6/19/08 Thursday

Today's destination was to Wales to see Caerphilly Castle and The Welsh Natural History Museum. The castle was more impressive from the outside; the inside was kinda boring. We toured the ruins on our own. It was mostly stone walls and battlements. There was a well, covered by a grate, inside the castle grounds that attracted a lot of attention inculding my own. Several people stood on top of it, including myself, to look down into it. There were Several Euro coins at the bottom of it. It was a dry well, but I imagine it served to provide water for the castle. I wandered around the castle, taking video, and was a bit bored waiting for everyone else. I did get some pictureesque video of the surrounding town. It was clear, bright, and sunny; the puffball clouds were suspended in the blueness of the sky. Dennis said something about a museum inside the castle, but I didn't have time to look through it.

Dennis, Jill, Karla, and I left early to go visit the surrounding town. We were in search of a grocery store to buy some lunch. Inside the market, all of the signs had two languages on it; English and Welsh. Judging by how Welsh words are spelled, I assume Welsh is a hard language to learn to speak and read. I took out my camera to record some of the Welsh words and I only focused on the signs hanging from the ceiling and the ceiling itself. The assistant manger questioned me about what I was doing, so I explained to her about the novelty of the Welsh and English signs and that we don't have anything like this in the US. She informed me that I was breaking the law by recording without permission. I apologized and promptly put my camera away. I was surprised that I actually broke the law; as far as I know, there are no laws like that here in the US. Oh well, I guess I learned a valuable lesson...

By 1230 pm, we met back at the coach and were off to The Welsh Natural History Museum. We had lunch at the museum and then we were off exploring it. It's an open air facility of living quarters designed to show how the Wesh people lived over time and what the culture and homes looked like.

My favorite part of the museum was the long building that was broken up into five living quarters and each quarter represented what a home looked like in 1825, 1855, 1905, 1955, and 1985. Across from the front door of the homes, was a small garden designed like what gardens would have looked like during the time period. I assume the first three time periods' homes accurately represented homes from those eras. I don't have any experience with those time periods, so I take it on faith that they're accurate.

The house from 1955, was the most intriguing and amazing to see; it was like stepping into a time machine and being transported back in time. This house had a decorative fixture of three ducks flying upwards on an upward angle with their wings extended; my Grandma and Grandpa Jahn had the exact fixture on the wall in their living room. Crossing over the threshold of the 1955 home instantly took me to my grandparents' living room. The Welsh 1955 home had the 1950s tv, radio, telephone, and furnishings. All the fixtures in that Welsh home triggered my imagination to visualize what it was like for my dad and his two sisters to grow up in a room that was similar to the one I was standing in at that moment. I have more experiences with the decor of a 1950s home through tv shows, movies, and books and the 1955 Welsh home's fixtures and decor had meaning for me.

The next house I entered was the 1985 house. All of the fixtures and decor coinside with my memories of what homes looked like in the 80s. But because I lived through the 80s and had all my memories, I didn't feel all the excitment and intrigue that I felt in the 50s home. The 50s home was somewhat foreign to me because it was before my time; the 80s home felt comfortable because of what I remembered from growing up. The 80s home had a tv, VCR, phone, sofa, and decor. Oscar joined me in the 80s home and he asked me about some of the fixtures like the bathtub in the kitchen. After Oscar and I left the 80s home, Oscar took more video for me while I went back to the 50s home. I liked that feeling of time travel and visualizing what life was like for my parents in the 50s.

This is a bit off topic, but one of the things that intrigues me is the concept of time travel. That's why I love Quantum Leap so much; it dealt with time travel and history. If I could travel in time I'd go back to the 60s to experience the turbulance and upheaval of the decade. But I would also travel to the future. I suppose this is because I watch Enterprise, Voyager, and Star Trek: The Next Generation. What does the future hold? How does what tv portray the future as actually compare to what life will be like in the 2150s, 2430s, and the 3100s? Will we live on other planets; is there other intellegent life out there; will society, technology, and life advance or will it regress to earlier times; who wins the world series in 3101? Well you can probably see some of the influences of Star Trek on me, but one of the things I'll never see is how our civilization will change over time....Interesting to ponder, but I digress...

Oscar is a new friend I made over in Bath. He's 12 and is in year 6 (probably equivalant to sixth grade), is gingered (red) haired (a real bright orange color), LOVES Dr Who, and is a really charming fellow. He took Dennis, Jill, me, Diane, and Cynthia on a tour of the museum. He was here last year and again this year. He told me that he was missing school. His mom, Mari, told me she had to write a lettter to his Headmaster to ask permission to remove Oscar from school for the day. The Headmaster granted that permission-what better learning experiecne was there than visiting a history museum and talking and learning from a group of twelve foreign exchange students? Mari is the Bath Program's coordinatior in Bath-she arraigned the home stays and processes all the activities we do. I hope we see Oscar and Mari again. (When Mari puts her hair up in a ponytail, she looks identical to Diana (DHY) from the back. It must be the blondish-white hair...)