{"id":5109,"date":"2021-12-01T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-01T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/?p=5109"},"modified":"2021-11-30T03:19:29","modified_gmt":"2021-11-30T03:19:29","slug":"the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-81","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/2021\/12\/01\/the-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa-part-81\/","title":{"rendered":"The Adventures of Maite and Kepa: Part 81"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
The Adventures of Maite and Kepa is a weekly serial. While it is a work of fiction, it has elements from both my own experiences and stories I’ve heard from various people. The characters, while in some cases inspired by real people, aren’t directly modeled on anyone in particular. I expect there will be inconsistencies and factual errors. I don’t know where it is going, and I’ll probably forget where it’s been. Why am I doing this? To give me an excuse and a deadline for some creative writing and because I thought people might enjoy it. Gozatu!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The beach was picture perfect. The air was cool, but not cold, just enough to counter the heat of the sun. A gentle breeze came off the ocean, bringing with it the salty smell of the sea. Maite took a deep breath. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAlmost reminds me of home,\u201d she said, suddenly homesick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Javi chuckled. \u201cYou haven\u2019t been gone that long!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maite smiled as she looked at Kepa knowingly. \u201cNo, I guess not.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They hiked along the beach, Javi leading the way as Kepa and Maite followed, hand in hand. Maite was still anxious from her existential crisis earlier that morning and held tight to Kepa\u2019s hand, not wanting to ever let go. Her every step was deliberate, as she tried to burn each moment into her brain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a nice spot up ahead,\u201d said Javi. \u201cI like to just sit and watch the surfers.\u201d

\u201cYou don\u2019t surf yourself?\u201d asked Kepa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNah, I grew up inland and didn\u2019t have much time to make it to the beach to surf. Dad always had us working on something or other. There wasn\u2019t much time for anything else. And now\u2026\u201d he shrugged. \u201cSchool takes a lot of time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI can relate,\u201d said Maite. \u201cAfter a long day of classes, then assignments and cramming for exams, there isn\u2019t a whole lot of time to do anything else. Then research sucks even more time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI thought you enjoyed all that research?\u201d asked Kepa, slightly accusingly. \u201cAt least that is your excuse for not going out with me most of the time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOf course I like the research,\u201d replied Maite, defensively. \u201cI mean, I want to dedicate my life to doing research. But, at the same time, it comes with sacrifices. It isn\u2019t a nine-to-five type job. You never really turn off or disconnect.\u201d She gave Kepa a pained look. \u201cAnd sometimes, those who you love are the ones that suffer for it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s great that you are passionate about your work,\u201d interjected Javi. \u201cFinding something you want to do so deeply is rare. Most people end up working to live. Don\u2019t get me wrong, the world runs on those jobs, but most of us can\u2019t wait for the day to end so we can go home and do something else. If you have that passion, and you can actually follow it, I can\u2019t think of anything better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLive to work, right?\u201d said Maite. She looked again at Kepa. \u201cBut, I\u2019m starting to realize that there is more to life than work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kepa couldn\u2019t help but smile. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you get this post via email, the return-to address goes no where, so please write blas@buber.net<\/a> if you want to get in touch with me.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The beach was picture perfect. The air was cool, but not cold, just enough to counter the heat of the sun. A gentle breeze came off the ocean, bringing with it the salty smell of the sea. Maite took a deep breath.  \u201cAlmost reminds me of home,\u201d she said, suddenly homesick. Javi chuckled. \u201cYou haven\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2640,864],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa","category-bubers-basque-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/maite-and-kepa-v2-01.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-1kp","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5109"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5110,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5109\/revisions\/5110"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}