Unlike the smaller local train that had brought us from Bled, this one had cars built in standard European style, with a corridor along one side and a row of six-passenger compartments along the other. We settled into an empty compartment, where we were soon joined by a couple who were ethnic Albanians from Kosovo.
They knew no English at all, although in addition to Albanian and no doubt Serbian, they seemed to be fluent in German, a language of which I know only a few words. Despite these difficulties in communication, however, we managed to inform each of our of our nationalities and a few facts about our children and grandchildren, relying on the few words we had in common, a couple of family pictures, and a good deal of pantomime.
They have two grown daughters living in Switzerland, both married to physicians, and spend most of the year there. They were now returning to Kosovo, where they live during the summer months. Two of their three sons live there, and the third, 14 years old, lives in Switzerland with his sisters. The husband is in poor health; his wife told us that three years ago he had had a stroke that left him unable to speak for a year.
Although that was no longer a problem, she did most of the talking. One reason they spend so much time in Switzerland, she told us, is that her husband can get good medical care there, an impossibility in Kosovo.
She was skillful at making herself understood to two linguistically challenged foreigners, and gave us a very clear description of economic conditions in their homeland. Remembering the lineup at the airport in Brnik when we arrived, I suspected that the Slovenes, conscious of their duty to guard the E.
