The Travelling Social Worker

I’ll never forget the day that an old man taught me the longest word in the Welsh language. My friend, Colin, and I were 9 days into our trip to the UK. After our plans to work on a farm in Wales fell through at the last minute, we found ourselves without a plan. We got in our rental car and headed south. Colin, my best friend, drove our little Fiat, while I navigated. Colin also acted as a tour guide, since his parents had passed on stories of their college travels through the UK.
Passing through Cardiff, we stopped for lunch at a pub recommended by Colin’s dad called The Goat Major. We ordered a chicken and leek pie that was probably the best I had in my life, let alone during my time in the UK! Colin devoured his pie and gazed around the bar, completely in awe that he was having a pint in his father’s favorite pub, halfway around the world. Watching my friend experience this surreal moment was just as memorable as what was about to happen next.
We approached the bar to order another beer, and an older gentleman turned to us with a smile and said "You’re Americans?”
“Yes” we said cautiously.
“I’m Mike,” he said, launching into questions about where we were headed and where we had been. We relayed the details of our trip thus far. He looked at us thoughtfully and asked if he could show us something outside. We shrugged and followed him out the door and around the corner. He pointed to a sign which read: "Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysili­ogogogoch." Underneath was the translation: "St Mary's church in the hollow of the white hazel near to the rapid whirlpool and the church of St Tysilio of the red cave."
“That,” said Mike, proudly, “is the longest word in the Welsh language.”
We giggled stupidly and thanked him for showing us this wonderful sign. Mike asked us if we wanted to go back inside and hear the bartender pronounce this ridiculously long word. We looked at each other, a tad tipsy and positively enamored with this whole experience. We needed to hear someone say this word! We walked back in and Mike yelled at the bartender, "Hey Eddy, say that word for ‘em!" Eddy stared at us blankly, having no idea what Mike meant by “that word.”
"You know, the longest word in Welsh!"
"Oh, you mean..." and this guy rattled off the word as smoothly as if he were reciting a daily prayer. Colin asked him to do it again and he obliged, in way better humor than he should have. We shook hands with Mike and Eddy and vowed to come back some day.