Schweizertysk og en vandballon - Swiss German and a water balloon

Igår var en vigtig dag.
En milepæl i denne overgangsfase fra at være dansk dansker til at være dansk i Schweiz.

Igår var nemlig første gang, at schweizerne blev ved med at tale schweizertysk til mig og ikke lynhurtigt slog over i højtysk (eller skrifttysk, som schweizerne kalder det). Om det var første gang, at jeg ikke så totalt forvirret ud, når de tiltalte mig på schweizertysk eller hvad der virkelig skete, ved jeg ikke. Men det skete TO gange med få timers mellemrum.

Den første samtale foregik på posthuset, hvor der skulle forklares en masse om at overføre franc til Euro til en tysk konto i Schweiz og det rigtige girokort, der skulle udfyldes på den rigtige måde. Og jeg forstod mindsandten, hvad der foregik.

Næste gang var i svømmehallen, hvor en lille ukendt pige ville have min hjælp til at lave en vandballon, hun kunne kaste efter sine venner. Måske burde min pædagogiske uddannelse på dette tidspunkt have sat ind og forhindret mig i at hjælpe i et så åbenlyst brud på reglerne i en svømmehal, men jeg kunne virkelig ikke lade være med at hjælpe. Tænk, jeg kunne tale med et schweizisk barn! Der Badmeister var sikkert ikke lige så begejstret som mig for situationen (men han opdagede mig heldigvis ikke...). Så jeg kunne efterfølgende svømme rundt i ren eufori og nyde, at jeg havde haft en hel dag uden kommunikationsudfordringer.

Yesterday was an important day!
It was a true milestone in my transition from being a Dane in Denmark to being a Dane in Switzerland.

Because yesterday was the day when the Swiss people continued talking to me in Swiss German and didn't quickly switch to High German (or written German as they call it localy).
I don't know if I simply looked less confused than usual or what happened. But it happened! TWICE within a few hours.

The first episode was at the post office where we had an incident with francs that were to be converted into Euros and send to a German bank account in Switzerland and the appropriate form to fill out. And I amazingly understood what was going on.

The next incident was in the swimming bath where a little unknown girl needed help to fill a water balloon so she could throw it at her friends. Maybe my educational training should have kicked in here and prevented me from helping with such an obvious break on the swimming bath rules but I couldn't help myself. I could actually communicate with a Swiss child! I am not sure Der Badmeister shared my view on this situation (but he didn't catch me with the water balloon). So afterwards I could do my 30 minutes swimming exercise in an euphoric state - I had had a whole day with no communication challenges.