A Light at the End of the Tunnel

Allie got a job, Allie got a job!!

There's one small catch...it doesn't start until July. But, the upside is that once it starts it will be 30 hours a week, and it's the easiest thing in the world! The job is simply to be the companion to some rich children at their summer beach home outside of Rome.

This family is quite wealthy, and during the month of July the kids (3 total) go to stay with Nonna at the house near the sea. My job is to go there every weekday from 10 am to 5pm and hang out while speaking English. All of the kids attend English schools and the parents want them to practice their speaking during the summer holiday.

I don't have to cook or clean (there's someone else to do that), and I have my own bedroom if I want to stay over (and Charles is welcome at anytime), and they feed me and pay for my train tickets. All I have to do is work on my tan and entertain the lil' ones!

Not only that, but once school begins again in September they will want me to come to the house in Rome three times a week for private tutoring and homework help for the kids. They seem like a genuinely nice family, and having a guaranteed 30 hours a week for a whole month seems like heaven to me right now!

Oh yeah, did I mention it's on the beach??

General Well-Being Update

Things are going pretty well at the moment. We are expecting the return of Grant, Diego and Katie from their Italian road trip on Tuesday morning'ish. We can't wait to hear about all of their mishaps, er, adventures they had driving all over the country! We hope to have one last night out with them before they head back to the good, old, u.S. of A.

Allie is still awaiting news from a few different English schools but in the meanwhile she's been making some extra money by filling in on some private lessons given to her by friends of ours. Charles has somehow managed to get onto the schedule at the Abbey Pub, in fact, he'll be working at least three nights a week. Some how he's fooled them into believing that he's a good bartender! The late nights at the bar combined with the early morning teaching might be a little tough in the beginning but it should turn out well.

Other than that, there hasn't much excitement going on. Though, after ten months we finally went to the Colosseo (Colosseum) last Friday afternoon because we heard that it was free all week! So we got our culture on and saved what little money we have at the same time, it was great!

La Folle Vita (The Crazy Life)

Diego, Katie, Grant, Charles and Allie

Our friends have all arrived safely, and have they arrived! Basically, we've been non-stop since Diego and Grant came into town on Friday morning. And then with Katie's arrival on Friday evening, not Thursday evening as was thought (This caused a slightly panic stricken Charles and Allie to frantically search Termini Station until 3 a.m.). But once everyone had been accounted for we've been on a tear of eating, sightseeing and drinking...though not necessarily in that order. The highlights so far include pizza, gelato, coffee from Sant'Eustacchio and the georgeous weather.

Diego, Katie, Grant

Charles has worked at the pub the last two nights instead of partaking in the merriment and the shots of Absinthe (illegal in the good, old u.S.of A) but the plan tonight is to stay low-key (if Diego can be kept low-key is anyone's guess, really) and to show them a particularly cool view of Rome from a very strange but cool spot. Sorry, I can't divulge the details or show pictures because it must be seen first hand, which means you'll all have to come visit, of course.

At the moment, Katie and Grant are visiting the Colosseo and Diego is enjoying the very beloved Italian tradition of siesta or mid-afternoon nap.

Grant, Katie, Diego, Allie

Tomorrow they will set out early to brave the line (or they should just cut like we did) at the Vatican Museum in order to take a glimpse at the Sistine Chapel and to be amazed by the grandeur that is Saint Peter's Church while Allie and I will doing a little teaching (and I really mean a little).

Mid-May Update

Tonight marks an exciting event; the arrival of Katie, one of Charles' oldest friends from home. Not only that, but tomorrow morning the rest of the crew arrives as Diego and Grant join us. We are really excited to see some more friends, and show them how we've been living this last year.

On top of that, we had better update you about our current job prospects. Allie has been on several interviews, none of which have panned out solely because of our lack of legal status in Italy. She has another interview tomorrow that will hopefull solve this problem and get her a few more hours each week.

Charles, meanwhile, got the job at the pub and will work again this weekend. So, things aren't all bad, and we're hoping a few more things will pan out for us. As you can tell we're in high spirits (even if Allie woke up with a stuffed nose), and we know that having our friends come visit will really improve our outlook on things.

The News

We have been complaining a lot lately about our lack of hours, which naturally equals a lack of funds, but we’ve been putting ourselves out there and we have some promising aspects coming up that we thought we would share with you. So, we haven’t written our suicide pact yet, and we haven’t bought plane tickets for a return trip home; we’re hanging in there!

First of all, Charles had his first night of work at the Abbey Theater Pub, which was more or less an audition for the job. He felt confident in his performance, but he won’t know anything until the week after next, and we assume this means they are auditioning other applicants before deciding who to hire permanently.

Allie has a job interview on Monday at another language school, so hopefully all will go well with that and she will be able to get a few extra hours every week. She has also been in contact with another school, who can’t hire her because of our legal status, but the director had a friend who wanted math tutoring for his young daughter in English, and this job was offered to Allie. The details are still being worked out for that, but hopefully it will start soon (if you know Allie you are stuck on the “math” thing, but the child is seven, so this is math she is confident she can handle).

If that wasn’t promising enough, the director called Allie yesterday and asked if she could cover for one of their teachers for a few weeks for “cash in hand”. They are meeting on Tuesday to discuss the student and the details, and that will start the week after next. She also has a few private lessons she’s been doing, and some prospects for a couple more to add to that list.

So, as you can see, things are no longer on such a downward spiral, but we still have a long way to go to get out of this hole. So, for a while there probably won’t be any more fantastic trips, at least until our monthly income covers rent and groceries! It’s a good thing Rome offers lots of free or inexpensive attractions to keep us entertained.