Week 1, Biella

My parents wanted to hear word from me, and I ended up typing this long email which I've included here for your information as well. :-) Forgive the lack of clean grammar - I was trying to get all the information down before I got too tired! Enjoy... (p.s. Mom and Dad, I added some more stuff at the end)

I was in Torino for the weekend, I stayed in a hotel but was accompanied the whole weekend by a couple that Elena wanted me to meet - the man is young, he attended RIT for one 2 week symposium on technology, so we will be working together throughout my time here. I like him alot - he's full of energy, very smart, and very entertaining. His girlfriend is a SWEET woman - her personality reminds me of Julie, and her signing style in ASL is almost exactly like Suga's!! We hit it off very well - she agreed to teach me Italian in exchange for me teaching her English. :-) She is a fast learner of ASL - I thought she'd been in America, but she's never been to the US, nor does she wish to. ;-) She learned while traveling through Asia last year... apparently ASL is becoming a universally known sign language among educated deaf people in the international community.

On Monday I took the train from Torino to Santhia - about halfway to Cossato - where I was met by Daniele and Simone, the LIS teachers at Cossato. (Both are men... dah nee EH leh, see MOH neh) They were amazed at the "lack" of luggage I brought with me for 6 months (the flight weight allowance was only 20 kilo so I couldn't bring as much as I hoped). We went to Cossato and I got to meet all the students and the staff, then went to Biella to get myself settled in. We were hoping to take advantage of the day to go and get my permesso di soggiorno (residence permit) from the Biella police department, but when Dott. Preto (the director of Cossato School) called to find out the hours of the office at the police station, the hours were from 9:30 to 11:30 from Tuesday to Fridays only!!

I spent all day on Tuesday with Daniele and Simone trying to get my permesso. Simone is hearing (born into a deaf family, so LIS is his first language), and was our interpreter. Daniele (deaf born into a hearing family, Italian is his first language) was my communication facilitator ;-) to make sure I understood the information translated for me. We first went to the police station, spent 2 hours in chaos - although I picked a number like I was asked, they weren't using the number system. Finally Simone, being very Italian, stepped in and yelled at the officers for them to turn on the number ticker. They said oh, we aren't turning it on, we are just calling out the numbers, but when they called it out, it was in a very quiet voice behind thick glass (just watching Simone retell the story in LIS later is hilarious). Simone got fed up and stood by the doors and would yell out the numbers as he heard them, and directed traffic. We suggested he ask for a day's pay and for a holster with a gun. ;-) We finally got in, and Simone spent 5 minutes doing introductions (introductions are very important in Italian culture - who is who, their role, etc), and the guy behind the glass wouldn't help us, even when I pushed my papers (a thick pile of them) under the glass. Simone was gesturing like mad, explaining why were there. The officer asked if I had an "appointment" to come to the station. Then he asked the purpose of my stay in Italy. I said work and study. He then said he couldn't help us because the police station didn't handle permessos for people doing study. Simone rattled off in Italian, again gesturing like mad. The officer was obviously intimidated by Simone so he took my pile of papers and went to see someone higher up I guess. He came back with a cocky smile, pushed my papers under the glass with the copy of my visa on top, and said, "studio" - my visa was a STUDENT visa, not a work visa. So he said we had to go to the post office because they would handle permessos for people on student visas... by this time it's 11:30, and it's almost lunch time so we have to get moving.

We rush out of the police station, Simone pissed off and going off in rapid LIS to Daniele (they are both very close friends so it's almost as if they have their own language). We get in the car and he sped through Biella to the post office. We get into the post office and Simone runs straight to the poor woman who was working behind the desk, rattles off introductions again, and says that the police station sent us here for me to get the permesso. At first she was like, what? I have no idea what you are talking about. Simone was about ready to throw something - Daniele and I were just having fun (despite the frustration) watching his dramatics. The woman then went and got a packet for me to fill out an application for the permesso. She says we need to go to another place to fill it out.

