Blog #8 Unforgettable memories & experiences at Iqbal Masih

During this entire program in Rome, Italy, I had an amazing opportunity to work with Italian teachers and children from diverse backgrounds and ethnicity at the public school called Iqbal Masih every twice a week - Tuesday early in the morning and Thursday afternoon. Iqbal Masih School is located internationally and its name after a young Pakistan boy who was forced into bonded labor in carpet factory at the age of four the equivalent of 12 USD and when he was 10, he escaped from his boss and started to fight against a child slavery and speak out for freedom and schools for children from all around the world. But two years later, he was murdered by Carpet Mafia on his way back from Church on Easter Sunday. In response, there are many schools followed by his name have established all over the world in order to help fight for Iqbal’s Dream. The school which I have been working with was located in the first Southern outskirts, in the neighborhood called Villa de Santis where is an hour bus ride from the UW Rome Center. This school is composed by three buildings and consisted of total 37 classes with 650 children of infants and primary students under one principal. In addition, around 10% of pupils are immigrant children and Roma children. The philosophy and mission of this school is encouraging children to feel themselves as world citizens and teaching them to promote positive relationships and accepting different cultures; in other word, intercultural education. Recently Iqbal Masih School and few other schools across the border create a project to have better communication between schools and exchange education information. This project formulates diverse activities to involve students from each school and let children to actively participate in the project such as competition of drawing a banner of each school or writing a good story to win a prize. Again, about two weeks ago, each school teacher’s meeting was held in Milan in purpose of exchanging education resources and sharing an experience from each school. Also Iqbal Masih School invited a teacher from partner school in Pakistan and telling children a story of Iqbal Masih and teaching them how to write Iqbal Masih and their name in Pakistan. In addition, the school invited an expert from child labor to talk and discuss about child slavery issue. Other than these, there are more activities that the school has planned for their children. Moreover, Iqbal Masih School has a higher parent’s participation and they created an organization to have better communication with teachers and parents.

For the past eight weeks while I was doing my service learning at Iqbal Masih School, I worked with 5^th grader on Tuesday from 9:30 am to 12:00 pm and 1^st grader on Thursday from 1:30 pm to 4:00 pm. The fifth grade classroom is located in Via Balzani and the first grade classroom is located in Via Ferraironi which is the main building of Iqbal Masih School. On the very first day of school visit, I was very excited to work with Italian teachers and children in Italian public school and I went to school with a full of butterflies. When I first saw the school building from the outside, the image of school was overlapped with my primary school in Boondang, Korea because the atmosphere and the physical appearance of both schools are similar. When the school image was overlapped with my primary school back home in Korea, I started to recall my own memories of classrooms, desks, chairs, teachers, and friends of elementary school as much as I could. In the beginning of my service learning, there were few interesting things about Iqbal Masih School. First, it was really interested to me that there are two class teachers in one classroom - morning teacher and afternoon teacher and each class teacher is specialized in certain subjects but not all. In addition, children have a separate instructor for Religion class. Second, they do not have a fixed time table for classes. Once I asked about class schedule to class teachers whom I worked with, they said their time table are set and showed me their time table. It seems that they have a set time table but to me, it is more like flexible because the time table is divided by the name of the teachers instead of subjects which means children might have different order of classes everyday and it is very dependent on class teacher what she or he wants to teach first and I had an experience that teacher was teaching different subject to children when I was in a classroom every week on the same day and same time. Next, unlike Korean and American school system, in Italy, when teacher and children are assigned in one class, they stay with each other until children graduate or move onto higher education. I think this system is better than changing classmates and class teacher every year because it helps both teacher and student to have better understanding or communication of each other; moreover, teacher can provide improved supports for each child since they have known children for awhile but at the same time, there was a question came to my mind that ‘isn’t that the school unconsciously limiting children to make a new friend? Isn’t that preventing children to learn how to adapt new things and people from outside?’

