The weekend

School has now oficially started. We celebrated it with a festivity called "Maritxu Kajoi" (read Marietchoe Kachoj/Mareetchoo Kagoj). The tradition goes that many people used to walk by this statue of Virgin Mary in a box whenever they went out for drinks. They considered her the one that kept them safe and decided to dedicate a whole day to her. So now on the first of October everyone gets dressed up, girls in Prom dresses and guys in tuxes, and goes from bar to bar celebrating "Mary in a box". We decided to join in the fun, put on our dresses and take the bus to Arrasate. We looked for Mary, got a picture with her and went from bar to bar. Stephanie and I had a supposedly Basque drink called "Kalimotxo" or something like that which basically is coke with wine. We got a stomach ache after drinking one and decided not to drink anything else the rest of the night. Our highlight was the fries stand (frietkraam)! We were very excited to have something Belgian that night, even though the fries came in a cup! They were pretty good too!! We left fairly early and took the bus home.
On Sunday we went on a hike. We climbed "Aitzorrotz". It was very steep and took us about 3 hours to get on top of the mountain and back. The view was beautiful and we felt quite accomplished afterwards. Be sure to check Facebook for the pictures!

Fri-Fru-teria

Na onze ervaring "om ter meest zeewater drinken tijdens het vallen van een surfplank" hebben we zondagochtend een nieuw voordeel ervaren van deze uitstap.. spierpijn! En nog niet een klein beetje ook! Onze armen en schouders waren zo stijf dat we elkaar moesten helpen met onze jas aan en uit te doen. Ahjaa! Die jas hadden we nodig om zondag eindelijkkk naar onze schapenwedstrijd te gaan. Het was maar frisjes maar voor 5euro te hebben betaald (dat na wat gepingel 3euro werd :p en we zo nog gieriger dan onze Noorderburen werden) hebben we deze koude doorstaan. Het weer is zoals jullie al wel merken zeer wisselvallig hier in het Basken"land".
Anyhowww na een maand hier te verblijven zijn we eindelijk begonnen waarvoor we gekomen zijn. Les geven in het Engels aan Baskische kindjes. Dinsdag werden we op onze scholen verwacht. De ene al wat later dan de andere en de andere dan weer korterbij dan de ene. :D We hebben nog geen echte les gegeven dat is ook niet verplicht "Whatever you like it's your practice" is hun motto. :D maarrr een van dees zullen we ons wel eens wagen aan het echte werk!
Maar waarom nu de titel "Fri-Fru-teria!? Kort bij de school ligt er dus zo eentje.. we hadden al een paar keer in de verte een zonnescherm met deze naam opgezien. Meteen alle hens aan dek om er eens te passeren om er een klein fritje met stoofvleessaus en zoete mayonaise te bestellen. Want nadat de kebabkraam 2dagen toe was en dan plotseling verdween stond het water al in onze mond bij het zien van een frituria! Jammer maar helaas Pindakaas ( kwestie van onze Hollandse vrienden er soms ook wat in te betrekken) Was het een Fruteria! :( En sorry.. 2 dagen (door ons!) vers gemaakte appelmoes is genoeg voor deze week! :D Wat de menu voor de komende dagen dus zal worden laten we jullie nog wel weten! Het is trouwens tijd voor onze lunch.. Eet smakelijk! x

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

Sheep

Yesterday we headed out early for an adventure: we were going to take the bus to Oñati for the international contest "sheep herding". It was our first time taking the bus so we were a little excited. When we got to Oñati we were greeted quite friendly by three men. We thought they were for sure the sheep herders, but once we looked closely at their shirts realized that they worked for the bus company. Nevertheless we continued walking once we heard music and saw a procession of children. We thought that this had to be the opening of the international event. The children were as cute as could be, all dressed up in their traditional Basque atire. (Check Facebook for pictures). We decided to ask a lady for what exactly was going on and figured out that the sheep herding wouldn't take place until next Sunday and that this was some sort of dancing by elementary-aged kids from all over the valley. We decided to stay and it was quite the event. The kids were cute and danced like they hadn't been doing anything else. I don't see us teaching THIS in PE for the yearly school plays!

Then today was our first day of school with the locals here. They are all very nice but don't say much yet. School is very different from what we are used to. Everybody talks amongst themselves and we were the only ones raising our hands to answer questions. Our schedule is quite relaxed to say the least. Today we had class from 10:45 - 13:15. Tomorrow will be from 14:15-16:30. Wednesday and thursday will be something like 9-13 and Friday is off. We do have to work out teaching twice a week but don't have all the information yet.

Feel free to leave a comment ;)

Eveline & Stephanie

Tocht door Euskadi

Sorry voor het alweer uitblijven van foto's en een blog maar we hadden een speciale gast. De chauffeur! Aka de vriend des huizes! Oftewel mijn Carlos uit België.. Jeroen Hamers! :D Dankzij zijn bezoek en de auto die daarbij hoorde hebben we de afgelopen dagen een ware trip door Euskadi gemaakt. Voor degene die nog steeds niet mee zijn.. Euskasdi is een verzamelnaam voor de 3 provincies Bizkaia, Gipuzkua en Araba. In ieder van deze hebben we de hoofdstad bezocht. Zondag zijn we naar San Sebastian geweest. Daar was de finale van de jaarlijkse regatta. Iedereen was gekleed  in de kleur van zijn favoriete team en verzamelde voor zijn stamcafé om daar weer wat te drinken maar vooral te roken. We loveee het rookverbod in België btw! :D Helaas hebben we geen roeiers gezien maar wel een leuke strand- en stadswandeling gemaakt om te eindigen in een o zo Spaanse tapasbar.. De McDonalds! :D De dag nadien was het weer school maar in de namiddag hebben we onze internetzoektocht verder gezet in het shoppingcenter in Vitoria. Om dan maar te besluiten dat het hier onbetaalbaar is. (3€/dag) Om onze tour af te sluiten hebben we dinsdag Bilbao bezocht. Een hele grote en mooie stad en een echte aanrader voor de shoppers onder ons ;) Vandaag zijn we met de klas de lokale beauty spots gaan bekijken. Zoals onze titularis Julia en onze pindakaas etende Noorderburen zouden zeggen.. HmHmm nou dat was echt wel interesting ;) en ja ook nu weer was onze chauffeur van de partij :p Helaas moet hij ons vannacht verlaten maar we kijken al uit naar zijn volgende bezoek!
HmHmm groetjes uit Aretxabaleta!

