Esperanto in the USA

Fri May 28, 2010 22:17 EST (UTC -5)

Last year, just before Andy and I left for our European vacation, Andy made a quick trip to St. Louis for Esperanto-USA's national congress (convention). At the time, I said,

Although he makes spontaneous trips like that all the time, I wasn't ready to take a plane trip halfway across the country on a few days' notice. He called me a few times and seemed to be having a good time. I wish I could have been there. Maybe we can go together next year with some more planning.

Well, with a little more planning, we're going. This year's congress is in Washington, DC, which I first visited only a few months ago with some other friends. There were piles of snow everywhere then, and now it's probably as hot as it is here, so that should be interesting. Oh, and I have my own camera this time!

I'm in Gainesville, and Andy is in South Florida, but isn't stopping us from traveling together. Tomorrow, Andy's taking a flight that goes from Fort Lauderdale to Jacksonville and then to Baltimore. I'm going to get on the plane in Jacksonville. Andy's dad is going to pick us up in Baltimore and take us to Bethesda, Maryland, where the congress actually is. We'll be staying with friends of Andy's dad. On the way home, Andy and I (and Andy's dad's car) are taking the Auto Train from Lorton, Virginia, to Sanford, Florida, overnight. From there we'll drive back to Gainesville, hopefully in time for my class.

It's funny. I never used to consider myself a big traveler. Before last year, I had only flown in an airplane twice. Tomorrow I'll have flown five times in 369 days!

Anyway, when we're not traveling, we'll be checking out the sights in Washington and spending time with some cool Esperantists from throughout the country. I expect to have a good time and do a lot of interesting stuff. I'll be sure to write all about it when I get back.

Wired presents: science! How to Make a Solar Cell with Donuts and Tea.

A capital weekend

Fri Feb 19, 2010 22:49 EST (UTC -5)

In my last post, I talked about how I went to Washington, DC last Friday. It was a big day. I rode in a limo, an airplane, and a train; I saw snow for the first time; and I almost literally rubbed elbows with a presidential appointee. You'll have to go back and read about it if you want the deets. At this point in the story, it's Saturday morning, and we're getting ready to go to Free Culture Conference 2010, which is what we went to Washington for.

The four of us set out with Gavin to George Washington University, which was only a few stops away on the subway. Unlike the University of Florida, GWU is an urban university with its city's street grid running right through it. We walked quite a few snow-covered blocks to get to the right building, which was at the edge of the campus. We got our first glimpse of the Washington Monument as we approached the building.

We arrived late. We checked in and got the t-shirts we had each bought upon registering for the conference. There were two designs to choose from. Mark, Kris, and Jennifer all chose one with a drawing with a pile of electronics and stuff, and I chose the other, which had the copyleft symbol.

All of the day's events were held in a particular lecture hall. First, some panelists were discussing net neutrality and similar issues. One of them was a guy from the FCC, which I thought was pretty interesting. I was still tired, and I was trying to warm up due to it having been extremely cold outside, but I tried to pay as much attention as I could. Next, there was a speaker who talked about fair use, an important but increasingly ignored part of copyright law. After that, there was another panel with speakers talking about open access, which I thought was especially interesting because I don't know as much about it as I do about other aspects of the free culture movement.

For lunch, the four of us followed Gavin and some other people to Potbelly Sandwich Shop, which is apparently a chain. This particular location was off Pennsylvania Avenue, just a block away from the White House. We were so close that I could get a glimpse of it. I wanted to steal away from the group for a little while to check it out, but I figured I wouldn't have time. I got a large sandwich and a cookie, which ended up being too much food. I ate it anyway, figuring I wouldn't have to eat as much for dinner.

Back at the conference, there was a keynote speaker, a panel about open educational resources, and then another keynote by Jonathan Zittrain, perhaps best known as the author of The Future of the Internet and How to Stop It. (If that still doesn't ring a bell, he appeared on The Colbert Report to promote the book.) Unfortunately, he wasn't able to make it to the conference, so he delivered his address via a video conference. I expected it to be boring since he wasn't actually there, but his presentation was easily the most entertaining. One of his main themes was to explore the different ways people have used the Internet to obtain information. At different times he brought up examples such as an old newsgroup posting, a Yahoo Answers question, and an Amazon Mechanical Turk task (all of which asked, "What's the difference between vanilla and French vanilla ice cream?"). And, like any good speaker, he answered questions at the end. It was as if he were actually in the room.

With that, the official events for the day ended, and we had some time to kill before the evening festivities. So the four of us decided to walk toward the Mall and see what we could see. It was really cold, and I didn't bring my gloves because they made it hard for me to use the camera that I borrowed from my dad.

It got dark by the time we reached the Washington Monument. After posing for some pictures there, we walked to the World War II Memorial, where we got a picture with Florida's pillar (which still had a bit of snow on it). It was very cold, and my hands were so cold that I felt like my thumbnails were going to pop off, but we continued toward the Lincoln Memorial, walking alongside the reflecting pool and trying (sometimes unsuccessfully) not to slip on the ice. The walk seemed to take forever. I actually saw some people walking on the pool, which had frozen over, and wondered if they had an easier time.

Finally, we made it to the Lincoln Memorial. It was lit up and still had a ton of snow on it. We made our way up the small section of the steps that had actually been shoveled.

You know how, in the movies, someone goes to the Lincoln Memorial and it's all quiet and there's no one around except for them and the giant statue of Abraham Lincoln, which somehow inspires them or gives them a chance to reflect on whatever they want to do? It's not like that in real life. I mean, there are other people there, so it kind of ruins any moment you might have. But it is pretty quiet. There are signs asking you to be quiet, and it really feels like a religious shrine to Abraham Lincoln, as if he were some sort of god or something. The place looks like a Greek temple, after all.

We wandered around a bit. I read the text of the Gettysburg Address, which was engraved on one wall. We also went to the gift shop. We wanted to have our picture taken in front of the statue of Lincoln, so we got someone to do it for us.

By then, everyone was really cold, so we decided to head toward George Washington University's student union, where the after-conference festivities would be held. Fortunately, we weren't too far away, and we were even early. The plan was that everyone would meet to go bowling, but no one was really there yet, so we went to the restaurant next to the bowling alley. There were a lot of TVs there, and there happened to be a Gator basketball game on. We got to cheer on our school for a few minutes and then watch them lose. Then we got some food. I got some chicken strips and fries, which also ended up being too much food.

After that, we made our way over to the bowling alley, where Gavin and some other people from the conference were bowling. I didn't feel like joining them, so I just hung out until everyone was done. Then we went back to Gavin's apartment with him.

On Sunday morning, the four of us left Gavin's apartment and set out back into Washington. We had considered attending the second day of the conference, but we would only have a few hours there, so we decided to do a little more sightseeing instead. It wasn't at all cloudy that day, so it was warmer and more pleasant.

We started by going to the White House, which, it turns out, is next to the Treasury. The Treasury is much larger and more imposing, but it's the White House that always has tourists in front of it. We were at the front of the building, which doesn't seem to be the side where most people have their pictures taken. It's a lot closer to the street, though, so we got some good pictures. Then we walked down Pennsylvania Avenue toward the Capitol, passing by all the three-letter-acronym buildings (DoJ, FBI, EPA, FTC, IRS...). After what seemed like forever, we made it to the Capitol.

Before that, we were going through a parking lot in front of the capital. Since it was Sunday, there weren't many cars parked there. A Capitol police officer was hanging around in his car, waiting for us to jaywalk. We stuck to the crosswalk, though, so he went away. I guess they have nothing better to do when Congress isn't in session.

We got as close as we could get to the building, which wasn't very close since they had the staircases roped off. There was a police car up there too, right by that fountain. So we weren't very high up, but we had a great view of the field out in front and the Mall, which were still covered in snow. So, after taking a few pictures of ourselves there and seeing all that there was to see, we went around to the other side of the Capitol. On the way, I saw some people (kids, probably) sledding down Capitol Hill. I didn't think they would let you do that, but no one seemed to be stopping them.

