It Should Be Called "Liz in País Vasco"

I've been here in Bilbao for almost 2 months now, and I've been realizing more and more every day that País Vasco really is not Spain. Or at least the Spain that I experienced before.

 This part of Spain isn't what you would think of when you think of Spain. It rains a lot, and there's no flamenco in the streets. You don't eat tapas here, you eat pintxos. You don't drink sangria, you drink txakoli. The traditions are very different from the rest of Spin.

Many people (including myself, before I came to Bilbao), don't know much about the history of this region of Spain. It's very political, and if you want a detailed explanation, you can click  here and check out this video about the Basque country. (Side note-that video makes it look super violent and controversial here. Sure, sometime I see the occasional protest, but I feel as safe here as I do anywhere.)

Basically, the Basque people want to be separate from Spain for a variety of reasons. Some may say they have good reason, for example, the Basques were around before many other people groups in the Iberian peninsula. Many Basques have a very strong sense of pride and this is obvious everywhere in País Vasco, or Euskal Herria.

These are some of the biggest differences I have noticed about the Basque Country vs. Spain

1. The language

    There are a few regional dialects in Spain. For example, they speak Gallego in Galicia, and Catalá in Catalunya. However, if you speak Castellano (the Spanish we learn in school), you are still able to pick up on some of what is being said in Galicia and Catalunya.

But if you think you can pick up Euskera by knowing Castellano, you are dead wrong. Euskera, the language spoken in País Vasco, is one of the oldest languages in the world. It's pre-Romanic, and cannot be linked to any other language, which gives it a very unique sound. This is an example of someone speaking Euskera.

  I don't hear it too much in Bilbao (my school teaches in Castellano), but travel to any small pueblo and you will hear it in abundance. However, I have picked up a few words, like "kaixo"-hello (pronounced kai-show) and "eskerrik asko"-thank you, and "agur"-goodbye.

During orientation, they gave part of our welcome in Euskera. It's interesting because the pronunciation is generally the same as Castellano, but it's like hearing Spanish and not being able to understand a word.

2. Lack of Spanish Flags

    I think there may be one Spanish flag in all of Bilbao, and it's on a government building. It's much more common to see the ikurrina on balconies, in stores, and on buildings.

In the same vein, I never see anyone wearing jerseys from Spain's national football team. Even though they won the World Cup. It's all about Athletic Bilbao, who only recruits Basque players.

3. Basque-isized Spelling

    Calimocho-1/2 red wine mixed with 1/2 Coke. In Basque-Kalimotxo

    Chorizo- type of sausage. In Basque-Txorizo

    Chocolate-same as in English. In Basque-Txokolate

Pronounced the same, but spelled totally differently.

It's interesting because when you go to the grocery store, all the labels are in Castellano and Euskera. Talk about a niche. 

4. Anti-Spain/Pro-Basque country displays

    Many people know that País Vasco has it's own "terrorist" group, ETA. They haven't been as active since the bombing of the Madrid airport, and have recently declared a cease-fire. Many of ETA members have been arrested, and are jailed in Madrid, Paris, and other locations around Spain.

Commonly seen as a flag

Graffiti in Gernika

This flag is common throughout País Vasco. It means that they want the Basque prisoners returned to País Vasco instead of being jailed in other cities/countries.

You also can see a lot of graffiti similar to that around País Vasco.

5. Government

    While País Vasco is not legally recognized as it's own country, they do get some special treatment. They have their own police force, and can make their own laws. This is the reason that most schools in País Vasco teach in Euskera. 15 years ago, the Basque government mandated that all teachers needed to learn Euskera. Since many teachers didn't know Basque because of Franco's oppression during the Spanish Civil War, it was a huge deal. 

These days, most kids in País Vasco speak Castellano, Euskera, and either English or French.

Another side note: most cities/towns in País Vasco have Castellano names, and Basque names/spellings.

For example:

San Sebastián-Donostia

Bilbao-Bilbo

Guernica-Gernika

I'm not sure when or why some towns are called by which name. You often hear people refer to San Sebastián as Donostia, but you rarely hear Bilbao called Bilbo.

Delicious pintxos in Donostia

So these are just some of the basic examples of the differences between País Vasco and the rest of Spain. I am definitely not an expert on Basque culture, these are just some observances I have noticed. Any questions, just ask me. Or just come visit!

