Dear Erika and Pietro,
In this letter I want to give you my opinion of my experiences from last week.
Experience Italy food: The training we got from Yolanda was even for me (as a trained cook) educational. I never made tortellini, it’s not so difficult, but you must have done it once to know the tricks. Also the arancini was very educational for me. And also the most important way of cooking in a family way (what is as I think the most important way of cooking in Italy) was a great experience.
Experience Italy culture: From the first minute I entered Italy the cultural experience started, the Italian coffee, the Italian lunch with mozzarella and prosciutto, the friendly ways of the Italian people, the Italian sun and sea, Italy breathed culture, there is no escape possible from culture. But also the excursions were very interesting.
Experience Italy Language: I experienced that not so many Italian people speak any other language than their own language. For this reason it is an advantage if you come to Italy, you know at least a little Italian. But that doesn’t mean that the Italian people will not help you if you don’t speak any Italian, they move heaven and earth to be able to help people (I think it’s there second nature). We got an initiation of the Italian language, given in an interactive way. We got a lot of information of the base of Italian language. Now we can start to learn Italian, and I think it will be not so easy, but possible.
And now I'll tell you a story, an experience I had during my stay with you that gives you a perfect picture of how Italians are.
One afternoon, when me and a co-participant of the training came back from the sea. Because my co-participant had blisters on his feet, we had to take a little rest every now and then. So we sat on a bench , and because my cellphone was in my back pocket, I took it out and laid it on the bench. After the rest, we continued our way back to our B&B, but I forgot to take my cell phone. 10 minutes later I noticed that I didn’t have my cell phone anymore. My co-participant tried to phone my number and it went straight to voicemail (what we thought was a bad sign). So I ran back to the place where I forgot my phone, but it was already gone. In my phone it had also my bankcard, so I didn’t lose only my phone but also my possibility for paying my food ,….. . We went back to the B&B and while we walked back, I thought I had an application on my tablet to locate where my phone was. So I used that application, and saw it was still in the neighborhood of where I lost it. So I went back to the place, and the application brought me right to the spot where it was. In case: It was delivered by the Italian person who found my phone at the police station on the same square.
Calabria is known as the poorest country of Italy, but I think why do you need lots of money if you have such a rich culture and way of living.
Frans Suvée, a teacher from Belgium who attended the JUMP training on May 2023.
