In Love with France, At Home In Italy

It can be a good thing for a French teacher to be on the other side of the desk--even if the classroom is the Italian countryside and the lesson concerns generations of contadino wisdom. I notice that Farmer G has far more patience with me than Marcello, a short guy with a tall ego who said, with a smile, "if you don't follow my advice, maybe I won't come any more." Marcello is right that we haven't always done what he said, but that was mostly a communication snafu. It is interesting to watch the mutual admiration tinged with a smattering of rivalry between these two farmers, one of whom is a fruit and earth moving expert with his own company. Marcello in a pensive moment I see Farmer G struggling, with a certain bemusement, to figure out how to explain to this so-called professoressa (moi) how to do things that to him are instinctive. For example, how to swing my little sickle, or how and when to slow-water the parts of the garden that need it, taking advan...