Before I began my service learning, I presumed that there will be a gap or discrimination between immigrant children or second generation and Italian children that they will not get along in terms of socialization because I had a preconceived notion which came from my class readings, guest speaker’s lectures and class notes that Italian considers an immigrant as “Others” and tends to exclude them from their society. Again, I heard that Italy is a country for old people and not for younger generation so Italy does not really interested in education for young people in Italy and that leads a lot of drop outs rates from the schools; therefore, I thought children in Italy are studying under inadequate education system or not receiving a proper education but every week when I visited the school, teachers and children at Iqbal Masih changed my negative perspectives on Italian education to positive way - Teachers have been working so hard and want to provide better quality of education to children and help them to experience as much as they can during their childhood, and also teachers are working so hard on creating an opportunity for children to have international experience by teaching English at school, sharing experiences, languages and main tour sights of other countries between immigrant children who are from different parts of the world and Italian students. Furthermore, the school invites guest speakers from outside the country. In my opinion, children at Iqbal Masih School have a strong and good relationships with each other no matter children have different skin color and cultures but I have noticed that there is a little gap between Roma and rest of the children. It seems that they are getting along well and no problem at all but yet there is a wall and I think it might because of less interaction between Italian & other immigrant children and Roma children. When there is an activity which has to do with groups of two or more, unconsciously children are excluding or including Roma children to their group at the very last. However, interaction between teacher and Roma children are positive. In addition, teachers put an effort to make sure Roma children are following and understanding all the instructions. While I am in Rome, I learned and still learning about their history, cultures and living environment and have a chance to interact with Roma children at school setting. From my experience, the one thing about Roma children interested me was when I found that they do not come to school on regular base, heard about their bad living situation from class teachers, and saw that they are barely reading and writing their name. These strikes make me to learn more about them and understand them thus my final research paper is focused on integration of Roma children in Italian Education System and my arguments are ‘Why they have poorer academic performance than Italian student?’ and ‘How important education is to them now and future?’

During my entire experience and observation at Iqbal Masih School, I have seen a few things that I thought it would be better if all the other schools follow a system in Iqbal Masih and/or I want to follow if I become a teacher in the near future - first, children and teacher stay together for the entire primary years because every year, teacher, children, and parents do not have to deal with spending time to introduce each other, telling a same story about children or family again and again every beginning of the school year. Moreover, in that way, teacher and student, even parents can build a strong bond which I really appreciate. Next, it is great that children have all their notebooks from first grade with them through the last year of primary school and when I saw one of my fifth graders notebook, I can see all her works from first grade and there is her pictures of each year so I can see her growth process which I think is very cool and more about written memories of childhood. In addition, as I am student who is learning education and want to become a teacher in the near future, experience at Iqbal Masih was really grateful resources (teaching skills and techniques) for myself and gave me better ideas on what my future should be and will be as a teacher who working with children from different backgrounds. Again, while I am in school, I talked and interviewed my class teachers from first grader and fifth grader to get a better understanding of the school system in Italy and children in my classroom. In addition, I had an opportunity to sit down with Roma student (5^th grader), who just came to school last year and does not know how to read and write, in the classroom and help him to learn, write, and read words for half an hour. It was really very challenging for me to teach him a word because he could not read without my help even though we have practiced to pronounce the word ‘Papa’ for several times. Again, after few minutes, he just got frustrated and started to cry and all he wanted to do is just coloring pictures. I remembered that his class teacher said that usually Roma children are grow up with no structures and live very freely like a wolf so once they come to school and sit down and do class work, they got really stress. By gathering all the information of Roma from class teachers, lectures from my classes, readings, and experience, I want to continue to learn more about Roma children in terms of education.

Our service learning ended last tuesday (March 1, 2011) and it was really hard to say good-bye to children, teacher, and the school... because the children at Iqbal Masih School are my first children that I ihave nteracted with in school and actually I taught them for an hour for one time and they are very adorable and lovely students ever so far! Special thanks to Iqbal Masih School teacher and children to give me unforgettable memories and unique experiences while I am in Rome, Italy ♥


ciao,

Last weekend trip in Venice

Unlike yesterday (Feb 26), Sunday morning in Venice was very cloudy, gray, and windy. All of us woke up and rushed ourselves to get ready because we had to check-out by 11:00a.m which we originally thought wasn’t until 11:30a.m. Like this, our day has started as busy as a hen with one chicken. Then we took a waterbus to Piazza San Marco and decided to have a brunch there. Once we got there, the place was very lively that people from all over the world were either participating by dressing up or enjoying the atmosphere of Carnivale by taking pictures with people who dressed up. Even though the sky in Venice was gray and raining most of the time, carnival itself is very sunny day! During Carnivale, Venice is super packed with people that it is hard to see the floor and I was jostled in the crowd and let go off his hand. It is worth it to experience and I would strongly recommend going to Venice during Carnivale although the place is overcrowded. It is so much fun that you cannot experience in other places but in Venice.

