Swede is witty and thoughtful, and I spend a great deal of time with her these days. She's been here twice already and is currently serving as an assistant everything as we prepare for the summer season. She's great to talk to and has been stellar at pictionary. Dutch and I won two rounds against Pax and Finn, but Swede and Finn together beat both the teams of me & Fixer and Pax & Dutch. I'm enjoying all of the Scandinavians I meet. I'll have to head up there some day and see what drives them.
Fixer is new as well. He worked in the next valley over for years and has come here to get us back in working order. He's good with wood, computers, engineering of all sorts, and practical solutions. He's also game for a night out whenever and brilliant at charades. We figure he picked the latter talent up when he first moved to Switzerland. He speaks near-fluent Swiss-German now, which is a kick to listen to. I can't pick up the accent, though I've learned a few Swiss words.
My consistant favorite part here is the international flavor, even over the chocolate, hiking, skiing, and views. We talk about language all the time, and I love hearing foreign expressions and phrases. I love comparing which words we use for which items and trying to figure out how they're related to other languages.
Swede says I'm good at pronouncing her language and should study Swedish. Ha. I can currently say "yes," "no," "ice cream," "cheers," and "it's in the lake" in Swedish. (We played Go Fish after alearning the Finnish and Swedish versions of another card game one night.) I will perhaps work on counting next, but only if it's nothing like counting in Finnish. I'm having a terrible time with Dutch due to its similarity to German. My Dutch is still limited to "I love you."
Also, the snow is melting. I need not say it, but the hills are now alive.
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