Originally published 11.22.10

Clases Particulares

As any Auxiliar de Conversación knows, that 700 Euro/month stipend does nothing more than pay your rent and get you bread and lentil soup. After ruling out busking and painting myself in silver paint and standing on Grand Via for eight hours a day, I decided to go the easy route and teach English classes on the side. 

I didn't really do much to find these classes, they kinda just fell in my lap, via school or different auxiliares.  Here is the rundown:

Isabel: A history teacher at my school, we sit around for an hour and talk about traveling a lot. She asks a lot of questions, a lot of which are about grammar and I don't know how to answer. But I think she's getting better and I'm learning just as much as she is. 

Begoña: A French teacher at my school. She has been teaching herself English for 2 years, which I am thoroughly impressed by.  She also speaks fluent French and Euskera (Basque). Seriously, we are slacking on foreign language in the US.

Adriana and Marina: 7 and 5 year old girls, respectively. We sing songs, we play games, and do girly things. I enjoy working with them because it's a change of pace from my adults/high school students. Also, I think their English is better than some of my students at school. Also, their mom is really cool. 

That's all I have for now. I might add a couple more, but I like my schedule and my estudiantes at the moment. 

                               Here are some cool things I've seen this week: 

Cool house in Portugalete, a suburb of Bilbao

Bermeo, on the coast

Out for Elvira's (our roommate) birthday

Originally published 11.19.10

The Rain in Spain Falls Mainly on Bilbao

Halloween in Bilbao with my roomie, Amy

It's been raining for the past 3 days, and the forecast predicts that it will continue to rain for the rest of the week. I will entertain you (and myself) by sharing random information about my life here in Spain.

• I rarely use my cell phone, and almost never text. 
• As a "teacher", I have a key to the elevator. Will I ever use this key? No. 
• I eat waaaaaaay healthier here than back home. Lots of fruits and veggies. 
• If the Basque Government doesn't pay me soon, I'm going to start teaching improper English. Scratch that, I'll only teach them Jersey Shore English. Once the kids start using words like "smush" and "GTL", they'll have no choice but to pay me. 
• There are some libraries in Bilbao where you cannot check out the books. This baffles me. 
• Almost every time Rosa, a teacher at my school, takes me to coffee during our break, a random person in the bar pays for us. 
• Ikea meatballs taste the same in Spain-delicious. 
• No one dresses up for Halloween here. At least no one that is not an American/British expat.
• Drinking is ridiculously cheap here. A box of wine is 40 cents, an a 40 is around a Euro. Legit. 
• They have already started putting up Christmas decorations here. 
• Doner Kebabs are still the most delicious thing I've tasted. Thanks for not changing. 
• They freak out about saving energy at school, but I can ask for 200 photocopies and it ain't no thang.
• I can still only understand about 30-40% of what comes out of my Spanish roommate, Elvira's, mouth. 

Originally published 11.9.10

Time

An interesting thought came to me today as Matt and I were sitting around watching TV.

"You know," I said, "In Spain, when you see people having coffee, they're never doing anything BUT having coffee. They're not on computers or doing work, or homework...just having coffee."

"That's a very good point," Matt replied.

I like that people take their time here. I like that when we were at dinner with Matt's supervising teacher the other night, it took us from 3 pm to after 6 pm to eat lunch. I like that they have a nap factored into their workday.

Just one of the many things I like about Spain.  I think I'll stay awhile.

Originally published 11.2.10

How to Make Chili in Spain (Without Tomate Frito)

The Ayuntamiento, City Hall, of Bilbao

The other evening, Matt and I were feeling a bit homesick. That, combined with the drop in temperature, prompted us to attempt to make chili. After going to 3 different grocery stores, we cooked it up and it turned out AWESOME. I thought some of my other expat friends might want the recipe, so I have decided to share.

"Brown" 1 kg of "ground beef" with a chopped medium sized onion. I say "brown" because the meat doesn't really get brown, more of a gray color. I say "ground beef" because all we found was a mixture of lamb, pork, and beef, shaped into hamburger patties.

Stir in...

-2 cans of chopped tomatoes. We found them pretty easily.

-A can of red beans

-A can or half a package of black beans...feel free to experiment with the beans, since there's so much variety here. You can never have too many beans in chili!

