Ciao a tutti,
Yesterday I got a call from Elisabetta Missinato, Italian teacher and tutor extraordinare here in Los Angeles, and a friend. Some of you may remember that great interview with her on the Filippo and the Chef radio show wherein she recited a poem in Italian and I translated in English.
If you haven't heard it you can go to our archives at www.FilippoandtheChef.com and hear it, it is one of my favorite shows so far, because of her.
At any rate, she called me up and asked me if I wanted to participate in her Italian class. She said she thought I would enjoy it and it would be a treat for her students to speak to other Italians, in Italian. She is always thinking of her students and coming up with clever ways to help them learn, and they love it, that much I know.
I frankly wasn't feeling that great but I would do this for Elisabetta and asked her for the details. She said that we would all be playing Briscola, an Italian card game, and that we would be meeting at an Indian Restaurant about 20 miles from my house.
None of this really made sense to me because, as far as I am concerned, Briscola is a challenging game for people who are familiar with Italian cards and t
he language, I can't imagine for people who are not.These are some of the key cards for Briscola, the Ace, the three and the King, in that order, in any suit depending on which suit the Briscola happens to be. I'm confused already.
I also didn't get the Indian restaurant connection, but I figured there must be a logical explanation. So, I got myself up, ready and out the door.
Now, as you may have been able to tell from the interview, Elisabetta is a very funny girl, who loves to have fun and who loves to make her students laugh and have a good time while learning. It didn't dawn on me until half way to the "Indian" restaurant, that it was April Fool's Day and Elisabetta might be playing a joke on me.
In Italy it is known as Il Pesce D'Aprile, and is arguably a bigger deal in Italy than here in the States.
One of the ways Italians play tricks on their friends is to ask them, "Did you go to (such and such a place?)" Or better yet, they send their friends to places that don't exist, or to events that aren't really happening.
I thought to myself, "She got me!" I started to reflect on all the clues she tried to give me, making it as ridiculous as possible so I would get it. She probably figured, "if you don't get it, then you deserve to be fooled."
Firstly, she has these events all the time, but she never calls me and invites me. Secondly, they are going to play Briscola, right. Thirdly, it was going to be held at an Indian restaurant, when I know she is always serving Italian food and usually cooking it herself.
I couldn't believe she had done this to me, and I even told her I wasn't feeling well. At this point I tried to reach her but her phone was off. Presumably, the event had already started and she was busy "teach
ing Briscola to a group students who weren't there and at a restaurant that doesn't exist."I thought to myself, "Will I laugh when I discover the truth or will I be angry? How can I be angry at Elisabetta?" So, I kept driving, mainly because I just knew that as much of a trickster that she is, she wouldn't let a trick go far enough to hurt somebody. No, not Elisabetta.
Well, imagine when I arrived at the address she had given me of 8048 West 3rd St, Los Angeles what I saw? An Indian restaurant called Surya India, just as she said. But wait, it was closed.
I parked in case I might have missed something from the street, still wanting to believe this was really happening, and I walked to the front door, and it was closed indeed.
But inside there were five or six tables full of happy people playing Briscola! How funny is that? I was so happy to see them all. I knew it, I just knew it, but it was kind of funny anticipating whether it was a Pesce d'Aprile joke or not.
I walked in the restaurant quite re leaved and quite amused, still not understanding everything but at this point ready to take it all in. How much fun it looked like everyone was having, speaking Italian, laughing at each other's card playing mistakes, etc.
And there was Elisabetta, in the middle of it all going from table to table explaining techniques and strategies to some, rules to others, and to still others, how to tell the cards apart and what value they have.
She had graphically designed a clever visual guide on paper with the images of the Italian cards that explained the values etc. When I finally sat down to play myself, I used that paper for my every move.
I think I might have won one hand, but that was it, which prompted someone to say, "Filippo, you must be lucky in love." Well said, in Italian, there is a saying, "un detto," that says, something to this effect, "Fortunato in amore, sfortunato nel gioco," (lucky in love, unlucky at games) or vice versa.I consider myself lucky period. In this case, I think I just wanted to let the students win, that's all it was, since this was really all about them, he, he. That, and the fact that I am still trying to figure out this game.
Elisabetta upon seeing me gave me a big hug and a kiss and said, "come with me I want you to meet my new boyfriend," and took me into the kitchen.
His name is Sheel and he is the owner of Surya and he is half Indian and a quarter Italian. Now it ALL made sense and the Italian/Indian connection had been established.
Soon after I arrived the wine was opened, we all played Briscola and then we ate a delicious Indian meal cooked specially for Elisabetta's students by Sheel himself.
What a great afternoon.
I made sure I asked everyone if it would be okay to take their pictures and post them to the blog and they all happily agreed in their perfect Italian they had learned and each in their own way.
"Si," (yes), "va bene," (it's fine), "basta che mi prendi bene," (as long as you take good pictures of me), "li voglio vedere prima," (I want to see them first).
That last comment came from Elisabetta.
My father was a language professor who among a few other languages, taught Italian, of course. He was part of a team of teachers that rotated each class teaching crash courses in Italian for those people going to work in Italy.
I remember how everyone of his colleagues always disagreed with the way my father taught the students. My father taught with lots of fun and laughter. He was the strictest and most demanding teacher and yet the most fun at the same time. The other teachers were just "serious," as they thought they should be.
In the end my father was the one who all the students loved most, learned the most from, thanked most sincerely, and kept contact with for years until his passing.
It was so good and refreshing to see some of the same concepts being brought to life by Elisabetta right before my eyes on this April Fool's Day. It seems to me that the only fools on that day were those that want to learn Italian but weren't there.
...All the students playing with Italian cards and playing Briscola, laughing and learning. What could be a better way to learn?
Brava Elisabetta, you have a good thing going and I hope and trust your students know it. And judging from the crowd, the hugs and accolades they reported to me, they do know it.If any of you reading this post are interested in learning more about private tutoring in Italian or these events she holds, don't hesitate to contact her, she even does lessons over the phone, so call her or write to her at:
iLoveItaliano@gmail.com.
I look forward to being invited and attending another event, whatever game she has us play, whatever nationality of restaurant it is, and April Fool's Day or not, she makes it a perfect day.
Alla Salute!
Filippo
P.S. I thought it would be most appropriate to post this video I found on Youtube.com of Italian men in an Italian bar playing Briscola in Cetica di Arezzo. It seems that they are using cards that are an adaptation of the traditional Italian cards with the suits matching the American suits. Still the deck still has 40 cards total. If some of you know how to play, see if you can follow. This is so Italian with wine, food, and lively conversations always coming into play. (In Italian)
