Diario di Jan

Lovely old town. Quite quiet when we arrived. Lovely quaint old flat. Going to enjoy living there. Went round to office so tidy and organised. Streets started to liven up around 5pm when we went for ice cream and to get  water from fountain in Square near to the cathedral.  Home to get ready to eat out at 9pm. Earliest time to eat. Children and all families out. Good pizza different from England with lots of starters. Old town still noisy when we came back at 11.30pm.

11th July. Up at normal time sitting out on balcony slowly getting warmer and warmer. Went for a walk before it  got too hot. Beautiful flowers in cathedral fora wedding which we saw later on walk about. meeting at office at 11am and then to Market to buy fruit and vegetables which are very cheap. Quick Trip to supermarket before it closes as 1pm and last stop bread which is famous in Altamura. Dinner of Salad and bread with fruit smoothies for pudding. Sleep before going into office at 5 pm to meet more people before going to cheap supermarket. The boys helped carry our shopping back. Unable to buy cheap sim card as no ID. Home for risotto with courgettes with more wine and beer. Puts washing machine on as it is cheaper after 7. Read for a little before going off to sleep. Managed to use Skype

12th July. Sunrises at 5am. Went back to sleep as not needed in office till 10. Breakfast of muesli and smoothies with tea. Ch eked emails at office before going out to see do keys and horses where the children are being looked after. Horses and donkeys in very good condition and the children loved them  them saw lots of farm machinery and one of the horses was being shod. Came back into ton for a coffee before going home to. Have another salad. In office at 5 pm for Italian lesson  fresh pasta and tomato sauce with caramelised peaches.. Off for a walk round old Altamura. Wonderful  to see everyone walking round young old children families etc.  Went to get an ice-cream  which is the common thing to do at night . Very different culture from home where the children would be in bed from 7 as no siesta in the afternoon. Today I went past the flat and an old couple realised I was lost pointed me back to our flat. Lovely to have people looking out for you. No gardens but people sit outside and talk. Realise this is not a tourist destination and other than the others at Link think we may be the only other foreigners in town.
Altamura is a very old town but does not exploit it’s tourism potential.

13 th july. Whilst patti and jennifer went out to the fsrm steve and i stayed in office to plan work for englis lessons next week. A timetable had been done and it seemed well organised. Looked on intrrnet for songs to teach childrn englis and also ice breaker games. I shopped at markt before it closed and then made lunch. Quick rest before steve and i went oyt to farm to help disabled children ride on donkeys. Lovely cool eveing. They grow oats on the farm fir the horses.  Back to Altamura to office to check email and then back to flat for dinner before having a walk to buy an ice cream. Read in bed before sleep

14th july up early to get out to farm to join in with activities for plsy camp. Took donkey out into pine forest to collect pine cones. Also a treasure hunt in forest as it was cool then back to camp and shade in trees to make a clay model using collage material from forest. had shower in toilets so could go straight to station for train to Bari with Ponyja. Had italian lesson in Bari followed by ice cream. Train back to Altamura was very busy and we were lucky to get a seat. Walked back to house and i stopped to check emails which i can do  by sitting on steps outside office. Ate before walking round Altamura for ice cream.

15th july. Weekend will soon be with us. Market early morning for vegetables before going into office with dteve to prepare englush lessons.  Patti and jennifer out to fsrm. Steve and i work on english programme before going to find supermarket. People are so helpful thry come out of shops to show us the way. Not sure whether you would get that treatment back home. Patti and i went into office to meet Ponja to do radio interview whilst jennifer and steve went to the farm. We were asked about our expectations of the project, differences in culture and tnhen were invited to party. Took bottle of wine. Got home about midnight

16 th july. Got up early to find clothes market sleep before going off to Matera. Beautiful old town built into the cliffs. Houses are of caves and. It was where mel gibson filmed the passion film.  Went into a typical cave where they actually lived with the animals. Very interesting. Got hassled bun a guy,de wanting to show us round.,dark when we came back so couldn’t see anything. On the way we could see all the wheat fields and also quarries where they were quarrying for stone. The weather is lovely. Not too hot although it is raining back home.  Very tired. I think it is because everything is new and my brain is having to work harder.  Want to go back to Matera. Didn’t get to see the cathedral as there was a wedding on.

18th out to farm with Pattinwhere met annemarue who is just back from Lithuania where she had been  studying puppets. Put this experience to good use by making puppets at the farm  children were less in numbers   Good photos of puppet show. English planning in the afternoon. Difficult as don’t know the experience of the children. Lots of songs and games arranged

19th picked up by Sante to go to English lessons in quite a new school. Close enough to walk started  off by throwing a ball and introducing ourselves. Then threw ball to person whose names we remembered. Childen were very polite and well behaved. Although their ages ranged from 10 to 16 they all played well together and participated in all the activities. Ranged from inside and outside games. Realised that their English was better than we thought and our lesson planning would have to be advanced. They enjoyed singing Heads and Shoulders Knees and Toes and also laying hangman. Before they went home we had 15 minutes of English conversation and it was amazing what they coyld tell us. Afternoon spent advanced englush planning Italian lesson and then went to tea shop to talk to other in English. Patti and I left about supermarket to supermarket to get wine. The heat is making me feel tired. We are certainly not working too hard but I suppose everything is new and we have got to get used to sharing not only our home but bedroom with someone else. Jennifer is leaving Thursday afternoon till Monday so I will get a room to myself

20th July patti and I to farm whereas Jennifer and Steve to English lessons which we hopefully prepared day before. Role play on restaurant and the theme was colours and fruit and food. Also games again. At the farm We did musicvtherapy. I was surprised the childen accepted which musical instruments they were given without arguing. Then played bull and matador game and I tookna video. Afterwards the childen took it in turns having a go on the horse. The horse was over 16 hands but very docile

21st July  collected eggs with children before going into see the old museum here. After a few games went into make a necklace with things we had found outside as well as cut straws. This activity worked well. Cooler today . English planning in afternoon before to day care centre for older people where we learned to dance Italian style. All the people wanted their photos being taken.  Off to have something to eat in a very local Italian restaurant

22nd patti steve and I to English classes no one went to the farm. Harder today as Friday and the children ere livelier. Was going to Radio show but it was cancelled so taken to first pop concert ever. It was a bit heavy metal but good to see the whole family there

23rd got up late as late back from concert and as the weather was cooler went out for a walk in the afternoon. Very quiet. In the evening Patti Steve and I went for a drink very Italian feeling sitting in the cafe. Tried some Italian drinks

24th quiet Sunday. Not as warm so Patti and I went for a walk. Ice reams shops open for trade

25th July English planning lessons in the morning. Much easier when it is early in the morning. Brain still awake and not so many people in the office. Going at 5 pm to watch the women make pasta by hand at the day care centre. Didn’t weigh anything just 2 types of flour and warm water then long thin rolling pin we were all given a chance to shape the pasta but it is much harder than you think. Jennifer home late in the evening. Sante went to pick her up from the train statio

26th July. Patti and I doing English classes. The childen are following a dialogue and then having to write answers on paper. Also getting the children to tell us what they did over the weekend which helped us build up a picture of their Italian lives..we enjoyed telling them about the pop concert and we had even seen some of the children there from the English classes. Very tiring in the heat working and couldn’t sleep inq