Seren yr Wythnos | Star of the Week

tahl · June 12, 2017, 1:12pm

Goodnes, Aran and all, diolch yn fawr iawn! I am hugely flattered to be included in the “galaxy” of Ser yr Wythnos.

@Deborah-SSi has my story exactly right: Back in 2009, I had no intention of learning to speak Welsh, only of learning enough to pronounce place names correctly. I stumbled on this then-new site, and the forum, and well, here we are. I couldn’t have imagined how much SSIW would change my life. It’s given me so many great new friends – @Deborah-SSi, @hewrop, @Kinetic, @robbruce among those I’ve spent the most time with, in body and in Skype, but many others whom I know only from cyberspace, like @louis (whom I can hardly believe I’ve never met). I’ve learned from every single one and benefited from every kindness.

Because of SSIW, I return to Wales as often as I can. Because of SSIW, I’m VP of my local Welsh Society here in Washington DC (which I hadn’t even joined pre-SSIW) and run a monthly language meetup. Because of SSIW, I have chatted in Welsh in a sauna in Helsinki with @tygerc .

I don’t spend as much time on the Forum as I used to, for sure. That’s because, well, I’m no longer a Welsh learner. I’m a Welsh speaker. (Say it loud and proud!)

It’s a funny thing about learning outside of Wales: I think it can be an advantage to have few obvious opportunities to practice, because any Welsh speakers or learners you find are likely to be desperate to speak with you. There was no group here when I started in 2009, but I found two other speakers (one native, one learner), we met over a beer, and we just went from there.

Community – there it is again. For me, SSIW has and always will be about community and mutual support. Diolch yn fawr iawn iawn to ALL of you for making that community.

By the way . . . I too tend to think of myself as @tahl in the SSIW context. So when we meet, I promise to answer to either name!

AnnaC · June 12, 2017, 7:15pm

I’m a bit late, but diolch, @tahl! You started out like me - I’m in the US, too (wish I was closer to DC so I could come to the meetups!) and I started out just wanting to know how to pronounce names and place names in a book I was reading. And then I found SSiW, and two years later I am a fledgling Welsh speaker and I’m still learning I’ve done a bunch of reading over on the old forum, and I always enjoyed and learned from your posts there. Diolch am bopeth!

tatjana · June 12, 2017, 8:50pm

Since I’ve read quite often how you were the one helping people to find things and giving members “how to” help, I feel a bit guilty, as if I’d violently take this “job” from you.

I’ve read some of your posts but we never really interacted would it be on the forum or otherwise, so this time I don’t have much more to say, than just humble

@tahl for everything you’ve done and you’re still doing for SSi.

tahl · June 14, 2017, 9:49pm

Aaack! @tatjana, no feeling guilty necessary, at all, at all! I’m very grateful that you’ve taken on helping newer learners, and showing them the mysteries and riches of the Forum, and answering questions about the lessons. You definitely didn’t take anything violently – you give!!

tatjana · June 15, 2017, 10:58am

Thank you @tahl one more time. You’re real star.

aran · June 16, 2017, 1:52pm

Seren yr Wythnos #14

Leia Fee

Leia has been part and parcel (took me three goes to spell that properly, I think I’m beginning to lose my English!) of SSiW for so long I can’t even begin to imagine the place without her.

It was with no small sense of shock and embarrassment that I noticed, just a few weeks ago, that she wasn’t on the list of Angels (our moderators) - so I rushed to correct that as quickly as possible, hoping that I could gaslight her into thinking that she’d always been one…

Like many of the very best SSiWers, Leia has not only learnt Welsh to an excellent standard herself, but also been hugely supportive of other learners, and hugely supportive of the project as a whole - in her work and in her social life.

She’s also, of course, the only SSiWer I’m aware of who spends most of her free time flying around in a plane (which Beuno is very keen to have a go in, now he knows about it!).

But more than that… and hard to qualify… Leia is just downright reliably lovely. She’s always positive, always thoughtful, always kind, always curious about how things work - she’s presented the SSiW state of play to Haciaith on what, at least two occasions? - and she is a rock-solid calm and supportive voice on the forum.

She was also kind enough to test run the chalet for us when we were genuinely uncertain as to whether or not it could support human life (it didn’t exactly surprise me, though, that someone who spends so much time flying through the air wrapped up in a large piece of metal would be willing to take unreasonable risks).

She’s been a hugely valuable part of making the forum the friendly and welcoming place it is, so if you’ve, er, ever used the forum (!) now would be a good time to doff your hat and say thank you to Leia…

Seren yr Wythnos #1

Iestyn ap Dafydd

Seren yr Wythnos #2

Catrin Lliar Jones

Cat Dafydd

Dee McCarney

Spenny

Jeff Lewis

Ifan Baines

Kev Smith

James Mahoney

Louis van Ekert

Rob Bruce

Huw Jones

Diane Owen

Leia Fee

AnnaC · June 16, 2017, 4:12pm

Diolch @leiafee! I enjoy your posts on the forum, and I really like when you post photos of Wales taken from your airplane!

AnthonyCusack · June 16, 2017, 4:27pm

Diolch yn fawr @leiafee (which I have always read as Free, I am sorry!) I’ve had some really interesting chats with Leia on here and Facebook. Leia really helped shape my thinking on a post Aran shared once. I won’t bore with the details but it has really resonated with me since.

