Maestra, Maestra

Day 5

*Note - normally I would never take pictures of children and post them on the internet. Everyone was given permission by the school to take pictures.

I was woken up by a phone call at 7:50 am from Maria as she informed us that we had to leave the hotel to be at the school at 9:30, instead of 10:30 as we previously were told. I got up and got ready for our day of touring the school. We had breakfast which again was a croissant and yogurt. We had about a 30 minute walk to the Primaria school (grade 1-5.) When we arrived at the school we were greeted by some teachers and the principal of the school. There was so much artwork from the children on the walls which was a nice change from the Canadian elementary schools. When we walked into the school they had made signs that said Welcome and We Love Canada which was cute. We were led to the small auditorium where the principal introduced us to the school and the Italian school system and gave us some information, and Maria translated as she doesn't speak any English.

Artwork in Primary school

Artwork in Primary School 

Some facts I found interesting about the Italian school system:

•  High school goes until grade 13, and some of the students are 19.
• After grade 5, parents pay for their child to go to school
• Parents pay if they want their child to go until after 1:30
• Parents pay half of the cost for lunches
• There is one lunch and two 15 minutes breaks during the day
• Children learn French and English in the schools
• Subjects they learn: Italian, English, French, Religion, Art, Music, Geography, History, Computers, P.E
• They all call their teacher "Teacher" which in Italian is maestra
• They learn British English

The group In front of Media school 

Infanzia school artwork

Next we toured around the Primaria school, and walked into some classes. Maria got us to sing "Oh Canada" to one of the classes and they sang the Italian national anthem to us. The children spoke English pretty well, which I kind of expected them to. The children all wore little blue smocks which was adorable. Then we went to the Media (middle school - grade 6-8) and the Secondaro (high school grade 9-13) which was connected to it. The principal who gave us the speech at the Primaria school is also the principal for the Media school and Secondaria school. There was a big difference in the middle school compared to the primary school, specifically in the attitudes of the children. The little ones were a lot friendlier, where the older ones had more attitude, which is similar in Canada. When we got to the high school, we went into the vice principal's small office and he had cake and drinks for us. After we walked around to a few classes, we left the school and headed to Infanzia which is the daycare/kindergarten classes for children aged 3-6. The parents get to decide if they want to send their children to Primaria when they are 5 or 6 depending on their maturity level and readiness. I noticed in the Italian school system, it is more of the parents decision on their child's education and how much they want them to receive which is different in Canada, as there are laws that state children have to attend school until a certain age. When we got to the Infanzia school, the children were playing outside and some of the more outgoing ones would come up to us and randomly say words like "horse" and "elephant" which were some of the few English words they knew. It was fun playing with the kids outside and touring their school which was pretty nice for a daycare. After that we left for the other Infanzia school which was quite a trek down. During the walk, we went by lots of the shops in Sulmona, including the stores that sell the confetti candy which is candy coated almonds and they are put into shapes such as flowers. The displays are so beautiful and colourful! By this time my feet were covered in blisters and I had to keep bugging Michelle for bandaids as I ran out. 

We arrived at the other school as they were eating lunch (fish sticks and green beans) and all the kids said hi to us. We went back to have lunch with the children at the Primaria school. The school graciously told us that they would provide us with a free lunch during our stay. They had cute little trays with a plastic cover that you throw out. The lunch always has a bun, some sort of fruit and vegetable, pasta, and meat. Quite a large lunch for small children, but it filled me up! 

Lunch at school

Then we walked all the way back to our hotel, which was at least a half hour walk. Again, my feet were so sore and I felt so bad for Alex who had a severely swollen ankle. Once we were back at the hotel we hung out for a bit until the reception at 5:00 pm back at the school. Shannon stayed back at the hotel as she was still feeling sick, and Alex was going to stay back because of her ankle but they called a taxi for her and Angela, as she also had very sore feet. I came with them as the blister on the bottom of my foot felt worse, which was nice also because it started raining. We arrived there earlier than the rest of the group who had to walk, so we waited in the auditorium for everyone else. During the reception, I decided to switch from Media into Primaria, for a few reasons. First, there was no air conditioning in Media and I don't think I could handle the heat, next the students felt more welcoming in Primaria and I love teaching grade 4 and 5. I switched into Alex and Kylee's teaching group and am so happy I made that choice. We have lunch at the Primaria school, so I don't have to walk to a different school for lunch each day, and to top if off,  we had an amazing Faculty Advisor is marking us! During the meeting we met our teacher we will be working with, and got into the Primaria group to discuss what the students will be learning. I decided to walk back to the hotel as my foot felt better, and we arrived just before dinner.
 

