Hey hey, this is an email of observations that I wrote
when I was tired from notes that I've been jotting
down all this time. It was for a class, and is just
about Wales and Welsh Culture and what I've been up to
and what I've observed...
People's impressions of Welsh nationalism differ
greatly. Plaid Cymru, the Welsh Nationalist Party (we
actually met the son of the leader at a Slate museum,
and stood next to him in a cutting room), is in
existence, and a new Welsh Assembly has been started;
however, the Nationalist party is not actively seeking
secession, but seems to be rather advocating the
equality of the Welsh Language in all facets of life,
as well as the preservation of Welsh history and
culture. Welsh in Wales has an equal legal standing
with English, and one has the right to operate in
governmental areas entirely in Welsh.
As in any country, there are differences between
regions, in dialect, stereotypes, etc. Cardiff is the
main city, and the stereotype is that kids from
Cardiff are more "urban" and act in more urban ways,
speaking in slang more, etc. Few other major cities
exist as Americans would know them; what are called
cities would be more accurately called Towns in
America.
Random observations:
This country is absolutely beautiful.
They eat with their forks upside down in their left
hands.
Tea is taken with cream and sugar.
The fact that my host family had "plenty of water" was
stressed for some reason.
Dressers with lots of china are a big part of Welsh
homes.
Computers are becoming more important to people.
First-year students basically drink, all day, every
day, and seem to have trouble doing anything else.
Rarely are parties thrown in people's houses,
apparently; clubs are the preferred drinking/dancing
places.
No real fraternities.
Cultural fairs are important to Welsh; they are
usually conducted in Welsh, and consist of all arts.
Winners are given a lot of respect.
Welsh home interactions are very different from the
States. For one, the mother is usually the one to do
all cooking, cleaning, and any other assorted
housework that there is, and rarely imposes upon
others to do it. When dinner is finished, the sons
will usually get up and go watch television, leaving
the mother to clear the table. However, with this,
they seem to be more subservient to their mother in
certain respects. It is hard to explain, but it is as
if, when a Welsh mother asks their child to do
something, there is not as much argument against doing
it as you might find in America.
Another difference: when we went to a house up in
Northern Wales, Lindsay, the girl on the trip, was
shown around the kitchen so that, should Rhodri or I
need anything, she would be able to get it or make it
for us. She was told to clear our places and bring us
things such as toast or tea, and Rhodri and I were
told to stay where we were if we offered to help.
What you really wanted to know:
The club and pub scene here is very interesting. For
the most part, when people go to pubs in the middle of
the day for a drink, it is purely social. Even at
night, in pubs and clubs, some people will get drunk,
but it is not because they want to be drunk, but
because it is the natural thing to do. The lower
drinking age in this country is often accompanied by
underage drinking as young as 16, which is usual among
the children here. However, parents do not mind it as
much as they do in the states. It is normal for kids
to go out drinking with their mates, and the clubs are
filled with a wide range of ages.
Clubs usually have bars and dance floors and djs, and
in this way are similar to clubs in the US. However,
a different attitude and energy exist among the
people. In the US, it seems as if the clubs exist to
allow people to drink a lot, dance a little, and maybe
meet someone for a one-night stand. In the clubs
here, it is similar, but people don't put as much of
an emphasis on hooking up as on bonding with the
people that you already know and seeing old friends.
The impressions that Welsh people have of Americans is
odd. On the one hand, they seem to have a great deal
of respect for our industriousness, enthusiasm,
ability to innovate and invent, and in general for the
things which we often tout in commercials as being
classic American traits. However, they also do not
like Americans as a whole for our loudness, our
pushiness/assertiveness, our nationalism, and our
stereotypical succeed-at-all-costs attitude; this
dislike is usually the most public and prevalent
attitude. However much they may dislike us as a
group, on an individual level, they are very warm and
friendly.
Many of these attitudes were made clear at a TV
shooting that I was asked to go to (I played an
"American"). The show was a candid-camera type show
that placed famous Welsh people in strange situations
and recorded their reactions. The premise was that we
were at a wedding, where a Welsh person and an
American were to be married. Thus, the audience was
supposed to be composed of both Welsh and American
people. The main action was controlled by an Master
of Ceremonies that was a Welsh man playing an American
trying to pretend he was Welsh. He was stereotypical:
his accent was a strange Texan/regular American
accent, and he was speaking Welsh with an American
accent. He drank too much, ate the meat from the
hamburger (but not the bun), served cake with his
hands, burped, and forced the Audience to sing the
National Anthem before the celebrity came. The person
who was supposed to be filmed secretly was a famous
Welsh folk singer named Heather Jones. She sang
almost all of her songs in Welsh, after which we were
supposed to give a big "American Hand" to her. After
one of the songs, the Audience sang, "I want to live
in America," as in West Side Story. When the two
countries were compared, Wales was said to have, "some
pretty big bottles of Vinegar. But I'm sure that if
we cared about looking, America has just as big
bottles, if (burp) not bigger. Probably bigger."
This type of conduct is what the Welsh seem to
associate with Americans, and, even if not entirely
true, is what we have to deal with.
Cheers, Hoyl, etc.
Andrew
