Thankmas Day Twenty-Three: Thank you IH Reggio

Four months ago I had no idea what or where Reggio Calabria was. I’d never heard of it before and also until four months ago, I’d never taught anything to anyone.

Fast forward to now and I’ve been living at Reggio for just over two months. I haven’t seen much yet and what I think of it so far it’s not an accurate representation (more on that another time). I’ve been mainly working, teaching a wide range of ages and levels, from large classes of 9, 11, 13 and 16 year old school children to one-to-one with a 50 something old doctor and a 14 year old teenager.

But I haven’t just been teaching. I marked and invigilated tests, I had the chance to organise and be part of different events, I filmed and edited a couple of promos for the school, I am now presenting at a conference next month and organising an event as well for February.

It’s been a crazy two months as you can probably guess. Rewarding, challenging, stimulating.

But…

oh my God.

It’s exhausting. I feel mentally and physically drained. And I honestly wouldn’t have survived these two months without my fellow teachers.

Teasing Nour on a daily basis, having a laugh with Katie (my favourite face) and Hannah (creative genious), exceptional A-class sarky humour with Vince and Bry, chats outside with my Italian spirit twin, Antonella, giggles and random convos with Shannon, talking TV series and films with Matt, reminding Alexei his Greek, reminiscing life before teaching with Kate on our way to Telesio, travelling chats with Maria, singing along with Mariah and Nuno, giggles with Fanni, making a serious effort to tease Lisa with Beatles and Christmas songs, talking Christmas filims with Jen, stealing precious little moments to chat to Lucie when I see her, all sorts of random convos with Suzanne, Italian lessons with Anna, brainstorming ideas with Helena and comforting each other, making James laugh (I love making James laugh), chats with Cesca on our way back from externals, having a laugh with my favourite reception team, Carlo, Elena, Domi, Franci and little catch ups with the bosses Marco and Patrizia when they pop in every now and then.

So thank you EVERY ONE!

Thank you Patrizia, James and Lucie for offering me the position and making me feel welcome from day one and most of all a huge thank you to this beautifully weird, fun, unique bunch of people. I would have genuinely quit by now if it weren’t for you.

Eleni

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Thankmas Day Twenty-One: Thank you Priya and Syed

Wednesday, 21st of August, 2019

I had just finished my last assessed teaching practice. The feeling of relief was indescribable. I did it, I couldn’t believe I actually managed to finish my CELTA. And I couldn’t believe that two my sweetest friends, Syed and Priya, took the day off to visit Cambridge and see me before I was to fly back to Cyprus.

As soon as I left college I headed into the town centre to meet them and I was so happy I nearly cried.

You may not realised it but that was exactly what I needed that day. After a month long, sleep and fun deprivation, away from all my friends, worrying they may forget me now that I’m leaving the country, it meant the world to me that two of them were there with me, celebrating my success.

So thank you Priya and Syed. Thank you for being such sweet, caring friends and for making the trip to Cambridge. It meant the world to me. I miss you!

Eleni

Thankmas Day Twenty-Two: Thank you Helena

Have you ever met someone you have a lot in common with? I mean A LOT. Similar taste in music, reading, films, your whole belief system, life aspirations, dreams, even sometimes identical way of thinking.

It’s pretty rare.

That’s why I feel so blessed and overwhelmingly lucky I’ve met a couple of these people in my life so far. One of them is Helena.

One of my favourite things ever is our long chats over a delicious hot cup of herbal tea and cake about travelling, huge life dilemmas and our little adventures, from little wanders in the Forest to running across London at midnight to watch A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

We’ve been daydreaming of escaping our office jobs and exploring the world for a while before we both decided to leave the UK and follow our dreams.

We inspired and encouraged each other to finally take the big step and walk into the unknown.

I don’t know when and where we’ll meet again lovely lady but I cannot wait to see you somewhere on this big wild world and have a long catch up. So much to share already!

Thank you for being such an awesome friend!

Eleni

Thankmas Day Twenty: Thank you Barnaby and Maro

I remember just after my interview when Barnaby handed me a bunch of Cambridge English exam books.

I didn’t have a single clue about any of it and I found everything overwhelming.