We checked out the other side of the Capitol, and then made our way toward the Library of Congress, which the others wanted to check out. We had found out that it was closed on Sunday, so we couldn't go in, but we walked by it. From there, we went to the nearest subway stop and took the subway out to Greenbelt, Maryland, where we connected to a bus that took us to the Baltimore airport, where we arrived early for our pleasantly brief flight to the Orlando airport, where Kris had parked his car, in which we rode back to Gainesville, where Kris dropped me off at my apartment.

I wish I could have seen more stuff in Washington, but we were really there for the conference. I did get to see all the main touristy places and, for the first time in my life, snow. (It's wetter, colder, and icier than I imagined, but I like it.) The best part was that we'll be compensated for most of our expenses by UF's Student Government and by Students for Free Culture. Hopefully we'll be able to go on other trips in the future.

Check out my photos from the trip! They're posted on Facebook, but you don't need a Facebook account to view them. I was too lazy to include any of them here, although I know it would have gone a long way in breaking up the sea of text that is this post.

(Those of you with an eerily good memory may notice that this post's title is similar to one I used for another post about Washington, DC in January 2005. I think after five years I'm entitled to use it again.)

Many of Norman Rockwell's paintings were based on photographs that he staged. Here are some of them! (Via waxy.org)

There are some weird stadiums in the world. Here are twelve of them! (Via The Presurfer)

There are a lot of actions that demand the death penalty in the Old Testament. Here are all of them!

Mr. Kalilich goes to Washington

Tue Feb 16, 2010 23:38 EST (UTC -5)

Last week, I mentioned that I'd be going to Washington, DC for the weekend to attend Free Culture Conference 2010 with other members of my school's chapter of Students for Free Culture. Well, I'm back, and here's how it went.

On Friday, I had to skip my classes and go into work early. It was raining, and I had brought a duffel bag with some warm clothes (and a camera) borrowed from my parents. As I waited for the bus, a pink Porsche SUV limo pulled up to the bus stop. One of the other people at the bus stop turned out to be in on it; she said our apartment was giving free rides to campus in the limo, presumably as a gimmick to get people to renew their leases. I was expecting to see a camera crew at any moment, like I'd end up in one of those commercials where they surprise random people by going to their house or whatever.

Anyway, we all got inside the limo, where they had granola bars, Rice Krispies treats, and bottles of water for breakfast. I expected to be lectured to about the benefits of renewing my lease, but nobody said much. It was kind of awkward, actually. The limo followed the route that the bus would have taken and dropped us off at the usual bus stop on campus. I thanked them for the ride.

After working at my job on campus, it was time to go. Kris, Jennifer, and Mark picked me up, and we drove to the airport in Orlando. It was the same airport that Mark and I flew to Europe from last year, so it brought back some memories. I didn't have much time to reminisce, though, because we were almost late. We hurried through everything until we made it past security, when we had a few minutes to get some food.

The flight was slightly delayed, but we got on eventually. I was seated between two people in the emergency exit row. It wasn't very comfortable, but I didn't mind much. I spent most of my time thinking about the trip and reading that day's issue of the Alligator. I didn't even get to finish it before we started our descent into Baltimore. I strained to look out the window. The clouds parted, revealing an endless, twilit landscape of barren trees and little neighborhoods covered in white. I had never seen snow before, and there it was—lots of it.

We landed at the airport. The runways had been cleared, but everything else was covered with a thick layer of snow. I became giddy. I didn't have much time to be giddy, though, because we were almost late. We hurried out of the airport to catch a bus to the nearest train station. We made the bus with a few minutes to spare, and then we made the train with a few minutes to spare. In the meantime, I did notice that the cold was a different, more tolerable kind of cold than what I was used to in Florida. It just felt like being inside a freezer. I guess there was no humidity.

The train took us to Washington's Union Station, where we took the DC subway out to Arlington, Virginia, where we met up with Gavin Baker, the founder of our chapter. He had graduated and moved to the DC area, and he let us stay in his apartment for the weekend. We made our way to the apartment (I also tried to run around in the snow and throw snowballs) and got settled in. Then Gavin took us back into DC to have dinner at an Ethiopian restaurant called Lalibela. Apparently there are a lot of Ethiopians and Ethiopian restaurants in the city.

It was a small place, and a lot of the table/booths were right next to each other. I was sitting on a bench next to another group of people. Still, it was pretty cozy, and Gavin had a suggestion for what to order. We got a communal dish consisting of some portions of various meats and vegetables served on a type of flat, doughy bread. We each had our own piece of flat, doughy bread, which we tore pieces off of and used to pick up the meats and vegetables. It was fun and delicious.

During the meal, Gavin surreptitiously showed us a Wikipedia article on his iPhone. He was almost certain that the guy I was sitting next to was Vivek Kundra, Chief Information Officer of the United States. I had read about him on some of my nerdy news web sites, so I was pretty pumped. I couldn't help but try to pick up on the conversation he was having. His friends were talking about his past job as CTO of DC and how he had been on the cover of a magazine. Definitely Vivek Kundra. We decided not to talk to him, though. More often than not, public figures want to be left alone.

We went right back to Gavin's, where we wound things down and went to bed. We had a couple of big days ahead of us tomorrow.

Speaking of going to bed, I'm pretty tired, so I'm going to continue this story next time. Soon, probably. In the meantime, here are some links:

Here's a spectacular NSFW animated short in which almost all of the scenery and characters are logos and mascots: Logorama. (Via waxy.org)

The webcomic xkcd is pretty funny, but I don't think anybody ever gets the punchline every time. Fortunately, we have Toby, Dave & Ian Explain XKCD, a blog in which the humor behind every comic is explained.

Panoramic Europe / America '10

Tue Dec 22, 2009 23:06 EST (UTC -5)

During my European adventure this summer, I took a lot of panoramic photos. Well, I took the individual photos that I would later stitch into panoramas once I got back home. And once I got back home, I did just that. Then I posted them on Facebook, which didn't really do them justice because they were all resized to be all tiny-like. I'd been meaning to post full-size versions of the best ones here on The World of Stuff, so I've done that now. Enjoy Panoramic Europe!

The summer of '08 consisted mainly of me hanging out and throwing around baseballs with some of my friends, but that's not to say we didn't have big plans. My friend Nick, a history buff, floated around the idea of going on a road trip to see some Civil War battlefields, possibly the next summer, but that didn't materialize.

Now, it's official. Nick, Mike, and TJ asked me if I wanted to go with them on a two-week road trip in June 2010. They plan to visit Atlanta, Washington, New York, Boston, and Gettysburg. It won't be all battlefields, as I could have guessed. Nick and TJ plan to go to a pizza restaurant near Atlanta to see if they can eat an 11-pound pizza in an hour. And I'm sure that won't be the only crazy hap to happen.

I told my parents about the plans, and they didn't say I could go, but they also didn't say I couldn't go. I figure that if they let me go to Europe for two months with people they didn't know, they'll let me go up north for two weeks with people they do know. Ah, to be trusted. It is good.

It might sound strange that I want to go on this trip because I just said that I don't have enough money to go on another trip to Europe. But the projected cost for next summer's road trip is much less than what I spent on plane and train tickets before setting foot in the airport in May. We're talking apples and oranges here. Well, more like apples and... tiny apples.

Inevitable misreading: "Panoramic Europe-America '10?" I put spaces around the slash for a reason. No excuses.

Here's a video showing Every Nickelback Wikipedia Page Vandalism Ever. Warning: there's Nickelback music, so turn your sound off. (Via waxy.org)

This would be fun to try if I were good at making stuff: Secret Knock Detecting Door Lock. (Via Lifehacker)

Thanksgiving Eve

Wed Nov 25, 2009 13:10 EST (UTC -5)

'Twas the day before Thanksgiving, and all through the university, people started putting up Christmas decorations and saying "'tis" and "'twas" a lot.

On Monday, I and some other folks from Get Carded (the student organ donor awareness group I'm a part of) went to some sorority houses to talk briefly about the benefits of organ donation. I had never wandered around Sorority Row, which is actually more of a neighborhood than a row, so it was all new to me. Also, I didn't know that sororities (and probably also fraternities) allow just about anyone to come in and make an announcement during their weekly dinner. Yay for captive audiences.

