Adventures: July 2022 in Italy – Week 1

Wow. 2022 has been a wild ride so far, particularly the last 6 weeks or so.

I sat in my PJs, Covid positive, over Easter, trawling through ‘Holiday Nanny’ jobs. I sent off my CV to a vast array of families and agencies, hoping that I would find an illustrious position as a nanny on someone’s yacht or beachhouse somewhere in the Mediterranean, only half believing this would come to pass.

Massive action pays off.

I write to you from my room in a holiday rental home on the Tuscan coast, near a seaside town called Castiglione della Pescaia. This is one of 160 homes in a carefully manicured resort, each varying in size and awesomeness, but most having their own gym, pool, and private cabana on the beach, a 10 minute walk away.

I am looking after a young man, aged 7, who will be known as 007 for the purposes of this blog. He is currently at his sailing lessons, and on his way back for his lunch and siesta. I will start work with him today at about 3pm. Then he’ll head off to a tennis lesson about 6pm. Tough gig right?

I wanted to tell you about my first week in Italy so far, while it’s ‘hot off the presses’ so to speak, because I find it’s very easy to do the photo dump on FB, and then neglect to actually tell the story that goes with it.

Day 1 – Tuesday July 5

I arrive in Pisa, and am met by the family’s driver – eventually. (He was looking for me in departures.) We make an urgent pit stop in Decathlon to procure a football goal and a tennis racquet, and then drive the 2 hours south to the coast.

I am shown my room, and unpack, then come and meet 007. He’s an only child, and has had nannies and carers his whole life. He seems like a sweet kid. We play in the pool for a bit, then it’s time to head to the beach for a swimming lesson.

I accompany the family down to the beach, and listen as they talk to some other parents in Italian. I indulge in a swim myself, given that I don’t want them to feel like they have to include me in the conversation, either forcing them to all speak English or translate just for me.

After the swimming lessons are over, a guy comes out of the sea with an octopus on a trident, looking like a regular Poseidon. He lets the kids (007 and two other kids he does lessons with) touch the tentacles, then proceeds to bash the octopus on the rock, extract the beak and give it to the kids. The adults chuckle, and say ‘Welcome to Wild Roccamare.’

I continue to awkwardly listen to their conversations in Italian, and soon the mum says to me ‘You don’t have to stay, you’re probably tired after your travels, you can go back if you like.’ They clearly want to hang out with their friends, and I am tired, so I depart.

I come back, shower, and chill out for a bit. At about 9pm, the mum comes to me and says there’s been a terrible accident, and they are all very shaken, so they’d prefer to just dine as a family tonight. (007 fell off his bike and scraped his elbow – but he could have *died*!) The housekeeper will give me some food in the kitchen.

The housekeeper, Ms S, makes me some food, separate to what the family is eating, and serves me like a queen at the kitchen table.

This pretty much sets the precedent for how the rest of the week goes.

I try to do teach-Englishy things, assuming that this is what fancy people who hire an English-speaking teacher would want, but this is seen as too schooly, so by Friday we’re just playing. And my time with him is down to 3 hours a day. Family time is important, and they need their privacy.

Cool… so why am I here?

No matter, happy to stay in your fancy home, use your pool, eat your food, drink your wine and amuse myself. When the sailing lessons finish, I’m assured this will change, but in the mean time, I take myself to the beach a lot, swim, hang out at the pool, write, read, and study for interviews at various Irish schools next academic year.

The first thing that you notice about this place is the rawness of nature here. The houses are built into the land, and the whole place is surrounded by Pineta, (pine forests), thrumming with cicadas, butterflies, dragonflies, and bugs of every flavour. Thursday, a frog visits us in the pool. Friday, I go for an epic swim out to a buoy in the bay, see a jellyfish from thankfully quite a distance away, and a snake when I’m cycling back.

Friday morning, Mrs T (Mum) suggests that over the weekend, I could do a day trip on Saturday, and tells me that Grosseto is fine, but eh, and the nearby islands in the bay are ok, but I should go to Florence – it’s only an hour and a half away!

They go out to a restaurant on Friday night, and so I don’t see them to talk further about this arrangement. Ms S and I enjoy the excuse for a night out ourselves – having an apertivo at a local bar by the seafront, and finishing with gelato.

Early the next morning, I set out for Florence – but I think that needs its own post…