Re: So many languages, so little time. A(nother) language log (RU, EO, maybe some others)
Posted: Fri May 05, 2017 4:12 pm
So, lesson learned this past week is to read emails completely!
The wife was a great sport and decided to go to the museum with me on Saturday. She wasn't gonna hang out with the Esperanto tour; she was gonna walk through the museum herself and meet me at the end.
Well, I didn't read the whole email. I simply clicked on the link in the email to the museum, found the "Как проехать" link to find out where the museum was, and programmed the address in my phone. The wife and I got there nice and early. Ironically, the email said to meet at the gift store which is right next to the ticket office, which is where the gift store was at this museum.
At about 3:10, I started to wonder. So far, my few experiences with this Esperanto group has led me to understand that I should not be surprised if some of them are late. But no one was there! I wore my Esperanto t-shirt and everything! I pulled up the original email, read it more closely, and sure enough, I was at the wrong place!
The actual museum was too far away to go to, and it would have been rude to show up and expect them to start over, so we just walked through the museum we were at. BORING!
All was not lost, though, as the same tour was being given on Wednesday of this week. So we went again. This time, however, the Russians were running a practice for their Victory Day parade, and the streets around the museum were closed, as were some metro stops. Thankfully, I knew this was coming, and got there early. Cops would escort us to the museum, and we ended up getting there first. The tour guide and three other Esperantists showed up, and then we started the tour.
It was great! The photographs were okay, some nice, some crap (but considered Art...definitely in the eye of the beholder), but the Esperanto was wonderful. The guide's language was awesome. It was 90 minutes of great practice. A couple other speakers showed up, and we had some great discussions about some of the 'art.' I'm so glad I went!
In other news, the study for the exam continues. I ordered some Esperanto novels from a Russian publisher, so they were cheaper than getting them from UEA or the states, and I got them in only a week. Interesting experience with Russian Post today. I ordered the books online, but didn't pay. They shipped it to my embassy, but since it was "cash on delivery (COD)" (any other old people here remember when that was an option?), I had to go pick the books up at a central post office in southern Moscow. All diplomatic missions who get mail through Russian post have to pick up their goods at this post office.
Well, it's not a quick process, what with the filling out of the forms and the showing of the passports, but I finally got my books. I bought two Strugackij brothers sci-fi, one Harry Harrison, one classic Esperanto novel (Metropoliteno), and the 2016 Esperanto book of the year, Mi Stelojn Jungis al Revado. It killed me to have to put the books in my backpack and go to work! I wanted to just sit down in a park and start reading!
The first one I'll start is La Kaptita Universo by Harrison, only because I have the audio for the book. That'll be my L-R for the next however weeks it takes to finish the book. But those other books are calling my name...
The wife was a great sport and decided to go to the museum with me on Saturday. She wasn't gonna hang out with the Esperanto tour; she was gonna walk through the museum herself and meet me at the end.
Well, I didn't read the whole email. I simply clicked on the link in the email to the museum, found the "Как проехать" link to find out where the museum was, and programmed the address in my phone. The wife and I got there nice and early. Ironically, the email said to meet at the gift store which is right next to the ticket office, which is where the gift store was at this museum.
At about 3:10, I started to wonder. So far, my few experiences with this Esperanto group has led me to understand that I should not be surprised if some of them are late. But no one was there! I wore my Esperanto t-shirt and everything! I pulled up the original email, read it more closely, and sure enough, I was at the wrong place!
The actual museum was too far away to go to, and it would have been rude to show up and expect them to start over, so we just walked through the museum we were at. BORING!
All was not lost, though, as the same tour was being given on Wednesday of this week. So we went again. This time, however, the Russians were running a practice for their Victory Day parade, and the streets around the museum were closed, as were some metro stops. Thankfully, I knew this was coming, and got there early. Cops would escort us to the museum, and we ended up getting there first. The tour guide and three other Esperantists showed up, and then we started the tour.
It was great! The photographs were okay, some nice, some crap (but considered Art...definitely in the eye of the beholder), but the Esperanto was wonderful. The guide's language was awesome. It was 90 minutes of great practice. A couple other speakers showed up, and we had some great discussions about some of the 'art.' I'm so glad I went!
In other news, the study for the exam continues. I ordered some Esperanto novels from a Russian publisher, so they were cheaper than getting them from UEA or the states, and I got them in only a week. Interesting experience with Russian Post today. I ordered the books online, but didn't pay. They shipped it to my embassy, but since it was "cash on delivery (COD)" (any other old people here remember when that was an option?), I had to go pick the books up at a central post office in southern Moscow. All diplomatic missions who get mail through Russian post have to pick up their goods at this post office.
Well, it's not a quick process, what with the filling out of the forms and the showing of the passports, but I finally got my books. I bought two Strugackij brothers sci-fi, one Harry Harrison, one classic Esperanto novel (Metropoliteno), and the 2016 Esperanto book of the year, Mi Stelojn Jungis al Revado. It killed me to have to put the books in my backpack and go to work! I wanted to just sit down in a park and start reading!
The first one I'll start is La Kaptita Universo by Harrison, only because I have the audio for the book. That'll be my L-R for the next however weeks it takes to finish the book. But those other books are calling my name...