Scuola di Lingua part 2

We started the week in the park near our town. It is one of my favourite places in the world. It has rabbits and wild chickens scavenging around its green grasslands. It houses a Polisportivo, a place used mainly for sports purposes. It has tennis courts and an improvised cricket field made by Indian players who go to play there late in the afternoon. The first day weather was gloomy. I was the first student to arrive then came Manjit with her husband, Gazalla and Sadaf and Goldy. We stayed in this bench and talked for a little while. Along came the heavy downpour of rain. I am glad that I have brought my scarf with me and I jokingly asked Gazalla to teach me how she puts it. Finally, we've decided to go inside the bar (the term for cafeteria here). We talked about ways of presenting ourselves when we meet people for the first time. Sadaf and Goldy treated us with cappuccinos. I also brought some biscuits for us to nibble along. We also talked about our personal lives in Italian. I brought my camera with me and we took a few pictures with it. Silvia suggested that we can be called the United Colors of Castelfranco. After the rain, we went out and took some more pictures. I don't remember learning anything that day. What I remember is that I really had fun.

The second day was a sunny Tuesday. We decided to have the lesson outside near the house of the cavias (guinea pigs) Almost all of my classmates were there. We talked a lot again. We've learned and relearned ways of asking for directions, questions to ask when looking for work, what to say in the pharmacy or to the doctor etc. Parimala from Sri Lanka brought some cherries for us eat. We went home at around 8:30pm.

Wednesday is another sunny day. Almost all came too. Hayat brought some Maroccino food for us. Only God remembers its name but it is shape like empanada except that it is empty inside and is very thin and sweet. She also brought some refreshments for us and we went home with a full stomach. I also brought home some.

Thursday is unexpectedly stormy. As usual, I came early and the park is deserted. I saw Silvia coming and waved at me and we've decided to enter inside the bar. She suggested that if the weather gets worse, she can take me home but I declined. We went inside the bar expecting that no one would come. I introduced myself again in Italian, talked about my country etc. Then we saw Manjit, who is barely covering her head with her scarf, and her husband running and cursing the rain. Then came Gazalla,Sadaf, Ricky, Goldy, Parimala and Arjit. They've treated us again with cappuccinos.They've wondered why I came dry and they came wet. I just smiled and laughed. When we were done, we went out and fortunately, the tempesta is over. Manjit, Gazalla and Sadaf went home first. The rest of us stayed in the parking lot. We had pictorials and talked about different things from car troubles, how women aren't supposed to drive and differences of Italian and Indian language.We ended up going home at around 9:30 in the evening.

Friday is the last day. I came there early as usual. Manjit and her sister brought finger foods for us. Gazalla also brought some Pakistani dish. I can still remember the taste but not the name off course. We've finalized the things that we are going to talk about the exam, which is the next day.

The day of the exam came and I came in a little late. Each of us is separated by one chair. I sat beside Manjit. The insignante from Modena came and she will be the one to supervise the exam. She looks like my friend from Brazil. She supports her arm with a scarf because she said she fell off from a bike. She's strict but fun. We started the exam with reading comprehension. It is just four items but I am having difficulties answering the two. Then came the selection of the pictures described by the sentences. There is also the Prova di Ascolto in where our listening skills were tested. The writing came after that. The next is the speaking part where we were paired with someone and we were given a situation to talk about. My partner is Mr.Albania. We chose the situation where I need to go to the pharmacy and he is the pharmacist.  

We've waited 'til all of the examinees were finished. We had a picture taking after it. We've set the next day as our festa, a closing ceremony for our class. Then we started heading home. I went for a little walk at the center. I went inside this room where they have a vending machine that dispenses coffee, refreshments,junkfood and the like. I saw some of my Indian classmates there too. 

Sunday came without delay. It is a beautiful day. I am so excited to see my classmates but saddened by the fact that after this day, I may not be able to see them ever again. The party starts at around 5 pm at the park again. I came in a little late because there is some problem with my bike and had to get it fixed. All the women are sitting on one bench and they've greeted me cheerfully. As a natural reflex, I brought out my camera and started shooting again. Manjit's whole family is there. They are always so generous to be cooking a lot of food for us.  Ricky brought some Indian sweets that melts in your mouth instantaneously like a cotton candy. I am not sure how to eat it so I asked him do demonstrate! After eating, Parimala gave a special speech to Silvia. She also gave a special cup with her picture on it. Said brought some fun party confetti.

    Messaud from Marocco brought with him his 2 wonderful children. Parimala came with his husband, cousins,and nephews. Vladimir came with his lovely wife. Sahar came with his husband and one kid. The Indian dudes came with their friends and cousins. We chatted, took pictures and after an hour, some of them started leaving. We said goodbye to Messaud, Sahar, Vladimir and Manjit. Around 8pm, we decided to take a pizza in a local Indian pizzeria owned by the family of Arjit. 

