Friday morning, Kaitlin and I took the train to the border city of Hendaye and another train to Bayonne, France, where my cousin Josette picked us up. Ok ready... Josette is 
my Grandpa Johno's brother's daughter. Cousin, second cousin, cousin once removed... doesn't matter, it's family! Well, she picked us up with her two adorable sons, (their names are in Basque and I don't really know how to spell them- so I'll just write how it sounds!) Hamamucho is 5 years old and Shallbat is 3. Hamamucho means, "little Raymond" after Josette's brother Raymond, and Shallbat means "savior" in Basque. (picture--> Kaitlin and the boys, on the drive to St. Jean... Hamamucho is on the left, with darker hair and Shallbat is on the right, with red hair)
We hung around Bayonne for a little while, shopping and seeing the city, before heading to St. Jean Pied de Port, where the family lives. St. Jean is only a hour away and is a beautiful drive through the continuously green Basque Country. Our first stop was Grandpa's youngest brother Gabriel's bar/restaurant/coffee shop (This is where I should mention that Grandpa had 10 children in his family). We met Gabriel, his wife, their son, daughters, and grandchildren. Immediately, everyone said they could tell it was me (between me and Kaitlin), because I have the "Arrayet eyes". The bar is in between their daughter’s shoe store on the left, and their house on the right. Directly behind, is their mechanics shop. It’s an Arrayet corner!
From there, we headed to Josette’s house, 15 minutes outside of St. Jean in the hills. They live on a farm, surrounded by hills of green pastures with sheep, cows and tractors everywhere. The house is over 200 years old and has been in the same family. Before I continue, Josette grew up in the US, so communication is made possible with everyone through her. She speaks 4 languages, English, French, Basque and Spanish! The family predominately speaks Basque but know French as well. Spending the remainder of the day at her house, I go
t to watch Josette and her boyfriend milk the sheep (as they do every morning and night). Then, she explained how he makes the cheese… every 4 days! Saturday we went back to Gabriel’s for an enormous, delicious 2 hour, 100 course (at least it felt like it) lunch. We had very traditional as well as new Basque dishes… the kind of food I’m use to! Soup, tomatoes, deviled eggs, bean salad, paté, chorizo, French fries, chicken, duck with roasted apples (yum!), green beans, salad, and of course, coffee, dessert, and an alcohol soaked prune (not so good)! Not to mention a lot of bread and wine. Realize, all of these things were on their own serving tray and I’m sure I forgot a plate or two! Everything was wonderful! I’m use to the large Basque meals but this was 
exceptionally large and I don’t think Kaitlin knew what she was getting herself into! Haha Just when we thought we could breathe, the plates kept coming! And after everything, they were afraid we didn’t get enough to eat. I could have been rolled out of there! After lunch, Kaitlin and I walked around St. Jean Pied de Port (downtown consists of approximately 10 souvenir shops and 10 restaurant/bars) until heading back to Josette's. St. Jean is small, but very pretty. The river cuts right through the "shopping" area, next to the church, and the buildings are very old and beautiful.
my Grandpa Johno's brother's daughter. Cousin, second cousin, cousin once removed... doesn't matter, it's family! Well, she picked us up with her two adorable sons, (their names are in Basque and I don't really know how to spell them- so I'll just write how it sounds!) Hamamucho is 5 years old and Shallbat is 3. Hamamucho means, "little Raymond" after Josette's brother Raymond, and Shallbat means "savior" in Basque. (picture--> Kaitlin and the boys, on the drive to St. Jean... Hamamucho is on the left, with darker hair and Shallbat is on the right, with red hair)We hung around Bayonne for a little while, shopping and seeing the city, before heading to St. Jean Pied de Port, where the family lives. St. Jean is only a hour away and is a beautiful drive through the continuously green Basque Country. Our first stop was Grandpa's youngest brother Gabriel's bar/restaurant/coffee shop (This is where I should mention that Grandpa had 10 children in his family). We met Gabriel, his wife, their son, daughters, and grandchildren. Immediately, everyone said they could tell it was me (between me and Kaitlin), because I have the "Arrayet eyes". The bar is in between their daughter’s shoe store on the left, and their house on the right. Directly behind, is their mechanics shop. It’s an Arrayet corner!