For about a month I spent hours and hours on planning just four lessons a week. Who knew a month later I’d teach four lessons a day and have an hour or two to plan everything!

If it weren’t for Barnaby and Maro, who offered me my first teaching position only a few weeks after my CELTA, I wouldn’t be where I am today.

So thank you both and sorry I left so soon. I had to follow my heart. I’m not sure whether it was the right decision yet, only time will tell, but I’ll forever be grateful to you.

Eleni

Eleni

Thankmas Day Nineteen: Thank you Pasta Grannies

What is Pasta Grannies and why on earth do you feel the need to thank them? You might wonder.

Well, that’s how it all started a few months ago and I weirdly wouldn’t be where I am today if I hadn’t discovered it.

I came across the Pasta Grannies Youtube channel just a while before and ever since that moment I kept thinking how awesome it would be to do something similar in Cyprus (with my own twist) and then maybe in another countries, but start from home, document my little island’s customs and traditions that have been passed on from generation to generation through our love of food. That’s what Vicky Bennison so beautifully has been doing on the Pasta Grannies channel.

(https://www.youtube.com/user/pastagrannies)

So about a year ago I twitted Vicky with my idea and she replied with this:

That’s when I had an epiphany moment. Why not find a why to do it now? Why wait? Originally, I was to try and film every time I were to visit Cyprus but a few months later, I had another epiphany. I’ll save up for a few months, then quit my job and go back to Cyprus to attempt this. I even came up with a name for the channel and a theme song.

I decided to give teaching a go first (it’s funny how I ended up in Italy out of all places) but I haven’t given up on that dream yet and if it wasn’t for Pasta Grannies I might have still been stuck in an office, so thank you Vicky and Pasta Grannies. Thank you for the inspiration.

Eleni

The Guilty Feminist

Also, wondering if you’d like to go to this with me…https://www.facebook.com/events/1643765342395990/ I listen to the podcast and it’s really good and I thought it might be up your street. Lucy messaged.

I had a quick look and I was intrigued. I didn’t look it up beforehand. I wanted to see whether I’d enjoy it without knowing much about it.

A couple of months later, 22nd of May, 2019

After delicious dinner at Soleto’s, which was mainly occupied (except our friend Dan and the chef) by women who were about to watch the show, we headed to the theatre, again mainly women. It felt surprisingly, unexpectedly empowering to be amongst so many women.

Three hours later, we left the theatre with a smile on our face, happy, re-enacting some of the funny moments whilst pondering on what true feminism is and how still to the day there’s so much discrimination, even in small, little things we barely notice.

Deborah Frances-White, comedian and hostess of the show and her guests for the evening Bridget Christie, Desiree Burch, Sophie Duker and Grace Petrie were amazing. I couldn’t stop laughing with Bridget, Desiree and Sophie’s comedy on dating in your 40s, bi-sexuality, racism and many other hot topics that women get grief on.

I loved Grace Petrie’s political folk songs and what an excellent idea of Deborah’s to introduce two local charities who spoke to us about the incredible work they do, Yellowdoor supporting and preventing domestic and sexual abuse and Chrysalis supporting transgender people and their significant others.

I’m now already a big fan of Deborah. Funny, witty, intelligent, charismatic (someone I met recently called me charismatic and I burst out laughing, I never thought of myself as charismatic). The following day I watched her Tedx talk from a few years ago and that blew my mind.

I already started listening to her podcast (you can listen here or look up Guilty Feminist on Spotify, it’s Deborah with guests discussing feminism in the modern world and of course it’s thought-provoking, inspiring and hilarious) and bought her book.

If only there were more women like Deborah. No wait, there are. Everywhere. You and me and many others say no to what (mainly male dominated) society dictates every day by not getting married or having children just for the sake of it, we refuse to get into an unhappy, unfulfilling relationship because if you are single it means ‘something is wrong with you’, we follow our dreams even if that means being the only female colleague in that engineering company, we do what we think is right for us, we have sex for fun and not just to please someone else, we don’t need make up and toned bodies to make us feel good about ourselves but we wear or not wear make up and exercise or not for ourselves.

