Full Circle……la mia vita a Napoli.

Here it is! The long awaited Italy blog of David Carmosino! I have created this for a number of reasons; 1. I have many experiences here in Italy and I’d like to document them 2. Instead of writing long emails to 20 different people, you can all just read it here. 3. Why not??! 4. for whoever else wants to read this. The title Full Circle is in reference to my great-grandparents who left this country in 1915 and I who came to live in September 2009. This is in essence a full circle as we (my family via me), have come back to Italy 96 years later.
Since I don’t like to do a ton of reading, I will try to keep these short enough and to leave out unimportant details. This first one might be somewhat long as it is the intro.

COME SONO ARRIVATO IN ITALIA

The first thing I want to address is how I arrived here in Italy, in Naples of all places. I am not sure where to begin, but perhaps the most relevant place is Jan 21st 2009. This was the date I was let go from my previous job, which was working in a call center for Mass Mutual answering questions about life insurance and taking calls 8 hours a day. By far the most stressful job I ever had and probably the one type of job I should never have done, that is a financial/corporate job. But the pay and benefits were great. It wasn’t to be however and I was given the ax. That day I even told HR in their face that I was in the wrong profession and that I belong in something Italian if not Italy. “This today is opening the red white and green door” I told them! As a result I was unemployed for the bulk of 2009 from Jan to Sept. In Feb/March I decided to take a TEFL course in Boston (teaching English as a foreign language) which is required to teach English in many schools across the world.

BOSTON LANGUAGE INSTITUTE

So the course lasted 2.5 months and it was somewhat grueling but def worth it. From May till late Aug I dedicated myself night and day to applying for different schools mainly in Italy but also entertained the idea of teaching in Spain, Mexico, Brazil and other parts of Europe. I didn’t care where I taught, as long as it got me out of my house, but Italy was the preferred choice as it would have been the easiest of transitions. But it was a frustrating process as it is hard to be hired from overseas and the summer months are not the best time to be hired. I must have applied to over 70 schools. I thought I had a few genuine offers from a few schools in Italy and some in Spain, but the trail went cold with all of them except one, which is the current one that I am working in, Inlingua Napoli.

VENIRE O NO?

It was strange to tell people that I am probably leaving for Italy in September, but not really knowing 100% myself when and where I was going. I was determined to leave anyway as this has been a goal of mine since 2001. I applied to Inlingua in Early Aug and I got a response back later in the month when the summer holidays were over. After a phone interview, submitting a language proficiency test and positive remarks from my then supervisor at the Berlitz Language School, I was hired! Ecstatic is putting it lightly how I felt! My patience had paid off and I had a job in Italy.

INLINGUA NAPOLI

I wasn’t expecting to work in Naples and it certainly wasn’t my first choice in Italian cities, but I couldn’t say no and I’m glad I didn’t as I never heard from the other schools again. I had some reservations both about Napoli and the school. If you google in my school it has some bad reviews. I decided though that they were submitted by disgruntled teachers who couldn’t handle Italy or the Italians. So I decided to to just come and experience the city and the school for myself. Napoli I already knew was a chaotic city, but I felt better after talking to Robyn my then Director of Studies (DOS) who assured me that the city gets a bad rap and there are parts that are quite nice. Having been here since Sept 13th, I found out that she was right. Napoli is chaotic, disorganized, dirty, trashy but also exciting, interesting and a place you could become attached to. To sum it up, it has real character. It’s also been assuring to meet other teachers who have been with Inlingua for over a year. They must like something about the school, Napoli and Italy.

I MIEI STUDENTI

Overall I like the students that I teach. They are positive, involved in the lesson, more or less eager to learn and we have a good relationship. I’ve had a very few problems with my students/. I mostly teach adults and they anywhere from 20-60, most have their lessons paid for by their jobs who send them to our school to improve their English. So far I don’t have a ton of lessons and the most I do is three lessons a day. I was hired as freelance teacher and thus I am guaranteed a min 80 hours a month worth of pay whether I work those 80 hours or not. Anything over 80 they pay us accordingly. As I have always said, I didn’t come here to get rich and I have to watch my money every month, but luckily Napoli is one of the more cheaper cities in Italy which is a big saving. For example I can get a generous sized pizza for 2.50euros. I just got a raise so my paycheck should be a bit more next month.