The pizzeria is located along via Emilia and below a hotel. Toufik and I went with our bikes while the others followed in the car. We've ordered vegetarian pizza half a meter long for the half of us while the others ordered their preferences. I gave my gift to Silvia which is a simple cellphone case made in Kabayan, Philippines. I also folded a silly crane and a ceramic souvenir with her name on it.  

We planned about some ways of how to reconnect with each other again. Silvia suggested that we can see a movie shown all nights of summer in Piazza Maggiore, Bologna.

After eating came the parting time. We've exchanged our phone numbers and shook each other's hands. We gave thanks to Arjit who paid our dinner and to everyone for the great company. We said our goodbyes and our ci vediamos.  

I rode my old bicycle as I started to head home. I slowly crossed the deserted via Emilia and passed through the Piazza where they are showing a funny Frankenstein movie. I stayed to watch for a while. It is really funny but my body is not in the mood to laugh. I slowly pedalled my way to our old classroom and took one last picture.

Maybe I am just having a post teen emotional 'kaartehan' (as they say in Tagalog) or cheesiness but I really had a lot of fun being with my classmates-turned-friends and losing them made me a little empty. Being a young immigrant, I am eager to meet new friends to have a feeling of belongingness to the country. Being with fellow immigrants who have the same goal as yours, that is to learn the language of the country, gives you a little comfort against the feeling of alienation. 

I have written this about two weeks since we had that wonderful time in the pizzeria. Last week, some of us met for the Castelfranco Blues Festival and chatted for a little while. Two days ago, I went to have a Sri Lankan lunch in the house of Parimala. His husband cooked this great meal. It is spicy and I ended up sweating and wiping my nose with tissue paper. We ate it with our bare hands.

We then headed back to Castelfranco and we saw Mustapha from Marocco along the way. We went to Manjit's house. We saw her beautiful wedding album  (Wow, they really spend a lot for weddings in India) We also had coffee and some French fries. They are as hospitable as ever. After chatting for a while, we went down to meet Kulwinder and ended up encountering Sadaf and Gazalla as well! We've  chatted for a while and they went out to have a grocery with their big black motorcycle or ferrari as we call it. Later as I was walking along via Emilia, I've encountered Arjit and we've chatted for a while. He have just came from work and is going to their church. I also saw his twin brother and his cousin.

The only constant thing in this world is change. People, events, emotions and characters change. A year after this, I may not miss the Language School anymore. I may not remember the names of the friends I have met. One thing will come after the other and soon they will forget me too. That is how life is. But the memories I have shared with them will forever be imprinted in the history of my life and surely God, Allah, Buddha or Shiva are happy for it.

Amazing Seagulls

     Today is a stormy day in Castelfranco Emilia so I was glad that I spent last week on the beach. I went to this place called Lido di Classe. It is located in Ravenna. The train ride from Bologna includes wonderful sights of sunflower fields and rolls of hay. 

     So I was out for a morning walk(5:30am) along the beach. The sun begun to rise and I was in a hurry to get on top of the rocks to take some photos. As I was approaching the edge, I saw this giant seagull standing on top of a pole with its wings spread out facing the sun. I was so 'wowed' by the scene that I stayed there for almost half an hour and much to my surprise, the bird continues to flap its wings non stop (like how Igorot women dance their 'tayaw')... As I continued to walk along, I saw some more birds doing the same thing. Such an amazing experience. Nature really has its own way of surprising us..   

My Scuola di Lingua Experience (Part 1)

     These past months, I have been going to an Italian language class at the local library or Bibliotica as we call it . Last Sunday, we've just had our festa to end the class. After eating at a local Indian pizzeria, we finally said our arrivedercis and went on our own ways. I am supposed to feel happy that finally we've graduated but I felt like I lost a very big part of me. This parting is one of the most stressful events I've ever experienced during my stay here in Italy. Call me cheesy because I can get really really cheesy during times like these:

     I was hesitant at first when my mom asked me to register to a free language class offered by the comune. I said I can just study by myself (which is a very bad idea). When my mom finally convinced me, we went to register at the Ufficio per Centro Stranieri . The Italian government is very kind enough to sponsor lots of programs for the stranieri which can help clandestines obtain their Permesso di Soggiornos (Permit of Stay) or to help foreigners who have Permessos but just want to learn the language. I can say I am so fortunate to be a straniera in this beautiful country. We had a quick test to determine what level should I be. I was placed on the A2 class which is a step higher from the basic class.


     The class started during the middle of April. I entered cheerfully in the half-filled room located at the back of the library. Together with a Maroccino couple, we've greeted our teacher. Our teacher is a beautiful woman in her mid thirtees. She is very kind and greeted us back. Her name is Silvia Sola but I always associate her family name to the word sole  which means sun. She asked me to sit beside Mustapha, a gentleman from Marocco. We talked about our lesson for the day. I can remember the first joke he said (which I am stupid enough to believe) that he loves eating rats. Our first lesson was basically about ourselves, where we live, where are we from etc. I always ask the question 'Come si scrivi' which means, 'How do I write'. After two hours we said our farewells and went home.