For dinner we had pasta with classic tomato sauce which was delicious, then our second course was breaded pork chops. After dinner Shannon, Kelly, Kylee and I walked to a gelato store to get dessert. I got Cupido which is a chocolate gelato with nuts. We walked back to the hotel and were going to go out to the bar but decided to go to bed early in order to get up early for our beach day in Pescara tomorrow.

delicious pasta 

Salad and pork chop

Benvenuto a Sulmona

Day 4

It was a rough morning as I was completely exhausted from the lack of sleep as I was up with a sick friend. We had to pack our bags as we were taking the bus to Sulmona that day. I went to breakfast at 8:30 - I had yogurt and a croissant again. Kylee, Melissa, Michelle, Alex, Christina, Justin and I went to the supermarket a few blocks from our hotel to grab some snacks for the bus ride. I just got some crackers, Powerade and a water bottle. I always find it interesting to see what snacks they have in other countries. We brought our bags downstairs and waited for everyone else to bring their stuff down so we could leave. We didn't end up leaving the hotel until about 11:00. We had a nice big bus, it reminded me of the one I took in Greece. I was one of the last ones to get on the bus, and so I wasn't lucky enough to get a seat to myself so I shared with Kylee near the front of the bus. Everyone was pretty tired so we were all hoping to catch up on sleep during the 8 hour bus ride. We had 2 bus drivers and they took turns driving throughout the trip. We stopped a total of three times for bathroom breaks and lunch breaks. My stomach had been bothering me throughout the day so I didn't have anything for lunch, I just ate my plain crackers. The scenery during the ride was absolutely gorgeous! It was exactly what I pictured Italy to look like, with the rustic homes and countryside. It was also nice to see the mountains in the background - some of the pictures I took looks like there's a fake background because it is so beautiful! I slept a bit during the ride which was also nice. We got to Sulmona at about 7:00 pm, and unpacked a bit and then headed up for dinner.

Kylee, Shannon, Kelly and I shared a room. The hotel (Hotel Ovidus) was so nice, and more modern unlike our previous hotel. We have an actual shower too which is nice and air conditioning. The view from our window of the mountains is unreal. It is also nice as our friends are right beside us and down the hall. The staff at the hotel is so friendly and good as speaking English as well. After unpacking a bit, we all went upstairs to some wine and appetizers. They had little pieces of pizza, deep fried/baked olives and meat, and deep fried/baked potatoes to officially welcome us all to Sulmona and the hotel.

I felt bad because one girl found out her Grandpa passed away and was quite upset. After our appetizers we went into the dining room for our dinner. We were given red wine again, and our first course was a vegetable soup, which I passed. Our second course was carbonara pasta which was pretty good. After I ate my pasta I started feeling really overheated and sick, so I went outside to cool down and skipped the third course which was Veal and potatoes and the dessert. Maria, Angela and Jenny made some announcements and we all went around and said one thing that we were happy for, then the four of us went to bed.

Bellinis in Venice

Day 3

Jetlag set in as I woke up at 5:00 am and decided to Facetime the family as it was almost midnight back in Canada. I filled them in with what we have been doing. I tried to go back to bed after I talked to them but couldn’t until about 7:00 am, and we had to get up at 8:30 am for breakfast. I went down for breakfast with Kylee, and most of the food was already gone. I had banana yogurt which was really good, it seemed a lot creamier than in Canada. The water was all gone so I got some kind of orange flavoured juice and a jelly filled croissant (these are SUPER popular in Italy.) We met everyone in the lobby and made our way to the train station in downtown Treviso. Maria, the trip leader, bought our tickets using the money we made from fundraising and we took the 40 minute train ride to Venice. We were so lucky because it was such a beautiful and warm day. There were SO many people in Venice, most likely because it was also a holiday which is the equivalent to our Labor Day in Canada, called "The Day of the Worker" though mostly all shops were open. 

Kylee and I when you first get into Venice

Mint chocolate gelato

My friend Shannon was feeling sick so she stayed back with the teachers while Kylee, Justin, Alex, Christina, Melissa, Michelle and I made our way to the water taxi to go to Murano, to see a glass blowing demonstration. I was lucky to be with Melissa as she speaks Italian fluently and was able to ask for help and navigate our way around Venice fairly easily which was nice as it is such a large city. Everyone agreed that Venice was extremely confusing to get around. We stopped at a few shops before getting to the water taxi where I bought a few souvenirs. We walked to the hospital (Ospidale) area which is where the water taxi departs from and was funny seeing the boat ambulances. The only way to get to Murano is by a boat so we thought it would be fun to take the water taxi. The water taxi was pretty full, and my feet were already starting to hurt so I sat down and saw the view from the window. It was only 4 euro to Murano. 

