從香港到英國再往意大利 | FROM HONG KONG TO ITALY VIA THE UK

Torino, Italy

都靈 － 意大利

After I moved from Hong Kong to the UK in 2022, I felt very lonely shortly. I didn't know a single person in the UK, neither did I have school or work, I started to spend my lonely evenings watching YouTube videos, particularly vlogs and videos that have people talking inside. I also did watch some videos about the TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) industry on YouTube as I was just certified to teach English. I then came across to this idea of "teaching abroad" where qualified native speakers of English go and teach English as a foreign or second language in non-English speaking countries. I watched so many videos that introduced about the benefits and cool life experience you get from teaching abroad that I was quite convinced and attracted. I wasted no time but starting to send out applications to English schools in Europe quickly. Honestly, I was not expecting to have any replies from anyone... First off, I was very inexperienced in teaching, second, I just arrived in the UK/ Europe hence not knowing too many "things" in general. Third, I was/am not a native English speaker.

我在2022年頭從香港搬到英國後，我很快便感到孤獨。因為我在英國沒有認識任何人，沒有任何朋友，亦沒有上學或找到工作。很快地，YouTube便成為了我英國的第一個朋友。我特別喜歡看有人說話／人聲的影片。我亦開始看有關TEFL（在非英語系國家教授英文）的影片，亦無意中認識了teaching abroad （英文為母語老師去非英語國家教英文）這個idea/行業。我很被這個idea吸引著，很快便開始向歐洲的語言學校發求職信。說實話，我沒有期望會有回音，因為我的教學經驗很有限，而且我才剛到達英國／歐洲，人生路不熟，再者我又不是個native speaker／以英文為母語。

Guess what, I got a response/ interview offer from multiple schools that I applied to... and one of them says "please note that you will have to travel to Italy for this teaching contract". Dang, I'm down!!! Replied to the email, sat in the Zoom interview the day after, got the offer on the same day, was sent to Italy 3 weeks after! I instantly forgot about the loneliness I was dealing with as I ventured out into this adventure.

意想不到的是，我很快便收到了幾個面試邀請的電郵，其中一封更說：「請注意：工作地點為意大利。」OMG，我想也不用想，答應會去Zoom面試。面試當天下午，我被聘請！三星期後，我出發前往意大利了！因為突然得著了新目標／新挑戰，那個剛到英國的孤獨感瞬間消失了。

On 28 June 2022, without knowing a single word in Italian and (almost) any prior knowledge of the country, I daringly flew to Sicily with two backpacks and a vibrant heart for the unknown. It was my first ever solo trip, business trip and visit to the mainland of Europe

2022年6月28日，在沒有認識任何意大利這國家和其語言的情況下，我帶著我兩個背包和一顆像小孩一樣想發掘未知的心，我展開了人生第一次的solo trip、business trip、歐洲trip！

I landed Sicily at a sunny, beautiful yet scorching hot noon. If you live in north of England like me, you know there is no such thing called "sunshine". After 6 months of living in the "pitch black", my skin and myself were catching breathe to adapt to the dazzling and blistering Mediterranean climate. I was still in my trousers and jacket but soon I found myself running around the bus terminal (I couldn't find my bus lol) and was drenched by my own sweat. "Where are you going?" a random guy waiting at one of the many bus stands asked me. "A town called Ragusa" I said. I was surprised that someone spoke English and articulated the "gauwin' " ("going") with a hint of Aussie twang... I genuinely appreciated his approach, because otherwise, I wouldn't have found and got on the right bus, and found out he was actually my colleague, personal translator and roommate-to-be for the following four weeks (let's call him D for now)!

我在一個陽光十分猛烈的中午降落西西里。如果你住在英格蘭的北部，你會知道那裡其實是沒有「陽光」。過去幾個月我都沒怎麼見過太陽，突然要受西西里這猛烈的太陽和高溫，我有點不習慣。我還來不及換掉我的長褲和外套，我就已經在機場的巴士總站跑來跑去找我的巴士，衣服都被汗水沾濕了。突然有人用英文問我：「Where are you going？」我說：「一個叫Ragusa的小鎮」我其實有點驚奇為什麼有人會以流利且帶澳洲口音的英文問我... 說多兩句，我發現他原來（將會）是我的同事、私人翻譯員和未來五星期的室友（叫他D好了）！

