least? And I would SO come to visit!!
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