New word of the day: Persil

Here's what I love about my little village in Switzerland.  They know me.  They may not understand me and I may not understand them as we speak different languages, but they know me.  And what they know me as is: "the girl who speaks English."

This is very reminiscent of when I lived in Germany and my town called me the "das Canadian Madchen." But I'm trying to learn French and I test it out whenever I can with the shop owners in my area.

There are only four shops in my village which could also explain why they know me.  I have a bakery, grocery store, butcher and a little farther away is my favorite Italian Deli - Mauro Traiteur -- which sells cheese, olives, fresh pasta, wine and other delicious things.

As you can imagine, I go there a lot. It's like Whole Foods but better - as they don't judge me when I ask them to recommend a wine that is "not too expensive" and have saved me a couple times when I choose one that would not go with my meal. (thank goodness!)

Anyway, that's where I was today, and they happened to have something new.  Some sort of pie thing.

You know I have to have the "something new." So I ask in my horrible French: What is that?  They reply with some words I don't understand, so I kick into reporter mode, and still using my limited French, I start questioning the poor shop girl who has gotten stuck serving me.

Me:  What is inside?

Poor Shop Girl:  Chicken, cream, mushrooms, onions...

I'm thinking "good…those I eat."

And then she says, "...and persil."

Persil?  This word I do not know. Do I like persil?  Do I eat persil?  Because I don't eat red meat or pork, I'm highly suspicious of Swiss food as they have a million names for pork products and they love to put them in everything.  Everything. They also like to put dried meat in stuff. They are sneaky that way.

Me:  What is this persil?

She looks at me strange as if everyone should know persil.

So I continue...

Me: Is it a fromage? Viande? Legume? [cheese, meat, vegetable]

Poor Shop Girl: Percil…Percil is percil.

She shrugs and is still looking at me strange.  I'm running out of questions. If it's not cheese, vegetable or meat…what could it be?

Me: Is it a type of mushroom?

Poor Shop Girl: No…percil is percil.

She has given up on me and I've run out of questions.  Just as I'm thinking maybe I should just order the spinach ravioli, the owner of the shop rescues me. He tells her in French that I only speak English.  I try to look pathetic and smile. Her expression changes as she realizes I'm not crazy or stupid; I'm just not Swiss.

The owner also doesn't know how to describe "percil" so asks her to grab some from the kitchen.

She comes back with a handful of parsley.

Ohhhhh….percil is a herb. I will now add that to my list of questions to ask when baffled by the food.

Of course, I will never forget percil again. And I'm sure that shop girl hopes she never gets stuck serving me again (joke's on her as I'm there weekly.)

In case you are wondering, I did get a slice of the pie after all that  - and it was wonderful. You could actually taste the percil as it helped bring out the mushrooms.

So yes, I love my village and their patience with me. I promise to get better with my French.

PS I'm thinking my accent must be getting a little better as she didn't suspect I was foreign until I didn't know what percil was. Small gains.