Dear readers,
As this blog project of mine moves on, I decided to move to different blog platform, as it meets my needs better.
From now on then, please keep on reading me @ italybeyondstereotype.wordpress.com.
Bye!
Andre
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Culture class
I'm a grad student at the University for Foreigner of Perugia.
My field of specialization is promotion of Italian language and culture and teaching Italian.
So far, I have always complained about the approach with which the cultural aspects of the courses were tackled. Too much literature, too much of a humanistic concept of culture: in order for students to integrate their linguistic skills with cultural competence it was simply silly to teach them about the Divine Comedy or Claudio Monteverdi.
Culture should be intended and seen from the anthropological and sociological point of view: culture as the way a group of people sees and interprets the surrounding world.
But culture is forever changing and developing; it cannot be studied as a set of rules, but it can only be observed in how it developed so far, and simply observed.
I have always perceived this lack of ability in recognizing what point of view over culture was more useful for a language learner as a huge limit to the course I am attending, but recently I am finally developing a new point of view over it.
I can truly say I feel like I am looking at it with brand new eyes.
It is an indirect message, and one has to pay particular attention in order to see it. It's a see through message, and only readable from a particular point of view.
Their humanistic approach IS part of the culture.
How the courses are organized, how a student has to deal with the academic institution through interacting with offices or teachers, the role that students, on their side, take towards university, everything.
Simply the way things are done.
It's all there to be studied and learned.
I wonder if anyone inside the university is aware of this, realizes this, understands the cultural value of all this.
Even when we protest because we are sick and tired of they way things go, we are wearing a cultural mask and taking part in the show.
It's all part of the show, of the plot, of the culture.
We play the role of cultural characters.
Today at around 1pm it started snowing a little. No big deal, if you have any experience with snow you do understand that since this is Italy and it's march even the worst snowfall ever is not going to last long.
It's simply too warm.
From a few flakes, it quickly picked up and became a windy and flurry day. In a couple of hours everything was covered in a soft cover of snow.
It was just pretty and unusual.
Not for Perugia, and Italians here.
Being a hilly city, some roads tend to be a little steep. And it is exactly where every single Perugian who owned a car decided to drive by. In no time, maybe not even an inch of snow caused total panic. My house mate himself, as he reported to me by calling me on the phone, managed to go UP the hill (usually the hardest part) in order to get out of the neighborhood, but then got stuck immediately as he got into via fonte coperte, the way DOWN the hill. He was going to work, and he had to put chains on in order to get down from the hill. Still don't know how it ended.
I had class at 4, so by 3.15 I decided to get on my way and head to university on foot.
On the way up, all the roads were filled with cars stuck in an endless line, some of them, of course, honking. Buses were stuck as well. Police cars were here and there organizing the traffic or dealing with the occasional accident, and I also happened to hear a siren from far away, I couldn't tell if it was an ambulance or firefighters.
Anyhow, it was chaos. And trust me, if someone is even just a little bit used to Italian normal city traffic and talks about chaos, he knows what he's talking about.
The walk allowed me to observe all this and, taking me just a little longer than usual, also led me to university on time for class. I was a little wet, but I had made it.
Once I got in front of it, though, I noticed the door closed.
I admit I naively thought they had simply closed it because they did not want the snow to blow inside (the whole whopping inch!); as and Italian, I should have known better how to read that sign.
I rang the bell, and the lady at the desk answered.
"Hello, could you open the door please? I got class."
"There's no class, they have been canceled."
"...what you m...all of them?"
"They have been canceled."
"...ok.thanks."
Right behind me, a couple more guys arrived, and I told them what I had just learned.
One had just come by 40 minutes of train to get there, and he wasn't too happy to hear that.
A girl said the had just checked the website, nothing had been posted to say classes were canceled.
Hours later, as I am writing these lines, still nothing has been posted.
I took a screenshot of the home page of unistrapg.it , both for the english homepage and the italian one: nothing.
I even developed my own idea on how this all happened.
How come they decided to shut everything down for a little snow?
Here's my shot: a teacher calls he won't make it. Ok, no big deal. Maybe we'll send someone to tell the students that will show up. Another teachers calls. Happens. Then another one, and another one. It's just easier to call everything of for today. Call the different buildings and tell them to shut everything down.
I was told later that they didn't even wait for the period to be over: they ran the announcement telling everyone simply that classes were called off, and the building was going to close.
For.
An.
Inch.
Of.
Snow.
Gotta love 'em.
I took a pic with my phone for you to see I'm not kidding. You can barely see cars because it's the very city center and it's mostly closed to traffic.
It is all part of the show, it is all part of the culture.
My field of specialization is promotion of Italian language and culture and teaching Italian.
