WALES

WALES                                      

The United Kingdom (UK) consists of England, Wales, Scotland (who together make up Great Britain) and Northern Ireland. In this blog post I am going to focus on Wales. You can see the flag of the country on the right side of the text. It is white and green with a big, red dragon on it. The flag got it's official status in 1959, and "The red dragon" is a sign for Wales nationalism. 

Wales is a peninsula South-West of Britain. It has got an areal at ca. 20 768 km² and according to statistics from 2009 there are 3 004 600 inhabitants living there. 346 100 of them lives in the capital named Cardiff. Cardiff is not only the capital of Wales, but also the biggest city. Cardiff was in the year 1900 used to transfer coal. 

There is two official languages in Wales. Those are English and Walsh. Around 600 000 people in the world knows how to speak Walsh. It is very hard to speak. Though it is a mix with both English and Latin loanwords. Walsh is native for some human in Wales. Others prefer speaking the global, understandable English. They have got an accent that reminds people of a kind of sing-song accent. The reason for that is because wal sounds are stretched out and stressed. And there is a huge glide for high-pitch to low-pitch. There is also a big difference about North- Welsh and South-Welsh.

Learn how to speak Welsh at the link below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cq-mEejECcU

Regional climates in the United Kingdom are influenced by the Atlantic Ocean and latitude. Northern Ireland, Wales and western parts of England and Scotland, being closest to the Atlantic Ocean, are generally the mildest, wettest and windiest regions of the UK, and temperature ranges here are seldom extreme. Wales has warmer temperatures throughout the year than Scotland, and has milder winter minimal than England, but cooler winter maximal than Northern Ireland.

School starts at September the 1st. Most of Walsh children starts at school in an age of 4-5. However, all education between 5-16 are free like in England. The preschool education in Wales is also mostly like the one in England and United Kingdom. Primary school are at the age of 5-11 and secondary school is from 11-6. After this comes the following education. A significant number of all students all over Wales are educated either wholly or largely through the medium of Welsh and lessons in the language are compulsory for all until the age of 16. Welsh medium education is available to all age groups from nursery through to schools, colleges, universities and adult education. Also, some schools both private and official have school uniforms. Students are not allowed to wear casual clothes at school. I think this is very cool. It looks nice and properly and there is no visible distinction between the students when it comes to social classes. 

The National Assembly for Wales opened in 1999. It is their political body made up for 60 elected Assembly Members (AMs) which makes decisions affecting Wales. They meet in the Senedd building in Cardiff which opened in 2006 and has won an award for its sustainability and green credentials. 

The Welsh Government is made up of Assembly Ministers drawn from these elected members and is headed by the First Minister of Wales. The Welsh Government has responsibility for policy and budget priorities and is scrutinized by the legislature, the National Assembly for Wales. In Wales they elect 40 members to the UK parliament where responsibility for some non devolved policy areas for Wales resides. The Government is referred to in that Act as the Welsh Assembly Government, but to prevent confusion about the respective roles and responsibilities of the National Assembly and the Government, the devolved administration became known as the Welsh Government in May 2011. The Welsh Government consists of the First Minister, usually the leader of the largest party in the National Assembly for Wales; up to twelve ministers and deputy ministers, appointed by the First Minister; and a Counsel general, nominated by the First Minister and approved by the National Assembly.

Wales is divided into thirteen counties. However, about 70 % of the population lives in the three industrial southern counties: Glamorgan, Monmouth, and Carmathen. In South Wales most people used to work in the industry or in the coalmines. Wales' industry has changed drastically over the last hundred years. At the turn of the 20th century, the emphasis was on coal and steel in the south and slate in the north. The transport of these items gave rise to a strong maritime industry too. Coal exports, manufacturing and heavy industry have declined nowadays and have been replaced by new industries. Tourism and public services have taken over as the main employers within Wales. The shape of manufacturing has also changed. The traditional heavy industries have given way to lighter manufacturing such as electronics, parts and technology. Unemployment in Wales is higher than in both Scotland and England and wages are on average lower.

I have never been to Wales. The only place in the United Kingdom I have been is in London, England. I Really liked the place, although it is nearly 5 years since I was there. We went sightseeing, shopping and we even visited other points like the Big Ben and Madame Tussaud. However, I would really like to go to Wales some day. Just to be able to say that I have been there. I think that when I get older, it would be more properly for me to visit the country because the things to do like visit national parks, going sightseeing, visiting castles, museums and parks are not my thing. Although you can do normal things like play paintball and football too.                    

Anyway, Just so you do not leave this blogpost with a boring feeling, I will now give you some fun facts: 

• Wales is believed to have more castles per square mile than anywhere else in the world
• The letters K, Q, V and Z do not appear in the Welsh alphabet at all.
• All the statues surrounding Cardiff Castle are of animals.
•  Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwyll-llantysiliogogogoch is the name of a town in North Wales which translates as “The church of St. Mary in the hollow of white hazel trees near the rapid whirlpool by St. Tysilio’s of the red cave”. It is believed to be the longest place name in the world.
• The longest corridor in Europe is to be found in Llandough Hospital near Cardiff.
• The currency they use in Wales is Pound Sterling
  
  Written by Ingeborg Duus.

Sources I have used:

• http://www.uk.filo.pl/wales_industry.htm
• http://europa.eu/about-eu/countries/member-countries/unitedkingdom/index_en.htm
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/culture/sites/aboutwales/pages/modern_wales.shtml
• http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2008/01/27/weird-facts-about-wales-91466-20398430/
• http://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wales
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Wales
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Climate_of_the_United_Kingdom