Hey everybody,
It has been a long time since I wrote anything, but this time it was a conscious choice. Well, partly at least. On the one hand, there wasn't much to tell and on the other hand I didn't really want to write down what I had to say. I have been working like crazy and haven't really had time for anything special, but I have just been treasuring the little time to myself that I had and didn't find the little things that happened worthy enough of mentioning here.
The main reason I have been so busy is because there are a lot of changes happening and coming along at work which have not been having a great influence on the atmosphere in the office nor on my performance as a teacher. About a month and a half ago, Caroline, my boss, announced that she had decided she didn't want to be in the commercial teaching business anymore and that she was planning to move to Rome to be with her new boyfriend this summer. This had to remain a secret, but you can imagine it caused some excitement, nervousness and frustration. For a long time, we didn't know what was going to happen. It was unclear whether the school would be sold, there would be a new partner or she was going to hire a new manager and hand him all her tasks. This was especially hard on Veronica (our course manager) and me, because from the moment my boss told us she was going to leave it seemed like she was already half gone. There was trouble in communication, she was out of the office a lot and though she was working out what to do we didn't hear anything for quite a long time which made us feel very insecure.
In the meantime, several of our teachers left, our database was (and still is) down and we had some trouble with our email sever. It also proved quite difficult to find new teachers and to have them take over the courses we needn't to place. As 3 of my colleagues left (among whom Rebecca and Dariush, who will be direly missed not just as colleagues but as friends too), this effectively meant we needed 2,5 full-timers by 1st May. Caroline was busy with other things and subsequently went on holiday, so it was up to Veronica to find new teachers. I tried to help her out as much as I could. On top of this, we (as in the school, not me and Olaf) were having financial problems, as we always seem to be out of money no matter how much we make...
In the end we managed, but it caused a lot of stress and discontent. We decided that it would be better if I cut my office hours by half and started teaching more. This way we could place some more courses and I could earn a little extra money (as teaching pays more than office work). To tell the truth, I was quite happy to be in the office less often, as I didn't like the atmosphere anymore. When my boss came back from her holiday, it was clear to me that things had changed. She really is leaving and is distancing herself from the school more and more, even though she won't leave until July. There is still no manager, but at least now we know that Caroline has interviewed and is interviewing people, so I suppose things will be all right. I feel quite sad about the situation. Even though, I am very happy for Caroline that she has found someone to share her life with, it will cause the end of Corporate English as I know and love it. The one thing that attracted me to CE was its sense of family. When I just got to Milan, I was welcomed with open arms and introduced into a group of lovely people, many of whom became friends of good acquaintances. Most of those people have now left and now it will definitely die with Caroline, the one always kept us together and maintained that sense of family.
Besides all my work problems, there were some parties and a visit. Last weekend, Matt and Ant came over for a visit and we spent almost the whole time outside of Milan. That was very nice. We went to Como on Saturday and rented a pedalo to go out onto the lake. There is really nothing that can beat exercising in the sunshine, is there? And the well-deserved weissbier in the sun afterwards really made my day unforgettable. That Sunday we went to Vigevano and walked around the city enjoying some more warm touches of sunshine. And to end their visit in style, we played uno to our heart's content...
There is one last thing I really must mention, because it was amazing - or well, the concept was anyway. We went to a rubik's cube party, which unfortunately didn't work out very well. A rubik's cube party is a party where you have to come dressed in something blue, something green, something yellow, something red, something white and something orange. Over the course of the evening, you are supposed to swap articles of clothing with the people at the party until you are uni-coloured. How amazing is that?!?! This one was organised by my colleague Antony in honour of his 30th birthday. It was at LoolaPaloosa, a club in Corso Como, Milan's most fancy clubbing area where Olaf used to live and where we - obviously - never go out. As could have been foreseen, LoolaPaloosa's staff was not too happy about the concept (Italians, or at least Milanese, are very style-sensitive, and would rather die than be seen in a ridiculous outfit) and when it started getting late and a lot of serious, trendy people started arriving, we were kindly yet resolutely asked to get changed or leave. Anyway, it was fun for about 30 minutes. Here are some pictures.
I hope you enjoyed that!
So, things are settling down, courses are finishing and I finally feel like I can breathe again. Furthermore, I am quite sure that I will enough courses to live off until the end of the school year. That is a load off my mind. Last Friday, I had several cancellations and lost lessons and you know what I did? I sat in the sun reading poetry. I was reading Oscar Wilde's Complete Poems and it wasn't the best poetry I had ever read, but for the first time in a long, long time I was able to block out the world...
Ciao, Fedor
