Back to reality after San Inazio
I never thought I’d say this, but I am glad most of the summer partying is over. I’ll probably change my tune after two or three days of resting, but July has been quite the month. Between the trip to the Basque Country and the San Inazio festivities in Boise, I’m out of steam.
San Inazio weekend was a little different from other times, when I would stop by the Family Night on Friday, watch the Boiseko Gazteak and Oinkari dancing performances on Saturday, and dance to Amuma Says No on both nights. This year, however, I didn’t see much more than the inside of the fronton for half of the festival. I played in the Boise Paleta Invitational for the first time, and what a great experience that was! Along with my partner (awesome Michelle Friebel, from Bakersfield), we won our two games on Friday, which got us into the final. Even though we lost to the blue team by one point (35-40) the next day, I’m still ecstatic that we made the cut. Other than that, Leku-Ona and the Basque Center were the chosen places to party at night. Or in the morning, if you happen to be with those crazy California people. Ugh. They’re tough.
Now, hours away from the month of August, it’s back to reality. I didn’t think it could get harder than me visiting my family and then returning, until last night, when I talked to my kids on Skype during their last day in Euskadi and saw them crying at the thought of leaving. Even worse was seeing my dad fighting back the tears. That, my friends, sucked. But it is what it is. Life turned out this way for our family and we can’t complain.
We have many things to be happy about in Boise: We learn Basque at the Museum, Basque dancing at the Center, we drink kalimotxos whenever we want. We use the fronton all year-long and make connections with Basques from all over the States to Argentina to Canada, and back to Boise. And we have Skype now. There is no excuse to fall out of contact with one’s family and friends. Best of all, nobody questions your “basqueness” this side of the ocean.
It’s a good thing I already came to terms with my identity a while back, otherwise I’d have been crushed this summer by a couple of people who basically told me I wasn’t Basque enough. My town of Ortuella is apparently too close to Santander (a bordering Spanish province), plus I speak batua, a “made-up language”, as opposed to Bizkaian Basque, the “real deal” (which by the way, I understand just fine thanks to daily talks with my friend from Berriz – you can’t get much more Bizkaian than that). One person even refused to talk to me in Basque and then laughed when I used the batua form of a verb. Very nice. Luckily, the overwhelming majority of Basque people are nothing but encouraging. Or maybe it was all fun and games and I’m just too sensitive.
In any case, when I really think about it, my kids and I are very fortunate to have both worlds. Too bad about the Atlantic Ocean in between.
Thanks for passing by: ↓
6 thoughts on “Back to reality after San Inazio”
Leave a Reply
This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.
That damn ocean makes a lot of things difficult…and it is always hard. But you are lucky to have both…we have talked about that! Oh and who cares what they say about your Basqueness…just remember…what they say about your Basqueness sucks and it sucks the same when people put down your efforts to speak…such as how the accent sounds.
That damn ocean makes a lot of things difficult…and it is always hard. But you are lucky to have both…we have talked about that! Oh and who cares what they say about your Basqueness…just remember…what they say about your Basqueness sucks and it sucks the same when people put down your efforts to speak…such as how the accent sounds.
You talk pretty…in any language!! Jaja!!!
You talk pretty…in any language!! Jaja!!!
Hehe… You are too nice!
Hehe… You are too nice!
True, we can’t complain, Chico!!!
True, we can’t complain, Chico!!!
Basqueness… jeje nice new term to think about. Yes, I WAS really sensitive with this kind of attitudes that I have lived from ‘BASQUE’ people. Nowadays I laugh at them!!!
Let’s meet one day with Skype Henar and we will just share our experiences about these ‘prejudicious’ (is it correct? or is it a new word too?) situations. You will laugh at them too soon 😉
Basqueness… jeje nice new term to think about. Yes, I WAS really sensitive with this kind of attitudes that I have lived from ‘BASQUE’ people. Nowadays I laugh at them!!!
Let’s meet one day with Skype Henar and we will just share our experiences about these ‘prejudicious’ (is it correct? or is it a new word too?) situations. You will laugh at them too soon 😉
Jabier! What a great idea, I’d love to chat on Skype. Luckily, I’m way better now at laughing at those (prejudiced, hehe) attitudes now than I was a couple of years ago, but they still piss me off.
Jabier! What a great idea, I’d love to chat on Skype. Luckily, I’m way better now at laughing at those (prejudiced, hehe) attitudes now than I was a couple of years ago, but they still piss me off.