What Will I Do When I Get There?

Roman got a pretty decent bit of exercise today – myself, Nathan and Rich took him out on the field by us and played football for about half an hour or so. Roman is the most committed footballer I have ever seen – he’s kind of like a cross between Roy Keane and Dirk Kuyt in that he will happily take your legs off for the ball and will never stop running!

It’s been a while since we played football on the field with him so he was pretty knackered afterwards. It’s funny how much more tired he gets chasing the football around compared with just running around a field for half an hour. I think it must be the mental exercise he is getting as well as the physical exercise but football definitely has more of an effect on him.

His paw seems to be a lot better now too. It’s pretty much back to normal now and I think the rest has done him the world of good, physically anyway. I will resist the temptation to go out road walking until I have the boots for him – this close to the leaving date I don’t want to risk a setback due to impatience. I was hoping that I may be able to get a company to donate some but my search has been fruitless. A friend offered to buy them instead when she heard so I will be taking her up on her (very kind) offer.

Hopefully, if the boots are ordered this weekend, we may have them early next week so the walking can recommence. I will build him up again gradually but will start off with two walks of five miles per day. He is definitely fit enough to cope with that – I used to walk him 10 miles every night with no issues whatsoever so this will be a breeze for him. After a couple of days I will add the third walk back in and about a week after that I will go up to the four so that we are regularly walking the 20 miles a day we will need to walk when we are on our way.

Things are really starting to seem real now. I am now counting down the days until we leave. I will admit that I am now beginning to feel pretty nervous about the whole thing – not from the point of view of actually doing the walk and everything that goes with it but more so how I will set about integrating into Roman society. I am sure that things are going to be very difficult for me over there for at least 6 months and am mentally preparing myself for the challenges I may meet.

I have been thinking a lot about the kind of work I may be able to get over there. There is a chance that I may be able to get involved with teaching English as a native speaker – I wouldn’t get fantastic pay as I have no qualifications but the fact that I am a native speaker means I could get in with some establishments. Another option I have been thinking about is trying to contact English speaking tour operators. Again, I have no formal qualifications but I am an intelligent lad with a passion for Roman antiquity so if there is even an outside chance then it is something I would like to explore.

Those two options are pretty much ideal circumstances for me at the moment – I know I am very skilled in what I have done in the past but I don’t think I would be ready when I got there to do that sort of thing as I am sure that I would need to be fluent in Italian. I will keep my eye out for jobs with English speaking companies but I am not getting my hopes up of falling lucky with something like that. I have also been mulling over the possibility that I may find it difficult to find work.

Personally, I am prepared to do pretty much anything to get a foothold over there. I know I am intelligent and have a lot to offer but the primary concern I have right now is how to establish myself in the country and get settled. I can be more ambitious once I am settled but, for the duration of my short term future in Rome, I can’t afford to be proud. I need to find work as soon as possible after my arrival so that I can afford to pay the bills. I hope that my willing to do anything attitude will stand me in good stead there.

I almost forgot to mention - Royal Canin called me up today and said they were prepared to pledge 2 large bags of dog food for Roman to get us on our way. This is fantastic news for us as this will probably last the best part of a month, I just need to find a suitable way of transporting 24kg of dog food around as well as all the equipment!