Must Keep Blogging to Stay Warm
Mae hi'n bwrw glaw ag oer, a does dim siwmper 'da fi, (It's raining and cold, and I don't have a sweatshirt), and the only heat in the room is coming from my laptop processer. Miserable, miserable, miserable. Mae'r tywydd yn friggin ddiflas.
My lunch at Sospan Fach, though, was a success. Not only did I find perhaps the only place in Lampeter that puts dressing on a side salad, I managed to do everything in Welsh. When the waitress arrived and said, "Helo, popeth yn iawn?," I assumed that she had seen the "Dw i'n Dysgu Cymreig" pin on my backpack. However, it turns out that the cafe is part of a Cymreig Cyntaf (Welsh First) program, and thus start out in Welsh with everyone. I'd never heard of it before, but it's an excellent idea. It gets over a primary handicap for Welsh learners: the first, the difficulty of changing a conversation to Welsh from English, especially with strangers. It also encourages Welsh speakers to use their native tongue in public, when some seem wary of speaking it with those they don't know (see above point).
Roxy, by the way, was right-- thick stockings and a skirt are absolutely the way to go on rainy days, if, like me, you're short enough that seatbelts don't fit right and you can't wear normal people pants (I've been informed by my British friends that "pants" are underwear, and jeans are "trousers"). I'm much more dry than I would be if my jeans had soaked up all the rain. Still, I was thinking of going out to Spar for snacky study foods, and I just don't know if I'll make it.
My lunch at Sospan Fach, though, was a success. Not only did I find perhaps the only place in Lampeter that puts dressing on a side salad, I managed to do everything in Welsh. When the waitress arrived and said, "Helo, popeth yn iawn?," I assumed that she had seen the "Dw i'n Dysgu Cymreig" pin on my backpack. However, it turns out that the cafe is part of a Cymreig Cyntaf (Welsh First) program, and thus start out in Welsh with everyone. I'd never heard of it before, but it's an excellent idea. It gets over a primary handicap for Welsh learners: the first, the difficulty of changing a conversation to Welsh from English, especially with strangers. It also encourages Welsh speakers to use their native tongue in public, when some seem wary of speaking it with those they don't know (see above point).
Roxy, by the way, was right-- thick stockings and a skirt are absolutely the way to go on rainy days, if, like me, you're short enough that seatbelts don't fit right and you can't wear normal people pants (I've been informed by my British friends that "pants" are underwear, and jeans are "trousers"). I'm much more dry than I would be if my jeans had soaked up all the rain. Still, I was thinking of going out to Spar for snacky study foods, and I just don't know if I'll make it.
2 Comments:
It's chilly enough here that we have turned on the heat. The cats, therefore, are hanging out indoors to take advantage of the sauna. Dad and I saw a quail at the arboretum--one quail, one rat, lotsa squirrels. Jumping up and down is sometimes warming.
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Anonymous, at 4:33 PM
A regular complaint from Welsh learners is that Welsh speakers won't speak Welsh with them, and I know this to be the case. But it's not Welsh learners who have this problem. My 1st langugae is Welsh, and I come from north east Wales. When I visit Gwynedd I look forward to speaking Welsh with almost every stranger I meet in a pub/shop, but on many occasions they start a conversation in Welsh with me, even in places with a really high % of welsh speakers.
A lot of this is down to the fact that we've been told so often it's rude to speak Werlsh in fornt of others (which is rubbish of course), but it's surprising how it affects us.
Diolch am y tip am Sospan Fach. Bydda i'n mynd yno os af i Lambed rhywbryd yn y dyfodol.
By
Rhys Wynne, at 4:59 AM
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