All of us had different appetites; therefore, we decided to split into groups and meet up later the day. So Marissa, Luis and I decided to grab street food but we ended up getting a pasta and risotto which were the worst foods that I have ever tasted! Again, the service was not that good at all. After finishing our unsatisfied brunch, Luis ended up throwing up everything and I had several bites off my plate and decided to order other food. On a slightly different note, after an awful brunch, we went to get our face painted at the same place we had yesterday but with different face paintings on our faces. Once I saw the mirror to see my painting, I felt much better and finally I was able to start my new happy day - all of us did. Then we took another Gondola ride which goes along the Grand Canal which follows different path from yesterday’s. It was much longer in time and finally I was able to see the Rialto Bridge from the gondola! Wait, I thought the gondolier is singing ‘O sole Mio’ for us while he bows and rows a stroke but in reality, the gondolier refused to sing a song and said that very few gondoliers sing while they are rowing a stroke and most of them are just rowing a boat without singing. When I heard that it was a little bit disappointment but we really enjoyed our gondola ride and we took a lot of pictures of us and scenery.

Next, we visited and did very quick tour of Palazzo Ducale and Doges Palace. Both of them were very huge and building itself looks very royal and able to see how wealthy people lived in there by looking at the ceiling, furniture, and paintings inside the building. Then we moved to San Marco Campanile Tower. The view from the top of the tower was amazing and so beautiful that I can see different parts of Islands, people in costumes, and architectures. It would be much nicer if the weather was good. By the time we went up to the tower, it was raining, very windy, and cold that my whole body was shaking so badly. After visiting the tower, we went to San Marco Basilica. It was so crowded that we had to wait for 15 minutes to enter the entrance. Since today was the last day of trip and due to cold and bad weather, all of us were tired so we did a speed tour of Basilica. That’s the end of our tour in Venice then we met up with the rest of our group and grabbed some sandwiches and headed back to our hotel which is Lido Island. Once we got back to our hotel, all of us got our backpacks and hurried to go to the airport and then finally we got back in Rome sweet Rome♥ Oh! Our flight got delayed for an hour so we came back in Rome after the midnight. The weekend in Venice was awesome and we had so much fun!!

Graffiti - Artist Statement

In contemporary Italy, there are still border between Italian and non-Italian. Immigrants are still being ignored or marginalized and mostly not accepted. So by the drawing of barbed wire, I was representing the division or the line between those two groups of people. Nowadays more and more people from different countries move into Italy (globe) and bring their own languages. Also since people are coming from different parts of the world, obviously there’s a language barrier and that makes immigrants difficult to get involve and deeply socialize with Italian community. Again, many people from different backgrounds come and settled in Italy, the identity of Italy itself is ambiguous and unclear. So in Italy now, there is a lot of question marks on their self identity “who are Italian?” The eye represents both immigrant and Italian point of views on one another. For Italians, they give immigrant a weird or strange looking and considered them as an “Others” However, for immigrant’s side, they are crying for being away from their three mothers: biological mother; the mother land, and the mother tongue and being treated differently as a stranger who emotionally did not get accepted by Italian. In addition, tears for having different skin color or background from locals. Even though immigrants are mistreated or looked them as an “Outsiders” they love the country where they weren’t fully accepted by the people and also the country. After interviews in Piazza Vitorrio where fairly equal amount of immigrants and Italian reside together and listen to both Italian youth’s view on immigrant and immigrant’s thoughts, I felt that future Italy will be more welcome and open to immigrant so there will be no more barbed wire exist between immigrants and Italian. Therefore, I draw a scissors to cut the wire.

The weekend trip in Athens, Greece

Luis, two girls from CHID program, and I went to Athens, Greece for the weekend. All four of us were very excited for this trip because Greece is our dream country to visit in Europe and finally we made it! Getting off from the plane we were exited at the airport, we saw very clear blue skies with chunks of white clouds. My first impression on Greece was “I’m home” which is Indonesia and not only me but also other people thought that they were home, too. Of course, not all parts of the Athens look alike to how my home looks, but there is a similarity which reminds me of home such as nothing antique but simple square buildings of shops and markets alongside the streets and several brand shops and famous café that I saw in Indonesia but not in Rome. People in Greece are very friendly and most of them speak English very well so we had no problem at communicating and asking them a direction. In addition, because of their friendliness and fluent English with charming sales technique, I ended up buying a lot of souvenirs which I usually don’t do. In addition, unlike people in Rome, people in Greece wear very casually and some of them remind me of my grandmother back home.

