I first came across Esperanto about five or so years ago - strangely enough, in a book about computer programming. Since then I’ve spent very little time actively learning the language, but as time went on I found that I could actually work out what simple (and eventually slightly less simple) Esperanto texts were saying. But it wasn’t until this summer that I first made contact with other Esperantists, when I joined the JEB forums in July - which is an amazingly lively place considering the low number of regular posters. Cut to October, and I found myself having agreed to meet these Esperantists in person - but in which exotic location?

Uhm, Leicester. Or, to be more precise, a pub next to Leicester railway station that serves really good burgers. It was with slight trepidation that I stepped off a train and called Tim, not really knowing what to expect. He muttered something about not confusing him with a tramp and that he would meet me at the station in a couple of minutes. So who were these mysterious JEBanoj - my only contact with them to date had been through the forums, where Tim is represented by Pavarotti and Megatron, Clare by an angel and a transmitter tower, and Bobby by a Volapük-speaking ball of wool!

I soon recognised Tim from photos I’d seen on the web, and followed him to the pub where I was introduced to Clare, Bobby and a French Esperantist called Lucie. After some lunch and conversation, Gavan and Katja joined us and, although we were intending to go bowling or something similar, we ended up sitting in the pub for about seven hours - not that that is a problem in the slightest: I would describe everyone I met that afternoon as genuinely nice people and it was probably the most interesting seven hours of conversation I’ve had in a long time.

A few weeks later I found myself on a train to London to help with EAB’s stall at the Language Show. Again, a very interesting day - though slightly intimidating when Helen Fantom started asking me about myself in Esperanto… we switched back to English soon after but certainly the fact that I’ve spoken Esperanto once makes me feel a lot more confident about speaking it again in the future.

So in the last six months both my interest in and level of Esperanto have increased greatly, and I’m certainly looking forward to the possibility of taking part in further Esperanto events in the future.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 5th, 2007 at 7:18 pm and is filed under Articles, English, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.