Cultural Exchange

At dinner last weekend, Mimma asked her friend, Francesco, to chat with me in Italian for the entire night.

Though daunting, by the end of the night, I was thinking in Italian.

Francesco and I had an excellent conversation in Italian about wine, art, and coffee.

By "conversation" I of course mean that we spoke in word puzzles, building on my beginner vocabulary.

At one point I tried to ask if he could taste the difference between a €30 and a €1,000 bottle of wine. He thought I was asking him to buy a €1,000 bottle of wine.

We quickly cleared that one up with the help of an artist who actually spoke fluent Italian and English.

Living in an Italian household means that I'm constantly practicing Italian.

Friends from the community visit for dinner and I sit at the same table with them, fully immersed in the conversation.

Italy is known for its "slow culture" with food that is meant to be enjoyed over multiple hours and conversations that last late into the night.

There is an atmosphere of everyone working and getting a lot done without the toxic stress of now-now-now.

While at La Macina, I have been able to slow down and approach my writing in new ways. In the U.S. I get sucked into constant production, but here I steady myself, knowing that time is my friend.

Mimma and Duccio are advocates of slow culture. In 2013, they arranged the Slow Movie Contest in conjunction with the 50th anniversary of the Florentine film festival.

Eight filmmakers from around the world each stayed in a different Chianti town and had one week to produce a film on the artisans of their prospective town. The results were diverse depictions of slow life and art.

Mimma and Duccio also organized the creation of the Slow Road, a walking path that connects La Macina with Montefioralle and Greve.

Along the Slow Road are permanent art installations, sitting areas made of traditional terracotta, and artist studios.

By living at La Macina, I have a unique experience that my fellow Italian language classmates in Florence do not have.

They all live in apartments or Airbnb's and spend time with other ex-pats.

I live in an Italian home and spend all day in conversation with native Italian speakers.

When I do speak English, I'm collaborating with or translating for art professionals who speak English but not Italian.

I'm not only learning a new language, but I'm using it.

My confidence has grown since moving to La Macina and I now see myself applying for international jobs in the future where I will need to learn new languages.

Last week, Mimma began calling me into the kitchen to learn her recipes.

I'm a good cook at home in the U.S., but what the hell can I make that's half as good as Italian food?

So far we've made several dishes with names that I struggle to say.

Ossibuchi alla Milanese is a beef dish named for the ring of bone in the center of the meat. It's the only dish I've learned that uses a stick of butter instead of a tree-worth of olive oil.

Through cooking, I'm learning the value and history of ingredients. I have a healthier relationship with food than ever before.

The sauce pictured above contains olives, olive oil, tomatoes, and onion. The key to cooking is simplicity. . . and mouth-watering Italian ingredients.