As expected, Greece was all about white and blue. I was impressed how city looks so white and think that it is very beautiful when I saw it from the top of Acropolis. Again, being as a student in Greece is very beneficial or can save money or spend more money on food and other stuffs because all the museums or main tour sights are free for student. Therefore, we did not spend any money to enter the Acropolis and museums but spent on foods which are gyro, Greek style of pastries, and Greek traditional dishes and souvenirs. While we were in Greece, the weather of Athens was mostly rainy and little bit of sunshine but the good thing was it was not that cold and luckily when we got to visit the acropolis, which is the main sights to see and visit, it was very sunny. After this trip, I thought that it would be better to visit Greece during the summer but Greece was already beautiful itself no matter the weather. By the way, we were planning to go to island for day trip but when we asked people in Greece to recommend which island we should go, and none of them recommended instead asking us “why do you want to go to island? It’s very cold” We decided not to go because we heard there is an 80% chance of rain the following day which we planned to visit any island near Athens. So we ended up exploring Athens more and had lots of Greek foods, especially gyro for 2 euro.

So today (Feb 20, 2011), we got up at 7:30 in the morning, check out, take a cap to the airport, and finally flew back in Rome, home sweet home. By the way, it was hard to say good-bye to Athens, Greece. When I think of my trip in Greece, five things popped up! They are rain, wind, gyro, dogs sleeping in the middle of street, and souvenir shopping. We got back in Rome Center around 2:00pm and as soon as I got home, I unpacked my stuffs and get ready to go to church (Korean Church) at Via Venezia. When service was done, I went to my favorite salad place near Piazza Navona and got chicken salad and ate in my cozy room looking at pictures that I took in Greece and recalled the memories in Athens. Lastly, this trip was full of excitement, experiences, and unforgettable memories with amazing peopleJ

Blog #6 Interviews at Rione Ponte

Rione Ponte is one of the districts of Rome distinct by Pope Benedict XIV in 1743. This Rione includes several main tour sights - Piazza Navona and Campo de’ Fiori where one of Rome’s best and recommended places to see and cannot ignore to visit while you are in Rome, especially as a tourist. The term of Rione is very new and strange to me at first because I never thought Rome as a combination of different parts of districts which has their own story and background but one as a whole. After I was assigned to my Rione and looked at the map, I was surprised that the places where I live, often go for a night walk, and my favorite salad restaurant are actually inside my Rione, which is called Ponte. Similar to what I had done in Piazza Vittorio, this time I interviewed 3 people - one from resident of Ponte and two from non-residence - at my Rione area. Since my assigned Rione is somewhat part of my comfort zone in Rome, already have my favorite streets which I often passed by, and my favorite salad place is located, I just decided to go to that salad place and interview one of friendly waiters whom I already know and had a several conversations before and look for other interviewees near Piazza Navona. Prior to asking a few questions that I prepared for them whom I will interview, somehow, I assumed that he/she must be the resident of Rione Ponte because the people I approached were not a tourist but workers in Rione Ponte. Later when I heard my interviewees are not a resident of neighborhood Ponte, I was surprised and realized how I guess and presume to see the people even before I talk to them; moreover, the world in my way with my own color of glasses.

After the pouring rain during the day time, the night of Rome looked darker than the other nights that I had in here. After rain stopped and ate my dinner around 9:00pm, I went out to Rione Ponte and headed to the salad place where I often go and eat. When I walked into the restaurant, waiters were welcomed my presence as usual and one of them came towards to me. Fortunately by the time I got there, it was less crowded so I was able to ask several questions regarding on Rione Ponte and listen to their stories. His name is Mihir Kumar Mandor. He does not live in Rione Ponte but he works in that salad restaurant for 13 years. Also he added that before he lived in this neighborhood but later he has to move to other Rione because the price and rents are getting higher and higher which is very expensive that he cannot afford to live this region anymore. From what I heard from Mihir about Rione Ponte is that this area is very expensive to live because Rione Ponte is the central part of Rome where has lots of historic and famous places such as Piazza Navona, Pasquino which is a statue of liberty, and near Pantheon. Also while he was talking about Rione Ponte, he pointed out one place and said that the prime minister of Italy owns a house near the restaurant and he often comes to Rome even though his head house is in Milan. When I asked about the population of Rione Ponte, he replied me there are a lot of tourists, especially from America and both young and elder people are living and coming to visit the Rione Ponte. In addition, he said there is a lot of American students come to Italy to study for few weeks and/or months. He really liked this neighborhood although he no longer lives in this area. After a conversation with him, once again I have realized that Ponte is very tourist place where majority of population during the day and night are tourists.