So far, I have always complained about the approach with which the cultural aspects of the courses were tackled. Too much literature, too much of a humanistic concept of culture: in order for students to integrate their linguistic skills with cultural competence it was simply silly to teach them about the Divine Comedy or Claudio Monteverdi.
Culture should be intended and seen from the anthropological and sociological point of view: culture as the way a group of people sees and interprets the surrounding world.
But culture is forever changing and developing; it cannot be studied as a set of rules, but it can only be observed in how it developed so far, and simply observed.
I have always perceived this lack of ability in recognizing what point of view over culture was more useful for a language learner as a huge limit to the course I am attending, but recently I am finally developing a new point of view over it.
I can truly say I feel like I am looking at it with brand new eyes.
It is an indirect message, and one has to pay particular attention in order to see it. It's a see through message, and only readable from a particular point of view.
Their humanistic approach IS part of the culture.
How the courses are organized, how a student has to deal with the academic institution through interacting with offices or teachers, the role that students, on their side, take towards university, everything.
Simply the way things are done.
It's all there to be studied and learned.
I wonder if anyone inside the university is aware of this, realizes this, understands the cultural value of all this.
Even when we protest because we are sick and tired of they way things go, we are wearing a cultural mask and taking part in the show.
It's all part of the show, of the plot, of the culture.
We play the role of cultural characters.
Today at around 1pm it started snowing a little. No big deal, if you have any experience with snow you do understand that since this is Italy and it's march even the worst snowfall ever is not going to last long.
It's simply too warm.
From a few flakes, it quickly picked up and became a windy and flurry day. In a couple of hours everything was covered in a soft cover of snow.
It was just pretty and unusual.
Not for Perugia, and Italians here.
Being a hilly city, some roads tend to be a little steep. And it is exactly where every single Perugian who owned a car decided to drive by. In no time, maybe not even an inch of snow caused total panic. My house mate himself, as he reported to me by calling me on the phone, managed to go UP the hill (usually the hardest part) in order to get out of the neighborhood, but then got stuck immediately as he got into via fonte coperte, the way DOWN the hill. He was going to work, and he had to put chains on in order to get down from the hill. Still don't know how it ended.
I had class at 4, so by 3.15 I decided to get on my way and head to university on foot.
On the way up, all the roads were filled with cars stuck in an endless line, some of them, of course, honking. Buses were stuck as well. Police cars were here and there organizing the traffic or dealing with the occasional accident, and I also happened to hear a siren from far away, I couldn't tell if it was an ambulance or firefighters.
Anyhow, it was chaos. And trust me, if someone is even just a little bit used to Italian normal city traffic and talks about chaos, he knows what he's talking about.
The walk allowed me to observe all this and, taking me just a little longer than usual, also led me to university on time for class. I was a little wet, but I had made it.
Once I got in front of it, though, I noticed the door closed.
I admit I naively thought they had simply closed it because they did not want the snow to blow inside (the whole whopping inch!); as and Italian, I should have known better how to read that sign.
I rang the bell, and the lady at the desk answered.
"Hello, could you open the door please? I got class."
"There's no class, they have been canceled."
"...what you m...all of them?"
"They have been canceled."
"...ok.thanks."
Right behind me, a couple more guys arrived, and I told them what I had just learned.
One had just come by 40 minutes of train to get there, and he wasn't too happy to hear that.
A girl said the had just checked the website, nothing had been posted to say classes were canceled.
Hours later, as I am writing these lines, still nothing has been posted.
I took a screenshot of the home page of unistrapg.it , both for the english homepage and the italian one: nothing.
I even developed my own idea on how this all happened.
How come they decided to shut everything down for a little snow?
Here's my shot: a teacher calls he won't make it. Ok, no big deal. Maybe we'll send someone to tell the students that will show up. Another teachers calls. Happens. Then another one, and another one. It's just easier to call everything of for today. Call the different buildings and tell them to shut everything down.
I was told later that they didn't even wait for the period to be over: they ran the announcement telling everyone simply that classes were called off, and the building was going to close.
For.
An.
Inch.
Of.
Snow.
Gotta love 'em.
I took a pic with my phone for you to see I'm not kidding. You can barely see cars because it's the very city center and it's mostly closed to traffic.
It is all part of the show, it is all part of the culture.
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Parking lines
I went to the post office a few weeks ago, and while I was looking for a parking spot I noticed two cars kind of parked between the parking lines, kind of close to each other, but with just enough space in between them to fit mine. I slowly pulled in, careful not to touch them, and I stopped the engine. At this point I had to delicately open the car door in order not to dent the car next to mine and crawl out. While I went through all of these time-taking, attention-requiring procedures, I couldn't stop thinking of how all of this is simply part of Italian daily life, and how much it is one of those things that most strikes outsiders' point of view (Yes, these are the kind of things I think about. And I post them here. End of the warning).