QUALCOSA NON VA?

Some of my co-workers don’t care for the school and I’ll admit it has its problems, but what job doesn’t? I’m not gonna list all their complaints, but I have none really. I am happy to have a job considering how I spent most of 2009 and most importantly to be in Italy. One of the biggest complaints is the pay. It is true that it is somewhat tough to live on what they pay us (at the start that is), but not impossible. If you wanna buy designer clothes, go out every night and spend a fortune then you’ll be broke in 2 weeks. It is true that the pay is generally more up North, but you also need to consider that the cost of living is higher especially in Firenze and Milano. But I am not a complainer and so far everything here is do-able. I have patience that things will work out and we’ll see how things pan out in the next couple of months. My contract ends in July, but already I am thinking of next year and I want to see if they will extend my contract to 2011. I want to stay here in Italy for a while, but I don’t want to be poor forever.

CLANDESTINO NO!

My quest to make active steps to live here actually started back in 2005. Per the advice of a professor at my college, I found out that I might be eligible to acquire dual citizenship via my paternal great-grandfather. According to Italian law, this is something that you are born with but you need to prove your lineage. You basically inherit this providing you can prove that whoever you intend to acquire it from, had never renounced being an Italian citizen. This is done by becoming a citizen of another country. Fortunately, we knew that my father’s grandfather never did this and I had a hunch that I had a green light to Italian citizenship. I started this whole ordeal ironically in Napoli in 2005 arriving from NY and staying at a hotel which is right down the street from where I work now. I had to go to Torre Del Greco, my ggf’s town which is right next to the famous towns of Pompei and Herculaneum 10 mins south of Napoli. From there I needed birth and marriage documents as the consulates in America, who ultimately acknowledge you as a dual citizen, require these documents. I never thought I’d come back to this town again, much less for a job, especially after my adventure down here 5 years ago! (It has to be destiny that I ended up getting a job in my ancestral home!)

From there I needed alike documents in America which were harder to obtain ironically because they weren’t free like in Italy. I needed: birth, marriage, divorce and death documents from my ggf, grandfather, father and myself (obviously where applicable). Once I had those in order I needed to present them to the NY Italian consulate which took a few visits to make sure everything was in order. Once it was I was sent a letter saying I could apply for a passport. One of the happiest days of my life was getting that Italian passport in the mail!

I wanted it for a few reasons. 1. Because I am fiercely proud of my heritage 2. Why not? And 3. It allows me to live and work in Italy as long as I want with the same rights as any normal Italian citizen. I am told the process to obtain a Visa or to get a permesso di soggiorno is somewhat difficult, in particular the Visa. In fact my school would not have hired me if I didn’t have a legal way to stay here. Schools here in Italy for some reason are unable to help you get a work Visa. So I am fortunate to have a bisnonno, who never became an American citizen which thus enables me to live here in Italy as an Italian citizen and avoid a lot of legal hassle.

DOVE ABITO

Where I live……….Despite all the negative press about this town, I live in a fairly decent section. I live in the Arenella (Via Suarez, Piazzetta Immacolata) section of Napoli which is right on the border with Vomero, one of the more wealthier sections. I work in Centro Direzionale which is the business district of Napoli although sometimes I travel to companies to teach. I live in an apt with 5 bedrooms, one bathroom, a kitchen a balcony, with 2 other teachers and two Spanish students.

Luca and Alfonso are the other two teachers who work at the same school as me. Luca is from London and Alfonso is from Perth, Australia. All three of us are of Italian background. Isabella and Miguel are Erasmus Spanish students. More or less things are ok here. Some are a bit sloppier than others but more or less we all get along. I am told some of the other teachers don’t have such great living arrangements! The apt is just ok, it is seems made for students and it sucks not having a living room or a TV for that matter. But I don’t complain too much.