Aloha

I think in English, we need more multi-purpose words. I'm reminded of alstublieft, which drove me batty in Holland until after a year or so I finally decided to figure out what to do with it.

Alstublieft means "please". It also means something the equivalent of "here you go". So when buying, say, toothpaste at the Kruidvat, I would put my toothpaste on the counter and then the clerk would ring it up and then she would say whatever amount was due followed by alstublieft. Which my dictionary said means "please". At which point I would hand her the money and then when she gave me change she would again say "alstublieft". I couldn't figure out why she did this, as the dictionaries focused on the "please" meaning. I soon came to understand, from watching others and from a book, finally, that the correct transaction seemed to be:

I put the toothpaste on the counter with a greeting "Hallo"

She rings it up and says "Drie Euro, alstublieft" (three Euros, please)

I hand her the money, saying "Alstublieft" (here you go)

She says "somethingsomethingsomething, alstublieft" (do you have correct change?) you have to understand, the Dutch cashiers have a thing about correct change, especially in grocery stores. Don't ask me why.

I say "no".

She hands me my change, saying "Alstublieft" (here you go)

I say "dank je wel" and exit

Mistress of the alstublieft at last.

And restaurant waitstaff are really fond of the word, saying "alstublieft" everytime they give you something.

Italy has a similar word in "prego". Those types of words are hard for us native English speakers to wrap our minds around.

So I feel weird saying Aloha as "farewell" when I think of it more as "hello".

Anyway.

I'm very tired and should be in bed as we leave early and I had little sleep last night and I am rambling, so I'll make the rest of this fairly short.

An FO. Victorian Lace socks from the Six Sox KAL. Made with Lorna's Laces carrot color, done with Magic Loop.

The sock yarn I am taking to Kauai.

The yarn for the Breakfast at Cafe du Monde gloves I posted about a while ago. I was going to do light blue and brown, but decided on the fuschia, which was also in my stash, since that way they will sort of match my Moebius scarf.

A scrapbooking swap I sent off today. This is a swap where you just make one special request item for one other person instead of 5 or 10 of the same thing for multiple people. Vicki wanted a Polar Express train for a double page spread. the blue car is supposed to be positioned behind the coal car when she uses it, as opposed to the way I placed it in the scan. As always, you can click on the photo for a better view. The train engine is about 10 inches long, for reference.

And finally, here are the ones I received back, done for me by Heidi who lives in North Pole, Alaska. Gorgeous!