Kindness of Strangers

I know this is getting old, but every day I am amazed at how people here bend over backwards to help me with my film. Last week I did a film with a more nationalist Basque who is part of an organization that works to promote the use of Euskera, the Basque language. He wanted to make sure that I had Euskera in my documentary so he did the whole interview twice! He answered all the questions in Euskera then would answer the questions in Castellano so I could understand! He even offered to translate the Euskera for me if I give him a copy of the tape. How incredibly cool! He also offered to have me hang out and film him and his friends doing some kind of Basque rap at some point. I think this a great opportunity to get information from the Basques that feel less connected to Spain. Now I just have to get the perspective of some Spaniards who don't classify themselves as Basques and I will have representation from a good number of sides.

I also met a girl, Sara, through my friend Greta. Sara is from Donostia and I think she would identify herself as a Spaniard (though I'm not sure). When she heard about my documentary she offered to help me by doing an interview and introducing me to people. Experiences like these really get me excited about what I'm doing. They realize that I'm trying to show the beauty and complexity of these coexisting cultures and they're really excited about helping me do it.

And now I have someone else to help me because Marlee's here! She arrived on Wed at midnight after going through the same grueling 2 days of travel that I went through. It's going to great having her around for a bit because she can help me carry my equipment as I film the city and scenery. I can carry the camera and tripod, but it's awfully awkward and not fun to carry to the top of a mountain. 

Speaking of mountains, the other day I saw that there was a fiesta (by which I means festival/celebration, not a house party) in one of the outer neighborhoods of Donostia. They were having a sidra (cider) tasting and a bunch of performances that looked like fun. Marlee, my friends and I decided to walk up to the neighborhood to check it out. I thought it would take us 45 minutes to get there, but distances in Donostia are deceiving. The beaches don't look that big, but it took us an hour just to get past them. Then we had to go up a mountain. The fundicular closed right when we got there, so we had to walk up. My friend said the walk was only 20 minutes, but it took a good 40 at least. Luckily the walk was unbelievably gorgeous. We were walking up the side of a small mountain and got amazing views of Donostia, the ocean and some beautiful cliffs that plunge into the ocean. It is a whole other side of Donostia that I didn't even know existed. I didn't have my camera with me, but now I'm really excited to go up again and film all of it. We realized after our long walk that we had actually gone the wrong way (we were at Mount Igeldo not the neighborhood of Igeldo), but the view made it completely worthwhile.

(Me and Mars on Mount Igeldo)

Last night I was planning to go to a bar to meet some people to watch the Eurocup championship: Spain vs Germany. I felt a bit torn considering that half my friends here are German, but I still was rooting for the Spaniards. Asier called me up and said that there was an event I had to film in Igeldo and I should be ready for him to pick me up in a hour. I got ready, packed up my camera and went outside where Asier was waiting on his little yellow moto. How cool! It was my first time riding a moto and it was a blast. Driving up to Igeldo we past beautiful cliffs on the ocean and huge pastures with mountains in the background. I'm planning on going back there to film when we have nicer weather.

Asier brought me up the Igeldo (the neighborhood this time, not the mount) where they were having a traditional would chopping competition. The center of town was packed, but I was the only tourist there. Asier had to go to a concert, so he let me know what was going on and then he peaced out. I found a great spot to see the event and set up my camera. One thing I did not prepare for when I was back in the US was managing a handheld camera. It has to be so incredibly still, but it's not really light. In retrospect, I wish I had built up some arm strength and worked on building up my lung capacity. When I get a shot, I hold my breath so the camera won't move at all. It is much more difficult than I expected to hold a camera 100% still. My technique is getting better and better and I think I got some good footage of the competition. 

There were 3 teams with 2 men each, each with a younger man and an older, more experienced man. Both teammates had their own individual event and then they teamed up for the wood chopping relay. They chopped wood no stop for a good 15-20 minutes. If I had their strength, all this handheld shooting would be  breeze.

After the competition I took the bus back to Donostia. Driving along the coast I snapped some photos of the sunset. The next nice day we have, Mars and I are going to take the bus up to Igeldo and walk back to town so we can get some good shots of this area. It's so cool that Donostia has this cool urban center and is surrounded by dramatic cliff-lined coast and green mountains. I am so glad Asier took me up there.

Luckily, I got back to town in time to see the Eurocup. I met with some friends at a bar on the beach, because the bar we usually watch games at was so full I couldn't get in the door. They don't seem to be very concerned with fire hazards here. Spain won 1-0 to Germany in a great game. Afterwards everyone was running around town with Spanish flags or driving around honking their horns. I think it's cool that a lot of the people here don't identify  themselves as Spaniards, yet when there's a football game, they're rooting for Spain. There are people who will root for anyone but Spain, but they are far outnumbered here.
This week I have a bunch of interviews planned and a few activities and fiestas to film. It's going to be a busy week and I can't wait. The weather is finally beautiful and it's supposed to get even better, which will be perfect for doing some filming outside. Tonight I think I might be going to a traditional sidraria to film and try more Basque food and sidra! Que guay!