2017

We had a meeting this afternoon. It’s the beginning of the school year here in my country, and we teachers are soon going to step into the classroom again. For me, it’s going to be the first time - well, first with groups, not private students, or at least first with groups of my own, not substitutions - since I came back from Wales and my two-month summer Welsh course. I’m teaching quite a lot of children, preteens and teens this term, apparently - I wonder if I could use Welsh words and phrases to bargain with them?... Teach them vocab related to whatever we’re learning - provided they behave? I’d learn a lot myself. And I’d be spreading the love-for-Wales around - OK, I’d be teaching them there is a country named Wales which stays in the UK (which is in Europe, Europe is a continent, not a country, nothing to do with the US, and England isn’t the UK, it is in the UK, well) and has its own very special, very old, very beautiful language very few people can actually speak, and I decided to learn, or try to, because of this very kind old man I met in this very large open air museum in the capital of this... awesome country (‘awesome’ is an opinion word they learn, awesome!), a city called Cardiff, Caerdydd in Welsh, which, BTW, would help me teach the th- sound in ‘this’ as well.

And this one is Cymru.

And what’s the reason for so much gibberish? We were asked, as usual, to share what we had done last month, when most of us were on holiday, and whatever insights that might have brought us (I obviously forgot the insight part, I always do). To my bosses’ utter (but silent) astonishment, our colleague reporting on my group’s ‘findings’ mentioned that I’d stayed in town and worked because I’m saving up to go back to Cardiff in July - the way he did it, he understands, I was so glad; he’s a traveller, a real globetrotter, I want to be him when I grow up, finally, one day, people say we all do, grow up, I mean, or don’t we? We’d talked about that before, he’d asked me what I intended to do about Wales and Welsh, and I’d said I’d really like to go back and keep studying the language, otherwise last year would’ve been just another holiday, and one that’d cost me dearly. He enjoys hiking, so he asked me whether I’d been to North Wales (and was surprised I haven’t, unfortunately), we discussed alternative accommodation so I wouldn’t spend so much (and ruled out camping because I’d be doing a full-time course in the heart of Cardiff), etc. - it was great to talk to someone about Wales and not be made fun of for once, on the contrary, it was so nice.

So once I pay off my humongous debts related to my decision of spending six months with virtually no income at all whilst still having all of my bills, and even a new one, to pay only so that I could spend one more little month struggling to learn Welsh in the company of amazing people like Liz, from the previous post, yes, and Ioan, from, for example, the first one, I shall start making real plans for this year (I really don’t think I’m going to play unemployed again, ever again, if I can avoid that, I mean, so it’s probably going to be one month only this time for me). In fact, Genia, Ren and I have been chatting about the course, and for a moment I thought I wouldn’t be able to see Genia again, as she’ll be doing the last level I did last year, which starts in August, and I’d be - hopefully, if I do some real, proper studying from, say, tomorrow on? - doing one that is only offered in July. We agreed to meet at the end of the month, with her travelling from Germany a bit earlier. Good news is this year the course I might do starts in the first week of July, so I wouldn’t have to ask permission to leave nearly a week earlier, and ends with just enough time, if I fly straight to Paris or London after class on Friday, for me to be back home safe and sound and in time to start teaching on Monday. I know. And then there’s the next level next year, which is only available in August, which, on the bright side of things, means I’d have July 2018 to spend somewhere other than Wales (as much as I do love Wales, well, it’d be my third summer holiday spent there, and in the very same city, in a row; I mean, there are other places - Denmark! - in Europe I really want to go to one day as well - think I’ve mentioned wanting to learn Danish too? So - now I just need to win the lottery or something, easy).

But I started this text because, besides our holidays, we talked about motivation in today’s (let’s be honest, Bruna - yesterday’s) meeting. Teacher motivation and student motivation. Making enough money so that I can spend yet another month in Cardiff this year is obviously going to be one of my main reasons, if not my main reason, to work, and, if possible, work harder than usual, this term. It’s not money we’re, or were, talking about, though. Just like Welsh isn’t just Welsh and Wales isn’t just Wales to me. Anyway. This is sort of a blog revival post, I reckon? A way to remind me that it should be a reminder of, well, what Welsh and Wales mean to me? Goal for 2017: two posts a month, including more about the language and texts in Portuguese? Hum. Quem sabe?