Feminism is not about not shaving (unless that’s what you genuinely like) or being a lesbian or not letting a man help you put together a coffee table or feeling guilty you love face creams and rom-coms. It’s about all of the things I mentioned above, not conforming to man-made society norms, be whoever you want to be without stupid gender restrictions and many more, like not letting an unwanted dick pic or a wolf whistle or groping become socially acceptable.

Start your own business, do what you love for a living without feeling guilty for not just being a parent or wife or partner or daughter or sister . You can be all of these but above all you need to be yourself, love yourself, look after you.

A Facebook friend, ex- colleague who I rarely chat with (we all have a few of those on our friends list) recently messaged me to say that he loves my feminist social media. I thanked him, though I never considered my opinions as feminist, until I went to Deborah’s show. Then I understood what he meant.

So here’s to all inspiring women, our mums, sisters, friends, strangers who we admire, ourselves and those in the limelight, all of the feminist advocates.

Thank you Lucy for introducing me to this great community. I’ll miss you!

Eleni

The world’s best pastry chef, anyvan.com and other things I recently discovered.

The World’s best Pastry chef

I annoyingly left the book I’ve been desperately trying to finish (and still do) in my luggage up in the overhead locker. I had just boarded the 4 and a half hour flight back to the UK after spending the Christmas holidays at home. I was tired, emotional and I just settled at my seat. The last thing I wanted to do was disturb the lovely couple sitting next to me (who kindly offered me the window seat so they could sit next to each other).

So after a nap and in a desperate effort to blank out the non-stop crying noise from the toddler at the seats behind me, I put my favourite music on and grabbed the latest Traveller, Easyjet’s inflight magazine.

I love their magazine, it’s always full of interesting, exciting stories and one of the main features in the January issue was a piece on the World’s best Pastry Chef for 2017, Cedric Grolet. I instantly fell in love with his creations and his incredible talent. I follow him on Instagram since and is one of my favourite feeds at the moment. The man is an artist. What else can you call an apple tart resembling a perfectly formed apple? Afternoon tea at Le Meurice hotel’s restaurant, Le Dali in Paris where one can taste Cedric’s art at a reasonable price is now on my bucket list.

Anyvan.com

After Shebz left for her Central America adventure I had a week to pack until I were to move to my now new home and this time I was not going to even attempt the move all by myself. I was prepared to pay as much as necessary to avoid last year’s disaster. I had a quick look on Gumtree, there were a lot of local removal companies but I didn’t have the time or energy to call and ask for a quote, compare and decide, so after a quick Google search I came across anyvan.com.

I did everything online, from getting a quote to final payment, their agents were extremely helpful, the price was reasonable and it all went smoothly. The day before my move, my driver Josh called me to confirm time and location and himself and his sister who was his assistant on the day were lovely and even offered to give me a lift in their van so I didn’t have to get a taxi to the new place. I can’t recommend them enough!

Argos next day delivery

Last Saturday, a day after I moved in, there were only three boxes left to unpack. All the clothes that needed hanging. I could not handle the sighting, boxes sitting there, clothes trapped in them, and settling down as soon as possible was my number one priority, so I went on Amazon and Google to try and get a cheap wardrobe delivered for Sunday. Since Amazon Prime couldn’t deliver until Monday I ended up on the Argos page, I haven’t bought anything from Argos for years, I didn’t even know they offered next day delivery. I’ve ordered my white fabric portable wardrobe to match the white theme of my bedroom and a bathroom bin on Saturday afternoon and it was delivered to me the following day on a designated time slot of my choice. Impressed!

Instagram favourite

About a week ago, whilst browsing through the discover section on Instagram, one of my favourite things to do, I found this gorgeous snap by the extremely talented Turkish Photographer and travel writer below.

It’s not an exotic beach or a hot travel destination. But it’s simple and powerful. That’s exactly what I want to experience and discover on my next travel adventure. Every day people living in an old house in the middle of the mountains having a chat. Check onderkoca’s feed for more, totally worth it.

That’s all from me on this crispy cold Friday evening. If you’d like to share any interesting things you discovered recently, share below 🙂

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Eleni