Ooh just look at the view down the lane to the sea! (Failing to quash an unattractive attack of ‘green with envy’!!) Have a brilliant time, all of you!
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Well it’s true we have the sea, but if we try to escape they have ways of bringing us back …
Well, chwarae teg, that’s Portmeirion, but I’m sure the same system is in operation in Tresaith …
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That’s what the linking up of the llwybr arfodir was all about … it’s there to keep people in Wales.
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Well, next bootcamp underway tomorrow and I’m getting into packing mode - or do I mean panic mode? Maybe this sick feeling is excitement?
Looking forward to seeing you all in Tresaith.
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Yes, panicking now.
Better think about starting packing I suppose …
We’re all going to be fine…
Leaving in half an hour, via Wonderwool in Builth Wells. See you all later on.
Wishing you all a great time! Whose actually attending the camp? Margaret, Mike, Steve and Sara, I see but who else?
I’m bringing Elizabeth also, and I think Polly’s coming?
All packed now. Just need a shower then load the car, then pick up the others and we’re off!
Most excited…
Helen is coming as well…
Bag packed… Not long now until Sara comes by and then it’s all happening!
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Well, duw duw! What an adventure! Home in the bosom of my family, slipping in and out of Cymraeg and starting to process an extraordinary and also, strangely ordinary week…ie doing ordinary holiday things in very familiar places, in welsh and feeling ok ( most of the time) about it!
Just want to say a big diolch to all the other folk who were up for jumping in and using the language and the incredible patience we all displayed with ourselves and each other as we scrambled around to make our selves understood and to listen to others…it was incredible how the different abilities blended, how everyone, no matter what their “level” of welsh was, were able to teach others something.
also, of course to Iestyn and Cat for their humour, laid-back-ness and graft…and thanks for bringing the children…i thoroughly enjoyed myself with your children and also learnt alot from them.
…results ive already noticed - that i whizzed through the gwers i had started on when i started bootcamp…talking to myself on the bus home today i impressed myself ( not sure the lady in the seat next to me was quite so impressed with me chatting to myself about body parts for an hour)
- that i instantly spoke in welsh and stuck to it when i met an ex colleague from work in town who is first language…she was shocked and really pleased as last time id seen here i didnt speak welsh.
- that i need to welsh up my music collection - thanks helen for some great ideas on what music to get !
- that the singing session in tafarn eryr was flippin awesome and i actually had a little weep when i was telling my family about it…very special experience for which i will be permanently grateful…
so farewell to my fellow bootcampers…diolch for the penderyn, the laughs and the support…
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Just back myself. All that is said above and more, that sure was fun and thanks for putting up with my antics.
To give readers an idea of how difficult bootcamp can be, here is a picture of some campers queuing for ice cream.
Yeah, it can be tough. back soon with more about the week.
Cheers J.P.
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Who doesn’t like a mystery, Britain for some time had the mystery of crop circles.
Here you can see Iestyn explaining a welsh rock circle.
Cylch cerrig - rock circle.
What else can be seen on bootcamp !
Tarw ar y ffordd - Bull on the road.
Cheers J.P.
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Less than 24 hours ago I was in Bootcamp, now I’m home with time to reflect a bit on the experience.
Early on I remembered some words from the wisdom of Aran “mistakes make the path to success shorter” (or something like that), so I decided to think very hard about every sentence to ensure they contained at least one mistake, sometimes more… sometimes many more.
Later in the Bootcamp I remembered some words from the wisdom of S4C “dal ati”. These words were very very useful to me whenever I occasionally realised that I had forgotten to make even a single mistake in a sentence.
Along the way I learnt lots of other things.
I learnt that if you take a piece of bread to a bench near the canolfan the local Robin will sit on your knee. (She doesn’t speak Welsh, but she’s happy to sing for you).
I learnt that I’m very gullible - Penarth is not so-named because it sits on a hill that looks like the Pen of an Arth.
I learnt that not everything Helen says is accurate - the symbol of Newcastle Emlyn Rugby Club is not a gwiwer. (This discovery did not mix well with the previous one).
I learnt that I can understand a lot more Welsh than I thought.
I learnt that Llandysul is the best place in the world, but that the best thing to do in the world is to sing in a pub in Aberteifi.
I learnt that if you’re having a bad day, there are no better people to have around you than bootcamp people.
Diolch pawb.
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If you’re still looking for suggestions Bell, might be worth trying “Tethered for the storm” by The Gentle Good. Gareth Bonello is fabulously talented.
Looking forward to hearing more of your stories: it sounds as if everyone had a great time. Also, all your different experiences offer a lot of insight and encouragement to those just starting out and seasoned learners as well. I always enjoy reading all about it. Diolch!!!
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I can relate to this as well … well, not to the body parts , but talking to myself…
Great expression! I need to do this too.
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Well I’m home now after a lovely week in Tresaith, shame it was so chilly weatherwise but the rain kept away so that has got to be a plus. It was a rare opportunity for me to live Welsh for a week, I’m one of the quieter people but it was good to relax quietly with lots of Welsh happening around me. Really good to meet a few familiar people again, and some lovely new people. I know that I understood more this year, and where the activities were the same as last year I could prove to myself I understood more. I stayed in Welsh on my trip home, though when I asked for the ty bach in a cafe in Aberystwyth I was offered a teabag! 101 things to do with a tea bag…
And I met up with Helen again later in the day and we talked for some hours in Welsh, hard to believe we did not run out of things to say.
What’s next? Not an easy answer when I don’t live in Wales, carry on skyping is the best one, revise the course lessons, swallow the new level 2 lessons whole when they come out, radio Cymru. I have arrived home with loads of books and I plan to read the Stori Sydans and hopefully move on to the more ambitious book sized books.
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I’ll have a listen steve, thanks