Thanks William
English version of Teşekkürler William.
Breakfast in Boston.
“Günaydın or Bom Dia?” he asked before the order. Instead of asking where I’m from, he guessed. For the finale, Spanish and Turkish good mornings were the last competitors, and he inquired about this in a sweet, indirect way. No, he was not flirting; he was just a middle-aged gentleman. You feel it -mostly- if you are a woman, and I have been a woman for 27 years :) (actually, today is the first day of the 27th year)
As I see the French-speaking table on my left, clearly a polyglot breakfast saloon. A Turkish good morning requires appreciation for the effort.
I answered him back, “Günaydın, please.” with an inevitable smile on my face. I wanted to finish my sentence with his name, but I could not see it. He told me his name after seeing my struggle to see the nametag.
He even added, “Nametags are too small…” I agree with him.
Thanks William.
I did not expect to hear “Allah’a ısmarladık” from William at the end of the breakfast when I was about to leave. I stopped mid-step and turned toward him. He repeated and inquired if he had made any pronunciation mistakes. He allowed me to know that he has a Turkish colleague there, and he learns from him. That was gorgeous.
“Allah’a ısmarladık.” A traditional Turkish farewell with a similar meaning to “Goodbye.”
It literally means “I’ve entrusted you to God.” We don’t even use it all that often. I learned the exact meaning of this, during writing this article as a Turkish person. A farewell with this meaning is what you say while leaving. — Okay, William was not leaving, but still, it was a nice gesture.
Two more positive things happened following the end of breakfast.
I can say that having the power and responsibility to make people smile while representing something (nation, culture…) wherever you go, and seeing people make an effort for the smallest things — it’s nice not to be alone in this — made my day. At the moment that I could go for a walk, I put on my earphones and started listening to music.
My soul felt soaked in joy, similar to a lead actress in a 45–50 minute show where life is always easy and everything can be solved in two episodes…
The nine-degree weather and strong winds didn’t help much, but I was pretty happy to not have a problem tab open in my mind. :)
This gentleman was probably over 50 years old, still working in the United States, most likely from there, and while serving a lovely good morning in your first language in addition to the food, he was also attempting to make it for the goodbye. I am an incorrigible lover of beauty and effort… (I don’t need to explain the language part; you already know how I fall for those things.)
I love it when someone doesn’t retire from courtesy and “little things” no matter how old they are.
There have been times when I tried to encourage you to simply ask someone how they’re doing or to give them a call. I can’t even begin to dig into how we say “Good morning” or “Thank you” to someone (hopefully we do say these things) or how much we value them in different languages. I’d love to encourage all of us to try saying something in the language that the other person speaks.
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Knowing is beautiful, and if you want to learn — or if you already know and use it — then may good days come your way. I wish a song as sweet as honey would find you in a moment you never expected.
I’d also like to point out that even if we don’t speak the language, we can still express our concern for the other person. I’ve had this kind of an experience like this with people I heard speaking Portuguese.
I knew nothing about the language, but I wanted to learn. At the time, I had no resources — but I chose to learn from them. I asked them things like, “How do I say thank you in your language?” I appreciate it a lot when someone does this for me. It’s worth trying.
We recognize people based on their faces and names, and we talk to them and listen. Some of us connect more deeply, while others don’t; our interactions with others frequently remain superficial.
We’re not meant to be deeply connected to everyone, and that is okay. However, I don’t think “surface-level” necessarily means “careless” or “unimportant.” It doesn’t change the fact that the person in front of me is still a full human being. If someone carries themselves with kindness, I’m not going to hold myself back from being kind in return just because we don’t have the chance to communicate more deeply. Maybe, if given the chance, we’d get along well. Or maybe we wouldn’t have much to share at all with some of them — still:
A simple greeting when we see someone; a nod of the head, a pause with our eyes, making an effort to pronounce their name correctly, or thanking them in their native language if it differs from ours — all of these are lovely gestures.
These are some of our special treats that can sometimes play a bigger role than the main course. They are beautiful and meaningful, and the fact that they can’t be tagged with a price makes them all the more special.
Free — yes. But not worthless.
I don’t know where you can find the courage from, or in which language you choose to say thank you, or to whom. You are free and wealthy — full of possibilities. I hope you choose what’s best for you, and that’s exactly what I wish for you.
I appreciate you taking the time to read this writing. It is wonderful to have people like you. :)
Günaydın for your morning. Bom Dia. Good morning. Bonjour. Guten Morgen. Buongiorno.
Bon appétit for your breakfast.
Thanks for taking care of your day, your joy and your whole self.
Surprise yourself and me too with the generosity of thanking.
Goodbye for now!
