Midterm crisis

This has certainly been a most interesting week, and I mean that in the best of all possible senses, although Tuesday was probably the low point in our stay so far.

The day began pretty much as usual for us. We awoke to fine weather – I think it’s safe to say now that spring is here – and we headed off to school on the 8:23 bus. From there, however, things went downhill fast. Feelings were running high when class began, particularly between two students, and to make matters worse we were given a set of exercises on material which we had never had before and without any explanation of what was expected of us we had 5 minutes to complete the work. Most of us remained frustrated throughout much of the day over this and other work as well and everything seemed to come to a head late in the afternoon when two female students started yelling at each other (in various languages of course, but not Italian) and one started crying picked up her things and left the room, followed immediately by Egina.

Egina, one of the most empathetic people it has ever been our pleasure to come across, calmed things down but at the same time took to task the one student who had so callously and brutally chastised the other, pointing out (in Italian of course) the cardinal importance of respecting the feelings of others, particularly in such a potentially explosive and intense situation as our classroom. This student is, curiously, a very helpful and involved person and we have known her since we began the course. Like so many others she is far from her husband and family and naturally feels the stress and anguish of such a predicament.

After class Sue and I headed home, picked up the car and videotape equipment and then drove down to Asciano where we met Roberto Bechi. The three of us then drove a few kilometers further on to a farm run by a young man and his father where they raise chianina beef, the only beef used for the famous “bistecca fiorentina,” steak Florentine.

Bartolo’s wife, a beautiful German woman, and their little girl met us as we drove up. A few minutes later Bartolo came in from the field, driving a massive tractor. Bartolo left a job in the city some years back and together with his father decided to raise these highly prized cattle as a way of reclaiming not just his own peace of mind but also to preserve this very small but historically important part of Tuscan history.

It was a beautiful late afternoon as we drove back into the city, after dropping Roberto off at his van, and stopped at the Conad grocery store on Via Massetana for a few things. Trying to do homework that evening proved too frustrating for Steve – he kept blocking on it – although Sue in her own quiet fashion finished hers, of course. After a good night’s rest Steve got up earlier than usual, made coffee after showering and finished his homework as well.

Wednesday was, to coin a phrase, the “day” to Tuesday’s “night”. We turned a corner, perhaps, or moved to the next plateau of consciousness (or whatever). In any case the day was superb in all senses, And here’s why:

When we got to school they had broken our class into two groups (not surprisingly the two students from the previous day’s argument were separated) and it couldn’t have been a better move. Right off we explained to our morning instructor (Eduardo) about our frustration from the previous day’s work and our lack of preparation for it (it is not covered until the next textbook actually) and he explained that the texts were simply guides in the first place and not to worry too terribly much about grammar in the second place: just do what you can, learn along the way and, always, “parlare, parlare, parlare”. (“Speak, speak, speak.) Which is, of course, very true. And parlare we did all day. We had a great session with Eduardo (there being only five of us) and then had Egina for an hour after our lunch break.

For the fourth hour Susan and I decided to join Eduardo’s improvisation theater which we will now do every afternoon through next week. The goal is to prepare several short skits for the monthly end of session “festa” which will take place on Good Friday, next week. There are presently six of us involved in the theater group: four women and two men (Steve and another American, David who lives and teaches in Japan). David and Brigitta (she is from Germany and is in Italian Intermediate II) are in place to do one skit involving a young woman who comes to confession only to be confronted by a priest whose cell phone keeps ringing and of course in typical Italian fashion he answers it. It is absolutely hilarious. The second skit involves David and Steve as two warring “latin lovers” on the prowl in a bar full of women. Naturally I have my eye on Susan but she – like the rest – will have none of me, or David for that matter. The third skit opens with a line of people waiting for the sole bathroom available and the first in line is a professional-looking businessman talking on the phone etc who once he gets into the bathroom takes a great deal of time – all the while individuals still in line are getting anxious to say the least. The punch line is he comes out at last dressed as a woman. And since there were only tow men in the group and once has a beard you can guess who got chosen for this role. It is all quite a broad farce and lots of fun. Plus the interaction in Italian is a great help as well.

To round off a great day on the bus home we spent our time talking with an elderly gentleman we have frequently seen on the bus and who always says “ciao” to us. He is a pensioner now but fought in Italy during the war (in the Italian army of course). It would be fascinating to be able to interview him about his war experiences and he seems ready and willing to talk about them. Plus he has a smile as wide as his face and always ready to use it. Also joining in was another passenger, a woman probably in her 50s or so who explained to us the historical backgrounds of several with which we were generally familiar. It was nice bit of small talk and just goes to show you how kind so many Italians are to strangers.

I’m certain there will be days ahead where we will completely and utterly confused and lost. But at this moment we feel right at home and just as if we were learning “piano piano” (step by step).

After class on Thursday we went home but then returned to school for another, special session of our improv theater. There were eight students all together and we were broken into two groups. Eduardo the theater “manager” would then give us a all the same skit to perform and we had a certain time limit in which to prepare – there were four skits in all with decreasing prep time for each succeeding sketch. It was hilarious and great fun. We then stopped at the only English-only bookstore in Siena, run by an American who, I might add is in love with her new 20-inch Apple iMac, and picked up a couple of books for general reading.

Our fourth week ended with gorgeous weather, nearing 70 and sunny; grand weather to say goodbye to Gunhild, our Norwegian “nonna” (grandma). She heads home to Norway tomorrow. We are now four but who knows what Monday will bring?