Dutch family in my Basque life, By Saskia Kamphuis

The Basque way of living is hard to compare with the way of living which I am used to in the Netherlands, the Dutch way of living. Of course there are some comparisons but the differences overrule.

The weather, the dinners, the shopping times, the people, the language, the traffic, the view and of course the costumes of the Basque people aren't comparable to what we Dutch are used to in our Dutch life.

This week my mother and sister came over from the Netherlands to visit me here in the Basque Country.
It was very difficult to decide what I wanted to show them because they would only stay here for one week. When I finally made up a plan the Basque weather came and made it all fell apart, so the last three days we just went with the moment.

On Monday it was luckily for us twenty-seven degrees in Bilbao, where we started our little trip. Letting them taste some good '"pintxos'" was the first Basque thing that I would like them to get in touch with. So we went into a nice bar with a terrace in the centre of Bilbao. While my mother and I were almost making our mouth water drop by just looking at the "pintxos" I realized that for someone who has a harder time to adept itself to a other way of living, like my sister, that eating '"pintxos'" is very unknown for a Dutch person. My sister just preferred some quick toast with marmalade like she is used to in the Netherlands.

Again the difference was noticeable ad night. I had a little bar in mind where they served typically Basque dishes but my sister wasn't used to the idea of eating in a bar. She expected a big restaurant with a lot of tables full of people eating.

I myself prefer the eating manners here, different tastes of different dishes in one meal and taking the time around the dinner table. In the Netherlands for lunch we just eat a quick sandwich. For dinner, that we have around six pm, people just eat typically Dutch dishes like peas of meat with some potatoes and vegetables.

In my opinion eating traditional Dutch food is boring because it knows only little variations. That is why I am very happy with my mother's love for cooking foreign cuisines. And for the same reason I wasn't surprised when my mom couldn't get enough of the '"pintxos'" we ate in Donostia on Thursday. By that time my sister had gotten curious to the food here and I was gladly surprised to see here enjoying different '"pintxos" in different bars as well.

While we were shopping here this week it was very difficult for us to find something in the right size because we Dutch women are much taller then the average Basque women. This was a bad thing because we saw so many good looking close but we could only do with window shopping most of the time. Which was a good thing for the wallet on the other hand of course.

When we were driving here from town to town in our rented car it was a good thing that I picked up some Basque and Spanish during the last two months. We got lost all the time because the roads and way of driving here in the big towns are more chaotic comparing to the Netherlands. After the second day we just dropped the car somewhere and travelled in the way that I am used to here, by bus or by foot. I prefer it this way because you can take your time to look around and another good thing is of course that everybody can join in the wine drinking with the '"pintxos" and during the lunch or dinner.

To bad for us that it was raining Thursday and Wednesday and that it just was thirteen degrees on Thursday. I actually can't really complain because all September and October the weather here was very fine, especially comparing to the Netherlands where it is freezing in the nights for some weeks already. It was only that my plan was to show them the charming sunny Basque Country, witch I was telling them about by phone all the time, and now they just saw the cold Basque Country where you have to get inside to notice the good charm of the country by a nice glass of wine.

I was scared of my mother and sister not fitting in to the life I have here because of the country and its manners that is unknown for them and in witch communication for them isn't that easy because they don`t know any Spanish. But my worrying was all for noting. They just loved the country and its views. They have let the dinners taste very well and they adored being with my new friends here who went into the trouble to just communicate with them in English.

My conclusion is that a Basque - Dutch life is possible but the differences are just very clear when you are trying to mix two lives like I did this week. At this moment I just wish that I didn't had to say goodbye to my mother and sister this morning because it was starting to get better and better having them here fitted into my Basque life. It isn't my Dutch life that I miss here, on the contraire because I don't feel like going back to the Netherlands at all, it are just the Dutch persons that I love which I miss.