IS 2007/08: Part 4
January 1st, 2008 - Part 1 - Midnight till the early hours
Happy New Year! 
So, I went downstairs leading up to the stroke of midnight. Cue “The Final Countdown”, and everybody singing along with it. It amazes me that foreign people actually know the lyrics, whilst I and the other English folk have to make do with loudly voicing “La-la-la laaa, la-la-laaaa”.
It is very humbling to be around people who wish you all the best genuinely, and witness this repeating all around you. It may come across as trite or forced, but you have to bear in mind that a lot of us have known each other for years and, in a very real sense, are friends.
Gavan and I sat at a table by the main entrance, just to have a chat in a quiet area. This proved to be a mistake, as a flood of non-Esperanto-speaking Germans decided to come in and make use of our cheap beer. Our table was covered in literature, and this, of course, soon had them leafing through and laughing among themselves about “dieser Esperanto, hahaha”. I wasn’t sure what was going on though, seeing as Carsten was talking to some of them. Gavan and I were getting really irked by them and so I stormed off.
I soon got talking to an old friend from last year. Of all things, she had been in a quasi-relationship with a non-Esperanto-speaking friend of mine, and was curious about how life had gone for him then. As we were going over the last year, a flustered Andreas Diemler skidded on to the landing, holding a walkie-talkie and looking for me. He spotted me in mid-conversation and headed toward me: “Drunken Germans have arrived and are causing trouble, saying that we’ve stolen something of theirs and threatening to hit us. Will you please come and defend us?”
Down I went expecting there to be quite the scene of carnage. What I saw was Paul Ebermann trying to talk to them, a man and a woman. They were just drunk and wanting to celebrate, and left without too much hassle. It’s amazing what a bit of tact can accomplish.
Sitting in the ludejo with Gavan and Yuki, I am delighted to be burst upon by my mate Till, the IS’s hardest drinker. He wants to play a drinking game. He removes a die from a poker pack and rolls it. It reveals five. “If the number is between one and five then”, he explains, “you have to take a drink. If it’s a six, you roll again.” Genius!
As we head further into the early hours, several of us gather around a table and commence playing a game called “Mi neniam neniam”. Whoever’s turn it is has to come up with something sexual that they’ve never done in their life. If it turns out they’re lying, they indicate it by taking a swig from a bottle, which is then passed on to the next person, who, in turn, drinks from it if it’s also true for them that they have actually done this thing. If the line “mi neniam neniam” holds for them, they can’t have a drink. I learnt a lot that I didn’t expect about people in that game!
Anyway, the conversation and beer flowed in equal measure until I went to bed at 08:30, having had a chat with Melono and Carsten. That sounds pretty savage, but I actually didn’t need to get up that day to teach, and stayed in bed till 13:00, whereupon I went for lunch.
January 1st, 2008 - Part 2 - The rest of the day after waking up
Today was an easy day; there was nothing to worry about in terms of work, since it’s a ‘day off’ for all. The organisers had had the foresight to have lunch extended to 15:15, which gave a large window for those of us who had gone to bed very late to gorge ourselves, which was particularly important seeing as all of the shops were shut.
The evening provided the most astounding piece of entertainment that I’ve ever seen in Esperantoland. This is not hyperbole for the sake of it; it was the most professional thing I’ve ever seen in this environment: Arne ‘Timwi’ Heizmann had spent three months building an Esperanto replication of the game “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire”. I was aware of it but, nevertheless, wasn’t expecting it to be as good as he made it.
All of the characteristic music was present. I was out of the room when it started but I heard a major cheer erupt at the same time as the theme tune started and dashed down.
Wow, what a set-up. There were ten people each equipped with a number pad sitting in the front two rows in preparation for the “fastest finger” round. Rolf was seated in the role of presenter and conducted proceedings expertly. (In truth, I think that he was more in his element here than he has ever been in anything else!)
Honestly, the game was played and was greatly enjoyed by all, it reflected perfectly the proper version, and brought to the IS a new level of professionalism.
After the show, a happy throng made its way to the gufujo, ludejo, and trinkejo to continue the evening’s festivities. In spite of the returning cold from earlier in the week, I stayed up till 06:30, and woke up to a rude awakening …
January 2nd, 2008
My day had the most unusual start that I can think of. I’d been the last person to go to bed, finally retreating under my quilt at 06:30.
