Surfing

We still haven't done very much here, but today was quite the experience. We both went surfing for the first time. Basically, for me (Eveline) it was all peer pressure... I am no daredevil by heart, never was, never will be. But, being the good friend that I am I decided to go on this adventure. Sure I want to go into breaking waves, going under, being dragged by the current of the grotesque ocean and feel like an overly soaked, dripping seal. I would love it!
So we went.
We were picked up by our school's PE coordinator. Luckily he had a van that fit him and five girls. It looked like the kind of van you would sleep in as well. It was very nice of him to take us. Using Spanish, Basque, English, hand motions and any type of noises we tried to have some sort of conversation with him because his English was very limited.
When we got there we had to wait around for a while until we could go into this one room, 'wet dog'-smelling area. We were given a wetsuit and everyone started changing. Boys and girls alike. We looked around for some privacy, realizing there would be none and started changing as well. They told us "The zip goes in back" so that's what we did while we struggled to get this tight-fitting piece of clothing on (probably worn by a billion other people before us). When I had it on, it was so tight that I really couldn't breathe well. It felt really tight around my neck. One 'teacher' guy started pointing at me and laughing, making circular movements with his hands. Suuuuuureeeee, I had to be the one to have the suit on backwards. MY "zip" had to be in front! So there we went again. Struggling to get it off, pull it inside out again and put it back on the right way. I was out of breath before I even got on a surf board!
After we did some serious practicing in the sand, drawing make belief surf boards and paddling away on them, we finally went into the water. The current was strong and the waves seemed big to us, even though the guys kept saying " no, no, is no big wave, is small". We tried and tried, did our best to stand up on the board, fell over, drank sea water and went back to face the waves. After ten minutes my arms felt like jello. It wasn't easy for sure, but it was fun. Our teachers seemed to have fun as well. I am sure they were just laughing in our face and making fun of us because we looked ridiculous and screamed every time we tried to stand up and the board went from underneath us. But they were helpful and did their best to teach us well.
We went back after an hour and a half or so, soaked to the bone, salty and extremely tired. The trainers made a joke about not having a key to the door but finally let us in. Still nowhere to change properly, we did our best with towels and being flexible to get our clothes back on. We even might try this again.

Tonight they are having 'San Miguel' festivities here in Aretxabaleta. So far we have seen people in traditional clothing with the flutes and the drums and now we hear Madonna singing in the background. Tomorrow we are going to watch an International competition of sheep herding.
Oh right, and Monday it's back to school!

Wet greetings from Euskal Herria

Eveline and Stephanie