half-empty

I’ve been trying to tidy up my bedroom for hours now, but these videos of dogs (yes, this one understands Brazilian Portuguese - and is being scolded for fighting over his food), a Korean baby girl and the Obamas acting cute aren’t helping. Neither are the things I keep finding in boxes and bags from when I moved into the flat months ago, not only because I have no idea where to properly store them, but especially because they’re all so... entertaining, even the ones like a half-empty mini bottle of mouthwash (and, yes, here we find out my answer to one of the greatest questions of humankind: it is half-empty, my glass, or rather my bottle of mouthwash). One which reminded me of my not yet numerous holiday trips and impelled me to, well, come here and do some more babbling about Wales again. Yay. Let me see if I can find inspiration in the bag of leaflets I brought home last year.

Memrise (thanks, Genia!) taught me
the verb digwydd, which means 'to happen',
and here are two other Welsh words:
byd = world and rhaglen = programme.

Nope. Or rather, yep. Sorta. I’ve mentioned National Museum Cardiff a couple of times, and I’m really excited for I’ve read somewhere that there’ll be an exhibition on Agatha Christie there this July, so I’m expecting to bring back home a few cool souvenirs and memories from the place again, but there’s something else I actually did there last year and might want to try again: the free guided tours with a volunteer guide at lunchtime (the entrance to the museum itself is also free, just in case you didn’t know that). As I was doing a full-time course last year, I think the one I managed to do was the Saturday one, ‘A Journey Through Landscape’. My guide was a Welsh lady who briefly asked me what I was doing in the city, said she wasn’t able to speak Welsh herself and added one or two pieces which weren’t related to landscapes to our tour of the museum: its most popular painting, Renoir’s The Blue Lady (actually called La Parisienne - diolch, Google), and one of the several versions (I don’t really get why there are so many) of Rodin’s The Kiss. So, even though I didn’t make it to Paris as I’d planned to, I did have a taste of what I might have done there.

And here's my own work of art
- yes, it's the National Museum
it looks like it, c'mon!...

France should happen this year, after Wales, again, same plan. And I intend to take Carol to Auvers-sur-Oise so she can see first-hand some of the lovely landscapes one of our favourite artists painted - and later make another great video for her channel, why not? Back in Cardiff, I may or may not do some more of the summer Welsh course next July, since I’m really tempted to just do some travelling this time (blame it on this add and these brochures - oh, diolch yn fawr, Visit Wales) - and, speaking of another venue which is definitely worth a visit, or many, in the Welsh capital city, I could make an effort and go see Jane Eyre’s last performance at the Millennium Centre in the evening of the day I’ll be arriving in the country (Carol? Liz? Ren? Would you join me? Anyone?). Oh, and I’ve just, oh, my, found out what I shall be doing in July 2018 (who said I can’t make long-term plans?) - War Horse will be back at the Centre then. If I needed an excuse, another one, to go back to Wales next year, well, it seems I’ve just found it: this musical is, beyond doubt, one of my most treasured memories. I was so moved that I left the theatre with a bag full of souvenirs: a keyring, a CD, a book and the play’s programme. Muito amor, llawer o gariad.

But first things first, I’ve got to make up my mind as to what I’ll be doing in three months’ time in Wales, not fifteen. Despite the fact that I’ll be ridiculously busy till then, I hope this means I’ll have to revive both this blog and whatever’s left of the little Welsh I claim to have learnt in 2016 (and am now kinda teaching a handful of my English students, how dare I, I know; they love it, though, they’re now nearly as enthusiastic as me about this little UK country few have heard of here where I live - gotta remember to buy them little souvenirs as well, ‘Bring me a dragon, teacher,’ one of the boys asked the other day) by the end of the term. Funny thing is I feel the thought of returning to Wales has increased my motivation at work, so I should be fine. Thanks to anyone who may be reading this - your patience and support are very much appreciated, though the current state of this blog might indicate otherwise (don’t believe it, believe my words instead).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

mundão

Image
It’s surprising how many people from the course I’m still in touch with. I chat with Genia on whatsapp and\or on facebook messenger daily ( diolch am dy gymorth di gyda fy nosbarth i, BTW - if that’s any accurate), Liz and I also have a few nice little conversations every once in a while (I’ve just sent her pictures of the flat I’ll hopefully be moving into next week), Ren’s always a joy to talk to, despite the fact that she’s often lost somewhere on the globe and hard to track down (she shared cool photographs of Chinese terracotta warriors with me some time ago), Charles might be silently reading the mostly nonsensical messages Genia and I, and sometimes Ren too, exchange on our messenger group, Matt has been following the blog ( diolch yn fawr !...), Phil and I jokingly became husband and wife ( gwr a gwraig , can’t use accents on ws here with this keyboard configuration) for an imaginary Welsh soap opera with a great soundtrack , and even Ioan, who’s wisely not on facebook or ...
Read more

(viva la) vida, ou celebrating (o aniversário da Carol!)

I’m back to working, well, part-time and doing all sorts of ELT-related jobs, from teaching a few of the school’s one-to-one students and filling in for colleagues to fulfilling Cambridge English speaking examiner duties like examining kids and attending meetings. I’ve also been trying to move into another flat for over a month now, wasting time and money on bureaucracy and putting a lot of effort, physical effort, into taking most of my stuff to what’s soon, all being well, going to be my new place - on foot, in suitcases and rucksacks of various sizes (well, let me give credit where it’s due and add that my father, besides helping me with the whole process in various ways, spent over a week in my current flat and carried more rucksacks and dragged more suitcases than I did - and he’s nearly 70, and I really love him). I believe all this has kept me away from Wales and from Welsh, that is, from writing about the country and studying the language. I equally believe I haven’t don...
Read more

sunbeams

Image
'If you have good thoughts, they will shine out of your face like sunbeams and you will always look lovely.' (Roald Dahl, The Twits) So today I finished reading one of the many books I've brought from Wales, 'Boy', by Roald Dahl, whom I didn’t know was Welsh before I started searching for things to do in Cardiff this year. It’s a big year for his fans, his centenary, so there were, and are, quite a few events going on in the city. I myself only saw an exhibition of Quentin Blake’s, his illustrator, works at the National Museum (and left it with a beautiful book called Sad Book, by Michael Rosen , which earned its title for a reason I won’t explain here in order not to spoil anyone’s reading - believe me, it’s worth it) and visited what is probably a permanent smaller one at the Norwegian Church , which is actually about the building itself but features a photograph of the author of Norwegian origins who was christened there. I’m still talking about Dahl, i...
Read more