Miriam’s intelligence just facinates me sometimes. She is essentially fluent in Bosnian, having never heard the language before last September, and getting only 18 weeks of classroom instruction in that time. She can remember a new word after hearing it just once, and she can pick up the word out of the middle of normal conversation.
Today two Bosnian ladies from one of the Embassy offices asked Miriam if she was from Mostar (a Bosnian city south of Sarajevo). They were totally shocked when she said she was originally from Bratislava. They said, But you lived in Bosnia before, right? Nope. They said they were sure she was from either Mostar or Banja Luka, because she has a Croatian accent.
It is comically unfair the language score she was given back in DC.