Silvia, our beloved maestra.

A view of our classroom. It is comfortable enough with a clean bathroom and nice lights.

   The next Thursday, I went to school early and there I met this pretty Indian girl named Manjit. Manjit knows my mom. She always buy materials for her sewing in mom's little shop. She wears this beautiful sari that she herself made. She also makes dresses for her nephews and other members of the Indian community in our town. Tuesdays and Thursdays pass by and I got to know more about using proper tenses, right pronunciation, and correct and polite ways of saying sentences.

Manjit and Gazalla

     The time for learning Italian can also be a time for learning each other's culture. I've met these muscular men from India(specifically from Punjab) whose names I can't pronounce until now (thank God they have English names). One of them is Kulwinder (Cool as I call him) whose English name is Ricky. There is also Arjit, Ranjit, Pavinder, Goldy(English name) and more. They are all very friendly and ready to help me with my crooked Italian. I have also known that almost all of them have the family name Singh and that Manjit's husband is also named Manjit.  I've met some of Manjit's family which is made out of big, muscular men almost ready to defend India by hand in case of war. My maestra and I were lucky enough to celebrate with them during their Sikh festival ( as I have posted here 2 months ago). We've participated  in their holy parade and we are the only foreigners in there. You can read more about our experiences there in my post http://23kilimanjaro.blogspot.it/2013/04/ciao-i-habd-this-wonderful-chance-to.html. We entered the Sikh church(which is opposite a Jehova's Witness office) and we were met by loud chanting and food and more food. We were offered generous amounts of tsapatis, fruits and other Indian vegetarian cuisines. I went home and brought some left over food and they asked me, "You went to the grocery?"

Arjit and Ricky

The parade during the Sikh celebration.

    Aside from my Punjabi friends, there are also these ladies and gentlemen from Africa. This guy Eric is from Nigeria and the others are all from Morocco. The Maroccinos speak 'sexy' Italian. Their tongues are honed to speak French and they pronounce 't' like an American speaking his first Tagalog words. The men have this signature curly dark brown to black hair and long eyebrows. The women have fair skin and always wear their elegant abayas (correct me if I am wrong). It took them a long time to remember my name and during those times they call me la Filippina or they tease me and call me Cinese. Many of the men work in factories as welders or mechanics. Messaud Ezzanfari (Ezzan as I call him) is a good father of two kids, Toufik (who looks like the comedian Ficcara in Striscia la Notizia) is a groovy, social and fun guy but can be very serious too. He is married but without kids and her wife is in Morocco. Said is a very quiet person (at first) but talks a lot after you strike a conversation with him. He is above 30 but still not married (which is strange). There is Abderahim with his beautiful pregnant wife Atnan. I am not sure if I spelled their names right (peace!). There is Tarek, I've already told you about Mustapha and Hayat who often comes with her lovely 5-6 year old daughter.

(l to r) Said, Ranjit, Vladimir, Silvia, husband of Gazalla, Eric, Manjit, Parimala, Gazalla

     Apart from my Indian and Maroccino amici, there are also the Pakistanis. There is the strikingly beautiful Sahar who has three cute little boys. She looks a little like my cousin back in the Philippines. There is the very kind Gazalla and her husband who is very industrious enough to raise 6 kids who are all going to school.

      Aside from fellows from India, Morocco and Pakistan, there is also Shpettim from Albania, Vladimir from Moldavia, and Parimala from Sri Lanka. Parimala is a woman in her early thirties with a husband who've just arrived in the country. She is easy to get along with and laughs always. She speaks Italian well and speaks English too.

    During our classes, we talked about ourselves. Silvia let us memorize the ways of introducing ourselves, where are we from, how are our jobs, how's the climate of our country etc. Mine is like:

     Io sono Kizel. I ho 2_ anni. Vengo dalle Filippine. Sono qua in Italia da 10 mesi. etc....

     During these times, we have learned a lot from each other. We've known about each other's families, hobbies, works etc. We had informal geography classes, culinary classes, Pakistani language classes and other stuff that took us away from the typical language class lectures. Each class, we became better in speaking the language and it also brought us closer.

Biryani, a Pakistani dish cooked by Sahar

     The last class happened on a Saturday. I am so sad knowing that that was our final meeting. We extended our class for up to 4 hours. We spent it on finalizing the things we should do or say during the examination which will be on the 29th of June. Just when I thought it's all over, Silvia is kind (very kind) enough to volunteer to meet us from Monday to Friday at 18:00 until the time we want to go home. I suddenly felt alive.We have one week more!