So we go to this advocacy group that Daniele pays a yearly member fee too. They say their office can't handle my application, but directs us to another place that can. Time is getting close. We rush out the door and head down the street. All throughout this, it is pouring rain, and Daniele has lost his umbrella... somewhere along the way. We get to another office, wait in line again, and then finally get in, introductions again, etc etc... the woman asks for all my papers, then asks where my visa application is. I say I only got my passport with my visa in it, the embassy didn't send my visa application back with the passport. mm. Problema... so Simone gets on the phone with Elena and hands the phone to the woman. Just seconds after listening into the receiver, she smiles and nods (Elena has this magical spell over people - people love her) and agrees to help us. She makes copies of the papers that I will need for the application, and directs us down to yet another office where there are computers (this one didn't have computers) and they will try to enter my information in the system. Because I entered Italy on the 12th of January, I'd have 12 days to apply for my permesso. I didn't apply for it in Roma because it had to be applied for at the questura in Biella. Tuesday was the 23rd, so they weren't sure the system would accept my application!

We rushed downstairs (it's noon now), introductions again, this time Simone recalling fast all of what happened that morning, so everyone is laughing. They enter in my name into the system, and wow, I was LUCKY because if I'd tried to apply the following day (yesterday), the system would have denied my name and I would have had to leave Italy! So application finished, but it's not finished. We have to go to the post office to get the packet "verified" and then sent certified mail. However, there are only 2 offices in Biella that will do this service. The first one is closed already (it's 1:40... post offices are "supposed" to close at 2, but, as I'm fast learning, this is Italy), so Simone is speeding up to the other one, which is in old Biella. We finally get there at 1:50, rush in, the old woman behind the glass says that they are closed for the day. Simone practically gets down on his knees, puts his hands together, and begs, calling the woman a bella nonna (beautiful woman) over and over again, recounting our travails all morning, when finally the woman says okay okay I'll help you. Simone calls her a saint and a bella nonna, and she tells him to shush. So we got all the paperwork finished and sent off in the mail. WHEW.

Now I have to wait 3 weeks before calling the advocacy office agian to check to see if my application was approved, then I have to get a slip of paper with which I can gain admission into the police department for fingerprinting, photo, and final documentation. God. What crazy business, huh? By the time we were finished, we'd spent 5 hours going to 6 different places. Welcome to Italy. Simone and Daniele tell me that they avoid official business as much as possible, relying on personal contacts whenever they can, to get their business done. The only restaurant open for lunch by 2 o'clock was a Chinese restaurant (Italian style of course, with Chinese risottos and raviolis). By the time I got back to my apartment, I was EXHAUSTED. I'm finally "awake" today!

Now about the apartment... My apartment is very nice - it's a studio apartment in a high-rise building. It's got a bathroom, entryway, and a main room with a dining nook in the bay window. It's painted in various shades of orange, so it's very warm in feeling. I got it completely furnished, including kitchen utensils, bedding, and towels. Very nice! Again, I got all this because Elena worked her magic with the manager of the building who gave me a discount and a monthly laundry service for my bedding. I have my address, but I'm not sure how it is written... I got a letter from Rome - some paperwork I didn't sign, and there was no zip code nor was there region... it was simply Kate Groves c/o Cossato School, via (road and number), Biella. I had to take a close look to realize that it really was stamped and sent through the post. ;-)

The school is VERY nice. So far I've only been observing the scuola materna (ages 3-5... skwOH lah mah TEHR nah), which is where Daniele teaches. Next week I'll observe the scuola elementare (eh leh mehn TAH reh) and perhaps scuola media (meh DEE ah), where Simone teaches. I'm amazed by the kids... there's mostly hearing children, but they ALL sign. Classes are taught bilingually - a teacher speaking Italian, and a teacher signing LIS - and teachers often combine both languages in the classes. For example if they teach new vocabulary, ALL kids learn how to speak the words and how to sign the words. Not all the deaf kids can talk, but some do.

