Is it possible to get ‘homesick’ each time I remember Wales? I am not Welsh and do not even know anyone there personally, but I insanely feel being homesick. When I watched this year’s Euro Cup, I followed Gareth Bale and the entire football team of Wales religiously. (And I promise to learn Rugby and watch one of the matches in Principality/ Millennium Stadium.) When I spray on the perfume that I particularly used in Cardiff, it reminds me of the cool breeze of Spring then. When I see images of castles, I associate those to Wales more than I think of England and Scotland not because they outdo the others, but just because #anythingwales. The list goes on. While my life is in order and I am happy with everything, in general, I am beginning to suspect that I am going went through something amazing and bothering at the same time. Upon researching, the one that made sense the most was this Welsh word,
Hiraeth (noun) which means homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was; the nostalgia, the yearning, the grief for the lost places of your past.
It is good that my UK visa is already expired, otherwise, I would probably be broke now if I grabbed all those plane fare promotions to UK. Let the truth be told, I have postponed blogging about the other details of our trips to England and Scotland until I am done with the posts related to Wales. The challenge though was I had to get over this homesickness/ hiraeth first because I prefer not to be writing when I may tend to be illucid that I may over or understate some information.
I am ready now. I guess. While I am still trying to figure out why I seem to have consumed a love potion for Wales, I decided to write about Cardiff Bay because our visit here was among those I enjoyed the most. A portion of Cardiff Bay reminds me of San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf. The wharf is actually more colorful. However, maybe it is the ‘soul’ of Cardiff itself that made it more striking. Continue reading
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