"HONG KONG" warehouse spotted on the way to the resort

往resort沿途印有「HONG KONG」字眼的工廠

It took me roughly 1.5 hour to get to the town centre of Ragusa where somebody from the school would picked me and my friend (my roommate) up at. Then we were transferred to a resort (I think it's actually a campsite instead) that sat in the middle of nowhere in Sicily where we were supposed to stay in and teach at for the coming four weeks. Upon our arrival in the campsite, I quickly noticed I was the only non-Italian speaking and East-Asian-looking person standing out like a sore thumb at the check-in area. The campsite receptionists, kids around, other member of staff of the school and other residents of the campsite only spoke Italian. I could feel that many people were looking at me and scanning through my belongings. As I walked down the hallway, I (we) gained more attention as we were speaking a foreign language and yes, I guess I probably was the only non-white person in this rural Italian resort. Though I've experienced something similar when I lived in Bangladesh, it just felt different this time round.

我們坐大概1.5小時的巴士到Ragusa的小鎮，然後公司有人出來載我們到我們未來四星期工作和生活且坐落在西西里島荒野的一個resort（其實我覺得它更像一個campsite）。當我們到達resort的大堂check in時，我很快便察覺我是唯一不懂意大利文和有東亞面孔的人。服務櫃檯的職員、周邊的小朋友、其他同事和resort住客全部都只會說意大利文。我感覺到很多人都在望著我，又看我的行李。當我走到走廊時，我和朋友（室友）都引人注目，因為只有我們在說外語，再者，我猜應該是在這個偏僻地區唯一的非白人（non-white person）。雖然我在孟加拉有過類似的經歷，但我就是覺得這次很不同。

My friend D on the left, C on the right.

我朋友D（左），C（右）

After leaving our bags and checking in our room, we met the other teacher (let's call her C for now). D and C kissed each other on the cheek (they'd never met before). One on the right cheek and the other on the left. I witnessed the entire intimate ritual... Do I have to kiss this stranger too? Thank god, she shook my hand instead, I guess she knew I wasn't Italian. We then sat at the resort bar to wait for C's check in. She was quite hospitable, she knew it's my first visit in Italy hence not knowing what a Spritz (famous Italian cocktail) was, she ordered one for me. We started talking about ourselves, I made known to them I'm from Hong Kong (defs not a British born Chinese). I (officially) found out D was Australian and had lived in China for fair bit while Italian C used to live in the UK and Germany before covid. My first impression on them was that they had very unique backgrounds. I haven't known many friends who's lived in more than 2 countries and are fluent in "some" foreign languages (self-taught). Though I speak three languages fluently, unlike them, I didn't self-taught them. My proficiency in Mandarin and English were from compulsory lessons back in school in Hong Kong (while Cantonese's my native language). I felt they're pretty cool people... Right, they also taught me the basics of Italian at the bar: grazie (thank you), buongiorno (good morning), buonanotte (goodnight) etc.

Check in了房間放低了行李之後，我和D回合了另外一名老師（叫她C吧）。他們是互不相識的，但在見面第一刻是卻親了對方臉的兩側！左一下，右一下... 我看著，怎麼辦我也要親她嗎？幸好，結果我們只握了手，她大概知道我不是意大利人。驚嚇過後，我們在resort的bar area坐下來聊天。C挺熱情，她見我第一次來義大利和不知道什麼是Spritz（意大利出名的cocktail）時，她給我就叫了一杯Spritz。在談話當中，他們才知道我是香港人（而不是BBC/ British Born Chinese)，我亦得知D是在中國住過幾年的義大利裔澳洲人，而C是住過英國和德國的意大利人。他們給我的第一印象很特別，因為我人生中沒有認識很多居住過兩個國家以上的人，他們亦算是我第一次認識懂流利外語（自學）的朋友。雖然我也會兩文三語，等於為我沒有「自學」他們，都是因為以前香港上學被逼以學會的英文和普通話／國語（然後廣東話是我母語）。我就覺得他們很cool... 他們亦教了我如何用意大利文說謝謝（grazie），早安（buongiorno），晚安（buonanotte）等等。

The courtyard and the 2-storey building in the middle

Courtyard和兩層的「教學大樓」

As we finished our last sip of our Spritz, we went on an inspection of our classrooms. On our way there, we saw many kids/teens flocking into the campsite, who were wearing some identical summer camp uniforms. Those kids were LOUD, we anticipated we'd have quite a number of troublesome students... When we reached the exit/entrance of the resort, there stood a courtyard-looking area and a 2-storey building in the middle. The exterior of the courtyard gave a hint of the Roman architectural vibe, a cross sit on the barrier and little Arabic domes covering the barrier vertices. I couldn't wait to explore the inside of that, but as we opened the door of the main building (where "classrooms" were supposed to be in), it was completely empty. I mean, literally, apart from the chairs, there's nothing. No whiteboard, no whiteboard markers, no paper, no pen, any kind of stationary, no PC, no speakers, no wifi, no nothing. I was still marvelling at the magnificence of the building 10 secs ago and now the "classrooms" just sank me to anxiety. We quickly texted the manager and asked him to send all materials and stationary necessary for tomorrow's lesson to the building.

