Llongyfyrchiadau. 
What a superb achieivement.
I get an adrenalin rush just from reading about it, @jenny-5! Youāre very brave!
Mine is not as outstanding but Iām happy anyway 
I remember reading posts from people who started to speak Welsh before realizing it. I didnāt think it would happen to me anytime soon but Iām at the end of Level 1 and itās been happening the whole week now!
See, I do the challenges in the car on my way to work and itās safe because if the road needs more of my attention I just tune out the challenge for a few seconds. But this week has been a little crazy so far (I suppose some people have forgotten over the holidays how to drive) so it happens more often that I need to focus on the road. And - ta-da! - some of the times I blubbered out the correct Welsh translation without thinking about it at all! Itās an exhiliarating feeling and Iām looking forward to experiencing it more often.
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Well done, Irina! Maybe itās time we graduated from swapping postcards to chatting???
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Iād love to! Weāll just have to figure out the time (I see youāre here but Iām at work at the moment 
).
Iām retired, so very flexible. Let me know when you feel like a chat!
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Thatās fantastic to hear @Irina and itās these kind of experiences that boost your confidence and help you realise it is all going in and being processed and that you CAN siarad Cymraeg.
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On a brief stop at Machynlleth last Saurday I found myself in MOMA (the Museum of Modern Art), drawn in by some of the amazing Creaduriaid y Mabinogi exhibition visible through their window. And so chuffed - as when I said to the lady on the front desk how pleased I was about the words with the displays being in Welsh and English, because I was learning Welsh (all said in English), she promptly asked how long Iād been learning in Welsh , and we then had a lovely Welsh chat. Covering quite a range of topics! And when I reappeared in her room we continued to speak mostly in Welsh. Made my day
(The exhibition that drew me in has now finished in Machynlleth - but would recommend the fauxidermy creatures if you get a chance to see them elsewhere).
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Helo Ffrindiau,
This is a non-speaking breakthrough, but big accomplishment for meā¦ just finished my last course assignment for the UWTSD M.A. Celtic Studies. OK, I still have a dissertation to write, but have some ideas for a topic if the uni will consider it: āPilgrim in a foreign landā. In it, I would love to document the journey folk here have been taking into what may have started as feeling quite foreignā¦ the mysteries of learning Welsh, and with it a deeper connection with what now feels like āhomeā not a foreign land.
For those of you who donāt recognize me, or my storyā¦ being deaf/hard-of-hearing, and living in Vancouver, posed certain challenges, but with all the help and encouragement here, I found the means to follow my dream. Into the bargain, I have met and made some wonderful friends. OK, I need to continue working on the SSiW but did finish Level Three, then took ātime outā for a couple of months to study and travel. That was deliberate.
Being at that ābucket listā stage in life, my husband wants to go hiking in the Atacama Desert next, so SSiSpanish here I come. Managed 7 lessons today and my brain hurts, but heyā¦ this SSi approach is brilliant and really works. Well done folks, and thank you!
Hwyl,
Mari
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Well done you, Mari. LLongyfarchiadau 
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Diolch yn fawr iawn!
Seven lessons in one day-thatās amazing @MarilynHames. Iām not surprised your brain hurts! Well done you, just brilliant!
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Thank you so much Jenny,
I got the idea from reading about the SSiW intensive courses, and since we have a lot of snow for Vancouver and even more forecast, I thoughtā¦ āWhy not try 3-4 days of intensive study?ā
This morning I managed another two lessons plus an acquafit class, so now I am sufficiently worn out to carry on with another few lessons this afternoon. To prevent myself hitting the pause button, I am knitting my husband a looong, warm scarf, so my hands are tied up 
Muchas gracias,
Mari
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Our lovely friend @Novem once did 35 SSI Spanish lessons in one weekend, and @aran did the same sort of thing with Manx. Neither of them died, and I expect they were both exhausted at the end of the process, but lots of lessons in one day is obviously do-able. Brain ache, of course.
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Iāve got a feeling Novem topped out at 50 in two days - there was definitely some playing lessons at x1.2 speed going onā¦ 
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Llongyfarchiadau mawr iawn i ti Mari! 
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Diolch yn fawr iawn Aran,
But whatās this about someone doing 50 lessons in a couple of days? Thatās 25 a day, at 30 mins + a lessonā¦ no time to pour a libation to the language gods even 
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Sometimes I feel thatās the only way Iāll manage to get them done. I have more time soon. But sone lessons tire your brain out
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I happened to find a Ā£40 return flight Turin-Bristol, and decided to go for it to check how my Welsh is doing one year after my first trip, and one year and a half after starting SSiW.
Oh itās all soooo much easier now. I still stumble, but my brain doesnāt burn any more! 
Everybody ask me how long have I been living in Wales and seem shocked when I say I donāt.
Then in Cardigan I spoke to the Awen Teifi bookshop owner and he gave me this 
:
p.s. I had been in a very dog-friendly cafƩ, the day before! 
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@gisella-albertini, I would have expected nothing less. We are so often our own worst critics.
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Got a parking ticket in Newport (west wales) and managed to fumble my way through paying it online through Welsh and not using a dictionary. Also switching my council tax and that to welsh now
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