After a joyful conversation with Mihir, I exited the restaurant and turned right and headed to Piazza Navona which is less than 3 minutes walk. Unlike the other day, Piazza was very quiet and I saw very few people walking around near the fountain and I saw lots of seats were emptied in restaurants along the Piazza Navona compares to the other ordinary nights and it is because of the soccer game. It was weird to look touristic place without groups of tourists or people but the beauty of Piazza Navona remains same and still shines itself. I stood in the middle of Piazza Navona and looked for a person who looks like a resident of Rione Ponte. There was a guy who had an eye contact with me, so I approached to him and introduced myself and started asking questions on Rione Ponte. The guy that I interviewed called Aderiano and has worked in one of Piazza Navona’s restaurants for 15 years. When I asked him whether he lives in this Rione or not, he answered directly with an astonished voice that only rich people can afford to live here because the rent is too expensive. In addition, majority of residence of Rione Ponte are rich people, Politian, and/or actresses. When I heard that for twice from Mihir and Aderiano, I looked around the neighborhood and suddenly it looked different from few minutes ago just before I talked to him. It is very interesting that how one’s point of view varies when he did not know about the fact and knows - the gaps of views and perspective are huge.

During interview, Aderiano told me one interesting fact that before, rich people used to live outside or far from the center of the Rome in huge villas whereas poor people compacted in central area, which is now Rione Ponte, but around 10 years ago, it became opposite so rich people started to move into central area and finally occupied it and therefore, poor people has to leave and move to other places since the prices are getting higher because of the rich people. When I asked why does that shift/movements had happened, he could not able to answer that. Just like Mihir, Aderiano said Rione Ponte is always fully packed with tourists during the day time and night time. Moreover, all generations can be easily seen in this area, especially in Piazza Navona. He added that he sees a lot of people near this area because of the richness of the history of Rome and few of its historic main tour sites are located in Rione Ponte. Lastly, he really likes the Rione. After interviewing him or getting new information on the Rione which I did not know, my viewpoint of my Rione was completely changed and people who live in Ponte look different to me.

It is easier to find a person who is a non-resident than looking for a resident. Interestingly every place that I went and talked to people who are working inside, they were all non-residence. During my entire process of interview, I found interesting things that are workers in restaurant, café, and bar are all non-residence but owners are the residence of Rione Ponte. Also majority of owners are not in their places. So here, I am wondering that “rich people” who owns restaurant, café, and/or bar, are they have a job other than running those businesses? If yes, what kinds of jobs they are having and in what Rione do they work? If not, what they are doing because it seems majority of them are not in their own businesses neither at day time nor at night. Finally, I found a person who is a resident of Ponte. Mauro is the owner of the bar near Piazza Navona. He has lived in Rione Ponte for 39 years. When I asked about his Rione, he said that Ponte is one of the best places in the city of Rome as well as very tourist place - Piazza Navona, Campo de’ Fiori, and close to trastavere and St. Peters. From him, I got new information on the Rione that I couldn’t hear from Mihir and Aderiano. It is that there are a lot of tourists, especially young people of both Italians and foreigners during the night time. From the month of March through August around 10pm to 2am, the streets are full of young people and they just walk with a glass or bottle of wine. In addition, he mentioned that Ponte is a nice place to meet people from different countries so some Italian guys come to the Rione and meet young American or English women. Again, there are lots of bars and pubs along the streets. He really likes his Rione and when I came back to my room and go over the notes that I took while I was interviewing 3 people, I found out that when I asked them to tell me about Rione Ponte, two people who are non-residence told me how expensive the price and rents in the Rione but Mauro did not mentioned it at all. Also from Mauro’s face, I can read that he has a pride of being a resident of Rione Ponte.

It seems to me that Rione Ponte has its own history and migration/movement of rich and poor people in this area and tourists itself and historic places and residence of Rione Ponte all together are making their own characteristics or color and build a community of their own Rione. Furthermore, make their area more distinctive than other Rioni. Also I feel like I gained a lot of information and understand better on Rione Ponte at the end of this assignment. Actually I walked into Rione Ponte everyday but more as a tourist who brings camera all the time and busy taking pictures of what I see and either overwhelmed or impressed by the statue of the monuments or the architectures, so actually I did not notice and do not care about the Rione and how expensive or what kinds of people live in this area – but now I do! In addition, I really enjoyed the beauty of night while I was doing my interview at near Piazza Navona. It was a good and interesting introduction for Rione Ponte and I am looking forward to explore more of this area and talk to people and listen to their story based on Rione’s history, background and more information.

