A week in Esperantujo

 

So, jes ja, I did indeed make the trip to Raleigh. 

As I previously wrote, this year gave me the rare opportunity to experience both NASK (Nord-Amerika Somera Kursaro de Esperanto) and the Landa Kongreso de Esperanto (the annual national gathering of usonaj samideanoj ) during the same week, and in the same place (the campus of William Peace University). 

I'd rather not drone on about how getting to and from Raleigh was partially awkward (Amtrak's the Carolinian is partially reliant on diesel locomotives south of Washington, D.C., and the railroad has to play nice with the likes of CSX, thus tacking on two additional hours of travel time before we finally reached Raleigh). Suffice it to say that it's what followed —NASK and the Landa Kongreso — that will be most memorable for me.

And yes, I was able to get settled into my dormoĉambro (dorm room) despite being a wee late. 

For those unfamiliar with the in-person class format, NASK offers classes for 1) post-beginners (post-baza) (CEFR A2–B1), 2) intermediate (meznivela) learners (B2), and advanced (supera) students. I chose the 'intermediate' class, because I had serious questions regarding certain grammatical points and wanted to get them addressed. 

I didn't take pictures inside my classroom. But I did take notes. (They're not substantial enough to replace my current textbook, but they did get me through the week.) 

Of course, I had to buy books...  a lot of books...

And we can certainly talk about the meals (this was breakfast one morning)...

Classes were held in the mornings and afternoons, so excursions were not exactly in the cards. But there were some fascinating prelegoj (talks): 

one of which featured Dr. Duncan Charters, the current president of the Universala Esperanto-Asocio, speaking on the challenges the UEA is presently facing, 

and one given by five guest students from Nepal (!!) about their own country. 

Of course, what would be an Esperanto gathering without the chance to make new friends... 

(above: Mr. Konstelacio with his teacher Jorge Rafael 'Rafa' Nogueras) 

(a rare in-class photo with 'Simono') 

... and in my case, connect IRL (in real life) with your online community? 

Above three pictures: Together with members of the online community I belong to.

And let's not forget Ria (as in 'ri,' the unofficial Esperanto for 'they / them'). 

In the end, I fared much better at NASK than I had personally expected to. And I feel that, with more effort and study, I could probably have a go at the supera course one day. 

That will depend on what the future of NASK will be (read on). 

I wish I could show as much enthusiasm about the Landa Kongreso  — a hefty percentage of which seemed more about administrative affairs (which can be done more expediently online) than about actively engaging members in stimulating cultural activities. The most I enjoyed about the Kongreso weekend was browsing the two-day libroservo for older books I thought I'd never see and a bilingual contradance night that brought in folks from the Raleigh area who otherwise might not care or be aware of Esperanto as a culturally-uniting force for good. 

As chance would have it, there is already some talk about making serious changes to NASK and the idea of the Landa Kongreso — with the recent spate of extreme weather events due to climate change looming large. Hoss Firooznia of Esperanto-USA offers some possible alternatives to both events in his essay for Usona Esperantisto, and they're well worth the read. 

My one dilemma is that I live in a region of the United States that isn't exactly teeming with samideanoj, and the ones I am connected to online live outside of New York. How likely is it that I will have to leave Long Island to be closer to them? 

I guess time will sort that out soon enough.