Palermo

For a while we (the housemates) have been planning a trip to Palermo. It is the capital of Sicily and about two and a half hours' drive away on the north coast. There is enough there to explore for a few days but in the end we decided to make a day trip of it, rather than stay overnight.

We somehow all managed to get up and get on the 9.00am bus, which was a miracle, but then had a two hour forty minute journey with the air conditioning not working. It was a lovely sunny day so it was quite warm. As we left Catania there was the most amazing view of Etna - I know I go on about her, but she has a lot of snow at the moment, which comes quite far down the slopes, so the white makes her stand out against the pale blue sky. She looked stunning and somehow you can't take your eyes off her, even when you get a crick in the neck from staring out the window.

I knew from having flown over the island but was still surprised to see how hilly the centre is. We even passed some snowy peaks when we were near the north coast. I saw a few birds of prey flying overhead in the sun.

The north coast looks pretty and my housemate recommends Cefalu, which is a pretty coastal town. She had lived near Palermo so fortunately she knew where to take us and what to see. The streets seemed wider, cleaner and brighter to me, although in a similar style to Catania, so I decided I much prefer Palermo to Catania. There are, according to my guidebook, many churches of note to see, with mosaics and fancy Arabic influence. But I think a return visit to Palermo is a must, to take in particular sights. As it was, we were able to see the main piazzas, the duomo (quite impressive from the outside but not very exciting inside), horse drawn carriages for the tourists (always a winner) and "The Fountain of Shame" which my housemate said had been designed for Rome but rejected on the account that there was too much nudity. Clearly Palermo didn't have a problem with that.

I don't know if it was just being out of Catania but I thought the place was less noisy, less dirty and the people seemed all right too. Maybe it was just having a change!

I liked the seafront, which seemed more open and accessible than the lungomare, and also had a lovely view of Bagheria, between two hills. There were hills all round the city which meant that looking down streets you caught sight of a hill, which was very nice. I also thought there were more green spaces, one where we saw two huge trees with cool trunks. There is also a botanical garden which begs another visit, although I think it was only small.

We finished our day with a trip to a tea shop that had every sort of tea, and the most amazing coconut cake and handmade shortbread. All very nice. I would like to go back to Palermo as there are other places to check out including the very macabre sounding catacombs, where the preserved dead bodies are on display.

Weekend

My god, have gone into shock over the cost of the course, as what I'd hoped was a year's cost was actually for a term. So I really hope the students feel happy with what they are getting. But they continue to turn up, so that is a good sign. And the occasional ones who don't, well I expect they have better things to do as it is quite a commitment to attend twice a week, in the evening after work. Last week one of my pre-intermediate groups were saying how they were at work all day so often felt tired by the time of the class (8-9.30pm). I understand how they feel as I used to struggle with my Welsh lessons which were at the same time, and I would often have to stifle my yawns - not because of the lesson but because it was late.

Yesterday Jo and I enjoyed an "aperitivo" with our Australian workmate, at a bar not far from the school. In many places you can get a cocktail and some food for a good price. It is usually a cold buffet where you help yourself, and although I played a bit of veggie Russian roulette - I wasn't sure which things were entirely meat free - it was very nice. The food is always fresh and tasty. The cocktails always seem strong so be warned if you ever visit, you do not need to go mad.  A little bit helps you speak Italian though, so Jo and I were attempting to speak to some of the Sicilians there. They drink some weird things: one looked like mouthwash and another tasted vile.  It was a nice evening and Deanna has given us a list of places we can go (as sadly she is leaving soon). There's a jazz bar that I have heard about, which sounds like a must, as luckily Jo is a jazz fan too. When we went to Taormina we saw a postcard of the bizarrely freakish monks' catacombs in Palermo, which I saw on a programme with that Italian guy, Francesco. We have to see those, if just for the horror factor. Palermo is a day trip away but perhaps we can go one day. There is also the Teatro Massimo in Catania that has opera and ballet: last week I made an attempt to see if I could see "Coppelia" but obviously the place was closed when I walked there and they didn't answer the phone later that night. But another time.

Last night we were laughing about how none of us can say anything now, in English, without an accompanying hand gesture. We can't stop even if we want to, and I had to sit on my hands at one point just to stop illustrating every word visually. Clearly we all understand English so there was no need to gesture behind our shoulder for something in the past (a standard sign), or perform meaningless hand signals to indicate the shape of an object. I just can't stop now. It happened after the CELTA course too, because you become used to explaining things by gestures as well as words. God knows what our families will think when we return at Xmas and say, in a loud, clear, slow voice, "Please can you pass me the sprouts?" with accompanying hand gesture for round green vegetables. Also Deanna and I are both speaking with a bit more of an Italian stress on the ends of words (in English). Can't help it. Apparently someone asked her what language they spoke in Australia, and also, if it was November here, what month was it there?

I had a nice experience today. I have been wanting to set up a language conversation exchange and went online where you can find other people wanting to do the same. Well, although I had lots of replies and also emailed people, when it came to it I was not feeling confident about meeting people. So instead I thought about asking a student, because I already know them. I asked one of my students who is very keen to improve his English and also he is talkative and funny and near my age. He is quite lively in class. So today we met for lunch in Catania. He always tries hard to say things in English and although he does not think that he speaks well, I think his English is improving all the time. He began helping me to practise Italian by insisting I say things in Italian to him - this is what I need or I just chicken out. It was slow-going because it takes me a while to think, but he has helped already by teaching me useful words like ragazzini (teenagers) and telefonino (mobile phone. That one made me laugh). Also he was very nice and said some nice things about my teaching, so that was kind. He wants me to meet his girlfriend who also speaks English as he thinks she will be able to help with the Italian grammar. Neither of us thought to bring any paper, so he wrote on the napkins. Anyway, I had a nice time and we had a laugh about things, and when we were coming back he was showing me different places to go. So maybe this could be one way to meet other people outside work. Fingers crossed.