Right after that, I accompanied my co-workers, Bonnie and Mark, to Wal-Mart Walmart to buy some toys for a needy child (and a gift card for his parents), as we had decided to do last week. A little boy is going to be very happy with the new toy trucks he asked for.

I think my professors should get into the spirit of the season by canceling classes the day before Thanksgiving. I mean planning not to have class in the first place. I e-mailed all of my professors last week, and they all said they would hold class as usual. On Monday, two of them changed their minds after finding out how many students were going to be there. Meanwhile, I had already made plans to get picked up on Wednesday afternoon. Le sigh...

Anyway, in a little while I'm going to my grandparents', where I'll be spending the holiday. I'll get home either late Thursday night or on Friday.

Here's a pair of Ask Jordon questions from my friend Justin.

Justin: Would you be willing to go on (another) expansive trip throughout Europe? I wish to backpack around the Mediterranean.

Not for a while. Though I had a blast this summer, my bank account also had a blast. As in, it, like, blew up. Okay, that didn't work. I spent a lot of money is the point.

Also Justin: Would you consider telling Luke that I miss our friendship?

Sure. Luke, Justin misses your friendship.

Kind of cool, kind of creepy: a piano that "talks" by playing a bunch of notes that are extracted from a recording of human speech. (Via J-Walk Blog)

Every Beatles fan must hear this: analyses of the multitrack tapes of "She's Leaving Home," "A Day in the Life," and "Come Together." They're originally segments from a BBC radio program(me). Hear different tracks isolated and even some stuff that didn't make the final mixes.

Nine days and five hours away

Thu Aug 13, 2009 22:59 EST (UTC -5)

I had a little get-together for my birthday on Friday night. It was also a sort of coming-home party. I got to see some friends I hadn't seen in a year or two and also some friends I hadn't seen in a day or two. I got a slideshow going of all the pictures I had taken in Europe. It would have taken four and a half hours to complete, but everyone (including myself) left long before it could finish. The fun moved to TJ's house. That's where the fun usually is. I've also been there several times since to spend the night. I wish I could do that during the school year, but alas, college is five hours away.

I usually do a good job of following the news, but while I was in Europe for two months, I was basically living under a rock. I found out that Michael Jackson died, but that was about it. (That was the night we spent in Pisa. It was late, and Andy was outside the hotel room, making calls on our computer. I was channel surfing [we actually had a TV] and saw that Thriller was playing. When it was over, I saw "Michael Jackson 1958-2009" on the screen. I couldn't believe it, so I flipped to some other channels, including the BBC and CNN, which were all over the story. When Andy came back, I told him the news and jokingly asked if he had heard of Michael Jackson. The day before, I had found out that Ed McMahon and Farrah Fawcett had died; Andy had never heard of either of them.) (Oh, and I also found out that Billy Mays died. I wasn't completely cut off from the world.)

But when I came back, I learned that the government was providing cash for clunkers, that Microsoft had rebranded its search engine, and that there was a new reality show called Police Women of Broward County. As a citizen of Broward County, Florida, I thought it would be interesting to see how the area would be represented. I actually watched an episode. The show is every bit as horrible as it sounds. As a show that showcases crime, it's inherently unflattering to the region, and I can only wonder what went through the heads of the BSO brass when they decided to try to give our county a bad reputation across America.

When I upgraded to the latest version of Ubuntu in April, an annoying new bug/feature was that the operating system would only check for non-critical updates once a week irrespective of my preference to check daily. Or something like that. I was gone from my computer for two months, okay? Anyway, the official fix didn't do anything (or maybe it did but I didn't get any non-critical updates after that). The instructions I found here seemed to do the trick. In short: sudo chmod ugo+x /etc/cron.daily/apt, followed by the official fix (gconftool -s --type bool /apps/update-notifier/auto_launch false). Of course!!

The New York Times has a lengthy article about The Beatles: Rock Band, which comes out next month. If you're particularly interested in The Beatles or Rock Band, have a read. (Annoying registration possibly required; use BugMeNot.) (Via waxy.org)

This is what the Internet is all about: Cats That Look Like Hitler.

Here's the true and exciting story of the little-known State of Franklin. (Via The Presurfer)

Return to form

Sun Aug 09, 2009 22:57 EST (UTC -5)

Well, now what?

During my trip to Europe, I spent so much time writing for this blog that I thought I had almost forgotten how to write normal posts. You know, ones that don't include 18 pictures or chronicle everything you've done over a period of several days in minute detail. Ones that have how many links at the end? Two? Three now? Is that too many? Whatever. I come across a lot of cool links. (I actually did forget at one point.)

Before the trip, I had messed around with panoramic photography, aided by Hugin and Autopano-SIFT. During the trip, I made sure to take panoramic pictures whenever I saw something particularly breathtaking (or wide). Well, they wouldn't be panoramas until I stitched them together, but you know what I mean. Now that I have free time (and a reasonable amount of processing power), I'm making them. You can see woefully tiny versions in a dedicated Facebook photo album that I'm continuously updating. Maybe when I'm done with all of them, I'll put them on this site. Maybe. (I get charged for exactly how much storage and bandwidth I use at all times.)

I've also spent the past few days playing Peggle at TJ's house (again) and having dinner with some relatives I don't often see (again). Apparently a lot of my relatives have been reading this blog as well. The ones without computers have been reading the print version courtesy of my dad's laserjet. The attention wasn't just on me but also on my second cousin Jared, whom I hadn't seen since he was yea high. Turns out he's the lead singer of a band back home in Minnesota. Pretty cool. (Minnesota or the band? Probably both.)

Random observation: I just realized that my last post wasn't my first called "Back in the USA." The automatically generated post slug ("back-in-the-usa-2") in the URL tipped me off, so I got curious. Although I rarely leave the country, I wrote about my friend Kevin being back in the USA after a trip to Honduras in 2005. The title of my last post was a reference to the Chuck Berry tune of the same name, continuing my streak of (mis)appropriating song, movie, and book titles; schoolyard rhymes; Olive Garden dishes; and other familiar phrases.

Just as I've written about my trip to Europe, a BBC correspondent writes about what it was like to spend eight years in the USA.

Dead At Your Age is a site that can tell you what famous and accomplished people you've already outlived. Here's what it says for me today:

You are 20 years and 27 days old today.

That’s exactly half the life of somebody famous. In another 20 years and 27 days, you will have lived exactly as long as Vitas Gerulaitis. He was a tennis player who won 24 singles and who, with Bobby Riggs, lost the 1985 Battle of the Sexes match who died at the age of 40 years, 54 days of carbon monoxide poisoning.

(Via The Presurfer)

Somebody programmed some sort of laser cutter thing to move around just such that it plays the Super Mario Bros. theme. Well done. (Via waxy.org)

Back in the USA

Wed Aug 05, 2009 23:09 EST (UTC -5)

And now, the exciting conclusion of my European adventure.

On Thursday night, Andy, George, and I went to see the West End production of Chicago. I had no idea that we were right in the West End with theaters scattered all over the place, but the theater was just a short walk away (with a gelato shop in between). The show starred Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child, but I obviously wouldn't have known that if George hadn't told me. I had never seen the movie, but I enjoyed the show. The orchestra was on the stage, and the conductor interacted with the characters, which I thought was pretty clever. The songs were catchy too.

After the show, for our last dinner in Europe, we went to an Indian restaurant called Tandoori Nights (which a Google search reveals is actually a common name??). Well, it wasn't George's last dinner in Europe, but it was mine and Andy's. After that, we returned to George's dorm room on Drury Lane (yes, the Drury Lane on which the fabled Muffin Man is said to live). I was ready to go to bed in anticipation of a long day.

On Friday morning, Andy and I got our things together, thanked George for his hospitality, and made our way to the airport. We took the Gatwick Express, the same train we had taken from the airport two months ago. Even though it was pretty expensive, it was fast and direct. And we didn't have very much time to look into other options.

