Basque Country Live

I got the feeling i made so many friends since I’m here! It’s really nice to go somewhere new and just automatically meet people, just by going to places. It makes you very aware of your social skills and it gives you a nice opportunity to set up a fresh network of friends. It’s not that I have something to run away from in my other life in the Netherlands but in a way you feel like you’re starting all over again, which is kind of fresh really!

This meeting new people is good for people I think. I citated this from a website that talks about loneliness:

‘For a variety of reasons, many people spend the majority of their time at home, isolated from social interaction and coping with loneliness. This includes seniors and stay-at-home parents, as well as people with debilitating injuries, diseases or disabilities. Loneliness can also affect caregivers.’

You see, it’s not such a good thing not to meet anyone, and here, really, you make friends very easily, like me and all the other Erasmus people did! And you know, it doesn’t even matter if the friendships are life lasting or not.. They might be, you never know. From some people you can just naturally expect less than from others. The thing I really want to say is, it has been great here and I want to thank all people I met here, cause they made the difference!

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A traditional Dutch Sinterklaas poem:

Nicholas, I beg of you,
Drop something into my shoe,
Something sweet or sweeter.
Thank you, Saint and Peter!

Put your long red mantle on,
St. Nicholas, good and holy man,
Drive your sleigh from Amsterdam
And find us quickly if you can.

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Know what’s funny? Before I came here, people told me: ‘Oh, you’re going to southern Europe, people are very polluting there!’ Well, I wasn’t born on Mars so I knew a little something about the cultural differences in the ecological aspect. It’s for a reasong that they call us and the Scandinavians ‘Eco freaks’ here.

On the other hand, they were a bit right. I can still be stunned if I see someone in a public place, where there’s plenty of trash bins, just dropping his rubish on the ground without thinking. In our clean little country it’s just rude to do that! People might even tell you something, and you don’t want to do it in front of a policeman!

But I think a slow shift is coming up over here, it will take a while to get it into the minds of people I think though. in Arrasate for example they have these big bio diesel gathering points, where people can drop their used cooking oil. Great stuff! I never thought of that, but since people are quite fond of oil here, it’s not such a bad idea. And they use it too, you know.  In kitchens you see these smutty, greasy glass jar filled with oil. Way to go Arrasate!

Another thing they do correctly is that they seperate their trash quite neatly. It nearly confuses me sometimes but they do a good job. Well, I wished I could think of more, but I haven’t really seen much more.

It’s a shame, cause especally here, Basques have so much to lose. But maybe they take nature for granted sometimes, since it’s there anyway..  For example the food; the ground is so furtile and rich here, you could grow anything.. from cold country stuff like potatoes and carrots, to kiwi’s and oranges. And I know that they realize that Basque farm products are brilliant, but hey, Eroski has it all, neatly packed and sliced, easy peasy.. Let’s hope that in the future people here will realize that a bit more. There is some work to be done here Basques!

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Yesterday I was just walking on the streets in Arrasate, minding my own business, when my nostrils were invaded by a familiar smell.. Is that weed? But I thought: Hey I’m the Dutch guy here, and clearly I’m not smoking! Who is that?’ Well, just some guys, having a smoke in the streets.. That’s is not even allowed in the center of my town due to a bye-law!

But this is Arrasate, so apparently it is okay. Thereafter, I went to a bar with some Basque friends, only to be confronted with the same damn smell! ‘In a bar?!’, I asked them. And yes, nobody seemed to be bothered by the joint rolling youngster at the bar. Another thing which is not done in the Netherlands. Okay, since the smoking ban you can’t smoke anywhere, but even before that.. Smoking weed in a bar was not done. For example, the bar I used to work had you kicked out instantly!

What a surprise, small villages tend to be more conservative, but in the same time there’s a feeling of anarchy. And EVERYBODY does seems to do it! I guess the ‘legalization’ in the Netherlands proved effective, cause I think we don’t find it that interesting for that reason. While here it’s illegal, but everybody does it and no one seems to care about it happening.

