Joko Garbi with David

This marks the first in a series of posts highlighting the work of our foreign (we like to call them "imported") instructors. Starting it off is David Navailles, our Joko Garbi instructor.

David came to the Basque Cultural Center in February for the anniversary celebration with a group of Joko Garbi players to do workshops with the San Francisco children. (Joko Garbi is like Jai Alai's cousin.) We were so impressed that David was asked to return for Udaleku. Each hour groups of eight wrap their wrists with tape (we had some nasty almost blisters the first day) and put on their chistera to practice how to catch and throw the ball. A completely different skill set than pala or handball, it’s been fun to see kids discover and excel at a new sport. The language barrier (David speaks French much, much better than he speaks English) makes very interesting and inventive hand gestures necessary providing anyone looking, including the unsuspecting restaurant goers who peek in through the kantxa door window, with some serious entertainment.

The kids love learning this new sport. One camper (shout-out to Vincent!) even asked if his day could consist only of Joko Garbi, Pilota, and Pala classes. They just can’t get enough! Don’t be surprised if your kids come home and start grabbing the bread basket to fling balls against the wall.

And classes are on their way!!

While the kids are all busy, I wanted to take a minute to update you on what we've been doing the past few days.

After a day of playing ice-breakers and getting to know each other, the campers dove into Basque history yesterday with an activity revolving around smuggling! After a brief lesson on the role that the Basques played in helping British Air Force men who had been shot down return to England during WWII, the kids set out on a scavenger hunt to discover their group names. Simulating the culture of smuggling, groups of four followed clues around the center making sure to avoid any "Nazis" or other people whose aim was to put them in prison. As it was Father's Day, the center was brimming with people, which not only helped facilitate the game, but also provided us with many stories about families who had been involved with smuggling people, clothing, and food across the Pyrenees during and after the war. Everybody was able to learn a lot, and it was nice to see the entire community get involved with the education our youngsters.

(Pictured left: A sample of the tiles created today by campers. Aren't they gorgeous?)

With the hustle and bustle of the weekend out of the way, classes officially started this morning. The campers have been rotating between lessons on txistu, dance, basque, culture, and Joko Garbi. As I write this, I've got music coming at me from all sides. Abarne is in the room above me, working on Basque songs and numbers in Basque class. Across the center in the Solarium, (those high notes travel!), Caroline is working on Lapurdiko Makil with the students. In dance, kids are busy working with Gabri and Axier to get the mutxikoak steps down so that they can move on to double clicking and the quadrilles. Hegi is the dance of the moment. In the less noisy corner of the kantxa, Joko Garbi has been a big hit so far. Everyone is enjoying learning the new game, and they're actually pretty good at it! David might have some competition in a few years! :) Hands down, however, culture class has been the most popular class of the day. Yvonne Goyhenetche graciously donated her time to teach the students about the pottery of Ciboure and each child decorated a tile using Basque symbols and themes. We've got some wonderful artists on our hands and really now, who doesn't love playing with paint? (P.S. Peio loved it too. We've got lots of paintings to decorate the ballroom with!)

Next up: A dance workshop on double clicking and the fandango and tonight starts our Mus Tournament. Stay tuned for more updates and pictures!

Manny H. of Chino getting a lesson on Joko Garbi from David.

Basque class with Abarne.

Taking a break from dancing as Axier explains the next set of steps.

Hard at work in txistu.