From there, we headed to Josette’s house, 15 minutes outside of St. Jean in the hills. They live on a farm, surrounded by hills of green pastures with sheep, cows and tractors everywhere. The house is over 200 years old and has been in the same family. Before I continue, Josette grew up in the US, so communication is made possible with everyone through her. She speaks 4 languages, English, French, Basque and Spanish! The family predominately speaks Basque but know French as well. Spending the remainder of the day at her house, I go
t to watch Josette and her boyfriend milk the sheep (as they do every morning and night). Then, she explained how he makes the cheese… every 4 days! Saturday we went back to Gabriel’s for an enormous, delicious 2 hour, 100 course (at least it felt like it) lunch. We had very traditional as well as new Basque dishes… the kind of food I’m use to! Soup, tomatoes, deviled eggs, bean salad, paté, chorizo, French fries, chicken, duck with roasted apples (yum!), green beans, salad, and of course, coffee, dessert, and an alcohol soaked prune (not so good)! Not to mention a lot of bread and wine. Realize, all of these things were on their own serving tray and I’m sure I forgot a plate or two! Everything was wonderful! I’m use to the large Basque meals but this was 
exceptionally large and I don’t think Kaitlin knew what she was getting herself into! Haha Just when we thought we could breathe, the plates kept coming! And after everything, they were afraid we didn’t get enough to eat. I could have been rolled out of there! After lunch, Kaitlin and I walked around St. Jean Pied de Port (downtown consists of approximately 10 souvenir shops and 10 restaurant/bars) until heading back to Josette's. St. Jean is small, but very pretty. The river cuts right through the "shopping" area, next to the church, and the buildings are very old and beautiful.While Josette was taking care of household things, milking sheep or tending to the newborn pigs, Kaitlin and I hung out with the boys and watched a lot of animated movies! Basque is their first language, but since Hamamucho started school in the fall, he quickly picked up French! Josette speaks English to them as well so they understood everything we were saying but always responded in a different language. It was hilarious. Josette would say, "now how do you say that in English" so he'd say it in French... "no, English" then he'd think for a minute and respond in English, never realizing which language was which! They were incredibly entertaining. Hamamucho loves Bob the builder and was constantly "building" me a house... or trying to take my nose with the wrench haha! We were thoroughly amused!
On Sunday, Josette drove us to Grandpa's hometown, Zado. I got to see the house he grew up in, the land they use to work on, the church, the house Mom lived in for a short period of time when she was little, and the cemetary where Granpa's parents are burried! The town use to consist of 8 houses and 1 church but now has many more houses. It was amazing to see Zado, St. Jean Pied de Port and all of the surrounding areas. There is a "Basque Country preservation law" in that part of France regulating new construction. Apparently, all new homes must follow specific guidelines- beige/white exterior with red shutters. If they want green or brown shutters, specific permission must be attained. Every house looks the same, defining the charm and authenticity of the Basque Country. It's beautiful.
The weekend was entirely relaxing, entertaining (thanks to Hamamucho and Shallbat) and incredibly filling. Josette is an amazing cook as well and we were sure to have a lot of sheep cheese every night too! I am SO glad I was able to meet more of the family. I could piece together more of the stories Grandpa has told us about Zado, St. Jean, etc.
After returning to San Sebastian (shedding a small tear to be returning to Spain, not really but I do love France) I had a lot of homework to finish. With the last weeks ahead, of course there are final projects in every class. I just finished a 8 page paper, in Spanish, for my culture class again. This time, I wrote about a very famous movie director, Luis Bunuel. With a few projects left and 2 days of class remaining, I can't believe this semester is almost over. I have 1 final on Monday and 3 on Tuesday! Then, I'm done! Can you believe it?!?! I leave May 17th. Back to the land of responsibility, where my biggest concern can no longer be Where am I traveling to this weekend? It's bitter sweet. The weather is just beginning to warm up and the city is coming to life (there are more tourists so the rude locals are scattered :-) and although I do love wandering around the city, purposely taking the long way home and extending my work outs because I have nothing better to do, I miss everyone a lot and am ready to have more of a schedule. It's going to be really sad to say goodbye to all of my friends here too. Kaitlin won't talk about it yet haha.
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