We've Got Ourselves A Gypsy Showdown!

Hi Everyone,

Sorry the posts have been sparse this week, but I am studying for my first final, which is tomorrow, so wish me the best of luck. I've gone and printed out my outline, but it looks like it shouldn't be too bad. Our professor said it could be a moment of genius or the biggest piece of crap that we've ever turned in for the exam, so everyone will pass. Although I am graded, 3/4ths of the class is taking this pass fail, so I am hoping that they will take one on the knee so that all the KU kids can get A's. It looks to be turning out this way, so pray with all your might that it does!

Gypsy Update: Okay, so I was a little confused about the caravan (Cf, RV Park) right next to our parking lot a mere 50m away so I decided to ask about. Turns out that they are not Polish at all, although our taxi drivers keep reiterating their distaste for the Poles (which, by the way, I find very disturbing being Polish myself!). Turns out that they are Irish Travellers. According to Wikipedia:

"Irish Travellers are distinguished from the settled communities of the countries in which they live by their own language and customs. Shelta is the traditional language of Travellers but they also speak English with a distinct accent and mannerisms. The historical origins of Travellers as a group has been a subject of dispute. Some argue that the Irish Travellers are descended from another nomadic people called the Tarish. It was once widely believed that Travellers were descended from landowners who were made homeless in Oliver Cromwell's military campaign in Ireland, but evidence shows that they have dwelt in Ireland since at least the Middle Ages.

Several known groups in the United States include the Northern and Southern Travellers (each of which have their own subcategories) and the Western Travellers. The Traveller language (Shelta) is dying out and only the older Travellers still know the language completely.

Some of the marriage customs, at least in the Southern Travellers (Memphis and "Georgies"), allow for 11 year old girls to be engaged to be married to 20+ year old men. Weddings occur as young as 12 or 13^{[citation needed]}, often to a first or second cousin. Because in Traveller culture men are the ones who provide for the wife and family, a girl's main goal is to marry. The bride's parents pay the groom's parents a dowry, which in some cases can be quite substantial.^[1]"

When the one girl (who looks to be 'bout marryin' age from what I reckon) asked me for a drink, she said "drink" with kind of eastern European/Slavic accent like replacing the "d" with a "t" and rolling her "r" Spanish style (trrrink). This led me to believe she was Polish. However, she just had a janky accent because she doesn't speak English but Shelta. Therein lie the confusion so sorry for the misinformation in the earlier post.

Anywho, about 2 days ago we started to notice a large number of cars parked outside our apartment building in the street (working on getting pictures of that without being killed). Then, large boulders and heavy machinery (backhoes, bulldozers, etc) started to appear yesterday, partially blocking the road and sidewalks as to prevent people from either entering or exiting. Were the travellers blocking people out or were the Irish preventing people from entering? Well, we have security guards that walk around at night at our complex and one of the fellow students asked him what was going on. Turns out the locals are not very happy with the Caravan park and are attempting to forcefully remove them by means of a blockade! We're going to have a showdown people, and I vow to get some good footage when it happens.

So that is all that is new on this front. Off to Leeds, England this weekend to visit friends from study abroad, Spain edition. Should be a grand time.

Tom

PS-Post went out this week, so let me know when you get your cards (expect late next week).

Irish Slang Update:

"You alright?" actually means, "Can I get you anything?"
Similarly, "Are you okay?" means, "Can I help you?"