So you think your family reunion gets awkward....

Then try one in basque! Most awkwardest situation of my life. After all this time living in Spain and speaking the best spanglish known to man, you think I would have known a lot more about uncomfortable language barriers, but when it comes to basque, i'm not even going to try. So today was the first communion of my host mom's grand daughter (yes church is involved in this story too, which personally i think makes it way better.) But the whole service was in basque, so I had no idea what they were saying the whole time. Totally felt like the awkward foreign exchange student just sitting there uncomfortably when everyone started singing in basque, plus the "gesture a cross on your chest" that Catholics do is a way more confusing and intricate gesture here so I wasn't even going to try that. The whole process was so detailed and elegant. Plus the whole family was there, and Uxue (pronounced is-u-ay) was wearing a HUGE white cinderella type dress. It was really interesting to watch but for some reason I just felt so uncomfortable. Maybe it was the basque mixed with spanish, or maybe just cause it was intimidating to have the whole family there and having to speak spanish with all of them. Still I'm glad I went. I love Ana's huge family with all her grandkids. It actually reminded me of my family when we conveniently go to church on Christmas and Easter because all the grandkids were laughing and 'quietly' joking around during the service like we used to do. It definitely made the whole service feel more relaxed to me.

Pamplona

So I have a few weeks to catch up on with my blog, i've seriously been slacking :( but a few weeks ago we went to Pamplona Spain! (Where people run with the bulls! I actually just learned that it's called fiesta de san fermín, and it happens in July.) We just decided to go for a day but it was so much fun. The best part was listening to the huge band play "oh when the saints come marching in" in the middle of the street and watching all the basque people start dancing in large groups in traditional basque style dancing, so different and fun!