As I have been here in Wales much longer now, very little surprises me anymore. I know the slang for Wales as well as or better than I do Canada. I am starting to have to think about the correct Canadian terminology when speaking to friends back home. I still have yet to pick up any aspect of the accent though. It has been hard to think up new topics to write in these blogs because the novelty has worn off but lucky for me my partner has just moved over here and has started reminding me of the Quirks or Wales all over again.
Though my American family still have Thanksgiving, around here Christmas comes the week of Halloween. I love Halloween and dressing up is my favourite thing to do but I am also a last minute shopper, usually making my costume day of. This gets complicated in the UK because Halloween isn't so big here and usually the day by October 30th, store have taken Halloween decorations and supplies out and put Christmas decorations and supplies in. Being from North America I find this WAY TOO EARLY as there are still 2 months to go!
I have a theory as to why this might be though. I think in Canada around this time we are just getting snow and at least as children we are excited about the endless possibilities this brings! There are so many activities that you can go in the snow to stay occupied. In Wales, there is rain. not snow. Rain brings less fun activities (though I am not arguing that rain isn't fun some of the time). Getting excited about Christmas and having Christmas markets and Winter Festivals with rides and games and Mulled wine, make up for the lack of snow, and the sooner the better!
If it lifts those November blues then I say why not! Embrace the  excitement that the Winter Holidays bring! Happy Holidays!

Peanuts Vs Monkey Nuts

In Wales, peanuts in the shell are called Monkey nuts but out of the shell they are peanuts. Fun!

Image taken from: http://www.tourabsurd.com/monkey-nuts/

Welsh: Educating their Drinkers

 

If you are a drinker with a curious mind then it takes very little time to tell that all bottles of alcohol sold in Wales have two warnings on them. Each tells you how many units of alcohol you are drinking and the recommended daily values for men and women. They also have a warning to pregnant woman not to drink. If these warnings were put on bottles in the US or Canada then I wouldn’t blink an eye at them because everybody is paranoid of being sued however I feel as though they are a little out of character here. From my experience there are not many people in the UK that would follow these drinking regulations (the recommended units of alcohol not the pregnancy warnings- I am not suggesting ANYTHING about soon to be mothers here). Cardiff is rumoured to be the largest drinking city in the UK. It is almost encouraged for people to have fall-down-drunk drinking stories.   It makes me wonder how many British make fun of our coffee cups that have “Caution: contents is very hot” written on them. Country specific worries I guess.

Thinking of summer on this cold day.....

I wrote a couple of blogs over the summer but never put them online so these are a little dated...

After all my entries on how poor the weather has been over here we have had some amazing weather over the past couple weeks. I feel like they picked Britain up and moved it a bit closer to the equator with a large clear umbrella over our heads so no rain could get us. With good weather, comes tanned and fake tanned welsh men and women. Being that I was funemployed for the first part of this summer I spent much of my time at the city parks. The parks in Cardiff are lovely- you almost feel as though you are not in the city anymore but instead somewhere between the secret garden and alice in wonderland’s queen of hearts garden. They are the magical place where all welsh stuck in the city come to do pretty well anything they want. The other day there was a small festival in the park closest to me and as I walked I was watching a dog show, viewing a sports camp and became the audience participation for a medieval fight. Then came the unorganized activities of exercise camps running around, people tanning and reading, then the groups of people enjoying a case of beer and a barbeque or the line-up of children at an ice-cream truck. Off to the side, the elderly couples watched from the shade and the solo runners find serenity on the track. Parks are truly the meeting place for all social groups.