It's something I have to get used to though, and I found myself in the small town of Caldogno, in the province of Vicenza, in a huge home complete with my own guest wing, huge kitchen, gym, wine cellar with 1200 bottles of wine, three outdoor entertaining areas, a security system to rival most banks and, most importantly, a very friendly and welcoming host family.
My host father, Giuseppe, is taking English lessons with a private tutor so he was very excited about being able to practice his English every day with me. Better than that, he's an exceptional cook but on our first night he treated us to a superb dinner in a nearby town, complete with Champagne (which would become a regular dinner beverage for the next week), three courses and a beautiful rural view.
The two girls, Valentina and Gaia (11 and eight years old), were very shy to begin with but it wasn't long before they opened up... as much as girls who speak another language can. With the school my first camp was based at just a three minute walk away, it was a fantastic start to being hosted, which is quite a nervous experience. You know absolutely nothing about where and who you will be staying with for the next week, it is a strange situation!
Our camp directors, Antonella and Monica, were fantastic. They essentially organised the camp and oversaw all the work that me, Victoria (from Canada) and Sally (from Ireland) did. They also arranged a couple of outings for us, taking us to the famous (and beautiful) Verona on one evening. Verona was fabulous, and a city I probably never would have checked out if I had been simply visiting Italy as a tourist. We were in town the night that Paul McCartney was playing at the Verona Arena, a venue similar in structure and to Rome's Colosseum, but which is still used today for concerts!
Me, Victoria and Sally in front of the Verona Arena
We had a lovely dinner in Verona and then sat outside the Arena eating gelato and listening to a few of Paul's songs, before going for a stroll around the town, specifically to check out Juliet's balcony but sadly it was closed off! We could see kind of an obscured view of the balcony but what was really cool was all names written on the wall of the tunnel on the entrance to the balcony. People write their names and the names of those they love on the walls, believing that it will make their love everlasting.
There's also a bronze statue of Juliet which has the metal of the right breast worn bare due to a legend that if a person strokes the right breast of the statue, that person will have good luck in love. Although Monica disputed this legend, saying she had rubbed the statue many times and has not been lucky so far!
Later in the week we also took a trip to Vicenza, the main town in the province also called Vicenza. While not as well-known and steeped in history as Verona, it was nonetheless an absolutely beautiful town to stroll around, with its old medieval buildings, huge statues, churches, pillars and Palladian architecture.
All in all, my first week of teaching was a really positive one. I had a great (noisy, boisterous but fun) group of kids aged 8-10 and they were really enthusiastic about learning which was really cool!
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