Private Italian Lessons
My Italian conversation 'class' on a Monday has gradually shrunk, morphing into me chatting to two lovely Italian people (my teacher & a student teacher) and, every so often, another mature-age Dane or two. (Attendance is optional for everyone except me.)
Usually the class starts with teacher no. 1 pulling out a bunch of worksheets and asking what we'd like to discuss today, but then in the decision making process our conversation digresses and then two hours have passed and the class is over.
Conversation topics covered:
Life in Albania
The chances of a good life as an immigrant in Italy
Immigrant literature - Pap Khouma & El Ghibli
The great apple variety in Danimarca
Sweden's immigration laws regarding young married couples and Syrian refugees
The ridiculous lack of light in Danish houses (lucky we talked about this - the student teacher had been convinced that the previous tenant of her flat had simply taken all the lighting with them when they moved out)
Appropriateness of a casual aperativo for the landlord
The special meditative atmosphere in Toscana (turns out mature aged student no. 1 is a meditation instructor who is taking the class so that she can move to Firenze to open a meditation centre in this spiritually-charged, Renaissance-laden atmosphere)
Whether your personality changes when you speak another language
Italians expressing exasperation at the lack of speech-related gesticulation/ conversation feedback when conversing with Danes
That in Denmark, if someone actively avoids eye contact, they don't want to speak to you (so lucky someone decoded this cryptic social norm for us)
Dirt-floored bars in Berlin that are only really popular in the summertime
There's one class left, so this is to be continued