Clearly I was too optimistic in reading the EFL scene in Rome. Thankfully it was a beautiful sunny day for once, or else my foolish wandering around the streets of Piramida searching for this school could have been a much sadder experience. I gave myself 30 minutes spare to find the place which was 5 minutes from the station. After a detour which I admit was entirely my fault I was finally on the right path and two minutes from my destination when I decided to check the direction with the school. Big mistake.

They assured me I was walking the wrong way and should head right back to where I started, while the bar lady who had previously helped me kept coming out of her shop and vigorously pointing in the opposite direction, frustrated by my obtuseness. Eventually, half an hour later, they despatched a lackey to hunt me out in the street. Not the most auspicious beginning and all for a job that I knew didn't exist. All I got really was a pep talk on how it's wisest to come to Rome in August/ September..

On the plus side I've started the advanced class- chiefly cause the intermediate is always overflowing and though I was lucky enough to find seating space on a radiator, it was still painful compared to the luxury of an advanced class Chair.

Me and Jumi khala were totally fine anyhow- totally at home with the snappy pace and sharper wits present. 'Advanced' is a very relative demarcation- referring to confidence more than actual substantive knowledge. Perfect for an impatient student like myself.

I'm afraid I'm a bad influence already- I was surreptitiously giving a knitting lesson to the guy behind me. He seemed confident when he asked if he could continue my Saturday-in-the-Park jumper- but his skills were sadly unequal to the task and I was not in knitting missionary mode. I gave him undue credit for speaking in Italian when he could have just used Bangla- undue because he didn't realise I was bengali, even though I was translating half the lesson, probably incorrectly, to the guy next to me.

The teacher Mario was a volatile character, with a fun but slightly terrifying Jekyll and Hyde personality- his laughter quickly turned to booming outrage when the aunt didn't remember the meaning of thief. There was lots of role-playing cops-and-robbers stuff which was a little out of my league but much more fun than the passive nature of the other class. We had to describe people, eg the thief, and the aunt sketched the most alarming portrait of a tall bald man with a moustache and monobrow, upturned nose and almond shaped eyes. She just enjoys the funny words and keeps saying sopracciglia folte and nas all-insu around the house(monobrow and upturned nose respectively)Not so long ago she was continually rolling 'cherrymerry' over her tongue like it was a delicious aniseed ball..