The Magic of Esperanto Clubs: an update

The Esperanto club at University of Illinois has been going rather swimmingly. Total, there's about 12 people who actually come to meetings, though there's been some definite interest so I imagine more will be coming soon. That's more than I expected in such a short time with so little publicity.

Right now, we meet once a week for about an hour and we try to discuss things a little in Esperanto and then mosey our way over to reading "Gerda Malaperis" aloud and translating it for maybe 30 minutes. Beyond that, our activities have varied. The first chapter of the "Mazi en Gondolando" videos was quite a hit when we watched it. It was a nice break after some difficult "Gerda" passages. Our levels of Esperanto are quite varied, so it's good to give komencantoj a bit of a break, at least from individual attention. As much as it pains me to see people nervously worrying about what they'll have to read next, it's amazing to see how they've all improved. This week, instead of Mazi, we discussed two Wikipedia articles from the Esperanto Wikipedia. I feel like that is more of an activity for the further advanced, however, and I'm more and more seeing the need to separate lessons from just practice using the language--it gets too intimidating for those who've just dove into the language.

We have some tentative plans for a night of cooking once I order an Esperanto cook-book, watching the "Gerda Malaperis" once we finish reading it, having a movie night or two for "Incubus" and perhaps "La Patro," and of course doing our best to represent at the LK this May. I've been toying with some website ideas--so far I've looked at Google Sites (because I'm a hard-core Google-fan) and Wix (which is full of eye-candy) but I just don't have the knowledge to make a good-looking site yet. I may get a Wordpress for now, as I mainly am looking for blog+comments functionality to let people know how far we get in "Gerda" and etc.

Phillip remarked yesterday that he already has felt the effects of this group on his speaking ability, and I too feel it. I think in Esperanto more often as well, and my reading is more fluid. I've been reading "Devi Angreni kaj Mak Miah -- Du rakontoj el Javo originale en Esperanto" lately and it's just been flying by as easily as it would in English. As such (and in many other ways), it's hard for me to temper my excitement when I speak to others of Esperanto--it seems miraculous because it is a good idea and it has come through for me. The benefits are immediate. It's amazing. *dreamy sigh*

That's all for now, though I could rant for pages more. :-)