Melissa's Zia (Aunt) told us not to buy the glass in Murano because it is all the stuff they can’t sell so they mark up the prices. We watched a free demonstration where the guy showed two techniques: first he made a sort of vase, and then he made a snail. 

Glass Demonstration

We decided to take the water taxi back to St. Mark's Square instead of going back to The Ospidale. We had to play "dumb tourists" and pretend we didn't know it cost more money to go to St. Mark's Square if we got our tickets checked, as we only paid for the 4 dollar tickets and it was more expensive. In total the boat ride was 40 minutes, which saved us a lot of walking. One thing that is different in Italy than in Canada is when buying train or boat tickets you have to buy the ticket and then validate it by getting it stamped or scanned before you go. We ended up getting our ticket checked on the boat ride but the man didn’t care that we didn’t pay the right price. We got to the Piazza San Marco, took some pictures then were all starving so had some lunch. We met back with the group at St. Mark's Basilica.

 Alex, Justin, Christina and Michelle decided they wanted a sit down lunch, whereas Melissa, Kylee, Kelly, Shannon and I wanted something quick so we split up and the four of us went to a little café and got pizza on foccacia bread, a cold drink and just ate of on the stairs. Shannon and I went into a little hotel to use the washroom and I thought I would try and say "bathroom" in Italian as Melissa taught us. The hotel receptionist had a good laugh at me and then showed me the right way to pronounce it. We did some more shopping and went to the Rialto Bridge that overlooks the gondola area and took some pictures together. Next we went down to the gondola area to find the rest of the group and waited so we could go for a gondola ride together. The gondola ride was 80 euro and you could have a maximum of 6 people on it. Kylee, Shannon, Kelly and I went on one while the rest of the group took another one. It was so amazing, being able to see the scenery from the water - definitely worth the money!! We later found out some people didn’t take a gondola ride because they thought it was too expensive, but I am so glad that I went. We went around the main stretch where the Rialto Bridge is and took even more pictues, we also ran into another gondola as there was quite a bit of traffic in the water. The only thing I was disappointed in was that the man didn’t sing to us in Italian. He pointed out some spots during the ride, such as the first post office in Venice, and a building which was Marco Polo’s house in the 13^th century, and told us there are 150 gondolas in Italy.

My favourite shot from the gondola

Rialto bridge

After the gondola ride we met back up with our group (the 9 of us) and did some souvenir shopping. There were so many stores, but it seemed like they all sold the same things. The one thing I made sure to get is a bottle of Bellini, which Venice is famous for. Melissa and Michelle are saying for 7 weeks, so Melissa wanted to get a sim card for her phone. The rest of us wanted to shop so we split up form them and decided to meet at the train at 6:30. Melissa and Michelle took a direct route back, but the rest of us had so much trouble getting back. We ended up circling back to where we came from, then it was starting to rain and we had to get over the bridge but couldn’t find where the bridge was. At this point, I knew I had blisters on my feet and felt like crying because I was in so much pain. Eventually we met up with them around the train station and the 7 of us wanted to leave right away to go to the train and get our tickets. We got our tickets for 2.80 euro and made our way to the platform. The train was already there, and all I wanted was to sit down in the train for the 40 minute ride. The train was absolutely packed, we walked half way down the train and had to jam ourselves in the train. People kept piling into the train with their luggage and there was absolutely no room. I was feeling so awful – my feet ached, my stomach hurt because I was hungry and I felt so claustrophobic. I wanted to leave the train and wait for the next one which would come in 45 minutes but everyone else wanted to leave them. Thankfully Michelle and Melissa showed up and I got out of the train and the 3 of us waited for the next train to come. We sat outside of this little bar beside the platform and just relaxed while waiting for the train to come. This couple beside us had an orange drink that looked really good and so I got Melissa to ask what it was (Spritz) and so we would order it at dinner time. We waited and the train time already passed, so we started getting worried that the train was at another platform and we missed it. We walked back to where we got the tickets and Melissa asked the man where the train was and he pointed us to another platform. We got on the train – with seats! I was so glad I stayed back.

Once we got back to the hotel, I unloaded my stuff in my room and washed up as I felt gross from the day, and went for dinner with Kylee, Shannon, Kelly, Melissa and Michelle at about 8:30. We went to the same restaurant as yesterday (de Pino) and all 6 of us ordered a spritz. It didn’t taste how I expected it to – it was some kind of melon/orange liqueur and fizzy water. Then I ordered gnocchi – it was amazing! I couldn’t eat it all and felt kind of sick after as I didn’t eat much that day. Kylee and Melissa ordered an appetizer of meat stuffed olives that were baked, I tried one and really liked it.

