{"id":428,"date":"2018-03-13T17:01:20","date_gmt":"2018-03-13T16:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.humansofparcoappennino.it\/?p=428"},"modified":"2018-05-08T09:46:16","modified_gmt":"2018-05-08T07:46:16","slug":"the-name-of-food-valentina-valestri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.humansofparcoappennino.it\/en\/2018\/03\/the-name-of-food-valentina-valestri\/","title":{"rendered":"THE NAME OF FOOD – Valentina Valestri"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rosano – New York<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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While talking with eyes lost in the memories, she soaks \u201cbucaneve\u201d biscuits in her cup of tea which she prepares every morning just like her grandmother did for her as a child, she smiles and, with wide eyes, she recounts her adventure.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

New York has always been my dream. I departed in 2013 to work as an au pair. I had the very first encounter with the difficulties during the training period that the agency had us do: my English was purely scholastic and far below the level of all the other people I met during those hectic days. Nobody could understand me and I didn\u2019t know what to do but communicate with gestures. I felt so ignorant!<\/span><\/p>\n

The family that hosted me was wonderful: father of Italian origins, Danish mother with two little angels under my wings, 2 year old Sofia and 9 year old Elisa. Both parents were very busy at work and I had to follow the little ones in their daily rites, from breakfast, to school, to afternoon activities and to bedtime.<\/span><\/p>\n

I stayed with them for two years. The visa for au-pairs is not extendable, so in the last period I attended a beautician school that allowed me to get hired at the studio I work for today. The co-workers are very welcoming. The center\u2019s clients are people belonging to a high and very particular social class: they are celebrities who regularly use our SPA which opened a division also in Los Angeles.<\/span><\/p>\n

What I love most about this city are people free to live together, mixed without prejudice or racism and the dynamism and speed with which things change, a very clear contrast with Rosano.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Rosano everything has a name: tortelli and pizzetta of Lucia, Massimo’s salami and Aldo’s cheese are a warranty. You know who produces them, you know the story, the supply chain, you get the feeling of “home”. I often ask to send me food packages with these products. when Mom comes visiting she brings a suitcase full of \u201cBucaneve\u201d(a brand of famous Italian biscuits) (here, I only found them last year in a small store where they are sold at 6 dollars a pack), cheese, salami, small pizzas and tortelli. I need to feed on my land and feel a bit at home.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/a> I miss the window of the house from which I can see the Stone (Pietra di Bismantova), the green of the meadows; here I only see a brick building when I open the windows. I miss living at the slow pace of our areas where nothing or little changes. I miss my grandmother, taking care of the hens, I miss the duck that runs through the courtyard and then ends up on our table. I miss mom, even if we talk every day and she follow all of my adventures. But I don\u2019t think I’ll be back to live here. When I return my first need is to find the flavors and fill my sight with the people I love the most. Once this need is satisfied, I feel the immobility asphyxiating me. A contrasting feeling: on one hand I miss my land and in New York I look for it and on the other I am scared and I flee it.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\t\t\t