Welsh Withdrawal Symptoms?

Hêlo pawb,

Having just returned to Lloegr from a brilliant Bootcamp experience in Tresaith, I think I am experiencing some severe Welsh withdrawal symptoms. The main ones for the moment are:

Listening to the Eisteddfod coverage all day on Radio Cymru (unfortunately I wasn’t able to go there after Bootcamp)
Mumbling fairly incoherently to myself in half-formed Welsh sentences (not much change there though!)
Singing or humming Welsh songs (with at least some of the words/tune in place)
Saying ‘diolch yn fawr’ and ‘ydw’ a lot
Waking up in the expectation of heading off to play the Ukele in Welsh, sing in the open air in Aberteifi or ask residents of local towns what they think of their shopping facilities.

Fortunately, I still have a few days holiday as I’m not sure any of this would go down that well at work. My (wholly English-speaking) family are a bit bemused but fairly tolerant about it (for the moment).

I did have a conversation with Iestyn about the need for rehab after Bwtcamp. He said the best form of rehab for that was another Bwtcamp! Unfortunately, I’ll probably have to wait until next summer for that so I guess other forms of therapy may be needed such as going back over Cwrs 3 and working through the Welsh language books I’ve stockpiled. Oh and Skype with other SSIWers, a few short Welsh courses and lots of Radio Cymru, S4C. Perhaps things are not so bad after all :sunny:

If any more experienced Bwtcamp survivors have any tips on the post-Bwtcamp period, please let me know.

Hwyl,

Jon

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Hmmm … I was not at any bwtcamp, but, hey, this is just great! Keep talking, singing and “mumbling”. I loved to read your post from the start to the end and could imagine all said. It made me smile. :slight_smile:

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It’s always lovely to hear how Bootcamp went - sounds as though you must have had a successful time :star: :star2:

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Great to have met you and everyone John. I look forward to hearing lots of the other stories soon…

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After my first Bootcamp I spent the next 3 days in Swansea and Haverfordwest seeing family and friends, and trying to find more opportunities to use my Welsh.
Then when I got back home (which was Kent back then) I was already planning my next trip to Wales!

A year later, and I’m now living and working here - in Cardiff and the Vale!
So, it’s amazing what effect the Bootcamp experience has on you, and one day I will do it again!

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Hi Kim,

Great to have met you too - looking forward to the next time! Hope you’ve been enjoying the Eisteddfod and the Gogledd.

Pob hwyl,

Jon

It was good to meet everyone - a lovely bunch of people.

At some point I’ll finish typing up the Cymraeg diary I kept, but it’s a slow process because it needs to be corrected enough that my pidgin written Welsh is comprehensible to others without making it too polished. (I’d like to compare it to the diary I keep for a future bootcamp to see how much my written Welsh improves)

@jonmcleod - if it helps your withdrawal symptons, I’m happy to Skype yn gymraeg

James

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Hi James,

Yes - such a great group of people and a great experience. Well done for keeping up with your diary! Sounds like you are going to share it too. Perhaps you could serialise it - a bit now and again on the forum would bring back the bootcamp experience for us during the dark days of winter! I have some photos to share with you and the other bootcampers - hoping to see some others especially of the ‘ceremony’ in Aberteifi! (I was too busy holding the flag to reach my phone!). Have you kept going with the juggling since getting back? Very impressive.

It would be brilliant to practice some Cymraeg with you via Skype. I will send over my Skype address to you and then we can set up a time to chat.

Pob hwyl,

Jon