No Women Allowed in the Kitchen

So in all the excitement of going to the sociedad on Saturday and being able to film it,  I didn't take any photos for you guys. Here's a photo of the outside that I found on a website. I'll definitely have images of it in my film, so you can se it then. 

Saturday was amazing! I first met up with Mavi, a woman in her 60s who grew up in Donostia, lived in London and Madrid among other places, and has now come back to Donostia where she is relearning Euskera. Mavi brought me to the bar that she meets all of her friends at every Saturday afternoon. We all chilled outside and 3 of them let me interview them. They all spoke about how important Basque culture and language is, but also about how it has become an obligation for them. Young generations have grown up with it, but their generation was prohibited from speaking it when they were young (during Franco's dictatorship). Now the tables have turned and they feel the pressure to go to euskaltegis to learn the language. I got a lot of great footage from that one event and I really hope I can meet with them again so I can get some more out of them and interview some other people.

That afternoon was so beautiful that I decided to take a siesta on the beach. The weather her is unpredictable. When it looks beautiful and you grab a towel for the beach, it will be cold and/or rainy by the time you get there. Conversely, if you bring a jacket and umbrella, it's probably going to be gorgeous and I, being of such fair complexion, will get sunburned. Well, finally, the fates were on my side. I brought my bathing suit and my sunscreen and had a lovely nap on the beach. A few of my friends joined, we played a little paddle ball and then headed home because, surprise, surprise--it got cold.

At night, I met up with Javi and we went to the sociedad. I decided not to lug the tripod to the dinner because it's hard to be unobtrusive with a giant camera and a hunking tripod. It makes it a bit more difficult to do pans, but a tried to use other steady objects to help me out. Javi introduced me to 20 people all at once and I don't think I got a single persons name. In Spain they exchange 2 kisses (one on each cheek) when they greet someone. This is a lovely tradition, but a horrible way to meet people. You generally end up saying your name the same time the other person says theirs while you're kissing cheeks. It's a bit difficult.

At the dinner, our group of 20 sat at a long banquet table. Only 2 of the guys were socios, members, and the rest were just friends who had been invited. I kind of thought there would be a mixing of generations and the whole sociedad would be there, but it's more of a club when you reserve a table for your friends. There are 200 socios at sociedad and there were only 3 groups last night. The other 2 were groups of 6-8 people. We had serrano ham, bread, wine, foie gras, wine, salad, lamb, wine, cake, coffee, then liquor. The food and drink was all fantastic.  A few of the men made and served the food. Women did not have to lift a finger. I know it sounds a bit misogynistic, but I don't think that's the case. Sociedades have a long tradition in which all kinds of Basque men come together to cook. When the women are there, it is not that they are incapable or inferior, but rather, they are guests. 

I got to interview 4 people at the dinner. I interviewed them in the sociedad so you get the full ambience. So far, all the place I meet people tend to be noisy. Luckily, the microphone does a good job of catching their voices so the rest of the noise just provides ambience. The people I interviewed at the sociedad were around my age, so they went to schools that were taught in Euskera. It was cool to get their perspective as well.

I could under no circumstance enter the kitchen to film, so Javi went down and filmed for me. I reminded him to move super slowly, but I don't think he understood just how slowly I meant. The kitchen looks cool, but the footage is all over the place. Maybe I can get some still shots out of it. We'll see.

After dinner they  invited me to go out with them. I dropped off the camera at my apartment and joined them in the Parte Vieja (translated it means Old Part, a neighborhood in Donostia). We were out dancing and talking until 4:30. I finally got a bit tired and decided to head back home.

Sunday and Monday I sent reviewing the footage and capturing it. Most of it is pretty good. One interview I filmed a bit too close so the camera had some difficulty focusing. Another problem I had was that I tried to keep things casual and film where the people were comfortable, rather than where I could get the best background. I'm going to make more of an effort to make sure the whole shot is nice. Other than that, I'm pretty happy with how things are going so far. The guys at the sociedad were impressed with my questions and thought that I had done some good research. I can't tell you how happy I was to hear that.

Yesterday I had a meeting with a man who runs an organization that is trying to unite French Basque Country, Spanish Basque Country and Navarra, the runaway Basque province. He was much more political than the other people I spoke with and was much more in favor of a Basque autonomous country. Unfortunately, I couldn't convince him to let me film him. It was still great talking with him and finding out about all the demonstrations I keep seeing in the streets. Though he won't let me film him, he did give me contacts that might. So it's back to the phone...

I did not anticipate having to call so many people. I'm not a big phone person, and talking on the phone here is a bit more difficult. It's not like our conversations, but just in Spanish. They answer the phone either with an apathetic "sí" (yes) or a demanding "dime" (tell me). It throws me off every time. I feel like I have to rush into everything I want to tell them right then and there. I really have to make a conscious effort to slow down and relax. It is much easier when I get to talk to people in person.

Unfortunately, today is more phone and computer time because I have a bad cold and didn't feel good about walking to visit more people. Tomorrow I'll hopefully be a bit better so I can knock on some more doors. People seem to be much more responsive when I'm there in person.

Thanks for managing through this long post. I hope everyone is doing well.

Hasta pronto! Agur!