Back to Weiz: babysitting in Steirisch.

Forgot this little episode: the last night I was there, Ali was supposed to babysit two boys, but she was a bit under the weather, so Michi and I took over.

Oh man - the name "Beth" is difficult enough for a lot of non-native speakers, what with the "th" and everything, but when you're six and have no experience with English whatsoever, all you can really do when you hear it is stare and say, "Huh?!?" The two of them started playing around with it and eventually settled on calling me Zuckerbess [Sugar Bess] and giggling madly. Michi and I had no idea what that meant or why it was so hilarious...oh, to be an easily amused kid again!

Also, when you're just a kid and you speak Steirisch, the regional dialect, and everyone else speaks Steirisch, and then along comes a foreigner speaking standard German...after a while, the younger boy just looked at me and said, "I versteh di net [I don't understand you]!" I was a little delighted, though, because it meant I could practice my Steirisch without feeling silly and having people go, "Aw, cute, look at the foreigner trying to speak our dialect!"

He still didn't always understand me, though, and at one point he said something about me to Michi and then added, "Sie versteht mi eh net [she doesn't understand me, anyway]!" Oh, darling. Just because you don't understand me doesn't mean I don't understand you [a lesson already learned by thousands of travelers who have started talking about someone else on the bus in their native language, only to have that person turn around and lay into them in that language].