Day 33 - The Welsh - Part 2
This is the sequel to
Part 1, which I posted on Day 13. Now that I've actually been to Wales and met a lot of Welsh people, I'll comment on some of the things I read about them before going there.
"ugly, pugnacious little trolls" - not true at all. They do tend to have a different look, but I noticed a lot of cute girls there - no more or less than in England. And they were very friendly, nice people - not pugnacious.
accent is "annoying and hard to understand" - Not annoying, but can be hard to understand at times. However, the area I spent the most time (Carmarthenshire) is known for unusually pleasant accents.
"ridiculed" by the English - Yes! On the train back to Reading, some Englishmen were harassing a guy who was wearing a Wales shirt. One of them said "I'm gonna sing the Welsh National Anthem for you because you're so proud of your country Wales." But rather than singing "Mae Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau" (The Land of my Fathers, the real national anthem) he started making sheep sounds - "Baaaaaaa.... baaaaaaa". So mean!!
They don't like the English very much - I don't think that's a fair characterization. They're not particularly fond of the English as a whole, and understandably so. There seems to be a long history of oppression against them by the English. But most don't dislike the English people.
They love rugby - yep!
They are very proud of their heritage - yes, and understandably so!
They're sick of the racism against them in the English media - didn't seem like much of an issue, although North Wales may be different.
The "prince of Wales" - I don't think they're bitter about that, but they're well aware of the history there. My hosts personally know a REAL price on Wales.
Approximately 10-15% of the Welsh people support independence from England. - That wouldn't surprise me, but it's not as big of an issue now as many decisions are now made from Cardiff instead of London.
They love sheep - can't argue with that one!
In summary, I like the Welsh people a lot and I admire them very much. The fact that they're still here (and the fact that their language still exists) says a lot about them. They have a long and very interesting history. I'm even trying to learn some of the language, but I don't think I'll ever get the pronunciation right.
1 Comments:
the welsh are great! of course, being welsh i'm prone to bias...but i'm glad you seem to have come to the same conclusion, Matt!
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