NASK 2009. Lightning strikes.

Tago sen sunlumo similas nokton.

A day without sunshine is like night.

- Sarah Palin, former Governor of Alaska -

It has finally happened.

The moment I was awaiting arrived this afternoon while I walked down a semi-deserted street in the center of San Diego with a bunch of Esperantists.

A woman driving a truck screamed at me. I didn't even know she was yelling at me.

I had ceased, for one brief period of time, to respond to English.

After about two weeks here I had become so accustomed to the international language, Esperanto, that I just checked out of planet English.

But not for long.

Two of my companions told me that my T- shirt ( Plymouth State) had attracted the attention of the truck driver who, in a coarse and very loud Boston accent, tried to get my attention.

Another potential ally unintentionally spurned.

I don't know what or even if I was thinking.

All I know is that I wasn't prepared for someone trying to communicate in English.

When we came back on the bus to the university I sat next to a friend from Israel who is here studying Esperanto. We spoke Esperanto. Just chit chat.

He moved to another seat and I moved closer to a fellow student from Austria.

This man works in the National Austrian Library. This institution has a division devoted to artificial languages. They have the world's most famous Esperanto library and museum.

He works in this section.

Most of the visitors are Europeans, he says.

He also told me that he rides to work daily by bicycle, enjoys his work and studies languages, swims, and plays sports on the side.

The conversation in Esperanto was as close to effortless as any has been for me since I arrived here.

I was tired from a lot more walking and exposure to the sun than I am accustomed to.

Basically, I had no energy to be self-conscious or give a damn about how I spoke.

It all just came out in Esperanto.

I no longer thought about what I wanted to say and how to say it in Esperanto.

The trying had ceased.

I just spoke.

The words, the sentences came out in Esperanto.

At the time, speaking in Esperanto seemed the easiest and most natural thing in the world.

In case anyone out there is considering studying Esperanto I want to take a moment to praise this program to the skies.

The teachers, the support staff, the student body, the environment and the food are all superb.

I have absolutely no complaints which, for me, is unusual.

I am looking forward to this final week of the program.