"On my first day at work, I was told with a big smile: 'Here's another Sardinian!'".

Yes, because when Monica Porcu , 54, born in Carbonia but living in Decimomannu, moved to Istanbul after winning the competition to teach abroad, she would never have imagined that in the team of 25 Italian teachers of middle schools and Italian high school of one of the largest cities in Turkey, a third (eight in total) would have been made up of Sardinians.

"A circumstance absolutely linked to the case", explains to L'Unione Sarda Porcu, former teacher at the Deledda linguistic high school in Cagliari : "Cagliari and Sassari are worthily represented, but there are also colleagues from Isili, Selargius and San Gavino Monreale. All proud to represent Italy and Sardinia and to spread our culture and traditions in this incredible city, a crossroads between West and East and with a history of millennial charm ".

How long have you lived in Istanbul?

"I arrived on January 1st of this year, the last of the large group of Sardinians including Luciano Meloni, Claudia Muscu, Giangiacomo Orrù, Franca Badas, Elia Casu. I would never have believed I would find so many fellow countrymen. One really curious thing: of the hundreds of Italian teachers abroad, most of the Sardinians are in Istanbul ”.

Why did you decide to apply to teach abroad?

“Distance has never scared me. All my life I have dreamed of being able to work outside Italy : a desire pursued with so much effort after graduating in literature and various linguistic certifications. Seniority counts, so it was difficult to do it before ”.

How many Italian students study in your school?

"Although an Italian school, they are not the majority , the predominant component is Turkish. The lessons are held in Italian. As for the topics, there is a sort of compromise between the Italian and Turkish curriculum in subjects such as literature, history and religion".

Are you also at the end of the school year?

"Yes, exactly like in Italy. We respect all religious and national holidays , for example on June 2 we too were closed. In a few days the children will take the state exams, organized as established by our ministry".

What do you teach?

"Italian and Latin, a great feat with the Turks".

Did she move to Istanbul alone?

"No, with my 16-year-old son . The other had to stay in Sardinia: it's not easy to get a visa here, you have to prove that you have to work or study. The great is 18 but he couldn't follow us: high school in Turkey ends. a year earlier ".

And the little one? How did he take it?

“At the beginning he felt torn from his environment and he was very homesick for his friends and for the Island. Now he is very well and is happy : he is a student in this same school, among his classmates there are also the Sardinian children of my colleagues ".

Do you group?

“Of course, also because in a city so large with 20 million inhabitants, unthinkable distances, a completely different lifestyle compared to that of our Sardinia, we inevitably all live close to the school . And the neighborhood has everything from restaurants to live music venues. In this period, the Asian side, on the sea, 'awakens'. A show".

Wasn't the "move" from Sardinia traumatic?

"From such a quiet and under-populated place to a gigantic and decidedly more polluted metropolis , I was ready to pay the price and suffer from the emigrant syndrome. But none of this: I was certainly helped by the fact that work is the same and that here I have so many Sardinian colleagues. But it was not a trauma, it was all very natural ".

Tricks to feel less melancholy?

“ The food : our suitcases were full of malloreddus, cheeses and wines ”.

Will he return to the Island soon?

"As soon as the final exams finish, then in mid-July. I'll stay there until the end of August. And, despite everything, I can't wait" .

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