Health Education: A blast from the past

I sat in on a presentation today about addictions.

The third year students and some boy who I’m guessing is either a helper at the school or is from the high school taught the kids about the dangers of smoking, drinking, drugs (to name a few).

It really took me back to my school days. The children’s responses were so similar to ours. “Smoking is bad for you, I’ll never smoke”, “Drugs can kill you, I’d never try drugs”. I had to laugh thinking about how many people said this in  my school yet a few years later they have completely forgotten about these ‘pledges’. In my head I was saying “yeah yeah kids, you just wait until you get to high school”.

The presentation was different to what we were put through. The completely ignored sex. Maybe because the theme was addictions, is sex an addiction? It is on Blades of Glory. They were also taught about the computer and mobile phone addicts! Now we were never taught about that in school. In fact this was the first time that I’ve ever officially heard someone refer to using technology for more than a few hours a day an addiction. I felt a little guilty. Whilst I can say that I’m too good to smoke, take drugs, gamble, excessively drink, I am definitely what they would class as a computer addict! To be honest the Italians have learnt that all UK children are overly dependent on technology so I’m sure they wouldn’t be surprised to hear how many hours a day I waste on here.

I can’t help but feel nostalgic after the presentation. It was only 20 minutes long (lucky buggers, we were subjected to a whole day of health education every year!) but I really knew what it felt like to be the kids in the audience. I saw myself there, I knew who I was sitting next to, I knew what I was whispering to my friend… I can’t believe how fast time is going. I’m the teacher now! Sometimes I forget that.

Youtube and Shopping: Turning habits into homework

My time in Italy is very short. In fact in a few weeks time I will be half way through.

My Italian has improved a lot since moving here. But definitely not enough. I still find it very difficult to speak spontaneously to strangers, especially when I’m in a shop or at the train station and someone comes up to me. It’s always a “no????”, “no lo so???????”. And those times when I do try to say something, like in the bakery last week, it just comes out in a mess “vorrei una di quell….o?

So today I came up with two new plans to get my confidence up and improve my listening and vocabulary, without having to feel like I’m studying.

1. Shopping: I’m such a scaredy cat here in Italy. I only go into the shops where I can grab something of the shelves and pay for it at the till. The majority of shops in Naples are small and the shop assistants get everything for you. For example in most profumerie (cosmetic and toiletry stores) everything is behind either the counter or glass! You have to ask for a stick of deodorant! I’ve done my best to avoid this by going to the only “normal” one I’ve found in Naples which is extremely over priced. However it is time to get out of my comfort zone and I’ve made the resolution to shop more. Even if it is just popping into the bakery on the way to the Cumana station. It is all good speaking practice and before I know it I won’t be fazed anymore. It worked in Germany so it’s bound to work here.

2. Youtube: I’m a huge Youtube addict. There’s nothing I love more that just logging into Youtube and watching videos. My subscriptions include comedy shows like = 3 and Whatthebuck, Gurus like Bubzbeauty and even some Official channels of Korean and Japanese Artists. So I thought why not have a peek on the most subscribed list for Italy, have a peek at some of the vids on offer and subscribe. That way next time I log into Youtube I won’t feel like I am wasting an hour watching videos that are in now way helping me improve my Italian. I can now improve my Italian by relaxing and enjoying a good Youtube video.

Fingers crossed this will work :) 

Stalker on the Cumana

I was sat on the Cumana this morning on the way to work, reading my book. I look up and there is a woman sat facing me and she is blatantly staring at me.

This afternoon I’m about to get on the Cumana and I walk past the same woman on the platform. I continue to walk down the platform and get on the Cumana relatively far forward. I sit down, get absorbed into my Mentor’s conversation about her sudden weight increase and then look up. THE WOMAN IS SAT FACING ME AGAIN…AND SHE’S STARING.

Who is this woman. Why is she stalking me? She is going to come over to talk to me next time? It wouldn’t surprise me, she was smiling when she was listening to me try to speak Italian, like “awww that’s cute”.

Weirdo.

Wait it was Mother’s Day!?!?!

Joke, I didn’t miss Mother’s Day.

I almost did though.

In Italy Mother’s Day isn’t until June so I really wasn’t aware when it was in the UK. I knew it was coming up but I didn’t have all those adverts and posters to remind me.

I don’t know why but I suddenly remembered a conversation with my mum a few weeks ago on Friday evening and realised that I only had two days until Mother’s day. Obviously I hadn’t bought her anything, not even a card.

Even though I’m seeing her next weekend, so I could technically have bought something this week to give to her on Saturday I decided to do something unexpected and order some flowers from Next (it was the only place I could find that would deliver flowers on  a Sunday).

This is what my Mum posted on Facebook:

:D

What a lovely day until…

I threw up in a dustbin.

I was really enjoying my walk this morning in the 22C temperature. So sunny and warm.

However it turns out that I don’t do well on public transport during such weather.

Only 3 minutes into my 7 minute journey home on the Cumana I felt funny. As it pulled into the first station, Piave, I was starting to feel faint and was tempted to get off but decided to stay on as my stop is only a minute away.

Longest minute of my life.

By the time I got off the train I was 80% blind, no joke.

I tried to breathe in some fresh air. I stood in some shade on the platform for 5 minutes but it barely helped.

I managed to stagger down the stairs into the cool under pass. It was there that I vomited. Luckily there was a bin. But still very unladylike, embarrassing, disgusting.

Why is my body so wimpy :(

From Italy with love

About a month ago now I sent off my letters to my friends back in Germany. I originally wanted to give them them by hand on my last night in Marburg but things were so hectic that I never got the chance to write them all.

There was then another delay once I got to Italy because I could not find the post office or a post box. 3 weeks later google mapped “Poste Italia” and it turned out that the post office was behind my building. Doh!

I’ve heard bad things about the Italian post service so I was expecting the letters to take a few weeks but most of my friends received them in just 2 or 3 days. I love sending my friends letters and I am planning on sending them many more during my stay here. I get really excited when they tell that they received my letters.

I love the envelopes. I bought them in Germany so they say “Luftpost”. I just think they look really cool and interesting. The stamps were 60 cents each and can be bought at any newspaper stand or tobacconist’s. Supposedly a stamp to England is slightly more. (My guess would be 65 cents as that is how much it was in Germany). I am currently using some sheepworld stationary that I picked up in Ahrens in Marburg.

So CUTE! I’d love to receive a letter from myself haha.

Another sciopero della Cumana, another giorno di ferie

Another week, another strike on the cumana. I swear I’ve only had 2 full weeks at work and I’ve been at the school for 6 now. I wish real life was like this. Today was not only a cumana strike but also the buses were at it too.

As I live in suburbia this meant I was pretty much confined to the apartment. Such as shame on such a nice day. It was for the best really because I finally got to sort out the mess that I was living in and finish unpacking properly.

I’m now going to do some more to my scrap book and then watch a movie. Friday night is quite a good night for films on Italian TV.