Ciao,

Blog #5 Naples vs. Rome

Naples is one of the big cities which is located in Southern part of Italy and the place where the first pizza has been invented. In addition, people who are interested in street arts, Naples is the place where they must visit because it is the place where graffiti work has started in Italy and later spread to other cities. I was excited and looking forward to go to Naples because I have read and learned about the Southern parts of Italy for the past few weeks and this is the time I can relate my readings in personal. Moreover, I traveled to several Northern parts of Italy the weekends before, so I have already experienced its atmosphere, people, and architectures so now I am ready to get expose myself to the Southern part of Italy and empirically able to compare or see the differences for the first time. After two hours on train, we got off and the first thing that I did was questioned to myself “Am I still in Italy?” Naples looks completely different from where I live, Rome. Even though I have learned and imagine how it will be look alike, what I draw on my mind of Naples was totally wide of the mark. Somehow I imagined that physical appearance of Naples will be look similar to Rome but ethnicity of the people will vary and more residences of immigrants but in reality, even physical appearance was different. From what I saw when I got off the train was high skyscrapers which look crumble and little bit haunted maybe because of the weather, the color of the buildings, and the atmosphere of surroundings - it was gray and cold - whereas Rome was very beautiful and I was overwhelmed by the grand and delicacy of different styles of architectures on the very first day when I got in Rome.

Unfortunately the day before we left to Naples, I had a really bad cold so I had no chance to meet Alex Valentino who is Neapolitan and hear the history of Naples prior to visit there. Therefore, unlike other people from my group, I got in Naples with less information and history background - It gave me different impressions on the place and I was so shocked that there is garbage on every streets and no one cares or clean them. Other than garbage, one thing that caught my sight was while I was walking down the streets; majority of household’s laundries were hanging outside the windows and flapped by the wind which I can barely see in Rome or at least near the UW Rome Center. By looking at the laundries hanging outside, I felt that now I am visiting a place where actual local people live in their own way because Rome is a very tourist place where the real shape of its life could be hidden or covered by the tourists. Again I felt that the picture of Naples, none of them were artificial or it is unaffected but real. After realizing this, I was able to see the Naples is beautiful in its own way and attractive enough the way it is. Next, the population or groups of people who live in Naples were exactly the same how I expect - I saw a lot of immigrants, especially Black people and rarely Asian people, while I was in Naples and most of them were selling jewelry, brand imitation bags, or toys in the streets. Moreover, during my trip to Naples, I have noticed that stores, pizzeria and markets close earlier than the ones in Rome and unlike Rome, I feel like Naples has lack of night life. What is mean by that? Around 7:15pm Manka, Luis and I went for shopping because prices in Naples are cheaper than in Rome. Therefore, we went to the main streets where there are many shops but some of them were already closed or closing by the time we got there so we had to hurry. In addition, from my experiences, most of the people whom I met in Naples were neither very nice nor friendly.

As I have said previously, Naples is totally different from Rome in appearance, people, and atmosphere; thus during my entire trip, I felt that I am in a completely different country and I remembered I said to someone from our group that “I feel like I am in India right now” I do not know why but at some point, image of India came into my mind and overlapped on what I saw in Naples; therefore, I started feeling that I am in India although I have not been to India before and I have only seen several pictures and videos from travel channels. I think it is because of the buildings; people themselves who mainly have darker skin color; large road with less transportation; and less people walking on the street during the night time or it could be just my reflection on my own perspectives influenced by movies or travel channels. In addition, I saw a lot of graffiti in Naples and it is easy to find in the streets and most of them have been used as tools for political messages whereas in Rome, most of the graffiti works were more likely to be considered as just an art piece. Again some architectures of Naples and how metro have been decorated are very modernized and artistic itself. So I would say that Naples is the place where coincidence of old and new are exist just like how Italian and immigrants mixed well together in the place.

In sum, when I arrived in Naples and on my way to hostel, I talked to myself that if I have to choose a place to live in Southern parts of Italy, I will not pick Naples but maybe other cities but at the end of this trip I am willing to live in Naples and/or want to visit again someday. Ironically my first impression on Naples was very dirty but at the same time, Naples looks beautiful the way it is. According to my observations, people in Naples were more active and able to see more of them during the day time whereas in Roman were active during the night time. Overall, I had enjoyed our official class trip to Naples and I have seen, learned, and experienced a lot! The experiences that I had in Naples are unforgettable and I am pretty sure that it has changed my perspectives and lens of how I see the world. Lastly good to be back in Rome!


ciao,

 

Blog #4 Opened? Or Closed?

