Thursday,
February 08, 2007
Expat Australian in
The
ANNOTICO Report
It
is Interesting and Amusing to Hear more than about
Tourists, but those who chose to LIVE in
When in
When in
February 7, 2007
In the first of a series on expats in the city of
Francoise Blackburn,
is a teacher from
I
came here on holiday and never went home. I'd had a long-held ambition to come
to
But
I was just on one of those European tours that people do. Then I met an
American girl and she just said one day: "What if we lived here"??
That was it, the idea was in my head. I went on to
I
was lucky enough to get a job straight away, with a hostel near Termini where I
was staying. But it didn't pay enough so I started teaching English like
thousands of others who come here to live.
In
the mornings these days I get up at about 09.00, a luxury I probably wouldn't
have doing a standard job back home. I live quite near the school I teach at,
in Via Cola di Rienzo. I've been in Prati for about three years but I've lived all over, in S.
Paolo, S. Lorenzo, Testaccio, and shared with
Italians, Americans, Germans, South Koreans, you name it.
In
the mornings I'll teach from 09.30 until about 14.00; it's fine if the students
are talkative, and the more you get to know them the more you want them to do
well. You get a good Italian perspective on life. For example some don't
understand why I'm here They think the quality of life back in Australia
sounds great and it must be much easier to make ends meet. They have a point,
but for me back home is the norm, been there and done that.
I'd
say many of my students now are reluctant learners To
be honest they don't have much time for study given their jobs and the hours
they do. They're frustrated they can't speak English and tell me how lucky I am
that I can ? it's really made
me take it less for granted.
I
don't miss home. I regret the fact I can't just jump on a plane as I could if I
were English, for example, and pop home for a weekend. But it's not so
difficult living abroad these days, not when you have email and phone cards. I
also keep up to date with the news at home, especially through The Age and
Herald Sun websites.
At
home it's difficult for them to understand this. One of my family
might say: Oh Francoise, remember Mrs Smith from our
road, she ran off with the police chief?? and I'll be
like, I know, I read it online, in fact I told you!
Between
teaching I'll usually go home for lunch. I find I cook
a lot more now I'm here. When I was in
I
have to admit my Italian's not great though. I did a couple of courses when I
got here, but generally I'm teaching English all day, where you insist the
students DON'T speak Italian.Then mixing with
English-speaking friends at night. I had an Italian boyfriend for two years; he
simply refused to speak any English, and though that drove me mad, I did learn
some Italian I had no choice.
It
nearly all went to waste last August though, when I thought I'd have to leave
I
wasn't officially deported but I was "invited to leave". I had to go
back to
I
can get up a bit later here, get paid for talking with students, eat out late
at night for a decent price and take off for the country at weekends. And today
I was sitting outside in Campo de Fiori on a Sunday
afternoon in January sunshine. That can't be bad. It's fair to say I hope to be
here for a while yet.
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ANNOTICO Reports
Can
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