The Japanese have a word that they often use to describe Italians: tekitou (As soon as I figure out how to reset my japanese input system I'll provide the kana and possibly the kanji I promise): imprecise, lightheaded, and also appropriately in this case, outside the lines.
Both Italians and non-Italians have positive and negative opinions about it. Some see in it an endemic and childish irresponsibleness, and believe Italy should "grow up" and finally join the international community as a rightful and full member, finally blossoming in all it's potential that is now being hold down by this silly attitude that causes disorganization and chaos. Some others think all the others claim is true but is being seeing from a flawed point of view, as it is in the core of the "Italianity" what we are talking about, where it's true genius comes from, what is perceived as its creativity and uniqueness, and that the everyday problems caused by it is nothing but the small price to pay in order to maintain this.
As for me, like most of my co-nationals, when I have to take a position about it as an Italian person, I choose to stand wherever the right place is in that moment for my own personal interest. Maybe a little cynic, but unfortunately probably true. As if it wasn't enough to be only human, I am also Italian.
So in this case I thought that truly it is real-life experience what teaches you the most about culture.
No matter what position of the above you choose to side with, only living here you understand how when you get to a crowded parking lot in morning full of errands to run, and the only spot available is between the lines, because most of the people previously there parked like that, even if you wouldn't normally like to park like that, in that case you have to. If you could, if there was even only one spot, you WOULD park inside the lines. But not that morning.
And you have to park oustide the lines.
To finish, a video I took from my friend's Rosa's bathroom window, in Rome. Thanks Rosa!
The Japanese have a word that they often use to describe Italians: tekitou (As soon as I figure out how to reset my japanese input system I'll provide the kana and possibly the kanji I promise): imprecise, lightheaded, and also appropriately in this case, outside the lines.
Both Italians and non-Italians have positive and negative opinions about it. Some see in it an endemic and childish irresponsibleness, and believe Italy should "grow up" and finally join the international community as a rightful and full member, finally blossoming in all it's potential that is now being hold down by this silly attitude that causes disorganization and chaos. Some others think all the others claim is true but is being seeing from a flawed point of view, as it is in the core of the "Italianity" what we are talking about, where it's true genius comes from, what is perceived as its creativity and uniqueness, and that the everyday problems caused by it is nothing but the small price to pay in order to maintain this.
As for me, like most of my co-nationals, when I have to take a position about it as an Italian person, I choose to stand wherever the right place is in that moment for my own personal interest. Maybe a little cynic, but unfortunately probably true. As if it wasn't enough to be only human, I am also Italian.
So in this case I thought that truly it is real-life experience what teaches you the most about culture.
No matter what position of the above you choose to side with, only living here you understand how when you get to a crowded parking lot in morning full of errands to run, and the only spot available is between the lines, because most of the people previously there parked like that, even if you wouldn't normally like to park like that, in that case you have to. If you could, if there was even only one spot, you WOULD park inside the lines. But not that morning.
And you have to park oustide the lines.
To finish, a video I took from my friend's Rosa's bathroom window, in Rome. Thanks Rosa!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Regained motivation
My projects, at time, I must admit, tend to have the hiccups.
I started this blog knowing I wanted to do something about this, then kind of went back to the cave for a little bit to think about it again.
I'm back now. I think this is the right way to go.
I'll post my thinking, my ramblings, my ideas, my connections. I'll just post it.
Maybe something interesting will come out of the general picture one day. Maybe not.
I'll give it a try.
My view of things.
Insider, but able to stand on the edge. Not outside. Because an outsider look is not what I am interested in. On the edge, between inside and outside.
It's hard to stay on the edge. Hard job indeed.
I might not succeed, but this is my beta, and it's out.
Si comincia.
P.s.-May I thank Dr. Jessica C. for the support and the push. And the article.
I started this blog knowing I wanted to do something about this, then kind of went back to the cave for a little bit to think about it again.
I'm back now. I think this is the right way to go.
I'll post my thinking, my ramblings, my ideas, my connections. I'll just post it.
Maybe something interesting will come out of the general picture one day. Maybe not.
I'll give it a try.
My view of things.
Insider, but able to stand on the edge. Not outside. Because an outsider look is not what I am interested in. On the edge, between inside and outside.
It's hard to stay on the edge. Hard job indeed.
I might not succeed, but this is my beta, and it's out.
Si comincia.
P.s.-May I thank Dr. Jessica C. for the support and the push. And the article.
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