At Gatwick, Mark was waiting for me, just as I'd hoped. My cousins in Croatia had given me a bottle of liquor as a gift, so I was going to give it to 21-year-old Mark so he could take it into the country (I mean, as a gift for him to keep). He had been waiting there for a while, but I'm glad he was patient. Otherwise, I think I was just going to chuck the bottle.

With the alcohol out of the way, I wasn't too concerned about the other things I had to bring into the country: a bottle of olive oil, which was also from my cousins, and some stroopwafels that I had bought from a vending machine in Amsterdam two days before. I had been infatuated with the sweet treats ever since my friend Kevin brought some home from the Netherlands a few years ago. I had wanted to pick some up for myself and everybody back home, but while I was in Amsterdam I wasn't in the mood to seek them out. Luckily, I happened to spot some in a vending machine right before I left for London.

We got through everything relatively easily (we didn't even have to take our shoes off for security, which apparently might have been a mistake) and soon found ourselves waiting in the terminal for our flight back to the USA. The three of us were worried that Dan wouldn't show; he and Mark had split up back in Switzerland and weren't staying in the same hostel in London. But Dan did arrive, so the four of us had some time to recount our individual adventures.

Soon, it came time to board the plane, which I would not have been looking forward to at all if it hadn't meant I'd be going home. The plane took off about 40 minutes late, and I managed to keep myself entertained by watching movies (I Love You, Man and The Boat That Rocked) and imagining how great it would be to be home.

Somehow, the plane landed in Orlando a few minutes early. According to my watch, it was getting close to midnight, but the sun had never gone down during the flight. I imagined that the jetlag would be harder to get used to this time because it wouldn't be as simple as skipping a night and then sleeping a lot the next night. But jetlag or no jetlag, I was glad to be back.

Of course, we had to go through customs and all that first. I got quizzed about my trip to prove I wasn't a terrorist. The fact that I had been gone for so long and had visited so many countries and brought back food was apparently too much for Customs and Border Patrol to let slip by. But I showed them I was legit, and that's when I parted ways with Andy, Dan, and Mark. I had a working cell phone for the first time in two months, so I called my parents to let them know I was there.

They were glad to see me; I was glad to see them. I was also very tired. They drove me home, but we stopped for dinner along the way at the Outback Steakhouse in Vero Beach. It was right about there that I realized how great it was to be back in my own country: in a familiar place with familiar food. Those who are about to call me an ugly American should keep reading.

My sister was there when we got home. I showed everybody the stone souvenirs I had brought back from Croatia, as well as the olive oil, the stroopwafels, and some trinkets from Italy. Then I went to bed. Of course, it was not only wonderful and amazing to be back home with my family, but it was also awesome to be back in my own bed after two months of traveling.

Since then, I've gotten to see some family and friends. I spent Sunday night at TJ's with Nick and some other friends. It was an overnight thing, though, which I was glad about. I think going to bed at 04:00 and waking up at 12:00 helped get rid of my jet lag. I'm still getting tired sort of early and waking up sort of early, though. Last night, I went to a family dinner with some relatives I don't see very often. They had lots of questions about the trip, and apparently many of them have been reading this blog too. Between spending time with family and friends, I've been relaxing as I typically would during the summer. I've also been working online.

Europe '09 by the numbers:

• Days: 67 (May 26 - July 31, 2009)
• Countries visited: 14 (United Kingdom, France, Spain, Monaco, Italy, Vatican City, Slovenia, Croatia, Austria, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium)
• Places I slept: 21
• Times I stayed with family members: 2 (Andy's relatives both times)
• Times I stayed with friends: 3
• Times I stayed in hostels: 2
• Times I stayed in hotels: 3
• Times I stayed with Esperantists or at Esperanto events: 12
• Sleepless nights on trains: 3
• Sleepless half-nights on planes: 1
• Days I traveled without Andy: 17 (25%!)
• Number of currencies I ended up with: 8 (pounds sterling, euros, Croatian kunas, Slovak korunas, Russian rubles, Belorussian rubles, Czech korunas, Hungarian forints)
• Number of times I mentioned to people that I collected coins and banknotes: 3
• Photos taken, December 25, 2002 - May 24, 2009: 4,178
• Photos taken, May 26 - July 31, 2009: 4,002
• Total size of photos: 6.5 GB
• Most photos taken in one day: 411 (June 28, in Rome)
• Videos recorded: 13
• Total size of videos: 248 MB
• Average length of videos: 0:14

So, boring statistics aside, what are we to learn from this trip? I was hoping that going for a two-month adventure would leave me feeling more adventurous. It has, but not for the reason I thought. It was Andy who showed me that you can't be uptight about everything. I can't count the number of times he said, "Let's do it; the worst that could happen is that they yell at us." And you know, we didn't get yelled at very much. It was an eye-opener.

Before I left for the trip, people had told me a bit about Europeans, but you really need to go to Europe to understand them. The impression I got everywhere was that they're content with having less than Americans. They're fine with their small cars and their tiny apartments, and they don't see why they should have dryers when they already have clotheslines and the sun. The US has long been the land of plenty, and that has shaped who we are as Americans; Europeans, living on a continent that has been ravaged by war and political strife, are more down-to-earth.

Things are different there, but I wouldn't say that Europe is, in general, better or worse than America. It's just different. Europeans like their water gassy and their milk creamy. They love soccer and the 24-hour clock. Those are things that I don't think I could get used to (except for the 24-hour clock, which I've always been a fan of and have now decided to use in writing). In the US, we may have crappy schools, overfilled prisons, and drug laws that don't work, but that doesn't mean that our country isn't great. If nothing else, it's great because we are and always have been filled with potential. The American Dream and all that stuff. It's all here.

Some people have asked me if I would live in Europe. Everything I have and everything I know is here in the US, so answer is obvious. But still, I'm glad to have had the trip of a lifetime, and if I could do it all again, I would. Europe '09 taught me more about the world than any book could; the stories I have really are priceless. Every day, I learned something new and did something that I might never do again. So, sometimes the only way to really learn is to be adventurous. After all, the worst that could happen is that they yell at you.

Homeward bound: the incredible journey

Thu Jul 30, 2009 13:31 EST (UTC -5)

Well, kiddies, it happened. My camera's new 1 GB memory card is not functioning. It's not even the camera's fault this time, as my other cards are just fine. That's good news, but I wish I could take 600 photos at a time rather than about 79. (What an odd number, I know. The 16 MB card that came with my camera holds 8 photos. My trusty 128 MB card supposedly holds 64, but I can squeeze out 71.) Fortunately, I lost only a few photos (from Sunday night's concert by the local band).

Anyway, when we last met, I was at the International Youth Congress of Esperanto (IJK) in Liberec, Czech Republic, and it is to that event which we now return.

Last Monday night's entertainment was a quiz show in the style of those hilarious British radio program(me)s. Think "Whose Line Is It Anyway?" (which originally was a British radio show) and that show on NPR where people have to guess the definitions of obscure words. Its name escapes me, but I know it's cheesy. If I do think of it before I post this, I'll probably forget to add it in here. Anyway, the Esperanto quiz show was just as funny, if not funnier. Maybe it helped that the host (sorry, presenter) was British.

Tuesday was the big excursion to Prague. Everyone has told me that Prague is a wonderful city, so I wanted to see exactly how wonderful it was. We started out by taking a tour of the city in an old trolley that I believe was built in 1928 or 1929.

Well, it wasn't really a tour because we didn't have a tour guide telling us what everything was. Actually, one of the IJK organizers was there and explained everything for us, so I guess it was a tour. When the ride ended, we explored the city on foot as a group. We saw some old churches and plazas and things. I kept wondering when we would stop for lunch; they gave us food but no time to eat it, so people were eating as we walked around. I did the same eventually.

One of the highlights of the morning was going to the presidential palace. The organizers of the IJK still remembered a remark that the Czech President had made a year and a half ago. He said, "Pan-Europeanism is artificial and dead, like Esperanto." So our group thought it would be nice to take a picture with one of the guards outside the presidential palace and maybe send it to the President.

That guard wasn't supposed to move or anything, but dang if he didn't look uncomfortable standing there.

Near the palace you can get a great view of the city. As the group moved on, I lingered a bit to check it out.