Euskal Herria

Aangezien we 1,5uur pauze hebben is hier weer een nieuwe "gevatte" ;) blog uit het zonnige Baskenland. Het Baskenland... laten we even onze kennis hierover verspreiden. Want ja.. we gaan hier naar school en leren dingen.. Ook al dachten jullie van niet :D Het Baskenland oftewel Euskal Herria bestaat uit 7 provincies. 3 gelegen in Frankrijk en 4 in Spanje. Deze provincies zijn dan weer verdeeld over 3 autonome regio`s. (Euskadi, Navarre, French BC) Nu waar het eigenlijk om gaat... In het Baskenland zijn ze nogal "nationalistisch".. Zo wordt ons toch verteld. Zoals jullie wel weten willen zij onafhankelijk worden van Spanje. De grote vraag is: Waarom? Wel ze hebben hun eigen taaltje, bloedgroep O, een speciale schedelvorm en nog wel enkele zeer "voorname" kenmerken. Zoals jullie wel merken zouden ook wij hun meteen de onafhankelijkheid verklaren! ;) Naarmate onze infosessies over het Baskenland vorderden en we verbanden legden tussen enkele gegevens bleek het Baskenland dan toch niet zo "nationalistisch" als we dachten. De 3 Franse provincies hebben helemaal niks in de pap te brokken. Zij vallen volledig onder de Franse wetgeving en die paar o zo "nationalistische" Basken die er wonen moeten er misschien dan maar eens over nadenken om te verhuizen naar een van de andere "Spaanse" Baskische provincies. 3 down 4 to go :D Voor degene die geen Engels kennen.. Er blijven dus eigenlijk nog 4 provincies over. Alhoewel.. De grootste provincie (in opp) die ook autonoom is, Navarre, is verdeeld in 2 kampen. In het noorden de Basken en in het zuiden de "echte" Spanjaarden. Dus deze provincie valt eigenlijk ook al weg in de strijd om de zo gewenste onafhankelijkheid van het Baskenland. Wat blijft er over.. ? 3 kleine provincietjes die samen Euskadi vormen. Even tussendoor.. ETA = Euskadi ta Askatasuna (Basque Homeland liberty) En ja inderdaad wij wonen in Euskadi.. namelijk in de provincie Gipuzkoa met als hoofdstad San Sebastian. Ouders.. maak u geen zorgen! De ETA pleegt alleen aanslagen op "echte" Spanjaarden. Hebben wij even geluk met ons voorlopig Baskisch paspoort ;) Misschien moeten we hier eens een andere naam voor hun Basken"land" voorstellen.. Baskengemeenschap? Baskenprovincie? maar BaskenLAND!? tsss veeeel te ver gezocht! :D Hier zouden ze nog wat kunnen leren van Elio di rupo en onze onbestaande regering.
Hoogachtend Stephanie en Eveline

The Office

A couple people have been asking us if we had too much school work to keep up with this blog. Well, not exactly. We just haven't done anything worth mentioning on a blog. Our week consisted of going to school from 9-1pm. After that we usually went to the library to get online and check our e-mails. Then we would ride our bikes home (it takes about 5 minutes because it is all downhill). After that we eat some lunch around 3pm and then we sit on our balcony, like two little old ladies, bathing in the sun and watching the people that walk by. By 5 or 6 we decide to go to our little "sidewalk" where we have some unsecured internet. So we sit there for an hour or so and then make our way back to the apartment to start making dinner. By 8 or 9 we have dinner, clean dishes and are back to boredom. At the school library we rented the series "The Office". Both of us hadn't seen it and it's a comedy. So I guess we couldn't go wrong with it. After watching 5 episodes straight, we realized we were losing brain cells. So then we decided to go to bed. This just happened to repeat itself every day this week. 

Right now Stephanie's boyfriend arrived and it's a nice change. Instead of just talking to each other we can also talk to somebody else. Stephanie and I have had some interesting conversations. I guess that's what living together does to you. When you are done talking about the usual things such as "what's for dinner?", "what's our homework?" we are left with: "SO, what do YOU think about religion, birth control, guys, relationships, family disorders, how to make food, how we make food different, where we buy food, where we don't buy our food, why we buy our food there, how families are so different from each other, how much money you save shopping somewhere else, why one eats her peas cold and the other one warm, ... etc" It's been interesting and cool to get to know each other like that. 

So right now we are out of "our" usual office and are sitting again on our sidewalk. We might as well call it our office! People have been walking by and I wonder what they must be thinking. The black cat usually keeps us company and we are entertained by people who try to drive through the tiny little streets without hitting the parked cars. If they did, people wouldn't care anyway. 

That's it for now. Hopefully next week brings many more adventures. 

Much love, 

Eveline, Stephanie and Jeroen