Happy one week anniversary to me

I’ve made it through my first week of Neapolitan life alive. 

So what’s happened since I last updated you properly on my adventures in Italy.

Well Tuesday was my first day at school. It started off with another musical train ride on the Cumana. This time there was not only an accordion, but also a woman singing into a microphone. I’ve noticed that the backing track always seems to be “no parlo americano”. Is it the generic backing track for these types of people? Also I had my first experience of gypsy tactics. A little kid hopped on the train and handed out pieces of printed paper explaining that he and his family were poor and homeless and needed our money. I’m sorry kid but do you really expect me to feel sorry for you when you are wearing brand new out of the box trainers! At least try and look convincing!

The next big moment of the day was getting off of the Cumana. I had been told numerous times “get off at the SECOND stop for Quarto. Not the first one the SECOND one”. This is all fine, except for the fact that the stop for Quarto 1 has no sign on it anywhere! So I was completely oblivious to the fact that we had gone past the first stop and were heading for the second. Luckily something inside me made me feel like I needed to get off, and even though I was very cautious departing the train and worried about having made a mistake, it all turned out fine.

I’ll post another post with more details on the school, just simply because it will make this post even more monstrous than it is bound to be without it. But my first day was pleasant enough and was spent completely with my mentor.

I had no school on Wednesday because of a strike on the Cumana. this also meant that I couldn’t really go anywhere either. But it was back to work on Thursday and today. I was with a mixture of teachers this time. One teacher is an absolute nightmare, I just wanted to take over and tell her go home. She has obviously never been to an English speaking country in her life let alone revised her knowledge of the English language and culture since her childhood; more about her in a rant-like post.

Both today and yesterday I went to the cinema with the school. The cinema in Italy is very different to in England (Maybe this is just for this cinema or just for cinemas in this area, I obviously cannot compare at this moment in time). Firstly there were no adverts. Secondly there is a break in the middle of the film. I was so confused. I thought maybe we had to come back tomorrow to watch the rest of the film haha. And lastly, people applaud the movie when something good happens. It makes for an exciting atmosphere, but its annoying when you are trying to concentrate on the dialogue.

We were supposed to watch The Kite Runner, but the film jammed after 10 minutes and they put on Hachiko instead. I remember it coming out in the cinemas back home and I had no interest in watching it. Blah blah another movie about dogs…THE MOVIE WAS AMAZING. I was so moved at the end and then to find out that it was a real story. I cried the rest of that afternoon every time I thought about poor Hachi. Mock me, I dare you. Today was supposed to be another attempt to watch the Kite Runner but alas it was repairable, so they put on an Italian film called Quando sei nato non puoi piu nasconderti which was not appropriate for the age group, and was a little depressing but by the end I could say that I enjoyed the film.

This afternoon I explored Soccavo a bit and realised that there is a lot of shopping to be done here. I even found a few boutiques selling Roberto Cavalli and D&G. Who knew all of this was right on my doorstep!?! I have yet to find H&M though.

So yes, well done me for getting through this first week. I feel like I’ve been here a lot longer. And I am counting down the days until I am back on British soil with my loving family. I miss them so much. 17 weeks exactly until I can go home. But in the mean time I MUST improve my Italian.