First Day

Yesterday felt very long. Which makes sense, because I was awake for a day and a half. I still managed to do quite a few things. I went shopping at Tesco with my aunt. It was quite large, kinda like a super target with clothes + other things and food, but with an emphasis on food. There was a large variety of everything, and most things were labeled "organic" or "local". The ethnic variety was also fairly diverse, with a focus on Indian. The different sorts of curries offered made my mouth water. As in most of Wales, all of the signs are bilingual.

I went to my younger cousin's school to pick him up at the end of the day. He was so excited that he kept hugging me. (I encouraged it.) His school is very old, welsh school. The structure reminds me of that of a church, with its pointed roof. I found out from my Uncle yesterday that schools are very rarely named after people. They are usually named for their location. Not like "South", but the name of the section of town or neighborhood, or the name of the land that it was built on.

I went abseiling (rappelling) from the large tree in their back yard. This meant I climbed a ladder way high up into the tree, attached my self to some ropes, and lowered my self down to the floor, all the while dangling from the rope. The boys had a go at it as well. I really enjoyed it. (Mom, its okay. Seriously) This was to get a feel for it when we went caving, which I did today. More about that in another post.

Afterward, we went to put the ladder away in the garage and I went ahead and got out my aunt's bike--with drop handle bars. I do not know if you know this about me, but if you know me at all, you know that I am extremely clumsy. My balance reflects this, and so whenever I try to use a bike with drop handle bars I usually just wobble for a few feet and then topple over. This time was a bit better, but I was still very shaky.

My younger cousin wanted to race, him on his bike and me on foot. We did. I beat him both times. Yes! Tonight we are having a race from the bottom of a hilly street to the very top. We had a practice run last night which was fun. I felt kinda silly but that is normal state of being for me.

Dinner was AMAZING. The anti pasta was sun dried tomatoes, octopus, and olives. The meal was fish with seafood and covered in an Italian red sauce. Absolutely delicious. My stomach had yet to adjust to the new eating schedule, so I kept getting hungry at the oddest times.

New Words-- (British or Welsh/English)

Ysgol- School or Ladder
Foel Fawr- Bare hill Large
Moel- Bare hill
Mawr- Large
Ogof- Cave

Lorry- Big Truck
Van- Smaller truck
Tarmac- Asphalt
Biscuit- Cookie
Couregettes- Zucchini
Aubergine- Eggplant

Caving info later!