Encounters of a European Kind

[velvetpage]

I just ran into a Dutch guy while playing online Settlers of Catan. (Thanks, etherlad!) I found out he was dutch because he asked to trade, and I said I would if I could (which was true at the time.) His answer was: "willen is kunnen". I made the mistake of mixing his Dutch with the very little bit of German I know, which did not impress him, but I managed to translate it. We bantered for a minute about how Canadians respect the Dutch - after all, their queen was born here. (Officially, she was born in a hospital room in Ottawa which was declared to be Dutch territory for the duration of the Queen's stay in it, while the family was in exile during the War.)

It was kind of cool.

More so, because I won. :)

Comments

[sassy-fae.livejournal.com]

Actually it was Princess Margiet (the queen's younger sister) who was born in Ottawa (of course the queen at the time was involved in that, hee hee). It explains the oceans of tulips planted everywhere in Ottawa!

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Yep. The dutch send over a selection of their best bulbs every few years, still, in thanks.

[redstorm.livejournal.com]

Where, oh where is online settlers?!?!

:o)

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Uhm. . . I haven't figured out yet how to do links in livejournal, but if you look back in etherlad's journal a week or two, you'll find it without much trouble. Or, type "java settlers" into google.

When you sign in, use a name I'll recognize. I'm always Velvet, there. Maybe we'll bump into each other!

[anidada.livejournal.com]

And let's not forget that Canadians liberated Holland in WWII. There are a whack of Dutch warbrides in my hometown -- so many that the library has a special Dutch-language section (this in a village of 2500 people). Nifty. :)

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Belleville and parts of Stoney Creek are like that, too. There were a lot of Rileys in Holland.