When we first moved to Switzerland, I was not nervous about my German skills at all. I had kept up my high German from the mission as best I could; reading my German scriptures, praying in German, translating at the MTC for German Elders, but it wasn't as good as when I first left the mission field. Still, I felt confident that after a couple of months it would all come back to me and that after a few years I might even get mistaken for a Dutch person. (That happened once at the very end of my mission, and I was totally stoked. I knew I would never pass for a native, but if they thought I came from a country that practically spoke the same language, that was a pretty good compliment.)
Yeah, and then we got here. Might as well have moved to China, for all I understood. Swiss German is soooo NOT high German. I had run into this problem once before, right after my mission, when I came to Switzerland with Chris as my personal tour guide. We stayed with his best friend from high school, and his parents on their farm in a small town near Appenzell. As the mom was leading us through the house, showing us where we would be sleeping, she was jabbering away in what sounded like gobbledygook. Evidently, she must have asked me a question, because when I didn't respond, she turned to Chris and said, "Oh, doesn't your friend speak German?" THAT I understood. So I quickly spoke up and said, "Yes, I do speak German, but YOU don't." She laughed and promised to speak high German for the rest of the time we were here. I still only understood half of what she ever said to me. Older generation Swiss people trying to speak high German should be categorized as another language all together. ay yi yi
But after 8 1/2 years, I can usually understand most anything I hear on a day to day basis. I still sometimes have to resort to the old smiling and nodding as if I understand trick, and it is harder for me when it is over the phone, but generally, I do alright. Still don't speak it, though, it just seems too "wrong" since I learned high German first.
On Thursday, the kids were home for lunch as usual, and Sarah was telling me about her morning. She showed me a 50 Rappen piece, (half a Swiss Franc, worth about 40 cents) and told me she found while they were "foetzeleing" in the forest. Now, first of all, it always amuses me when the children throw a totally Swiss word into an otherwise English sentence. I do it as well, sometimes. German has these really cool words that convey a whole event, or situation with just one word, rather than a long explanation like in English. It is just easier to use that word sometimes. But this was one I had never heard before.
At first, I thought she said while they were "furzeing" in the forest. But that means to pass gas, and I thought it was kind of odd that you would a) schedule a class activity to do so and b) find money during said activity. So I had her explain a little more. Apparently, this is a very cool word that means to look around on the ground for stuff. See what I mean? Totally awesome. I guess they had gone exploring in the forest near the school and lots of kids found cool sticks and trash that they threw away. Sarah was the lucky one to find money, and I found a new favorite word.