The key to learning Swedish!
I was outside washing off the appleboxes that Mats and I purchashed to decorate our apartment with, and all of a sudden a tiny little head appeared over the garden wall. The sudden “HEJ!” in a squeaky, cute voice actually scared the shit out of me (I’ve heard too many tales of gnomes and trolls :p), but I managed to mumble out a “Hej!” back to him.
A little boy started jibbering away in Swedish so fast and cute I couldn’t understand at all. Not that I could’ve understood him anyway. I struggled to find something simple to ask him in Swedish. Nothing came to mind because I was so distraught about being caught in shorts and a tanktop hosing off fruitboxes in the back garden. It seemed like super unSwedish behavior to me hehe. I tried a “Vad ar ditt nam?” and he didn’t understand. Then I tried, “Well, I am sorry, I don’t speak Swedish.” Still nothing.
“Jag prater engelska, inte svenska” (I speak English, not Swedish)
“Uno, dos, tres, quatro, cinco”
I laughed a lot about this.
“Ooooooh, spanska! Nice!”
I finished cleaning off the last fruit box, and said a quick, “Well I need to go in. Hej da!!!”
He told me in Swedish, “Goodbye! I’ll see you tomorrow!”
Good to know that I can count on some company to practice some Swedish with:)
