Just wanted to say…
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New Zazzle T-shirt design for you? 
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I have arrived safely back to Cardiff after an exhausting week in Welsh. I now feel I have missed the oppurtunity to meet in person so many other SSiWers, but the ones i did get to speak to was great.
Bwtcamp in Caernarfon, sorry C’narfon, was amazing, intense, I learned so much and even adjusted how I think about the language. I probably spoke more Welsh with people in one week than the previous 15 months combined, which gave me the confidence to have a chat (yn y Cymraeg wrth cwrs) with the wonderful and hugely talented Meinir Gwilym. So yes my apologies for not knowing who she was before!
Post bwtcamp Caernarfon and surrounds yn y Cymraeg was tough. The local accent and speed is just so intense, but I managed to get my hair cut and talk to so many people and they are so so friendly and supportive. However it si so siomedig/ disappointing at the end of a conversation to be told ‘You speak Welsh really well’ .I know that people of course mean well and wish to be supportive, but to me it’s just it’s still very obvious that I am still a learner [yes @Aran and a speaker as well :O)] anyway, the point was, it was great to have my confidence built up again at the party and gave me the chance to be wedi meddwi /drunk in Welsh for the first time!
Huge thanks to all who helped organise a great night in Caernarfon!
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What a great party but more than that I really enjoyed the whole weekend, it was a great chance to catch up with old friends and to meet new friends. I got home yesterday really tired, managed to get through a curry in Maahis with friends and family then flaked out, bed by 9 I think.
Visiting Caernarfon on Tuesday and then the party weekend has made me realise how much I’ve missed bootcamp this year. See you all again soon, maybe in the Eisteddfod?
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I would say that is, fairly clearly, mission accomplished…
I think maybe you didn’t hear that I got exactly that from a local woman while we were all watching the dog not drown? So seriously, don’t worry about it - it’s meant kindly, and in due course you’ll probably be able to escape it sometimes, but you’ll probably get it now and again for ever, and just get used to letting it roll off your back…
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I do remember now! Maybe it’s just the ‘No english’ rule. I went to the chip shop you recommended and said ‘sglodion a pyscodyn’ local people were saying ‘chips’! But I got a free chip fork for speaking Welsh, they charge 5p for a fork!
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What with that and chatting to Meinir Gwilym, I’d say you’ve won…
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Thank you Aran for saying that and the whole week +. I have been a bit down today, just recovering and missing being at Bwtcamp with everyone really! Your words have picked me up!
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The Post-Bootcamp slump is a common thing. But as I ordered, er, requested - please don’t forget how much you achieved. It was real. You really did it. It was a HUGE achievement. AND you spoke to Meinir Gwilym AND YOU GOT A FREE FORK.
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Diolch o galan, Catrin, Aran, Cat and Iestyn from Geoffrey and me for such a great evening. Well worth the journey! Talking to old friends and new gave us loads more confidence when we spoke ‘Welsh in the Wild’ in Caernarfon, Beddgelert and Corwen for the rest of the long weekend. (Corwen, on the way home today, was a nice surprise - a short but enjoyable conversation in Welsh with a couple of customers in a pub rounded off a super weekend.)
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It was such an enormous pleasure to see you and Geoffrey again, Rhiannon! It had been far too long since we had last seen you and I was reminded straight away on meeting you again, what wonderful people you are and how supportive you are of SSiW. Diolch yn fawr iawn for making the effort of coming so very far. Looking forward already to seeing you again and hopefully getting the time to chat for longer next time.
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Diolch, Catrin! It was really lovely catching up with you, too, and, yes, looking forward to a longer chat next time!
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It was such a treat to see you again - and we really, really will try and make that ‘visit some far-flung meetups’ thing come together one of these days…
I was sorry not to be there this year, hopefully on 2018! A gentleman looks very dapper in such attire.
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“However it si so siomedig/ disappointing at the end of a conversation to be told ‘You speak Welsh really well’ .I know that people of course mean well and wish to be supportive, but to me it’s just it’s still very obvious that I am still a learner”
I just take it as a compliment. Every time. Maybe, I’m missing something?
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Hmmm … If i put it this way … then I don’t stand a chance to be a Welsh speaker … just a learner it will be.
Besides … natives would (could) always find the spot where they’d know you’re not native speaker so you shouldn’t burden yourself with that. Just go with the flow. I’ve heard you speaking about a year or two ago so I know that you’re speaking very well and that’s what really matters I think. You’re a Welsh (or any language speaker) as much as you feel it to be so you should feel like being one!
Hwyl!
Tatjana
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I agree with Tatiana. To be born a Welsh speaker is merely a fortunate happenstance of birth. To have learned Welsh is to have deliberately chosen, struggled, and succeeded. I am proud of the achievement.
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To me the effect of bootcamp has been very much on my feeling of being Welsh. Even though I was born here with 2 Welsh parents and lived here for most of my life it is only now that I can think of myself as becoming a Cymraes Cymraeg after decades of feeling ashamed that my Welsh was so poor.
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As you see, it’s all about deceisions. You’ve decided you’ll get this under your belt after all once and for all and here you are! I don’t know how much and good you’re already speaking, but with the fact that you’ve struggled and “survived” the bootcamp speaks for itself! Like @Iestyn would probably say: You are a Welsh speaker now!
And (to return to the topic) then it was the parti where you could try out your just gathered knowledge and confidence again. Isn’t that wonderful!
Da iawn chi bawb! And thank you to all who posted some bits and pieces of the parti and bootcamp on here and in social medoa! it was great to see you all (not without a tiny bit of jelousy to be honest - hehe ).
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Croeso adref… 
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