We're "home-free"!

We completed the first major step of the crazy plan we hatched last June. As of February 20 we're homeless (or, as Les puts it, "home-free"). The movers brought all the furniture to our storage unit, and it went quite well. I was very nervous the days leading up to the move. (Meantime, in a complete reversal of our normal pattern, Les was feeling euphoric.) Would my plan so carefully worked out on graph paper really work, or would we find that it all took up more space than anticipated? But it went without a hitch, and it's a relief to have that behind us. We still have a week left on our lease, so we have time to get rid of the last bits of stuff and clean the apartment.



The movers wrapped pads around the furniture



All our stuff barely filled half the truck

The furniture fits in half of a 10'x20' storage unit, leaving
room for some shelves and more boxes still to come

The next question was, would everything fit at the boat that we wanted there? So far it's looking good. We put the most often used clothing in the small closets, and stored the rest in bins under the bed or in the offsite storage unit. I was able to find counter space for some bulky kitchen equipment: Vitamix, food processor, mixer. I'll have to adapt my baking and cooking, because the oven is too small for, say, a regular cookie sheet or 9x13 pan, certainly not my roasting pan (too bad, as I love to roast big batches of vegetables). We have lots of neighbors at the marina who've been live-aboards for years, so obviously any space limitations can be handled.

With all the Esperanto events we'll be going to in Europe, we were hoping to keep a low profile and not contribute to the programs. But the organizer of the weeklong event at the Grésillon castle in France was fairly persistent, so we ended up consenting to do some informal evening talks. Les will do something with ham radio, and I'll do one slide show about living on a houseboat, and another on our 4-month trip in "Esperanto-land". (By that time, in early August, we should have some tales to tell.) I can actually lead games, also, at many events; even though we can't spare space for equipment, I know several games that need only paper or a whiteboard or nothing at all (Dudek demandoj, for example).* It really does make it fun at events when everybody contributes in some way.

That event at the castle is for families, as is another one in Hungary that we hope to get to for a day or two (most people go for the whole 12 days). They remind me of a recent article in New Republic magazine. Gregory, the man interviewed, lives in Toronto, and I hope he brings his children to Europe sometime for the many family get-togethers; it's wonderful how the kids, with ten or more native languages, play together in Esperanto. I assume that we'll meet Gregory and his son and daughter at the Toronto Esperanto weekend in May.

We recently became aware of a strange coincidence. Our home page is at lrk.sdf.org, and a friend in France informed us that SDF is the French designation for a homeless person (sans domicile fixe)! How delightfully appropriate for us as we begin our new life as vagabonds.

* Dudek demandoj = Twenty questions

January update

Gee, January has gone by quickly, and it's time for an end-of-month blog entry. Everything is going well in our preparations. We lined up our mover for February 20. We switched our large storage unit—found one in the same building that's a tad bigger, brighter, near a better elevator, and cheaper, so that was a no-brainer. Fortunately we didn't yet have too much stored in it, so it only took an hour to move everything. We continue to pack boxes and bring them to the storage unit.

But the best news this month is how well Pasporta Servo is working. To refresh your memory, this is a service whereby Esperanto speakers offer their homes for free to other Esperanto speakers. We were hosts ourselves 25 years ago, and had about ten guests from foreign countries over several years; also, Les used it in Berlin at that time. We were a bit concerned because Pasporta Servo has been defunct for the past few years, with nobody to take it on (an unpaid volunteer job). It was always a paper book that was published each year, and you could buy a copy for a nominal amount. Last year we heard that somebody was trying to get it going again, but online this time. Word was that it would be ready by January, and—amazingly—it was!

How exciting the first time we logged on, to see where all the offers were coming from. We wrote to about ten people, and got replies from most, almost all positive. So we now have two-night stays lined up with six families: in Berlin, Herzberg (Germany), Bruges, Brussels, Bern, and central England. Not only will this save money, but it gives us a chance to see how people live in each of those places, and the pleasure of meeting new Esperantists. (Actually, two of the hosts are not new to us; we met them at the family conference in Xanten Germany two years ago.) The hosts are very kind; for instance, the one in Bruges has offered to take us bike riding through the town and to the seashore. We realize that it's probably too early to get people to commit (seven months ahead, in some cases), so—now that we know that it works—we'll probably back off for a few months before trying to line up hosts in other places.  In addition to homestays through Pasporta Servo, we'll be staying with Esperanto penpals in several cities.

The other thing we've been doing this month is registering for Esperanto events. We're now signed up for the big international conference in Lille (8 days), the Italian meetup in San Benedetto del Tronto (7 days), a class/tourism combination in Martin, Slovakia (9 days), and a family get-together in the Grésillon castle in the Loire valley (8 days). We're waiting for registrations to open for the short conference in Glasgow, a family affair in Esztergom, Hungary, and a few days at the Esperanto Cultural Center in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland.

The high-speed Internet at the boat is working great, which makes Les happy, and bodes well for the two months that we'll be living there. We're both very excited about our upcoming adventure, and we can't wait to get started.

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