“When you are an immigrant, many doors are closed.

Well, yes, some, some are open – but they are hidden. Without help, I can’t find them”

Edgar

                                                                              

Seven months after I was born in Seoul, Korea, my family moved to Indonesia because of my father’s business and for that I grew up there and all of my education backgrounds - before I attend to college in the United States, had taken place in Jakarta, the capital of Indonesia. The place where I spent my entire childhood is one of the developing countries and still considered as the third world country for some people. My family and I lived in Indonesia for more than 17 years as immigrants with a temporary residency. Which we have to renew it every five years; but coming from the country where it has a better economic situation and money values, actually our family had better living environment than average local people in Indonesia and had a better life than in Korea if we would just stayed there. In addition, immigration policies and laws in Indonesia are pretty much similar in Italy but I had experienced that living as an immigrant in Indonesia, especially from a country where better economic situation, immigrant has more opportunities in general and strong enough to influence the host country’s communities. My family and I had never felt neither; we were segregated or mistreated by natives. Nor what doors are closed for us, who are the immigrants. Of course, there are some doors not even opened to foreigner but there is always a way to open those doors and it is quite easy to access or to be found. Also in Indonesia, immigrants can become a teacher in public schools, bus and taxi drivers, and doctors or dentists in Indonesia whereas in Italy those kinds of jobs (public sectors) are only for people who have citizenships. One of my big opportunities as living as an immigrant in Indonesia is that I went to private schools from kindergarten to high school – Korean School and International School. Moreover, my upbringing was with parents who are very passionate and care about my education and future, schooling has never been questioned. It was a part of my life and it is my present and it will be my future. My parents and I believe that with higher education; it can lead one to a better job and a better quality of life; moreover, change the world. Therefore it seems going to preschool, elementary school, middle school, and high school, and then university is a very standard step to take which I have gone through and still in a progress. Again, I believe that people from all over the world - except the third world countries and under developing countries - think how I think and do what I do because I thought that is a norm that everyone does and at least people whom I know are being taken through this step but I guess I was wrong…

I found out an Italians in general have different opinions on education. When I had a conversation with Paola, who is the first grader’s class teacher at Iqbal Masih (public school where I’m doing my service learning) and at the same time when we had our guest speakers from Italian education system. So now, a few questions have popped up in my mind; if they think different from what I think, what Italian thinks about education? How important education is to them? Are Italians following the same steps that I have taken? I remembered when I asked Paola about what brings her to become a teacher and her opinion on general education system in Italy during my visit on last Tuesday (Jan 25, 2011), she smiled and answered she did not know she is going to be stand in this classroom right now and teaching children for more than 20 years. Also she added that she has never thought or want to become a teacher but in Italy, people have to decide their track whether science or arts or etc. at their age of 14 and at that time she decided to learn Russian and English. After finishing her college and when she didn’t know what to do, her father asked Paola to apply for a teacher position because it is better than doing nothing after graduation. Also the reason why she chose to learn languages is that she doesn’t want to study science, that’s it! When I heard Italians have to choose their track at a very young age, I felt little bit of harsh on education system in here and also felt sorry for children who go to school in Italy because it seems to me that the government forced them to choose and/or set their life. Well… I have a very negative view on this system because I think a child has a right to dream, explore, and experience various things at least when they are in school stages and there should be no limitation nor interference. Recalling from my childhood, I had a lot of dreams that I want to become or study or see and I couldn’t pick for one… so I can’t image the government made a choice for me yet I don’t know what I want to do or become. Fortunately, Paola was okay with the education system in here and happy with her choice and she really enjoyed being with children and teaching them. By listening to her education history, I knew that Italian education system is quite different from the United States, Indonesia, and Korea. I felt that education meaning itself in Italy is more like just a preparation to get a job whereas education in the United States, Indonesia and Korea, where I came from, is more about open our sight to see the world, understand, and broaden knowledge to become a better person and citizen in the world. Maybe that’s the reason why people in the United States and Korea are more likely to go to college and attaining high school degree than Italy here (Manka’s lecture). Furthermore, even though empirically it seems Italy, the United States, and Korea go by similar school stages but system insides are vary.

On the same day that I heard about Paola’s education background, in the afternoon, we had our guest speakers from Italian education system talking about immigration and education in contemporary Italy.