After that, we made our way to the Charles Bridge, which is apparently an old and famous pedestrian bridge in the city. As with many touristy places, it was filled with artists and musicians and beggars. They were also renovating a section of it. Despite all that, I liked it and wished I could stay longer. I admired the statues that lined the bridge and the view of the river.

My group was the sciencey group, so we saw some scientific sights. In particular, we saw a historic weather station (which I didn't take a picture of because it looked like a giant white box hanging out of a window, and besides, I was running out of pictures) and went to the house where Johannes "The Earth Revolves Around the Sun" Kepler once lived. We didn't go inside, but outside was a small courtyard with a small fountain dedicated to him.

Later, we moved on to what is probably one of the world's most famous clocks. It's that crazy clock thing with, like, 4 hands and 3 faces. You'd know it if you saw it, so look!

We (and a lot of other people) hung around until the top of the hour so we could see the famous show that the clock puts on every hour. It wasn't so spectacular, actually. A couple of windows open and you can see little apostles shuffling by. That's basically it.

After that, we finally had about an hour of free time. I spend time with my new Canadian friend, Gregory. We went to a cafe so he could get something to drink, and then we went to a souvenir shop so he could get some souvenirs. Then we strolled to the statue where we were supposed to meet with everybody. After that, we all went over to the bus and went back to Liberec.

Prague is indeed a nice city. I wish I could have spent a little more time there, particularly down by the river. There are some islands in the river that looked particularly interesting. Our unofficial tour guide said that the World Congress of Esperanto was held on one of the islands in 1996. It must have been pretty large because that's a big event. Anyway, in conclusion, everyone is right about Prague.

In the evening, there was supposed to be a concert by one Kim, an Esperantist and accordionist. When I heard that the concert was being moved to the roof of the building, I thought it was a joke. But I saw too many people going upstairs, so I decided to follow them. Sure enough, people were setting up equipment, and a lot of the audience was already there.

Even though Kim didn't have much accompaniment, he had everyone singing along in Esperanto.

A guitarist named JoMo joined him for the last number. I had actually had lunch with JoMo the day before, not knowing he would be part of the entertainment. It's funny how those things work out!

On Wednesday, Andy and I did not attend the next class on how to teach Esperanto. I went to a presentation about E@I, the organization behind many Esperanto projects on the Internet, including lernu.net. In the afternoon, I was just chillin' when it was pointed out to me that I should probably be at the TEJO meeting that was going on right then.

Apparently, Darcy Ross was supposed to represent USEJ (US Esperanto Youth Organization) at the meeting of TEJO (Worldwide Esperanto Youth Organization), but since she didn't go to the IJK, she gave her voting power to me and Andy. So I sat in on the meeting, but since I didn't know what anything was about, I didn't vote. Actually, I didn't even abstain; I abstained from abstaining. It took me a while to convince myself that I was supposed to be there.

Besides voting on officers and things like that, they decided to write a resolution or declaration along the theme of the congress (i.e., freedom). Apparently, this was a tradition that had not been followed very much in recent years, but they wanted to make a statement to the Czech President about the utility and utter non-deadness of Esperanto.

After that, I attended a presentation about the situation in Israel and Palestine, which I thought was pretty interesting. I think you can really only scratch the surface in an hour, but it was relatively informative.

The evening's entertainment was a performance by JoMo in the town square. It was kind of a long walk (about 30 minutes), but it was nice to get out and see the city. I had heard that he was known for singing in a lot of different languages, and I was vaguely aware that there was some Guinness world record involved. (I think they assumed that everyone already knew everything about him.)

With just a guitar, he performed a lot of rockin' numbers that got the crowd moving. Almost every song was in a different language. Besides the usual suspects such as French, Spanish, German, and Portuguese, he sang songs in Basque, Ukrainian, Serbo-Croatian, and Mohawk. He also sang a Greek song in Dutch. For the curious, his English-language song was "Kansas City," and I'd have to say that my favorite number was "Komm, Gib Mir Deine Hand." Oh, and Kim joined him for the later numbers. The finale was in Esperanto.

On Thursday morning, I attended a presentation called, "Wikipedia: What, Why, How." The "how" part was especially interesting because the lecturer got online and actually created an article for the people to see. I thought everyone at the presentation would already be basically familiar with Wikipedia, but it was nice to see how impressed some people were with how easy the site is to use.

In the afternoon, instead of lectures and things, we had a Cultural/Language Festival in the town square. People from a certain country or region could get together and set up a booth to show off their culture to the other Esperantists (and, with the help of a translator, to the townspeople). Seeing all these booths decked out with flags and maps and posters and food and alcoholic beverages made it easy to see how many countries were being represented at the IJK.

Not every country had a booth, though. As I was digging the different cultures, everyone kept asking me why there was no American booth. Several reasons: there were only a few Americans at the IJK, we were all too lazy, some of us didn't even show up to the festival, we didn't have anything from home to show off, everybody already knows all about our culture (or lack thereof), we can't fix our reputation in the world from behind a booth, etc. I joked that the American booth was the McDonald's in the town square. I just thought the Europeans would find it funny; I don't want to remind myself of how much everyone hates American culture.

The countries and regions represented were, in no particular order: Switzerland, the Netherlands, Australia, Italy, Greece, France, Germany, China, Vietnam, Brazil, Catalonia, South Korea, Canada, Russia, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Ukraine, Pakistan, and Lithuania. So that was just a subset of the countries and regions represented at the IJK.

At the official beginning of the event, they wanted to have one person from each country greet the people of Liberec in their own country's language. Since this is much easier than manning a booth, more countries were represented. I had been asked to say hello from the good old U. S. of A., so I thought I might as well. We went up to the stage by country in alphabetical order, and I was second-to-last, in front of only Vietnam. It gave me a lot of time to figure out what to say.

Hello! Greetings from the United States of America to the people of Liberec. Esperanto, the international language, brings us together.

My delivery wasn't as exciting as some of the other people's, so when I was done, I tried waving or something to get the crowd roaring. The reception seemed to be about average.

As I was milling around later, the President of TEJO told me that my greeting was beautifully done (he understood English, apparently). I didn't know what to say, but only because I hadn't quite heard what he had said, and by the time I had figured it out, it was too late to respond. Awkward.

After some traditional songs and dances on the stage, Kim worked some of his accordion magic. But the weather deteriorated, and eventually it started raining. I made a break for the nearest building, which was city hall. I stood in front of the door with some other people as we watched everyone else take cover in booths or on the stage. As the rain got heavier, some people started running around and having a good time. After the rain subsided, we headed back for dinner.

Food interlude: I haven't really mentioned what I ate at the IJK. Since we were apparently at a university, we were provided with cafeteria food. For breakfast there was always bread with meat and cheese. Some days the cheese was pre-processed and spreadable, other days it was the meat. Lunch and dinner often involved chicken and rice. There was usually weird juice or hot tea to drink. It wasn't the greatest, but I was pretty fine with it. I had paid for it, anyway.

Friday was the last whole day. In the morning, I went on an excursion with a few other people to the local zoo, which was the first in Czechoslovakia. The only problem was that the zoo was closed because of the previous day's storm. So the local guy of the group decided to show us around town. Liberec, it turns out, is a very old city. Probably the most interesting thing for me was seeing the oldest surviving houses, which were built in the Tudor style in 1681. It was nice to get out and do some walking.

In the afternoon, I went to the TEJO meeting feeling a little more confident about what was going on. They discussed membership applications from new national Esperanto youth organizations in Mexico and Benin; we also voted unanimously to explore the possibility of having the IJK in Africa as early as 2012. An Italian guy melodramatically read a draft of the resolution about freedom. There were also some other elections, and finally, a group photo.

That evening was International Evening, a sort of cross-cultural talent show that was also the closing ceremony. There were songs, poetry, dancing, sexy dancing, acting, and more. Several participants were local kids whose parents had found out about the IJK and, I don't know, show off their kids. One guy read some of his poems and Czech as well as one in Esperanto; I think he had only been learning the language for a few days -- he seemed nervous reading it -- but the poem was good.

