Wales (aka Where Are The Vowels?)

Sound: Christmas music...

Before I start my post, I'm going to talk about my relationship with Christmas, especially Christmas music.

I like Christmas; in fact, I have celebrated Christmas (in a family-lovin', gift-givin' way, not a Jesus-birthin' way) since I was ten or eleven. However, I do not like Christmas music being constantly played. The day after Thanksgiving, I am subjected to the same recordings of Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, and The Bare Naked Ladies singing the same Christmas songs on repeat forever and ever and EVER. And it starts to drive me crazy. And in England, there's no Thanksgiving. So that means that this Christmas music nightmare begins on November 1.

I just want a little Adam Sandler, you know? Even if this is a Christian country, I think everyone can appreciate lyrics like "Goldie Hawn's half-Jewish/Harrison Ford is too/Put them together/What a fine-looking Jew!"

Anyway, on to Wales.

This past week, my dad was visiting me in London. We had fun. I'd tell you more, but that's not the point of this post. We decided that we wanted to do a weekend trip, so we went to Stonehenge (because Dad wanted to see it, and, hey, I really like getting my pagan on) and Cardiff (the capital of Wales). First, let me tell you about how hard it is to navigate around Great Britain. We definitely had to back track a lot. And then there's the whole driving on the other side of the road thing. Dad drove, so I did not have to worry about being responsible for anything expensive. However, I did have to worry about dying. But only twice, which is pretty impressive (good job, Dad!).

When we got to Stonehenge, Dad decided he wanted to do a handstand. For those of you without facebook, or who just choose to be normal and not stalk me, I have a picture of myself doing a handstand at Stonehenge. And Dad liked the idea, so he was going to do it. It took a lot of tries, and at one point, Dad fell on his head and got a mud stain there. There are pictures, but you'll have to convince him to share them. I'm really hoping he posts them all in an album entitled "The Evolution of Handstandhenge: I've Still Got It."

After Stonehenge, we crossed into Wales and discovered something we weren't quite prepared for: Welsh. Wales is a bilingual country, and Welsh is possibly the weirdest language I've come across. Dutch, as much as I struggled with it, has nothing on Welsh. Here're some examples of why Welsh is so screwed up:

Wales = Cymru

Cardiff = Caerdydd

Big = Pwll

Did you catch that? The last word doesn't have any vowels! It doesn't even have a "y," which, we all learned in kindergarten, is sometimes a vowel. But nope, Welsh is just too good for vowels.

But, language confusion aside, Wales was lovely. We saw the Dr. Who exhibit (and I got to oogle at pictures of David Tennant, who played the Tenth Doctor, and is my favorite Doctor), and went to Big Pit, which is a coal mine in South Wales. Big Pit was super cool, because I got to wear a miners helmet with a light thingy and go into a freaking mine!

We also saw "Harry Potter," but that's not necessarily Welsh.

Peace out, cubscouts.

EDIT: Starbucks is now playing a cover of the Who's "Christmas Day" (from "Tommy"). I don't care what the title is, Starbucks, THIS IS NOT CHRISTMAS MUSIC. STOP RUINING MY SECOND-FAVORITE CONCEPT ALBUM/MOVIE OF ALL TIME!!!