Now
Updated: (What is a “now page”?)
In this period, I am:
Assessing educational projects
Technically, the actual job title would be Junior Expert on Quality Assessment.
In a nutshell: I rank Erasmus+ grant applications and provide written feedback to the applicants, in collaboration with the Italian Youth Agency.
As the job title implies, I am still quite new at it. But I have 15+ years of experience with the program both as a participant and a coordinator, which helps.
Teaching stuff in person
I teach IT & Communication in training courses mostly aimed at people who are currently not working and/or want to build skills to become more employable.
(I’m not sure how these courses are called in English, maybe vocational training courses? Or something along these lines, I guess.)
I also started giving private guitar lessons again, and that’s a lot of fun!
Teaching Italian without teaching Italian
I help people practice my beautiful native language through one-to-one conversations, active listening, and sometimes bad jokes.
Kinda like the TEDx Teaching English without Teaching English, but with Italian.
Another difference is that Roberto Guzman is a full professor at the University of Puerto Rico at Aguadilla Campus, while I am but a humble galactic hitchhiker.
If you want to learn or improve your Italian, feel free to reach out. I’m afraid you can’t opt out from bad jokes, though.
Freelancing as a Simplicity Web Coach
When I started out, I thought that a made-up job title could be a way to stand out. So I have appointed myself as a Simplicity Web Coach, because my goal was (and is) to simplify people’s web sites through coaching and consultancy.
Now it feels a bit too salesy, and mostly unnatural. I want to drop it for a simpler and clearer Web Communication Advisor (and I would also like to redesign the website, but admittedly that’s not much of a priority right now).
To be fair, I’ve been putting this job on hold lately. I mean: when you are a freelancer, you freelance 24/7. But I’m not actively looking for projects or customers (and that’s also why I don’t feel the pressure to update my website).
But hey – if you’re curious, you can still visit my business website.
(Oh, and by the way: even if you’re not a techie, you can still make a simple blog like this one (or even simpler).
But if you’ll take my advice: no DIY for your business. Not having a website is better than having one that screams unprofessional. Forewarned is forearmed!)
Coming up with new ideas for this blog
To be fair, a little revolution is long due.
I hope I’ll find some time to work on that by mid or late summer.
A day may come when I actually do it… but it is not this day! ⚔️
Selling stuff and decluttering
Over the last couple of years, I’ve been selling or even giving away for free a lot of things I no longer need.
A lot more just need to be disposed of, but before I do that I want to digitize anything that has any kind of sentimental value.
I find this process both time consuming and somewhat emotionally taxing, mostly due to my attachment and even eco-guilt. So I tend to procrastinate a lot.
And to be fair, it never was super urgent, so I guess that’s another reason why I put it off. But I’m a bit tired of having this in my todo list.
Taking care of myself
It’s easy to forget about self-care (at least for me). So, here’s reminder:
- Be kind and compassionate to yourself.
- Eat well, exercise, meditate, read, and smile.
- Take time to listen to your body, mind, and soul.
Though I could always get better at self-maintenance, I’m consistently journaling, meditating, and starting each day with gratitude.
The next step would be to incorporate physical activity on a more regular basis.
Living in the south east of Italy
…until I move again, I guess? 🙄️