There was some funny stuff. There was a skit about Italians giving other people lessons on how to act Italian: talking loudly with hand gestures and the like. Among the "students" were Matthieu (who had hosted Andy and me when we were in France), Bara (a friend I had met online), and Guillerme (my roommate there at the IJK): an all-star cast! Some people who had come from the Summer Esperanto Study played their SES song, which pretty accurately described the SES experience.

For me, one of the most exciting parts of the evening was the official inauguration of the new Pasporta Servo web site, which was christened with the sending of a message to none other than the USA's Darcy Ross. And, after introducing the newly elected TEJO officers and some closing words, that was it. I think they didn't have time to present the resolution.

After all that, it was late, but I decided to chill out a little while longer. As usual, after the evening's program, participants could go to the bar, the disco, the movie theater, or the "owl room." The idea of the latter is that if you just want a quiet night, you can go there to enjoy some tea by candlelight. I hadn't been there yet, so I checked it out with Andy and Diana, one of the other Americans. But I was tired, so not long after my tea, I called it a night.

Saturday morning was the leaving day. Chuck Smith, founder of the Esperanto Wikipedia, had seen the notice I posted about Andy and me needing a place to stay in Berlin, and he had told me that he would be willing to put us up since he lives there now. Andy had told me that he was tired of traveling and was taking a flight from Prague to London, where he would stay with our friend George until I got there and we had to fly home. So, I would be going through the last leg of the trip by myself.

So, on Saturday morning, I said my goodbyes to the people who were remaining. I didn't see Andy, but I did see that the keys to his room weren't hanging up behind the front desk, so he must have still been snoozin'. After a while, a cab came to take Chuck, his girlfriend Judith, someone else, and me to the train station. At the station, I saw several people from the IJK; Alex, who Andy and I had met on the way to SES, sat near us on our train.

We weren't going right to Berlin; Chuck was meeting a friend in Dresden and had booked a hotel room there for a night. So after a couple of hours, we arrived in Dresden, Germany, and met up with Chuck's friend. Alex also stopped in Dresden, so there were five of us: Chuck, Judith, Chuck's friend, Alex, and me: a motley crue of Esperantists.

First, we wanted to drop our bags off at the hotel. I think it was supposedly a four-star hotel, and it really was classy. Somewhat less classy was the unfortunate realization that Chuck had accidentally booked the hotel room for 8/25 (August 25) instead of 7/25 (July 25). He did get that sorted out, and we were able to put our bags there before coming back in the evening.

We walked to a Czech restaurant to have a late lunch. I had some ham wrapped in potatoes covered in gravy... with a salad on the side, thankyouverymuch. I ate most of it except for the salad. I also had half a liter of beer, which I drank most of. Everything was pretty good.

After that, we walked around town. Alex went to check in to a hostel, and we started exploring the city without him. The town square was beautiful. I had read that most of the city was destroyed by the Allies, but in the city center there were a lot of old buildings that seemed to have survived.

It started raining, so we ran into a nearby Canadian steakhouse called Ontario. I had never seen a Canadian restaurant before, but it seemed like an ordinary steakhouse with vaguely Canadian decor. Chuck asked the waitress if they had poutine, and she had never heard of it. We had just eaten lunch, so I wasn't hungry, but the others got drinks. I didn't really feel like drinking anything.

After that, we walked around a bit more and checked out some touristy shops near the river Elbe. Alex met up with us, and after parting ways with Chuck's friend, we went back to the hotel. We amused ourselves by reading about all the ridiculous services that the hotel had to offer, and then we decided to take them up on one of their less ridiculous services by watching Get Smart on pay-per-view. I needed to rest; I wasn't feeling very good.

After a while, I had that feeling of blood rushing to my head, so I went to the bathroom and lost my lunch. I hadn't thrown up in a really long time, and I hoped it would just be an isolated incident. It wasn't. Something I had eaten (or drunk) must have really rubbed me the wrong way. Still, I felt a little better each time.

Meanwhile, the movie had ended and Alex had gone to his hostel, so it was just us three in a hotel room for two. Not only did I throw up in a four-star hotel, but it was also the first stop on my entire trip where I used my sleeping bag. Chuck and I thought this was really funny.

I woke up Sunday morning not feeling very hungry. I had some nibbles and made myself look presentable; then we took a taxi to the train station. (The taxis in Germany are overwhelmingly Mercedes-Benzes. Very nice!) On the train, Chuck and I passed the time by watching Bender's Big Score on his laptop. Finally, we were at Berlin's Hauptbahnhof (Main Train Station), which is huge and modern. I was impressed.

It was a short bus trip and walk to Chuck and Judith's apartment. On the way, they stopped to show me something. There was a cobblestone line running diagonally across the street and the sidewalk. On the sidewalk, along the cobblestones, was a small plaque: the Berlin Wall had been here.

After relaxing in their apartment for a little while and having some food to eat, I felt up for a stroll around the neighborhood. They had told me that there were a lot of restaurants around them, and they weren't kidding. Cuban, Egyptian, and Singaporean were just a few of the restaurants I saw. Also nearby were a place where you could try 100 types of beer and another place where you could try 300 types of wine. They also took me to an anarchist art gallery (note to self: cool band name), which consisted mainly of some modern sculptures and a bar. It reminded me of Gainesville.

After another light meal, the subject of The Colbert Report came up. Chuck and Judith love the show, and I mentioned that I had missed the Iraq episodes because I was traveling and hadn't had time to watch them online. We found that the individual episodes had been taken down from the web site, and they didn't want to watch them clip after clip. Thus, the search began, and eventually they got some downloads going. I went to bed not long after that.

On Monday, I was feeling mostly better, so Chuck and Judith took me to the Singaporean restaurant nearby for lunch. The food was very good -- it tasted like Indian -- but I still didn't have much of an appetite. After the meal, Chuck showed me some of the city. We stopped at the Reichstag...

...and not far away was the Brandenburg Gate. It wasn't as imposing as I thought it would be, but it was still nice to look at.

Interestingly, I saw some people who seemed to be getting down from on top of the gate. They didn't look like they were supposed to be there.

The plaza in front of it is kind of touristy; you can have your passport stamped just like in the days of communism or have your picture taken with guys dressed as East German police. Awesome!

An old woman asked us if we spoke English. Chuck said "No" and kept walking. Before I knew what was going on, I said yes. Instead of telling me her spiel, she showed it to me in writing. I said "I'm sorry, I can't read," and walked away. Now that I think about it, she probably would have pickpocketed me if I had stopped to read the thing.

Several blocks away is Checkpoint Charlie, an important checkpoint from the days when Berlin was a divided city. There, you can find (a replica of) the famous "You Are Leaving the American Sector" sign. You can also have your picture taken with a guy who's dressed as an American soldier. Nearby, there's a snack bar called Snack Point Charlie. I thought it was interesting how Berlin seems to make light of its troubled past.

After stopping in a huge bookstore nearby, we went to the river to take a boat tour with some other Esperantists: an Israeli and three Ukrainians, all of whom I had met at the IJK. So the six of us were just chatting in Esperanto on the boat when Chuck decided to ask the people next to us what language they thought we were speaking. They had no idea. When he said it was Esperanto, they mentioned that they had just heard about it on TV!

One day while I was surfing the web in the lobby at the IJK, I saw a German TV crew doing interviews. Actually, "saw" is an understatement because they had their camera right next to my head. One of the organizers then asked for volunteers to sit in on an Esperanto class to be staged for the cameras. I had forgotten about it until Chuck showed me the video from German TV: the segment was in Esperanto with German subtitles, and the reporter even spoke some Esperanto before and after it. You can watch it here!

Anyway, we were all pleasantly surprised that we met people who had watched the segment. Going up and down the river was nice, especially because everything was explained in German and English. I saw some of the things that I had already seen by walking around, but it was nice to sit for an hour and have a drink. At one point, one of the Ukrainians saw a sign and misread the date on it as being in August instead of July. Chuck told her that that mistake had cost him money!

After the cruise, the six of us did some walking around. Chuck was the only real Berliner among us, so he led the way. He showed us a store with an odd specialty: all of its merchandise featured the red and green people from the East German pedestrian crossing lights. Apparently they've remained popular even though communism hasn't. I spotted the hatted proletarians at various points throughout the city.

