Plan B in Sicily!

The Galli’s adventure continues! We took a chance and came to Sicily based on a loose commitment to help set up a new english school with some local experienced teachers. However, within a short time of being here we had doubts to some extent that it would take some time to take off and financially speaking also some time before we earnt a penny. Since we haven’t had a paying job for over a year, it gave rise to some obvious concerns.

The timing was uncanny, we were contacted by another school in Sicily that we’d communicated with earlier in the year, and they were now hiring. It seemed wrong not to explore that option. So last week we hired a car we drove across the Etna mountains and headed for Capo d’orlando, a resort town in the north of the island for an interview. Within 20 minutes of being interviewed we were offered jobs with a guarantee of a reasonable salary (for teaching) per hour and a certain amount of hours per month to suit, so we took the jobs.

Ironically, the interview was conducted largely in Italian, as the school owners preferred it that way, so I relied on Rene’s fluency to talk us up! It seemed to work, but I have never said so little in an interview and still get the job!
This well established school is part of the British Institutes Organisation, a leader in English language education throughout Europe and we are more than happy to be a part of that. http://www.britishinstitutes.it/capo-d-orlando

We sadly had to let down the new school partners in Giarre and after a few days of tummy ache and tears we caught a train from Giarre and headed for Capo d’orlando. They were very understanding and kind about it considering. We are now residing in a one bed apartment on the 2nd floor overlooking the sea temporarily until we can find something more permanent.

It’s a really quaint little town, centred around a beachfront with aqua marine seas and is one of Sicily’s premier tourist resorts. It has a great feel to it, plenty of lovely shops, cafe’s and restaurants and we even hear that there is a blues music bar which we have yet to track down.

So it’s been a bit up and down, we’ve upped sticks and started again, but hopefully it will be worth it! The school doesn’t re-open until mid October but we will start at the beginning of next month to get ahead on the syllabus and prepare teaching materials. That leaves us a good 3 weeks of exploring to do, and it’s still hot, like the middle of summer!