Now, Italy is experiencing a mass immigration coming from all different parts of the countries; especially from Eastern Europe, Northern Africa, China, and the Philippines (http://www.childrencrossingborders.org/ italy.html). In 2009, Italy was the fourth European country for immigrants said by one of our guest speakers. Among these immigrants in Italy, some people have already achieved citizenships but some people are remained undocumented and waiting for their time to apply for residency. Just like other countries, Italy has certain doors opened towards immigrants and some are closed. While I’m in Rome, I have never seen a bus and/or tram drivers or any pharmacist are immigrants but all native Italians. Like this, public sectors are only opened to natives or a person who has a citizenship which is hardly to get. Meanwhile, immigrants are allowed to work in restaurants or any private sectors which are not funded by the government. Moreover, I was surprised that when one of our guest speakers talked Italian limits the percentage of immigrant/foreign students in school to 30 percents because until now I have never seen or heard of any school which they limit the foreign students and even though I didn’t go to public school in Indonesia, I had a few Korean friends who went to Indonesian public schools and any of them told me that their schools are accepting only certain amount of foreign children. I think School should be the place where open to anyone who wants to learn. Otherwise can it be called as a public school? Well… the education policy itself creates a closed door to immigrant families and students. In addition, since public schools are going to accept only 30 percent of immigrant children, some children have to go to another school which is further from their home and that creates inconvenience to immigrants. Italian education policies seem to be unfair and considered as a closed door to immigrant but there are some opened for them. In 1994, Italian law has decided that all students whatever their documentation, must go to school (Manka’s class). In other words, immigrant children who are staying Italy illegally have an opportunity to learn and be educated. In addition, no matter immigrants or natives can pick the school. Here, another few questions came to my mind; Are immigrant children able to follow the instruction which is not in their home language? If not, is there any program or assistance for them?

Similar to the United States, Italy starts accepting immigrant children in their school, but Italy have less structured program for immigrant children to help them learning Italian whereas in the United States, student whom English is not a first language, they had to take an English test before they are assigned to class and if a child shows lower language proficiency than average then he/she should be placed in ESL class until he/she can speaks, writes, and understands the certain level of English. From my own experience and observation from service learning site, in Italy, they don’t have a language test which the United States does, but in classroom, class teachers are helping immigrant children for their understanding of Italian and making sure they are following the instructions. For example, one day during my service learning, the classroom that I was assigned had a story telling time and at that time, teacher noticed that few children do not understand the story at all, so teacher stopped the reading and picked few children to act characters of the story so by acting or movements children start understanding the text. Again, on another day, when I was in 5^th grade classroom and there is a boy who is from Roma and until age of 10, he didn’t go to school; thus he didn’t even know how to write his name. The class teacher told me it is very hard and challenging for her and a boy himself to teach and learn. So although he is in her classroom based on his age, the class teacher give different assignments to him with extra care and also she told me that twice a week, there’s a volunteer who come to teach him writing and speaking skills. Like this, living as an immigrant in Italy, immigrant children may feel frustration and have less opportunity due to language barrier but at the same time, there are more and more doors are opening toward them such as an organization or volunteers. Looking at on different perspectives, in my case, although I’m not an immigrant in the United States but as an international student, I see many doors are closed for me. Since the University of Washington is a public school and I’m considered as an outsider, I had to pay high tuition fees which my one quarter is one year of residence. Besides that, just because I’m not an American, I can’t apply for a financial aid and even work study is forbidden; moreover, I cannot work out of school and have to be fully enrolled at least 12 credits per quarter whereas these things do not apply to people who has a residency or American. Every time when I pay my tuition fee or registration day, I continuously feel that I’m never getting equal opportunities what natives get. But there are some opportunities are open to me such as studying abroad, priority of residence hall and others which are considered as open doors for me.

In conclusion, I remembered that Paola told me that people in Italy do not feel that they need to go to college because some people who do not have a bachelor degree, they still can get a nice job and earn a lot of money than people who went to the universities; therefore, many Italians think that going to college is wasting time and money and rather start working right after high school. Then she told me that how her friend who ended up not going to college but make more money than she does and while she was saying this to me, I have noticed she shakes her heads for several times which gave me an impression of prostration. Furthermore, from my casual conversation with local people on education, I recalled that majority of people decided not to go to university and although people who had higher education, a lot of them are being unemployed after they graduate or ended up doing something but not related to their major or what they have been studied. Like this, youth in Italy is ignoring or does not recognize the importance of education. Next, Italy and the United States have similar but different education systems within policies and approaching method to immigrants. It is important to increase the awareness of education and people in Italy should more think about their future and their youth.


Ciao,