10 people from 4 cities (1 was photographer)

In 2009, when I last visited the USA, I wanted to meet a new Esperanto speaker in Williamsport, PA and invited him to join Judith and me for lunch in Harrisburg at an Indian restaurant called Passage to India. On a lark, I informed a friend in New Jersey about it and he decided to come out too. Then I told someone I knew in Washington and he brought friends along. In the end, we had 10 people visiting from 4 different cities! American Esperanto speakers are dying to meet up, but currently don’t have a venue for it, except once or twice a while at a relatively large meeting like the national American Esperanto conference or the Aŭtuna Renkontiĝo de Esperanto [Autumn Meeting of Esperanto].

Thinking about all this about a month ago, I fondly remembered attending the Junulara Esperantista Semajnfino, a series of local Esperanto weekend youth meetups. I attended the last three of them, in San Francisco (2001), New York (2001) and Philadelphia (2002). Unfortunately, that meeting in Philadelphia, which I actually organized, was the last of the series. I remember at the time, we considered the problems of the American Esperanto movement: we are so spread apart and have less vacation days than our European counterparts (for example, the legal minimum vacation days in Germany is 4 working weeks, so 20 days for an ordinary 5-day workweek). So, we decided the most logical way to help people practice would be to organize small Esperanto weekends. This way people could drive out on Saturday morning and leave on Sunday evening, thus being back in work by Monday morning.

Local Esperanto speakers

Then, I had a crazy idea. I realized I was already visiting Harrisburg, PA at the end of November. Now, with all the resources the Internet puts at our fingertips, I could organize a small weekend Esperanto meeting in Harrisburg from my home in Berlin, Germany! I first put together a map of all the Esperanto speakers I knew from the area, and discovered that Harrisburg had to be our location! Then, I looked into lodging possibilities and discovered a hotel right next to Passage to India. Unbelieveable!

So, things were starting to fall into place. I considered what is available for sightseeing locally, which could be of interest to tourists and decided Hershey Chocolate World and the National Civil War would probably be most interesting. This also helps balance the program between “fun” and “educational” activities. Then I looked for another foreign restaurant to add to the international atmosphere and found a Thai restaurant relatively closeby with good ratings.

With the lodging, food, and sightseeing in place, I set about creating a schedule. Here’s what I eventually came up with that evening:

Horaro en Esperanto

Sabate, 19-a de novembro
tagmezo – alvena tagmanĝa bufedo ĉe Passage to India ($11 nur por manĝaĵo)
posttagmezo – Hershey’s Chocolate World (senpaga)
vespero – amuziĝi kiel ajn! 🙂
nokto – dormi en 4-personaj hotelĉambroj Comfort Inn Riverfront (por ĉiu po $40)

Dimanĉe, 20-a de novembro
vekiĝo – varma matenmanĝo en hotelo (inkl. kun loĝado)
mateno – National Civil War Museum ($8 studentoj, $9 pensionuloj, $10 plenkreskuloj)
13:00 – tagmanĝo Bangkok 56 Thai Cuisine (manĝo, trinkaĵo, imposto, k trinkmono: $11-30)
vespero: hejmvojaĝo

Schedule in English

Saturday, Nov 19
noon – lunch arrival at Passage to India buffet ($11 just for food)
afternoon – Hershey’s Chocolate World (free)
evening – hang out wherever! 🙂
night – sleep in 4-person hotel rooms Comfort Inn Riverfront ($40 per person)

Sunday, Nov 20
wake up – hot breakfast in hotel (incl. w/ lodging)
morning – National Civil War Museum ($8 students, $9 seniors, $10 adults)
1 pm – lunch Bangkok 56 Thai Cuisine (meal, drink, tax & tip: $11-30)
evening – go home

Notice that I added an empty Saturday evening to not overwhelm the participants. As an organizer, it’s quite tempting to try to fill up the entire schedule. Don’t! People need time to relax and do whatever, and often these “unorganized” times are the most memorable of a meeting. From what I hear from long-time Esperanto meeting attendees, after a few years, they just start ignoring the program and just hang out with their friends they haven’t seen in a long time. I can only agree with that from personal experience.

So, as of this moment, 8 people have signed up (including a German and a Mexican)! 6 more have said on facebook that they will be attending. I’ve already reserved 2 riverside hotel rooms for participants and will reserve more if there is more interest. If you live nearby, I’d encourage you to sign up for the event and hang out with us in Harrisburg, PA on Nov 19-20, 2011. If your Esperanto isn’t that good yet, don’t worry, at least 2 of the people coming don’t speak Esperanto and will be accompanying loved ones, so you won’t be alone. See you there!