A cute thing today - before I was observing, now I'm participating in classes when I can. After lunch is play time where kids interact, play... sometimes the teachers will take advantage of the time to do one-on-one work (for assessment and research). One of the 5 year old girls (hearing), named Giulia (Julia), took it upon herself to become my Italian teacher. :-) She took me by the hand, had me sit down, and told me to hold on one second (all in LIS) and came back with strips of paper and markers. She would pick a strip of paper based on size, pick a specific color marker, and sign to me what she wanted me to write. If I didn't understand the sign, she would ask one of the interpreters to gesture to me what she meant, and I would write down the word. It didn't matter if I was right or wrong (because she didn't always know the word herself!). Then she would sign bravo, or bene, and move on to the next word. When at one point Daniele and I were talking over her head, she picked up everything and gestured for me to follow her. We moved to the next table where we wouldn't be "distracted" by Daniele. It was very sweet to have that experience!

At lunch today (at the scuola materna), we were talking about Italian cuisine... what is considered "good" or not. I was telling them about how I'd eat food with Fabrizio and Rita in Torino during the happy hours (buffet at a set price with the purchase of a drink), and I thought the food was very good, but both of them would say, no it's not very good at all. Pretty much every time I'd eat something, even at the school, I thought the food was very good, but I was answered with, no, it's not really that good! So Daniele has taken it upon himself to tell everyone we talk with about that, and many have extended an offer some time during the 6 months for me to go to their homes for a real Italian meal. Simone will talk with his wife about me going next week with Daniele and his wife as well as Simone's parents to Simone's house for his wife's "specialty" from the south (she grew up in southern Italy), which seems to be some kind of fondue, but Italian style. I also met an old man whose deaf grandchildren are students at Cossato. He and his wife grew up in Sicily (he looks Sicilian - kind of mobster like, hehe), and he was communicating with me about family he has in the US, spelling using the old Italian sign alphabet (not the same as modern LIS at all!), so there was alot of gesturing and lip reading. He also said he'll talk to his wife about inviting me over for dinner Sicilian style. So it seems that the community is ready to stuff me silly so that I can go back to the US knowing what real Italian food tastes like. ;-)

Some of the people I've met have gone to Gallaudet for one year under the deaf Italian Fulbright program, and every single one has to say that they didn't like the food. One woman, poor thing, actually gained weight while she was there... she tried the Italian food provided in the cafeteria (she couldn't afford to eat elsewhere), and she described it as soggy, sugary, and just plain gross. So she ate salads (she described it as "those injected greens"), but because they didn't have olive oil in the cafeteria (Italians only use olive oil and vinegar for their salads), she used vegetable oil instead. It was the only thing she could "stomach" the whole time, but she gained alot of weight! Ick! I asked her to please not judge American food based on what she ate at Gallaudet! She laughed and said ok. Rita admitted she was surprised to see that I was thin because she thought all Americans were fat. I told her that many Americans are fat, and that I used to be a bit overweight, but after changing to an organic diet and starting to exercise, I lost weight. She was impressed. ;-)

You might wonder about my daily diet... I bought my own coffee and milk to make lattes in the morning, but I fast realized that goat milk is NOT good for lattes. ick. So for the time being I'm going down to the cafe on the corner for a cappucino or caffe or caffe macchiato with a whole wheat croissant with honey and jam inside (MMMM!!!!). After having coffee Italian style (espresso), I don't think I could ever go back to American coffee again. I'm even becoming an espresso snob here in the north - I prefer the espresso in the south, in Roma, which is "smooth" and without a bitter aftertaste. Lunch at the school is a primo (today was risotto), a secondo (plate of meat and vegetables - today was potatoes and turkey), and a dolce (at Cossato it's fresh fruit), topped off with a caffe from the vending machine. Dinner usually is the same idea, with a primo, secondo and dolce, but I'm lazy and just cook one plate, American style. ;-) Today was an appertivo of sliced parmesan cheese and a secondo of vegetable omelet. We'll see how I evolve over the next 6 months. ;-) As far as I noticed, only 2 of the students in the scuola materna are overweight, and one of them belongs to a family of bakers (so I have a feeling they really feed her alot of pastries).

Anyway, my fingers are tired, so I'm going to end this post until the next time. Hope this keeps you satisfied for the time being!!!

p.s. forgot to mention that Biella is a small city... reminds me of suburbs of Detroit in its size