Guilders and languages.

Trefoil week started this morning. The seventy women arrived last night, but we did our opening ceremony at eight, right before breakfast. The staff wear their national uniforms (I don’t have one) and we present the flags of all the countries the staff come from, plus the flag for our guests. I was Switzerland.

After breakfast, we split everyone into two groups. Canuk, Brazil, and I took half of them to the woodcarvers’, while Finn and SAussie took the rest into town. I bought a few things for my family and for my own amusement, but mostly I chatted with Karl, the woodcarver’s son. He taught me the Swiss-German for cow and rabbit, but I’ve forgotten them already. I will try to practice my Schweizer-Deutsch before I go there next, in a couple of weeks. I also intend to try my hand at Holzschnitzen (woodcarving) at some point. They use linden (chestnut?) for most things, but cherry for the simpler ones, since it’s harder to carve. Cholerenschlucht (Cholera Canyon) still isn’t open. I’m looking forward to the last bit of snow melting down there. I’d really like to check it out, and it would make for a better walk home.

This is what it looks like down in the Adelboden valley.

This is really how the locals live. They've got their axe and skis at the ready, just outside their little chalet. Panning left, you can see the fruits of their labor, lots of chopped wood, and the bells the cows will be wearing in short order.
            

We got a pair of Finnish chefs in for the week, thank goodness, so we don’t have to swap off cooking for eighty. They’re about sixty, but they’re lighthearted. Marjatta speaks no English, and Emma speaks a bit, enough that we usually don’t have to ask Finn to translate. They helped me learn to count to ten in Finnish last night, and we tried to teach Marjatta the same in English, but she just laughed. Finn says the “th” in three is far too difficult for Finns, and Dutch says it’s difficult for everyone. She taught us how to tell her we loved her. I’m going to be in trouble in Amsterdam, if I make it that far, when all I can say is “I love you.” SAussie is learning Dutch, since she’s dating a Netherlander, but I’ve my hands full with German. Luckily, if they speak extremely slowly, I can sort of get the gist of Dutch. Finnish is impossible.