Mus-More than a game!

Jan 4, 2011 by guerrica

The title says it all. Mus is more than a game, especially to this writer. Mus is a great reason to gather some good friends, cook up some food, and spend an evening talking up the latest events in sports, politics, the Basque community, etc…This isn’t you gringo buddies poker game. No, no, no…You have to play, bet, drink, talk, watch for signs from your partner, run odds and decide whether you discard, bluff or try to work off your partner’s hand. There are no sunglasses, and a poker face won’t do you much good here because you hope to actively pass signs to your partner without getting caught and while looking for your opponent to do the same.

Comparing mus to poker is like comparing American handball to esku pelota; as soon as the handball players cracks his hand open on the esku pelota he knows he has made a mistake (and yes this has happened…just talk to Lino Zabala in Boise…he has had at least one friend crack his gringo hand in this manner). Back to mus.

My mus bias is clear and to coin the phrase of a friend it’s better than whiskey! I was sure I wasn’t the only one who thought so, but now I know I am not. “Jesus” launched a mus blog entitled “Mus is more” or “el mus es mas” and with his friend  Javier Sedano organized the largest Guinness World Record Game of mus with 1146 pairs of players! That’s a lot of liars in the same place!

Check out the blog at: elmusesmas.blogspot.com/

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Interactive Basque games for learning vocabulary and numbers in Euskara

Jan 2, 2011 by guerrica

Here are a few games to get you to learn some basic vocabulary and counting in Euskara: http://www.digitaldialects.com/Basque.htm

Enjoy!

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Gurebook.com-Where to get you next Basque e-book!

Dec 30, 2010 by guerrica

Paper is dead. Or at least that’s what many would have you believe, even as they print their favorite e-mails for later, take notes on slide outlines from Powerpoint, or scratch out a note on a Post-it. So maybe paper isn’t dead, but there are sure a lot of  paper alternatives these days and for portability and price e-readers have come to stay. Of course many of you probably got a Kindle or iPad or some other variant of e-reader/tablet hybrid in your stocking . If you didn’t you probably aren’t love enough

Of course what good is an e-reader without content? It’s like peanut butter without jelly, it’s like Bonnie without Clyde, it’s like Walter Mondale without Geraldine Ferraro, but i digress…Of course as e-readers abound so do content suppliers and one new supplier of particular interest the world over is Gurebook. Gurebook is a web-based portal which provides the latest and greatest titles being published in Euskadi for download. According to Ixiar Uria the site owner, approximately 60% of content is in Euskara and 40% is in Spanish.

So navigate your way over to Gurebook.com and check it out. It’s sounds like a ‘purdy gure book” place Ondo irakurketa!

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Euskara coming to a PC near you!

Dec 14, 2010 by guerrica

Hello All,

Thank you all for showing an interest in learning Basque.  Since Seattle Euskal Etxea does not have a language instructor at this time we will follow the online Basque language program BOGA and meet weekly to study.  As part of the program fee Itxaso Cayero from Boise will be available to us individually for questions and via Skype during our weekly meeting.  The cost is $50 per person per semester (January through May) and we will kick off our gatherings the week of January 16th.

There are a few things you need to do before then to get started:

1)       Create BOGA account.

·   Go to http://www.ikasten.ikasbil.net and change account settings to English from the drop  down in the top right corner.

·    Click Create New Account in Log in box on left side.

·    Create username and password and fill in required information

·   An email from HABE kudeatzailea will be sent to you with instructions on how to complete registration.  You will need to reply to that email and cc: izaskunkortazar@gmail.com (NABO’s Euskara coordinator) and she will get you fully registered

2)      Send $50 check to Itxaso Cayero at 1926 Yale Court, Boise, Idaho 83706.

3)      Email me your availability for meetings starting in early January (weekday evenings only, weekends, etc) and your general location and I’ll try to find the date, time and place that works for most everyone.

4)      Email me your phone number

Thank you and please let me know if you have any questions.

Amaya Michelena

secretary@seattleeuskal.org

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Basque speaking professional needed!-Paid 2-day contract position in Seattle!

Dec 8, 2010 by guerrica

Kaixo lagunak,

Today I was contacted by Alex Saenz of Modis (an Information Technology staffing firm) regarding an interesting, short, 2-day contract for a bilingual Basque/English speaker who would work with a company called Swype which has developed a novel texting method. The aim is to translate terminology and words for Swype into Euskara. Position requirements are given below:

Please feel free to forward this on to any local (Seattle metro) applicants who might be interested, but may not be on Seattle Euskal Etxea’s roster.

Eskerrik asko!

Joe M. Guerricabeitia
President, Seattle Euskal Etxea
president@seattleeuskal.org
www.seattleeuskal.org

———- Forwarded message ———-
From: Saenz, Jr., Alex <Alex.Saenz@modis.com>
Date: Wed, Dec 8, 2010 at 2:23 PM
Subject: Basque speaking professional needed!
To: president@seattleeuskal.org
Cc: “Saenz, Jr., Alex” <Alex.Saenz@modis.com>

Hello –

My name is Alex Saenz and I am recruiter for Modis Inc. I currently have a client that is in need of a Basque language expert for a short term work contract. I wanted to reach out to you and see if you could send this out to the members of your organization. Your help is very much appreciated. The job description can be found below:

If you have knowledge of Basque language I’d love to talk to you about this very short, two day contract position in downtown Seattle. This is with a cutting edge technology group in the mobile device field.

The requirements for this position are:

1.      Please be available for at least two days to complete this assignment
2.      Please be knowledgeable in Basque as well as English
3.      Please have experience working with mobile phones. iPhones a plus!
4.      Please be authorized to work for any employer in the US

If you are interested in this opportunity, I’d love to speak to you! This is a great way to earn some extra money before the holidays! Please let me know and I look forward to hearing from you.

Alex Saenz Jr. | Resource Development Manager | Modis

Modis, Inc. | 2101 4th Ave, Suite 750 | Seattle, WA 98121

alex.saenz@modis.com

Office – 206.269.2432 | Mobile – 206.962.9384 | Fax – 206.441.6628

www.modisit.com

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New Pelota Website

Nov 28, 2010 by guerrica

José javier Albisu Pérez is a historical non-fiction writer specializing in the history and development of Basque handball and Jai alai with 11 titles to his credit.  In September of 2010 he has launched a blog dedicated to pelota, jai-alai, trinkete and remonton. Check it out at:

www.pelota-mano-remonte.com

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