Bye bye school

Wrote this yesterday, once more... no internet at home

I’ve done it.  This has been one of the strangest weeks that I remember, it has been simply impossible to get my head around the idea that the biggest part of my life this year is coming to an end.

The last lessons started on Monday - I only have each class once a week, so every lesson was a set of goodbyes.  Three lessons on Monday morning with my little ones (that’s what I call them, they’re actually year 9 and 10) started the theme of cake in every lesson.  They were a bit excited about the whole cake situation, and obviously being the younger ones they don’t know as much English as the others, but nice things were said by me and by them, and it was really very lovely.

On Tuesday I finished working with two of my colleagues, and my students went a bit further with the lessons - they shouted ‘surprise’ as I walked in, and they did a thank you speech, and we got through another massive tray of biscuits.  Another class gave me a cuddly cat (they’d asked me the lesson before what my favourite animal was).

On Wednesday I had the last lesson with an amazing class, who I’ve always got on well with.  In those lessons I spend a lot of time laughing.  We had a fun lesson, and we’re all going out for pizza tonight, together with my wonderful colleague, the real English teacher at school.  I was glad that I didn’t have to say bye to them then.

Then today I woke up, after not a great deal of sleep.  When I saw my colleague we said we’d have to just brush over the whole last day thing for now because we didn’t want to be sad.  I walked into my first class and there was another big tray of biscuits.  We made a toast (as in like a cheers toast, when you lift your cup up) with some Coca Cola.  I didn’t say goodbye well enough - when it got to the vital moment near the end of the lesson when I should have said stuff, I forgot everything and so we just took a photo.  

The next lesson (in which one of the girls had made a chocolate cake), I remembered all I wanted to say, be good, learn English etc.  The final lesson, they had brought in the most amazing cake.  It was big, covered in chocolate and pistachio, with a marzipan bit on the top, with writing that said ‘See You Soon’.  There were the tops of some white roses on the cake, and then a red rose on the desk, which I’ve brought home.  It was the most beautiful cake I’ve ever had anything to do with.  After we’d eaten for a bit, they did a bit of a discussion in groups about language learning (an attempt to choose an appropriate final-lesson theme).  Then we had a discussion all together for the last five minutes, talking about why it’s important to learn languages and what you can do with them.  At various points I wasn’t totally sure I’d manage to say everything at the end, but we concluded nicely actually.  My students were the epitome of all that was good - they were absolutely lovely to me all week, but particularly in that last hour when I think they understood a bit of what this has all been for me as well.

For some reason, ever since I finished at school at midday, I’ve been in a pretty normal mood.  I think it’ll take a few days to sink in that the thing that I’ve thought about most for the last year has actually finished, it’s just so strange.  

At the worst points in the last nine months, a good lesson was the thing that cheered me up, and the thing that motivated me to keep slogging away at this whole Sicilian thing.  Apart from the fact that the job was the reason I was put here, it was also the reason I stayed.  I mean, it took a while for life here to get as amazing as it is now, and if I hadn’t loved my job, I’m not 100% sure I would have seen it through the winter.  I don’t know what else I can say about it now.  It’s just been amazing.

So now, the summer.  Still teaching, but at the English language school up the hill.  Just a few weeks of normal lessons and then a summer camp by the seaside.

I’m so glad I’m not leaving Modica, and I’m very excited about my summer plans.  I’m so glad I’ll still be teaching, because I love it.  Roll on the next stage of the Modican life.