Leia is also a very active member of the YesAbertawe group, which is wonderful to see!

Leia was also kind enough to post me two Cymraeg badges which Emma and I wear very proudly

Diolch am bopeth Leia!

HuwJones · June 16, 2017, 7:58pm

Diolch a llongyfarchiadau, @leiafee

I’ve enjoyed our too infrequent meetings and chats. I also enjoyed seeing you on a Welsh TV quiz show (did you win? - I can’t remember)
I’m delighted your contribution to the forum and Welsh is being acknowledged and celebrated here.

It seems to me that you have a unique qualification - you are the only one of the angels who can actually fly!

gruntius · June 16, 2017, 8:01pm

Yes, yes, yes. Leia is easily one of the kindest, most willingest to assist, helpiest people you will ever meet. Whether it’s sending books through the post or patiently showing kids how to make chainmail Leia is a true ledge.

As well as having the same name as one of the biggest female role models (and one of my all time favourite movie characters) ever.

leiafee · June 16, 2017, 9:59pm

My face now matches the colour of Rhubarb the Microlight but with smiles as well. Thankyou!

It’s not remotely an exagaration to say life is just better with SSIW in it. I know so many good people, have done so many things, been so many places I would not otherwise have.

It’s awesome!

louis · June 16, 2017, 10:34pm

Congratulations Leia!

Isn’t it just

elizabeth_j_corbett_ · June 16, 2017, 10:48pm

I have never know a SSiW without Leia. We played Scrabl Cymraeg on the Hwb TV set while volunteering at the Bro Morganwg eisteddfod. I have enjoyed her flying pictures/stories on Facebook and stories of her axylotal (not sure if that is spelled right). What a unique individual. An inspiration. Thanks Leia for just being you.

elizabeth_j_corbett_ · June 16, 2017, 10:53pm

Life is just better with SSIW

Ain’t that the truth!

Deborah-SSi · June 18, 2017, 4:12pm

Lovely to catch up with our current Seren yr Wythnos in Aberystwyth yesterday. I had a feeling there would be at least a couple of SSiWers at the event I went to, but I didn’t know @leiafee was coming so it was great to see her again.

And “very tidy (in the Welsh sense of the word) tent companion” could also be added to her list of talents. I couldn’t have chosen better when I shared a tent with Leia at the Meifod Eisteddfod. I was a complete novice (I had to drive home for more blankets and warmer pyjamas after freezing the first night), but Leia had all the essentials - gas bottle cooker, various saucepans, and a stock of easy-to-cook-in-one-pan food. I was somewhat in awe, but she was a great teacher and I learnt enough to tackle it again this year on my own! Diolch yn fawr for showing me how an experienced person goes camping, Leia!

Iestyn · June 19, 2017, 10:30am

Do you remember Bootcamp, Leia?

3 people who’d done the first 10 lessons or so of SSiW. One of them had been learning from books for 10 years or so, and never really spoken to anyone, or listened to much Welsh before, And so couldn;t understand a word, and had an at times impenetrable accent. One was painfully shy, and wouldn’t speak unless she was absolutely sure she was perfect (which, as anyone who has even been on bootcamp will know, is just about never!). And you, who kept me sane and gave me a target to work with while we helped the other two.

But that was early days, and now you’re just one of my Welsh speaking friends that I bump into at most Eisteddfodau and all sorts of other Welsh language events. A good seren!

leiafee · June 19, 2017, 3:10pm

I didn’t know where to put myself in that tent! It was so awesomely huge and I’m so used to fitting my kit into a) a twoman dome tent and b) into something I can transport on my back… Although I did have one pan-fail with the porch groundsheet!

dafyddyfelin · June 19, 2017, 3:30pm

I’ve only just dropped into this thread and it’s great to see the recognition being given to these folk who have done so much to make SSIW the unique and welcoming place that it is. I have enjoyed your company so much in the past. So to Leia this week and to all those mentioned in earlier weeks, diolch o galon.

aran · June 23, 2017, 3:48pm

Seren yr Wythnos #15

Sionned

To the best of my knowledge, Sionned (yes, she knows we don’t spell it with two Ns, but she’s sticking with it like that!) has never used her real name on the forum, so it’s not my place to change that - hence the Spenny-esque lack of a surname…

Sionned first visited the forum way back when in the mists of time - the dawn of SSiW! - and she enormously kindly offered to take on the fairly complicated and headache-inducing work of keeping the map - sorry, I mean The Map - up to date - which she has done brilliantly ever since, building it into one of the most interesting and impressive parts of the site.

She also became a calm and trusted moderator for the community, and joined us at one of the earliest (could it even have been the first?) birthday parties in Aberystwyth - at that stage, it was still hugely surprising and exciting for us to have someone come All The Way From America for an SSiW event…

It was lovely to welcome her and her husband Jim to our new home near Carmel just recently - I think they were the first people to manage to find us without a sat-nav, which was rather impressive…

Diolch o galon, Sionned - thank you for your brilliant work with The Map, thank you for your calm and clear-headed contributions as a moderator, and thank you for your endless kind support for SSiW…