A few hours later I awoke in anticipation of my beginners’ course only to see Rolf looking at me with a rueful smile on his face.
“You might want to avoid Martin today, mate.”
“Avoid Martin? Why?”
“He’s in a bad mood. A really bad mood.”
“OK.”
“With you!”
“Apparently you pissed in his wardrobe and all over his clothes.”
Wow. I had already gone to bed with a cut on my thumb which meant that I woke up with blood on my hands. The metaphor seemed very apt.
Unfortunately, I had to teach and so couldn’t go find Martin to apologise. I had no recollection of doing this and knew that I wouldn’t have drunkenly thought it a funny joke. In fact, I had the great excuse of only having had enough money for three bottles to act as a good counter to allegations of drunken debauchery. I later found out that I had received three free ones for filling out a survey a few months back, but that could’ve stayed a secret.
Post lunch, I went into town to get some money to offer Martin. I saw him by the entrance when I came back, and asked whether I could grab a word with him in private.
What followed was an uncomfortable ten-minute wait for Martin to come into the bedroom. After all, he was mad at me, and I knew nothing about it. In he came, and down he sat.
It turns out that he saw me do it … and he also saw that I was asleep at the time! To my knowledge I’ve never sleepwalked in my life, but that’s what he saw. Fortunately for both concerned, I had actually used the part of the wardrobe that had no clothes in, so I was in the clear as far as having to replace damaged clothing goes.
As was customary, I didn’t attend the afternoon’s entertainment, which consisted of a lecture on the culture in Catalunia, Scottish dances, abd a quiz on various national anthems. I was, however, present for the evening’s entertainment …
Esperanto events tend to feature an “international evening” (internacia vespero). This is an open-floor entertainment section, where people present their own skits. There are often some jewels to be found on stage during these evenings.
I was somewhat dismayed to see that some people were using the stage purely to advertise their own upcoming events. I wouldn’t mind if they adopted the approach of a group advertising an event in Italy, since they made it into a funny comedy skit, but the others who just said “Come to X” left something of a sour taste in my mouth.
As is usual, though, some people did indeed make their contributions and show talent and humour that was a good source of amusement.
I wish I could say the same about the main event, which was a ‘hip hop’ group that had been portrayed as being something of a big shot. I was already disenfranchised with them, seeing as one of them had been acting as a total primadonna during the soundcheck, shouting and cursing at the (volunteer) sound engineer (who happens to do this as a professional in the real world) in French, and storming out after creating a scene. To be honest, I thought he was dreadfully amateur with delusions of mediocrity. He was just as deluded during their set, trying to talk the best-looking girls on stage … although that fell flat because, like most people, they quickly grew bored and had left. He was also one of those that keeps on coming on stage for inpromptu encores, meaning that Gavan had to stay behind the light desk for long periods of inactivity, then raise the lights again. All in all, I thought that this guy was a jabroni of the first order, a loser, and I’m deliberately going to provoke him next time I see him just to expose him as a pussy fraud rather than the tough-guy babe-magnet that he purports to be.
Gavan and I had fun after this; because we had to be out of our rooms by 09:00 the next day, we had to disassemble the lighting rig that evening. Not my most favourite thing ever. We were both ill and not in the best frame of mind, but, with some help from nice people, we got all the stuff taken down in a couple of hours.
Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible to go to bed just yet, seeing as a committee meeting had been set up for 01:00. I turned up on time, Gavan arrived shortly after. What followed was one of the most frustrating parts of the week. I was ill and had been getting by on orange juice. Unfortunately, in Rolf’s absence there was no leadership, and the meeting was just people babbling in little groups in German, whilst I sat there getting more and more irked at the having to wait. I said to Gavan that this was ridiculous and I would soon be out of there. Gavan actually did walk out eventually, which seemed to upset people. I stayed, because I wanted to inform them of a few things. Nonetheless, things will have to change; it seems such a shame that other people bring professionalism to the event (Millionaire, Gavan’s lighting, my creating brand images) whilst those in charge are capable of countering with a sub-professional performance.
Anyway, once the meeting was over, I chatted to people for a while and said my goodbyes. At 03:30 I went to bed, setting my alarm for 06:00. Lovely.
Tags: Internacia Seminario