When we got back to the hotel there were a few people in the lobby but I was tired and went back to the room. I organized my stuff and Facetimed with the family again. Kylee came back up and we tried to go to bed, I fell asleep around 1:00 am. I woke up at about 2:30 and Kylee was very sick, and nauseous and didn’t sleep at all. She threw up and I sat with her for most of the night. She ended up coming back to bed at 5:00 am and we had breakfast at 8:30 am. Moral of the story, I had a horrible night of sleep. 

En Route to Italy

Day 1 - 2 

In October 2012 I found out I was accepted to participate in the Bachelor of Education Alternative Teaching Placement to Italy. Each year in my teaching program you are placed in a classroom for practice teaching. In fourth year you have an alternative placement, which is anything but a traditional classroom. A few friends and I applied for the Italy teaching placement and got accepted. I decided to start a blog mainly for myself and my family so they could see what I was doing abroad. The following posts will entail my experiences traveling and teaching in Italy.
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What an exhausting day! Our flight left at 5:30 pm from Pearson Airport to the airport in Frankfurt, Germany with Air Canada. Kylee and I booked our seats online the night before, so I picked a window seat and she sat beside me. We lucked out because our friends who were on the trip sat in the same aisle as us too, and later found out that a few people on the trip had to sit by themselves the entire way. Shortly after the plane took off we were served dinner, which was a choice of chicken or beef. I don't trust meat on an airplane so I only ate the potatoes, bun and chocolate mousse pudding.

Flight to Germany!

Free wine that was on the flight

The meal 

I tried to sleep during the flight, but it was so uncomfortable, I probably got an hour of sleep during the entire 7 hour flight. We also got blueberry muffins, which tasted like sand, but I ate it because I was starving. 

We arrived at Frankfurt at 7:00 am local time (1:00 am Toronto time) and once we got off the plane we were led to an area for those travelling to Venice. I was surprised when we had to go through customs and security again. The security in Frankfurt was a lot more thorough than Toronto's. Most of my friends had to get searched, luckily I didn't. I was happy that I got my passport stamped while in Germany, and we did take a bus to the terminal, so I am counting Germany as one of the countries I have visited, even though I was only at the airport.  

I waited for Kylee to come out of customs, and it looked like we were the last two because we couldn’t find anyone else. We were freaking out because we heard an announcement that our flight was boarding already and didn’t know where the rest of our group was. We then were relieved because we saw Angela, another one of our trip supervisors, and quickly made our way to the plane. We flew from Frankfurt to Venice via Lufthansa in a much smaller plane. Again, I had the window seat and sat beside Kylee. It was not really an enjoyable flight as everyone was exhausted and were served a disgusting granola bar, and to top it off there was a lot of turbulence. 

Horrible picture of the German granola bar on the airplane ride.

We finally arrived in Venice at 8:20 am after what felt like the longest day of my life. 

Justin, Kylee and Shannon on the bus ride.

There was a bus waiting for us to take us to the hotel (Hotel Continental in Treviso), it was actually large comfortable ride and I had two seats to myself. Once we were at the hotel we got our rooms (Kylee and I shared a room) and I had a shower. The shower at the hotel was terrible – it basically was a tub with a hose and you had to hold the hose in your hand to shower. I think Kylee and I got the worst hotel room as everyone else had a normal shower, but we were stuck with the strange old-school Italian bath. Our window was also open and we couldn't shut it, and the internet in our room didn’t really work. Still better than those on the Kenya teaching trip though. I had a quick nap then went for lunch with Kylee, Shannon and Kelly at a little shop. I got peach iced tea and a wrap with mozzarella and tomato and then walked around taking pictures.

My sandwich

Sitting down for lunch

Kelly, Shannon and I at the water

The front of the hotel

The group met downstairs and walked to the restaurant (de Pino) where we sat at a large table. The restaurant was really busy and there was a carousel next to it. Everyone ordered drinks, I had a glass of beer (not sure of the kind.) Then we ordered our pizzas, I got a ricotta pizza, probably the best pizza I’ve ever had. I forgot how quickly the food comes out in Europe, as compared to North America. People eat their pizza with a fork and knife and cut it, as the pizza is not already pre-cut like in Canada and the USA. Justin sat next to me and ordered a mushroom and asparagus pizza and I tried some of his which was pretty good. I didn’t order dessert, but it looked pretty good. Justin and I also stole a glass from the restaurant because they were cool. For some reason my family always ends up taking a glass from every country they visit, so I felt like I had to continue the tradition. I was getting pretty tired and felt like misquotes were biting me so Shannon, Kylee, Kelly and I left and went back to the hotel to go to bed. 

Me and Kelly and the rest of the table at dinner

Shannon, Kylee, Melissa, Alex, Michelle, Justin and I at De Pino restaurant

Delicious ricotta pizza

Me and my pizza!