Newcastle Friends at 19 North Terrace: Another trip to Italy (Part7):Parmigiano Reggiano

On Wednesday, I had to skip classes in order to visit a cheese factory where the famous Parmigiano Reggiano is made. Probably factory is not proper word to describe the place. In Italian, it is called "caseficio (cheese maker)". In this region, they argue that a Parmigiano Reggiano is not made by the process of factory automation but made by people: It means that it is made by craftmanship. Of course, total cheese making process is sensored and monitored by modern equipments. For instance, a room temperature is controlled by highly sophisticated monitoring system.
However, actual making process is done by skilled and long-trained craftmen.
This idea can be summarized by the phrase: "il Parmigiano Reggiano, non si fabbrica, si fa": They are probably proud of how they keep their tradition.

Anyway, I woke up at 6:00 to get ready and catch a bus to the suburb where an African lady at the Modena Information office had made a reservation for me to visit a caseficio at 8:30. I arrived at the bus station at 7:15 and bought a ticket and got on the bus.
According to the lady at the information, the bus takes me to the spot which is a 10-minute walk to the caseficio. However, the bus terminated at a hospital. So, I waited there, wondering when a driver starts an engine. 5 minutes passed. I finally asked him.
"No, this bus terminates here. If you want to get to this road on the map, you should go straight on. Walking."
"This is Italy. I have to accept people's mistake." I thought: What the African lady explained was not exactly correct but it is not important. She was very kind. That is what matters. (Most Japanese hate mistakes, criticizes people who give services if they do wrong as if they have all rights to complain. I hated those reactions. So, I am here. It happened. It is better to think this way. Everyone is happy.)

I walked to the caseficio and arrived in time. There were a group of employees of Swiss Insurance company, who were also waiting to see the cheese-making process. A guide was unfortunately in Italian. So, it was my morning lesson. I skipped school today. So, it is a chance to practise my listening skills.