So when homesick in Arrasate as a Dutchy, just close your eyes, open up your nostrils and feel at home.. Welcome to Arrasatterdam!

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Last Saturday me and my French friend were at my place, thinking what to do. It was a sad, rainy Saturday in our little, industrial Arrasate. The rain seemed impossible for us to avoid.. We checked the forecast for all places we could imagine, but everywhere it was raining! From Valencia to Cape Town and  from Buenos Aires to Arrasate. Okay, so “no outside programme for today”, we concluded.

So what do you do then? We were really looking forward to do at least a little something, all seemed better then hanging around at home. We started looking for places that could be fun to visit with this weather. And what else can come to your mind at that moment than Leinz Gatzaga?!

Leinz Gatzaga is a tiny hamlet, leaning on the side of a mountain, a couple of kilometres up from Eskoriatza. This border town of Gipuzkoa has it all, or not, depending on what you’re looking for. Leinz Gatzaga’s well kept old centre, which is practically the whole town, kept a silence that makes you fantasize yourself away some hundred years ago. Pretty little streets, tiny churches and cosy bars around the squares.

We entered one of them, is was a lucky guess.. To be honest, it didn’t look all that promising from the outside; plasticised, dirty white doors and an ice cream sign makes you wonder why we entered it at all! But it turned out to be just a bit more than we’d expected. The small room crowded with people eating appealing dishes on tables with those typical old fashioned table cloths, old men and women playing cards and having a drink, good jazz music and just a warm atmosphere!

Lucky us, one table was free! We sat down, ordered ourselves a fish soup (suppose there wasn’t much more on the menu) and a good Rioja. Not the worst way to spend your Saturday afternoon! The soup appeared to be great, filled with chickpeas, monk fish and clams it was a considerable meal. We finished with some home made flan, coffee and an essential patxaran. Good times on a rainy Saturday in Leinz Gatzaga, quite recommendable

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Since there’s not too much time left before I leave this place, I’ve got something to complain about.. Pulpo, squid, or ink fish, as we call it in the Netherlands. What’s with it?! I mean, I’m trying to be an open minded guy. so i would trie most things that I get offered.

Here I’ve eaten morcilla, stomach, tongue, pork cheek(see other post) and yes, squid. Now I have to admit that the taste wasn’t even that bad, sort of rubbery chicken, although opinions on that vary..

The point for me is that in this case I prefer not to be confronted with the looks of the animal involved. I realize I’m being a spoiled brat that’s used to perfectly clean food from supermarkets. However, this squid really looks awful to me. LOOK!

Did you? Well, honostly, do you feel like chewing one of those tentacles now? I don’t anyway.. But people here and in Spain are just crazy about it. They even have special restaurants, called pulperias.

PULPERIAS, for heavens sake, pulperias! That would be a squidery, octopuseryor a ink fishery!

A sidreria okay, a pulperia, no way!

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Eating fish is quite a popular thing to do in the Basque Country. It might have a relation with the sea, that makes up for the northern border, but I haven’t figured it out completely. But what’s for sure is that Basques enjoy their piece of tuna, cod or snapper.

A fine tuna pintxo, cod pil pil or whatever the pintxoneers (pinxto makers, just invented it..) here feel like putting together, fish enjoys a well respected status in the Basque diet.

For that to happen, I guess you need people to take that fish.. Yes! That must be it, the fish live in the sea, Basques eat fish, so somehow, the fish comes to the Basques! And that’s what all these small villages are for! Must be my egg of Columbus..

I went to a few of those places where they make all this happen, fishing villages you call them, and they are inhabited by fishermen and women. Traditionally, the men take care of the fishing part and the women of the on shore activities such a repairing nets.

Women repairing the nets in Donostia

Because nowadays people often feel like drifting off from reality, fast lives, traffic, office jobs, etcetera, they occupy themselves with things that make them feel basic. And yes, some of them go fishing. It looks quite relaxing to be honest, you just stand a bit, watch the sea, and just wait… All these hobby fishermen, cause somehow it’s always men(of a considerable age), appear to be bothered by nothing. Just enjoying the fresh sea breeze..