After that, we stopped for ice cream. I didn't feel like having any, but I did feel like trying currywurst, so we got some of that next. Apparently it's a Berlin specialty. I forget the exact description, but it's like a sausage with Indian sauce on it. Chuck, who had some too, said it wasn't the best currywurst he had ever had, and I could see how it could be better, but I still liked it.

We made our way to a local cultural center, where an Esperanto club would be meeting. There were four other people there: three regulars and a guy whose interest had been piqued by a newspaper article about the IJK. Together, we watched a video of the opening of a small park named after L.L. Zamenhof, the initiator of Esperanto. The park was right in Berlin, and the video had been recorded the week before. There was some music, and some officials gave speeches to a small crowd.

After the video, Chuck discussed ideas for bringing together the rather disparate Esperanto clubs in Berlin. At least, I think so. My mind was elsewhere. I was thinking about how I would be going home soon and how happy I would be to be there. I was still enjoying my European vacation, but after two months, I was starting to miss home again. Y'understand.

The meeting went rather late. Chuck and I went home to watch the first Colbert Report episode from Iraq with Judith. Then, after Judith went to bed, Chuck and I stayed up way too late talking about all kinds of stuff. It was great.

Right after I woke up on Tuesday, I went with Chuck to the corner bakery to pick up some fresh croissants and bread. It was my last day in Berlin. I wished I could have stayed longer, but I felt I should move on and see Amsterdam. Chuck didn't resist very much because Amsterdam is his second-favorite city. But as long as I was with Chuck, there was still something I'd have to do.

Chuck likes games. He had asked if I had ever heard of a board game called Settlers of Catan. I had read about it in a recent issue of Wired magazine, and it was supposed to be, like, the greatest board game ever. So on Tuesday morning, Chuck and Judith invited over Tom, the Israeli Esperantist who had been with us the day before. That way, there would be four people for the game.

Learning the rules of a new game is always kind of tricky for me, and I tend to have no sense of strategy (just kidding, prospective future employers!!). Even though I did pretty badly in the game, it was still fun, and I think some of my friends would like it. It's a German-style board game, so it's different from American-style games. The differences are outside the scope of this blog post, but you can probably read about them on Wikipedia.

After a German lunch of potatoes, sausages, and cabbage (which I ate slowly), I got ready to leave. Chuck and Judith went with me to the bus stop, and away I went to the train station. They had made me feel at home and had taken very good care of me, but I had to keep moving. I was heading home.

About seven hours later, I had arrived in Amsterdam. It was late, and getting acquainted with the public transportation system was a confusing process, as it often has been. Once again, I was using the Pasporta Servo, so I followed the directions that my host had given me.

I got out of the metro station about ten minutes before midnight, making my way into my host's neighborhood. It was quiet, and not many people were around. I had almost gotten to his street when a couple of guys came up alongside me and started talking to me in English. I didn't listen to them; I told them I was late, that I was in a hurry, and that I didn't want to hear it.

I turned the corner onto my host's street and one of the guys stopped me. He started to put his hand into my pocket. He told me to give him 100 euros or he'd kill me. I shouted for help and received two swift hits to the side of my face. Then, I apparently found an opportunity to escape, because I did. I ran down the street to the next intersection, where I could catch my breath while being able to see all around me.

I saw people coming toward me from another direction, so I went back down the street to find my host's apartment. As I made my way there, the other guy was walking on the opposite side of the street, watching me. I found the building and buzzed my host, who let me in. I told him about what happened. I was shaking and on the verge of tears. He called the police.

Two officers came, and I told them about what happened -- fortunately, they spoke English. Once I gave descriptions of the perpetrators, they issued a bulletin. They learned why I was there and had some questions about Esperanto; one of the officers said he remembered reading about it in a book that had belonged to his grandfather. It was certainly an odd time for Esperanto Q&A, but I was grateful to them, so I answered their questions gladly.

The officers drove me and my host to the police station, where I filed a report (again, with an English-speaking official). Doing the police report took such a long time that I was calm by the end of it and my face didn't hurt anymore. The guy gave me a copy of the report (in Dutch) in a spiffy Amsterdam Police folder. My host and I were escorted back to the apartment in an unmarked car. After having a little food and drink, I went to sleep and had bad dreams.

I feel a little like it was my fault. I couldn't help that I was alone or wearing a huge backpack, but I did choose to get into the city at night, and maybe I could have stayed away from the two guys. Everyone -- the officers, the police report guy, the escort -- asked if it was my first time in the Netherlands. When I told them it was, they all wryly welcomed me. But I made it clear to my host that this wouldn't hurt my perception of the place. I know it's a civilized country, probably with a lower crime rate than the United States. I was just walking alone at night, and I looked like a tourist. It could have happened anywhere.

I am glad that it wasn't worse. I don't want to make light of the situation -- it really was traumatizing -- but I have to be glad that I didn't get badly hurt and nothing was stolen from me. I guess I knew what to do. If I had seen a weapon, I would have given them whatever they wanted, but I didn't, so I tried to scare them away. Fortunately, it worked. They must have just been some small-time crooks. I'm also glad that the police were helpful and that a lot of Dutch people are fluent in English.

Wednesday morning, right after I got out of bed, a couple of police officers stopped by and asked if I would ride around the neighborhood with some detectives that night so I could help find the perpetrators. I said it was okay, so they said they'd call that evening.

That day, my host had to check himself into the hospital for appendicitis, and his wife was going to work for the first time since the birth of their youngest child, so I was left alone in the apartment. I wanted to go out and see the city, so I got ready in no particular hurry. Finally, with the map that my host had given me, I headed out.

It was a beautiful afternoon for a walk; it mostly sunny with a cool breeze. I walked along the Amstel River and through what seemed to be a financial area. All the canals and bridges were beautiful to see.

I wasn't really hungry, but I felt like I should be, so I started looking for some place to eat. I turned the corner onto a street that had a lot of restaurants. In particular, there were a lot of Italian and Argentinean places, with some American, Chinese, and Indian restaurants as well. I decided to get some falafel. Andy had introduced falafel to me in Vienna, and I fell in love with the stuff.

I was looking for a little more, so I stopped at a place down the street that had Belgian-style fries. I knew this was something I had to try if I was in Amsterdam. I also knew that mayonnaise was a favorite topping, so I gave it a try. I had a seat in a nearby plaza and enjoyed it.

The plaza was called Dam. It was nice but kind of touristy.

The Anne Frank house was nearby, so I thought I'd have a look. There were a bunch of people in line to enter. I took some pictures of the building that they were going into. Later I found out that the actual house was the inconspicuous-looking building next door. Very clever.

I continued my walk through the city, stopping to rest in several lovely parks along the way. I was really amazed by the number of bicyclists going around. They didn't have to share the road; they had their own lanes everywhere. I think I had already known that, but it was still interesting to see for myself.

I made my way back to the apartment, and I wasn't feeling very good because I had eaten and walked a lot. I lay down for an hour and then just hung around, waiting for the police to call. They didn't, so I went to bed.

This morning, I got my stuff together and took the train to Brussels. From there, I took the Eurostar to London. The trip cost about as much as it did when we went from London to Paris. But it was pretty classy, and it cost about as much as a flight to London would. I wouldn't like to go on an international flight by myself.

Andy met me at the train station in London, and we went back to our friend George's dorm room in the West End (he's studying here for the summer). We're about to go to a show; his mom bought us tickets. Tomorrow: my triumphant return!

Into the world came a new feeling

Mon Jul 20, 2009 11:40 EST (UTC -5)

After sending my last post through the tubes, I went to see Gerda Disappeared, a recent video adaptation of Claude Piron's classic adventure that starts with simple words and gets more complex with each chapter. Apparently my new friend Katja had tipped off the organizers of the Summer Esperanto Study that it was my birthday, so they presented me with a T-shirt and a round of applause. I was glad to get the T-shirt for free because I almost bought it in the bookshop earlier that day. The video was unbearably long and stupendously cheesy, but it would probably be useful for beginners.

