SonoPizzitano
 
Another day in Pizzo town and I went off to post a letter and get credit for my internet key.  It will not be active until tomorrow, unfortunately, so I am still depending on the goodness of friends, which is probably good for my soul.  Humility is not a strong point of mine, it seems.  

So here I am living in Pizzo and managing fine.  The solitary nature of living alone is a blessing at times but also can be a curse.  Loneliness can strike any time and often just before going to bed.  But I am learning to live with myself and even to enjoy it at times.  I definitely am glad not to have to answer to others’ needs in my house as I have been doing all my married life.  I cook sometimes and am lucky to be invited to friends’s houses or to just drop in and be treated to soup, lunch, dinner, tea or a drink.  They must like me, I suppose, and that is a nice feeling.  In their position I am not sure I would be so hospitable.  They also help me sort problems with the house, the computer and internet and even helped me find a job.  Having such friends as Paul, Lorraine, Alan and Claire, Beata and Leon, Mark and others is definitely a bonus for me.

I arrived here on the first Friday of January.  It only took a week to get a job, get connected to the internet, be invited to dinner (and not just once), get heaters, stock the kitchen with food, find an Italian teacher and settle in.  Since then the job has turned out alright and turned into two jobs in two different locations.  Next Monday I begin the second one in a company called ENI, one of the biggest in Italy.  I will be teaching English to employees four mornings a week, for three hours.  Then I have to grab lunch and get to the first job in a private school in Vibo Valentia for three o’clock and finish at eight pm.  I did not come here to make money but it seems I will be doing fine. 

 

These jobs will last until the end of June and then I can rest and enjoy the summer.  I shall probably return to Ireland in August and then decide what to do for the next year or so.  My wife and I are not together now and this is a real consideration and one I have to sort out to my satisfaction and hers.  This is a life-changing time for me.  I am getting an opportunity to live the dream and I must make a good decision and make it work for me.