之後我們去了視察明天將會教學的地方，在路上已經開始見到很多穿營衣的青年人（應該是我們的學生）check in，我們遠距觀並且在估計哪個是好學生，哪個是那些又嘈又麻煩的壞學生。幾分鐘後，我們到了。教學地點是一個在resort入口附近的小courtyard（中文不知怎樣翻過來）和courtyard內的一個小建築物。外面看起來很特別，既有一陣古羅馬的建築風味，又有一個十字架在邊牆上，但又有一些像清真寺般的圓頂蓋着那些小鐘樓；我超期待走進去再看。誰知，一開門，發覺裡面是什麼都沒有的。我指的是，除了有椅子之外，是沒有任何東西。沒有白板、白板筆、紙、文具、桌子、電腦、喇叭、wifi什麼也沒有。我那個想欣賞建築物的心情突然消失，我們趕快給上司發訊息，叫他把現有的教學用具帶到那裡。

He responded after a few hours saying he didn't quite understand what's going on too, hence unable to provide those resources. We weren't satisfied by that response but just wait and see his next text... "the textbooks and stationaries are still in the head office in Naples unshipped". He must be joking... In Napoli?!?! There wasn't much we could do but to miserably ask the resort reception to lend us a few pens and some scrap paper as the resort literally no transport connection to the outside world/ the nearest shops to get pens. I was so stressed because I could never teach a lesson unprepared. I was also a fairly inexperienced teacher and haven't taught in Europe or taught Italians... I couldn't imagine how we're going to survive the first day of teaching tomorrow (we had a total of 70 students btw).

幾小時之後，他回覆說他不太知情，亦無法立刻「變」出白版和書本來，說教學用品和教科書原來還在拿玻里的head office裡還沒寄出！由於這個resort座落在西西里島很偏僻的地方，附近都沒有文具鋪，resort亦沒有交通工具可以搭到附近的小鎮，我和C和D只好問resort的reception借幾支筆和廢紙，準備我們明天長達六小時的教學... 作為一個教學經驗很少，沒有在歐洲工作過，沒有跟意大利學生接觸過的人，我很憂慮，因為我（我們）實在是很unprepared。我不能想像明天我們三人如何在沒有教學用具和教科書的情況下去應付那70個學生...

Balcony view of our room (left: daytime, right: sunset)

我們房間陽台對出景色（左：中午，右：日落時分）

While I was still trying to find my feet around this quandary, C said she's starving so we went to the canteen. We thought we had to pay, somehow the reception said our company's actually paid for our meals (it's buffet but of course not fancy) for the coming month! My sorrows were instantly gone, we sprinted into the dinning area and feasted on our first meal together!

正當我在憂慮著，C說她肚餓，我們便去了飯堂吃飯。我們以為我們需要付錢，誰知reception告訴我們我們的公司已經付了錢，接下來四星期每天的三餐都是免費的自助餐（當然是campsite的質素啦）！我的苦惱瞬間消失，歡歡喜喜地跟兩位新認識的朋友進到飯堂，享受我們在這「自生自滅」的campsite的第一餐！

That day felt like ages; got up at four freezing cold in England packed my luggages, reached the very crowded (1st week of summer) MCR airport at six, landed in burning hot Sicily at ten then met D in the chaos at the bus port, checked in the resort at 2 and interesting/weird things started to kick in... Actually, it's just the first day of my summer journey/travel, it was just 14 hours into my four-week stay in the resort, it already felt like a week or something. Swear down it's been a very long while since I last had this feeling.

我覺得今天很長；早上四點起來執拾行李很冷，六點到機場（超多人因為是暑假的第一個星期），十點降落超熱然後找不到巴士再碰上了D，兩點到了resort之後開始有很多有趣的事情發生／進入了一個沒有人會英文的地方... 其實，這只不過是我旅程第一天而已，離當天早上在英國起床還不夠十六個小時，好像已經過了幾天，好久沒有試過有這個感覺了！

First time at the Mediterranean Sea

人生第一次在地中海