Planning a weekend off

Buondì.

I’ve got a lot on my plate at the moment, besides teaching Italian kids and adults and, between classes, sitting grumpily at the reception desk of our Italian language school.

As mentioned previously, we’ve been reorganising the various things we do so that each is snug in its own dedicated legal entity, as shown in the footer of these emails:

OnlineItalianClub.com | EasyItalianNews.com | EasyReaders.org (ebooks) | NativeSpeakerTeachers.com (1-1 lessons)

That’s been a lot of work! And has meant hours wasted on lawyers, accountants and bookkeepers, banks and their odious compliance teams (anti-money laundering), setting up a new online shop, payment processors and THEIR odious compliance teams, and so on, and so forth.

The result? One enormous ‘t0 do’ list became four enormous ‘to do’ lists, given that each entity/business now has it’s own jobs to get done.

Beh, at some point, like a python that’s swallowed a plump piglet, it’ll all be done, and then I’ll be able to chill. Or, more likely, take on some equally stressful and time-consuming project…

For the moment, though, I’m planning a weekend off!

All the jobs allocated to Saturday and Sunday have been shifted to today, with a note to self to reschedule any of them that can wait until a future moment (I’ve been using that technique a lot recently…)

All that remains for Saturday is 1.) make pizza dough – for Sunday evening’s pizzas, which are better if you make the dough a day or two in advance – and 2.) spring clean the big mailing lists, as explained in Wednesday’s article – club members who have been with us for at least six months, but HAVEN’T OPENED ANY EMAILED ARTICLES, will be assumed to be uninterested, and so deleted.

Given that I’ve publicly said I’m going to do this on Saturday, and that it shouldn’t take that much longer than putting flour, water, yeast and salt in the bread machine, I’m not going to reschedule it.

Also because we have the Free Trial Lesson Offer next week, and the new Italian Diaspora ebook, so it’s going to be busy.

N.b. no need to panic! If you’re reading this, likely you’ll still be a club member come Monday. And if not, you can always join again, right?

But back to planning for the weekend off. How will I fill those two, almost empty days???

Well, there’s lunch on Saturday, dinner on Saturday, lunch on Sunday (probably carbonara), the pizzas on Sunday evening – including one for the ladies of the exercise class that takes place in the parking lot outside my house. Then there’s washing the dishes for all four meals, supermarket visits (I tend to do three different ones from Friday to Sunday, so as not to miss any bargains, and so as to stock up for the coming week) and, not to forget, the daily minimum exercise recommended by every cardiologist I’ve seen over the years – a thirty-minute walk, no hills, mind!

It’s looking like I’m going to be pretty busy, even without the work. And I also have to do lots of LISTENING and READING.

The listening will be the daily news headlines in Swedish (about 20-25 minutes), a similar period of France.info (rolling news radio station), ideally some Spanish, and given that it’s the weekend, Turkish too, so pop music, phone-ins, political debate or football commentary, depending on my mood.

The reading, in theory, should be my neglected subscriptions to El Pais and Le Monde, plus SVT.se, rainews.it (the only Italian these days), and if there’s time after all that, last week’s Economist, which cost me four or five euros and hasn’t yet been looked at (OMG! There’s a new one out today.)

The trick, I’ve found, is to combine things, so the obligatory daily walk and the Swedish/French listening will typically happen together, the walk ending at the supermarket, so getting that done too.

Meal preparation and washing the dishes are opportunities for Spanish and Turkish radio. Making pizzas with a domestic oven takes ages, as you need to keep the heat at maximum, which means only cooking one at a time. See? That’s ninety minutes of Turkish listening practice right there!

The reading is more of a problem, as it means looking at a screen rather than being busy doing something else. Hence another trick – read INSTEAD OF some other, less useful and satisfying activity, such as watching Netflix series with the missus. Or I could watch The Good Doctor with her on Friday and Sunday, but read El Pais and Le Monde on Saturday. That’d work.

Instead of reading in English, I try to read in the languages I’m learning. You could do the same – if there’s not time for both, do the one that will open doors, rather than the easy option you’ve already mastered (and probably enjoy more… But no pain, no gain!)

That’s the plan, anyway: as well as, when I can, instead of, if I can’t, that way it should be possible to squeeze an hour or two of language-learning activities into each day.

While still keeping my heart ticking, and putting meals on the table at expected times.

A lunedì.

P.S.

And a final reminder about this week’s half-price eBoook of the Week, Il giocoliere.

Until Sunday night, it costs just £3.99, but from Monday it’ll be back to the usual £7.99…

A student has her purse stolen on a crowded bus in Bologna. It contains little of value, except a photograph which is precious to her…

• .pdf e-book (+ audio available free online)
• .mobi (Kindle-compatible) and .epub (other ebook readers) available on request at no extra charge – just add a note to the order form or email us
• 8 chapters to read and listen to
• Comprehension questions to check your understanding
• Italian/English glossary of ‘difficult’ terms for the level
• Suitable for students at any level
• Download your Free Sample Chapter (.pdf)

Buy Il giocoliere , just £3.99! | Free Sample Chapter (.pdf) | Catalog

Buy Il giocoliere PARALLEL TEXT, just £3.99! | Free Sample Chapter (.pdf) | Catalog

How do I access my ebook?

When your order is ‘completed’ (immediately after payment, normally), a download link will be automatically emailed to you. It’s valid for 7 days and 3 download attempts so please save a copy of the .pdf ebook in a safe place. Other versions of the ebook (.mobi/Kindle-compatible, .epub) cannot be downloaded but will be emailed to people who request them.

P.P.S.

And of course you should try to find ten minutes to listen to and read Thursday’s bulletin of ‘easy’ Italian news, which is FREE!

+++

OnlineItalianClub.com | EasyItalianNews.com | EasyReaders.org (ebooks) | NativeSpeakerTeachers.com (1-1 lessons)