However, this sea breeze might be too fresh sometimes. Because when I started talking to one of them, the guy got a bit over excited and threw out all his social isolation out on us! He was just so proud of his latest catch, that, while bombarding us with unintelligible phrases, he did not satisfy with just showing it.

The ever so quiet fisherman, agitated and all, simply had to stuff that red snapper in my hand. Muchas gracias tio!

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Only three more weeks left before I’m heading back home, and so much left to do! It kind of stresses me out; I have places to visit, friends to spend time with and what not.

The bad thing about places is that they become better when you get to know them.

How many of these villages can I still visit?

That goes for the Basque Country as well. In the beginning we had to depend on other people to see places because we didn’t know anyone, but now we’ve made friends we can visit and we know about more places we should go to. But where has the time gone we had in the beginning?

It’s a shame the weather has changed so rapidly cause I would really like to go hiking in the Pyrenees for a couple of days, but it’s wiser to keep that for summer. Then there’s the French Basque Country which should be worth visiting, Navarre and the Basque part of la Rioja, numerous lovely villages and other beautiful hikes that just need to be done..

But I’m never going to squeeze that in four weeks, and even if i had time, my wallet wouldn’t approve all this. So I have to make choices, not my greatest talent.. Painful times, but on the other hand, even if I had done all, mentioned above, I would have found other places to feel bad about for not going there.

How many of these mountains can I still climb?

In the end I think I should just enjoy the time here, not worry about what and what not to see, and just have the best time with my friends here. But who to see when and where?

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After I had been attending my only college for the day, poor Erasmus student I am, I went to the Spanish class I’m doing. I hadn’t been there for a week or two because of all my visitors, so I was motivated to get back to it. Okay, I know I should be learning some Euskera while I’m here, and honoustly, I am! I can say ‘ ‘kaitxo, zer moduz?’, order ’sagardo bat’ in a bar and some more basic stuff.

However, Spanish might help me out just a bit more in the future and is A LOT easier to learn. As I was saying, I went to my language school in Arrasate to see if I hadn’t missed out on too much, and if I could still know what they were talking about. But what happened? My professor appeared to be sick at home.. Bummer! I was kind of looking forward to get started again, and I didn’t feel like waiting for him to get better.

The guy who told me though, happened to be the teacher for the higher level class (I started at level one, cause I hadn’t ever had Spanish lessons). He told me that I could have a trie in the second level class if i wanted.

And it was brilliant! The level was higher than in my other class, but in the end I went home with a more satisfied feeling than before..

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We’ve done many traditional parties since we’ve been here, and I would have loved to bring my three visiting Dutch friends to one, but unfortunately I couldn’t find any nice jaiak, happening when they were here. Therefore, we had to find a place to have fun or create our own party somewhere. That’s just what we did!

After an awesome day in Donostia (sights, pintxos, cider and txakoli), we headed for Arrasate to spend our last night together. Unfortunatley, the calendar said it was Monday. and what can you possibly do on a Monday?!

All our Basque lagunak(friends) were panikcing over deadlines, so we invited our Erasmus friends. Cause Erasmus people aren’t known for having the tightest schedule, as I experience myself! But as the mood was kind of weird the whole weekend, we decided to thematize the party as a dress-up-as-dumb-as you-can-party. Great fun, most people showed up, and they had even bothered to put on something stupid.

Somehow people loosen up a bit when they dress up, as if they can hide behind a different personality. They act, and that can be for the good. Everyone was dancing to my wacky, fast Romanian music and having such a great time!

My Dutch friends and I made us some dinner at two o’clock at night to keep the energy level steady for some more fun, and it worked. We ended the festivities around 6, cause we figured our neighbours would like to have a peaceful breakfast. Still wonder if they managed to sleep at all that night..

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