-A squirt of beef bouillon ("caldo de carne")

-Tabasco sauce to taste

-Dash of salt and pepper

-Dash of cumin ("cominos")

-Dash of cayanne pepper...both spices were easy to find. I added a lot more since the recipe I had called for chili powder, and I couldn't find that anywhere.

Bring to a boil stirring occasionally. Reduce heat, cover and simmer 20-30 minutes.

This makes quite a bit, so we froze some of it for later.

We also found that "Boca Bites" were a great substitution for Fritos, which I love in my chili.

Obviously, since it's chili, you can add really whatever you want. Just thought that this would be a good start to anyone in Spain who wants a little taste of home!

Originally published 10.24.10

In Which Matt Scores Us Free Opera Tickets

Anyone who has ever traveled to a country where English is not the prominent language can attest to this. You're in a public place where everyone is speaking the native language. If you hear even one word of English (or whatever your native tongue may be), your ear goes directly to it, and you have the intense urge to talk to this person, even though this may be the only thing in common you have with this person.

Sometimes, this results in a somewhat awkward conversation, like when a (drunk) kid from Michigan started talking to us on the way home the other night, telling us he had nowhere to stay that night and hinting that he would like us to invite him to stay on our couch.

However, last Sunday, taking that risk really paid off. Matt was at the Guggenheim and heard a couple wondering (in English) where the bathrooms were. He directed them the right way and discovered they were American, which is somewhat unusual, as 

there are not very many American tourists in Bilbao as in other parts of Spain.

Matt discovered that this man was Carlisle Floyd, an opera composer who was in Bilbao for the opening of his award-winning opera, Susannah, which was premiering for the first time in Spain. Matt mentioned that he had never been to an opera before. Mr. Floyd then told hi

m that he was leaving on Tuesday, but still had 2 tickets for the show on Tuesday night, and would he like to have the tickets?

So, Tuesday night, Matt and I found ourselves in the 9th row of the opera palace in Bilbao, watching an amazing opera, in English.

 I suppose it pays off to talk to those people you hear speaking English.

Originally published 10.23.10

Life Goes On in Bilbao

I've started getting into the swing of things at school. I'm finishing up with my "introduction" week, and I'm getting really bored of talking about cows, cheese, and the seasons of Wisconsin. In some of my classes the kids won't say a word, and it's hard to get them involved.

Another issue I'm having is that the level of English falls within a huge range, even in my highest level classes. For many of my kids, they moved to Spain from another country, such as China, Bolivia, the Sahara, Belarus...so for many of them, they are trying to learn English without having a firm grasp on Spanish. For many that come from a Spanish-speaking country, they have only had a few years of English. This is a challenge because some of the kids have absolutely no idea what I'm saying, no matter how many times I repeat or how slowly I talk, and others I feel like are understanding me perfectly.

I'm also starting to get to know a lot of the faculty. The other day, my tutor pretty much dropped me off in the staff lounge with a cup of coffee, and told her colleagues to just speak Spanish with me so I could practice. She then left the room. I was then bombarded with question from 5 teachers, at the same time. Good practice, eh?

I also managed to successfully open a bank account, which was the last thing that I had to cross off my list, after finding an apartment and getting a residency card. Now I can get paid (and hopefully on time!). It was quite the mission, as the first bank I went to told me I couldn't get an account until I had my NIE, which I will receive in November...which would be bad news, because I would like to get paid, and soon! But, as most things in Spain, I just went to a different branch of the (same) bank, and had no problems. I would also like to mention that I did this on my own. I know that most of my fellow assistants are used to this, but since I came here with Matt, we have done a lot together. So it felt like an accomplishment that I could do this on my own, in Spanish.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, we did find something to do on our day off. Matt, Amy, and our friend Andrew took a bus an hour to Haro, in La Rioja, the wine-producin

g region of Spain. We figured we could walk around the town, take a vineyard tour, and drink some delicious vino. Well, 2 out of 3 isn't too shabby. By the time we got there at 11, all of the bodega tours were full. Who would have guessed? But we still wandered around the vineyards and ate at a sweet restaurant. We split a bottle of Crianza and a platter of jamón serrano, fries, and a delicious meat treat that we had no idea what it was. So I would say that it was a very

successful trip.

Not very much planned for this weekend, as we're trying to save $ until we get paid in November. Once that happens, more excursions will commence.

Originally published 10.14.2010