Katja's and my rooms were next to each other, and they had a common balcony. Katja had been saying throughout the day that she wanted to spend some time there. After the video, it was late, so we made our way upstairs. She borrowed a lighter from someone, but it wasn't for smoking. She had candles.

We took a couple of chairs out to the balcony. Katja set the candles on a sort of ashtray-like thing that looked like a table. She also brought out juice and cookies. Her roommate joined us for some food and drink but then went to bed.

It was late; it was dark and quiet. Stars twinkled above the darkened trees. The city lights of Modra flickered in the distance. Further away shone Bratislava. All was calm around us. Silence... then, magic. It was the best birthday present.

On Tuesday, we went on an excursion to a castle called Smolenice. Castles are usually old, but this one was mostly from the 20th century. We actually didn't get to see very much of it because it's apparently used as the headquarters of some scientific organization. The highlight was going up to the tower and seeing the town all around.

For the second part of the excursion, we went to a cave called Driny. We had to walk through the woods a bit to get there, but it was worth it. The cave was cool... literally!!! It looked a bit like every other cave I've been to, but that was all right because I enjoy chillin' with stalactites and stalagmites (or 'tites and 'mites if you want to sound hip). I didn't take too many pictures inside the cave because the tour guide said we would have to pay for the privilege. Lame.

On Wednesday, I didn't go to class in the morning because I wanted to sleep in. I needed to pay for upcoming excursions, but I didn't have much cash handy. After dinner, Katja and I took a walk into town, which took about 45 minutes. As we reached the town square, it was getting very dark, and I realized why. There was a huge storm coming.

After I got some money from an ATM, we bought some ice cream. Then it started to rain, so we took refuge in a bus shelter. Well, Katja didn't mind the rain, but I did. I was worried that we would be stranded. So

awweee jordan did u kiss in the rain??? No. Don't interrupt me.

So I decided to start looking for a bus that could whisk us away. Actually, Katja didn't want to get on the buses that passed by because she was enjoying the show. There was some lightning and a little rain. Then, as the clock tower chimed, all the lights went out everywhere. They came back on eventually, and the storm subsided. We decided to walk back.

There were street lights along much of the road but not all of it. At one point we were going uphill with no lights. I could hardly see. It felt like something out of a dream. Once we were almost there, it started raining again. I went to bed not long after that.

On Thursday, we went on an excursion to a castle called Devin. This one was on the outskirts of Bratislava, at the confluence of the Danube and some other river. (I don't have much online time, so I can't do fact checking, okay?) It actually was a genuinely old castle that was largely destroyed by Napoleon (the rascal) and not rebuilt.

After the castle, we checked out the old part of the city, which was situated on the blue Danube.

There were lots of narrow and/or pedestrian streets. The main landmark was a church.

It was nice to walk around, but it was also a little tiring, especially because we had to wait a while for our bus to come back.

That evening was International Evening, where participants could share details their respective cultures. It was essentially an informal talent show with mostly musical acts. Andy gave a piano accompaniment for some guy on a traditional song from somewhere, and then, to represent our dear United States, he did a jazz number on his own. The evening went on for quite a while, so Katja and I left early.

On Friday, there was an all-day excursion to Vienna. It was also Katja's last day (she had to take a train from Vienna), so we wanted to make it a good one.

The highlight of the morning was our trip to the Esperanto Museum, which I totally didn't know existed.

It showcased a small part of the Austrian National Library's collection on Esperanto and other constructed languages. Besides interactive exhibits about the history and structure of the language, there were old posters for Esperanto congresses, copies of the book that introduced Esperanto to the world, and some products with Esperanto names. (Ever heard of Movado watches? The name is Esperanto for "movement"—i.e., the Esperanto movement—and about half of their models still have Esperanto names.)

The museum, while tiny, doesn't treat Esperanto as a curiosity; it keeps Esperanto-speaking visitors in mind. The text accompanying the exhibits was in German, Esperanto, and English; brochures were available in Esperanto; and one of the guys who worked there spoke to us in Esperanto.

Since we couldn't all fit in the Esperanto Museum at once, half of the group went upstairs to the Globe Museum, which was larger and actually kind of interesting.

After a cafeteria-type lunch at some cafeteria-type restaurant, Katja and I split from the group (don't worry, it was okay) so we could do some stuff on our own. First, she needed to go to the train station to get her tickets out of town. Then we were pretty much free to wander around for a couple of hours. We went to the park at City Hall, where I had enjoyed Indian food and beer with Andy and his relative a week before. After that, we strolled back toward Schwedenplatz, where the bus would be waiting.

We arrived there early, so we had enough time to kiss on the banks of the Danube. Then we went to the bus so Katja could get her things and we could say goodbye with one last kiss. Just like that, my week-long dream was over. The ride back to Slovakia was quiet.

That evening, the Summer Esperanto Study came to an official end. We sat in the candlelit cafeteria and sang some songs. Afterward, there was some crazy fun and dancing, but I went to bed early again. I had had some long days.

On Saturday, the people who were left said their goodbyes, and the lucky few of us who were going to the 65th International Youth Congress of Esperanto (IJK) hopped into their cars or a chartered van. Six hours later, we were in the city of Liberec, which, while in the Czech Republic, is not near Prague, which you're going to tell me is a wonderful city.

At the IJK, Andy and I met up with Matthieu, who we stayed with while we were in Paris. Then we went to get dinner. During the meal, I realized that this was a high-profile Esperanto event and wondered which famous names might be there. Just then, a man came to our table and greeted us in English and then in Esperanto. I didn't recognize him, but he introduced himself as Chuck Smith. I was ecstatic; he's perhaps best known as the founder of the Esperanto Wikipedia. He said he had read my blog post about my visit to Croatia and was looking forward to getting to know us.

At the official opening of the IJK, a local choir sang some traditional songs, including some in Esperanto (for which they had to read the words).

There were also a lot of opening remarks by various people in charge of the event. The theme of this year's IJK is freedom (liberec' happens to be the Esperanto word for freedom), and the fact that we were in a formerly authoritarian country did not go unnoticed. (Ironically, at least to me, next year's IJK will be in Cuba.)

It was late, so I decided to get the key for our room. But it turned out that Andy and I weren't assigned to the same room even though we requested it. I was a bit peeved at first, but then I came around to the idea that maybe we should start seeing other people. So after spending some time in the 8th-floor bar drinking unbelievably cheap but good Czech beer with SES friends, I went to meet my roommate and hit the hay.

On Sunday, I woke up and decided that the morning program didn't look very interesting. Not having Internet access, I, um, wrote most of this. (How meta.) After lunch, Andy and I attended a course on how to teach Esperanto. Since we spent the last school year teaching Esperanto for our club, I thought it would be a good idea to learn how it should really be done. The lecture lasted three hours, but it's only the beginning. Using what we've learned, we have to design a lesson plan and teach a group of beginners.

After that, I attended a lecture in keeping with the theme of freedom; it was about OpenStreetMap, which I might just start using now.

In the evening, a local band played a show in a club-like place that's right nearby on the grounds of this university or wherever we are. I got a cheap beer and enjoyed an hour of loud rock 'n' roll (probably in Czech, but who could tell?). They did say "hello," "thank you," and "goodbye" in Esperanto.

After that, they finally got Internet access working in the lobby of our building, but my computer lost the connection and couldn't find it again, even after rebooting.

This morning, I attended lectures on the following subjects: farming and all the doom and gloom that go with that subject, the Esperanto movement in Africa, and a new news site in Esperanto. After lunch, I decided to chill and write, um, the rest of this.

Someone I met yesterday told me it was strange that Esperanto was "only" my second language (rather than, say, my third or fourth). I knew that Esperantists tend to be interested in learning languages (or, to put it humorously, Esperantists are the people who need Esperanto the least), but I had no idea how right she was. There's an event going on right now where people chat with each other, but they're not allowed to use Esperanto or their native languages. I can't participate unless I want to trot out a little stutterin' high school Spanish. ¡Qué va!

Tomorrow is the big excursion day. I'm going on the all-day excursion to Prague, which I've heard is a wonderful city from just about everyone I've ever met. Don't disappoint me, Prague!