By Giulia Tamai, Educator from Italy hosted at Sunbeam School, Varanasi
What to say about this amazing experience that led me to discover a totally different culture and Country!?
One question is still on my mind, a question that I found in a book that I was reading in India, a romance that won the Booker Prize on 1975, written by an English woman who married an Indian man: “can a foreigner soul grasp the spirit of a Country so fascinated and, at the same time, so different and remote?”
Regarding my job career as Italian teacher, I came here with many expectations and I can say that the mission is accomplished: I am taking LTA Italian class in the morning, I am teaching to hostel kids in the evening, so we had a real Italian/Indian cultural exchange during this time.
I developed many projects with Kindergarten section teachers, I prepared presentations about Italian History, I learned and drew Indian art, I observed language teachers (French, English and Hindi) during some lessons and sang many songs in the music room and then on the stage, during morning assembly.
In the meanwhile I also discovered the city of Varanasi, with the suggestive ghat and mandir, known to be “as old as time” and I traveled to some other cities as:
- Delhi, the capital of India, with his impressive Red Fort and the war memorial India gate;
- Rishikesh, with his beautiful mountains and waterfall;
- Agra, the city of the Taj Mahal, one of the 7 wonders of the world.
Besides all of that, I have to say was not easy to adapt in this environment, culturally and emotionally, but this kind of experiences are made to make you grow, be stronger and to find always a solution even when it seems impossible.
What I learned here is that you have to expect the unexpected, so, literally, nothing is impossible!
I truly believe, “Different continents, different cultures, but same heart” and, in the end, I think that love spread from our heart is the one and only key to open every door in this world.