Milan

5 - 10 June

I was especially excited to be arriving in Milan on the 5th as I knew my 2 best friends were also on their way too! After 3 months I was going to be reunited with my besties!

Here come the girls!

Not that we've ever really been apart. Travelling in the social media age really does mean your friends and family are just the touch of a button away, and we'd been trying to keep up with the group chats from the road.

A few hours after we arrived I heard their voices at the door, and I greeted them with hugs and tears just the same as I left them. After a welcome drink we headed to the city for dinner and a long overdue catch up! We spent the evening on the balcony like no time had passed at all.

Sforza Castle and fountain

The following day we (our usual group size doubled to 4) visited the Sforzesco Castle and grounds and walked to the canal area, where we cooed over the ducklings and the beautiful view.

Outside the castle there were loads of food, drink and sweets stalls. We sank our teeth into noodles, souvlaki and hotdogs whilst sipping on sangria and dipping our feet in the fountain.

La Dolce Vita

In the gardens we picked up a deck of cards to play with in the evening. When the time came we quickly realised these are cards for the Italian game Scopa! We'd no idea how to play so instead played a bastardised versions of uno, gin rummy and pairs.

We spend most of the rest of out time in Milan playing these crazy card games, going on a picnic and finding some truly needed Mexican food!

Milan Duomo

On our final day, Mark visited the San Siro stadium in the city whilst I got some shopping time with the girls. After we made our way to the Duomo, kind of ashamed we hadn't made time for a visit before now. Inside the stained glass was the biggest decoration, as well as some very much dead bodies of archbishops.

The next thing we knew it was time to go. I was sad to be leaving my friends again, but happy to know when I will see them next in a couple of months time.

But, once the goodbyes were said it was time to go. This time to Piedmont to meet the Scarsi family who we will be living with for the summer! Eeek!

What travelling has taught me

It's been over 2 months now since I left the UK for what I thought would be a new life as an English teacher in Vietnam. We all know how that worked out, but as I come to the end of my time in Asia I think now is as good a time as any to reflect on what the whole experience has taught me.

1. Try to see running a gauntlet of hawkers as a practise in tolerance
Yes boss, Hello motorbike, Want massage? And breathe. It happens to everyone, so just pretend you don't speak English and stroll on by with your eyes focused on the horizon.

2. Fans make better hairdryers than air con
Air con is great for cooling a room, but fans are the best for your barnet!

3. Asia loves boy bands
Correction, boy bands and power ballads. Backstreet Boys were the favourite, but we also spent a few evenings being serenaded by The Carpenters, N*Sync and Whitney Houston! Bob Marley was also everywhere.

4. There is such a thing as too hot
Before leaving the UK I think I boasted a little about loving the heat, but the reality is its only good when coupled with a pool or cold cocktail. I now see that living, working, sleeping and travelling in such heat is not always so fun or tolerable.

Hot monkey in Bali cooling off

5. I should be open with Mark about my feelings, chances are he is feeling the same

I've lost count of the number of times we've walked down the street silently thinking the same thoughts before confessing them to one another. Be it 'I'm sick of hawkers' or 'I want an ice cream', I've learnt the sooner I open up, the quicker I'll know I'm not alone, and get an ice cream!

6. I miss my friends and family much more than I expected
I knew my pictures from paradise would generate a little envy, but I wasn't prepared to feel it myself when I was the one struggling being away from home. The first few weeks away were so difficult and it didn't help knowing everyone else was having a great time.

Can't wait to see my two BFFs in Milan

7. The comforts of a cozy bed and a movie cannot be underestimated
The nights are long here as the sun sets around 6pm everyday, and I'm not exactly a night owl! After all the evenings reading or researching it's sometimes lovely to cuddle up with a movie and Mark. It proves to me that home or away, this is my favourite past time.

8. Mr Bean is loved all over the world

Mugs in Vietnam, art in Indonesia, movies in Thailand. Mr Bean was as popular as a beer brand T-shirt, but I secretly loved having this slice of quirky British culture with me!

Mr Bean on the beach

9. Always carry your own toilet roll

Trains, bus stations and even some hotel toilets are often poorly maintained in Asia, I'm talking soaked floors, lack of flush and some truly terrible conditions. Make the experience a little better by knowing you have one essential in your pocket. Antibacterial gel is also comforting, as is a peg for your nose.

10. Sometimes it really is best to cut your losses and move on to better things
It was a big decisions of ours to cut the working bit out and go straight to travelling with a severely reduced budget and diminished enthusiasm, but it was definitely the best decision we could have made. In the future I think it will be easier to go with my gut and trust myself that I'll be OK even when one of my safety nets has disappeared.

11. I had a pretty good life at home
This has been the most important lesson so far. My friends, my family, the towns I call home; I had it pretty good there, and I can't wait to get it all back after spending what will surely be a memorable summer in Italy.

Bournemouth and Poole Bay, Dorset

Setting Sail

We've been planning this adventure right up to the last second, but now it's time to down tools and enjoy some precious time with our friends and family before finally leaving.

Its our last chance to see some people until we come back to the UK, which could be any number of months away depending on how we find the experience.

I can't begin to tell you how much I am going to miss everyone. I'm lucky enough to see most of my friends and family frequently enough to not often miss people, so I am wondering how I'm going to handle it.

I'm so used to the occasional text and regular Facebook message threads, in jokes and making plans for the weekend, meeting for a drink after work, or a cuppa.

Somehow I don't think the gravity of what we are doing is going to hit me until I'm sat on the plane with all my belongings around me and very little in terms of a plan.

Planning this move abroad has been a massive undertaking; stressful, expensive and time consuming. But now it's actually upon us! We've made it through and now all that's left is to pack up and board the plane.

I don't think I've even been anywhere with so little planned; most of what we have organised is for our work permit and our financial commitments in the UK.

Here is what I do know; we will land in Ho Chi Minh at 7am (midnight GMT) and start wondering until we can check into the hotel at 2pm. It's ok, I've found an amazing blog of the best cafe's in HCM so we'll be set!

Then we wait until our appointment with the British Consulate - hopefully on Monday.

After that its back into the unknown as we move into our new home.

But first some emotional goodbyes before I step out of my comfort zone, my reality, my country. Speak to you in Vietnam!

Y-O-U-R means 'your'!

We are one week into our TEFL course and have been working hard to re-learn the grammatical structures which govern the English language. These are rules we apply everyday without realising, but are very difficult to articulate, and differentiate. 

Someone commented that it must be simple to teach a language you already speak. Well, I can assure you that it is not as simple as it sounds. Can you remember the difference between the present simple and the present perfect tense?  Were we even taught that at school? I'm not so sure. I can only compare revising grammar to learning your own language again from scratch, just with a wider range of vocabulary!

This really hit me when it took me 3 attempts to pass an assignment on how to teach a class the use of 'going to' to show future plans. I passed eventually, but this showed me how difficult it is to learn the grammatical structures of a new language, let alone teach it. This will be a challenge, but I'm glad that my frustration with the task was based on not understanding the concept, and not over failing the task. If anything that proves the course and career change means more than a way out, I want to do it well!

I can't wait to get on with the rest of the course, and get some much needed revision done! 

Where's my highlighter!