Unamunda, Esperanto, Japanese, being understood in another language, and how I managed to get in two different photo albums in Japan

Communication among those of different linguistic backgrounds can often be a comedy of errors, as anyone who has traveled to a country where his native language and its native language are not the same. Similarly, trying to help a non-English speaker out in the US can be, at the same time, rewarding and suprising.

Several years ago I was standing near the day lodge on Mt. Hood in Oregon and overheard two young women speaking Japanese. They were taking one another's pictures. Figuring they might want a picture of the two of them together, I cautiously approached and in my best (think 5 or 6 phrases gleaned from one year of Japanese many years previous) Japanese, asked "Nihon no kata desu ka?" - "Are you Japanese?" They looked delighted to hear something even vaguely familiar and responded with such a flurry of words that I nearly fell off the mountain! I was able to communicate that I really coudn't speak any more Japanese, but that I would be delighted to take their picture. They hugged one another, and I snapped the photo. Next, they insisted that I get in a picture with one of them while the other. What would they tell their friends and family I wondered?

There have been numerous attempts at creating an artificial "universal language". Esperanto is one was developed at the end of the 19th Century that still has its adherents today. You can check out the Esperanto USA site at www.esperanto-usa.org to see examples of the language and read up on activities of the organization. The librarian in my high school, Miss Glidden ("the Glider" to the students, behind her back, of course), was a big Esperanto fan, had books on it and could actually speak it, much to everyone's amazement.

Another appears in the one-act play "Universal Language" in which playwright David Ives creates "Unamunda", "an absurdist variation on Esperanto (already absurd enough) that blithely substitutes proper names, brand names and ludicrous distortions of familiar foreign phrases for their English equivalents. ("Harvard U" means "How are you?"; "Velcro" is "Welcome.")" - NY Time reviewof December 3, 1993. This is but one of many one act plays from the collection "All in the Timing" by the playwright, and if it's ever being done in town, wherever "in town" is to you, buy a couple of tickets, get a friend to go with you, and be prepared for a totally enjoyable evening.

The honeymoon registry where I work has seen a number of registries created in different languages. American English is the most common, of course, followed by British, Australian and Canadian (eh?) English, but we have seen registries in French, Portuguese, Spanish and others.

I've recently decided to start a program in Teaching English as a Second Language at Portland State University in their Applied Linguistics Department. Tune in later to see if I'm still with it.

Khatmandu in the Andes

I loved this news article from last year from the Kingdom of Nepal - come visit!

Well, you may be disappointed to learn that the photo displayed in the Royal Nepal Airlines advertisement for tourism was of the well known Inca ruins of Machu Picchu. Royal Nepal has apologized to Peru for putting the picture on a poster under the slogan "Have you seen Nepal?"

Apparently, for Royal Nepal Airlines, the answer was NO. Kinda gives you pause when you think about flying with them, doesn't it? Then I won't tell you about the annual ritual of sacrificing goats at the airport...

The names of the two places are surprisingly similar - the Nepali mountain is Machhapuchre. I can easily imagine getting the words mixed up if were dealing with a foreign language with a different alphabet, but Machu Picchu and its ruins don't quite look like Machhapuchre, which is pictured above.

Nepal has emerged from a very difficult time when there was a Maoist revolt underway. Politics have settled down, and things are better in the kingdom. Now they are hoping for the tourists to return.

Our family has had a personal connection with Nepal for about a dozen years now, from the time when our daughter, Amanda, did a homestay with the Karki family in a village some distance from Khatmandu. The family member who was closest to her was Meena, then a young teenager.

Meena, one of the daughters in the family, came to the US, went to high school in Marquette, Michigan, for a year and then on to study nursing at Northern Michigan University, graduating in May 2006. Much credit goes to Sally and Bruce Closser who hosted her in their home for her high school year and guided her through NMU as well. All those who know Meena feel we cannot thank them enough for all they have done for her.

In 2005 Meena went back to see her family for the first time in four years. As with Peace Corps volunteers, she found her native country very strange to her.

Cook Islands - in my dreams

It's December in the Pacific Northwest where, according to the Mt. St. Helens web site, "it has either just stopped raining, is currently raining, or is getting ready to rain." With a forecast like that, you can see why many of us from the Northwest head out to the sunshine in the 6 month long winter!

The recent rains have made me look longingly at the photos of our trip last year to the Cook Islands. The Cooks are located in the South Pacific between Tahiti and Samoa. If you're looking for an authentic South Pacific experience this may be the destination for you! Their official site can give you a lot of basic information on the Islands as well as a really nice slide show.

So, when it rains in Oregon, where TheBigDay is located, my thoughts turn to the sunshine of the Cooks. Fortunatley, imagining ourselves in other places is part of our jobs as TheBigDay is a honeymoon registry and travel agency and finding the right destinations for our clients is what we do best! If the Cooks are of interest, check out our Cook Islands travel guide and give us a call at 800-304-1141.

Costa Rica, a lush land that is often the destination for eco-tourists, is located in Central America between Nicaragua and Panama. Although it is relatively small - about the size of West Virginia - there is a lot packed into it.

If you're looking for adventure, this is a great place to go! You can do anything from ziplining through the cloud forest to whitewater rafting to surfing to deep sea fishing...and of course all these kinds of experiences are great things to put on your honeymoon registry at TheBigDay :-)

My favorite adventure was a one day trip on the Pacuare River. The vegetation on the riverbanks is incredibly dense, so dense that most of the monkeys, birds, sloths and jaguars that live there are hidden from your sight. You'll surely hear the howls of the monkeys as you drift by and the calls of tropical birds announcing your presence. The best part of the trip was maneuvering under a waterfall that cascaded out of the green to fall into our raft as we passed underneath.

Up in the Monteverde area, a couple of students took off one day to swing on vines Tarzan style. Many of us visited a butterfly garden where we tried to outdo one another with photos. Everyone on our trip took the time to go through the cloud forest either with a guide or on our own. If you are interested, this is the place for ziplining or a trip along the suspended walkways in the forest canopy.

Because Costa Rica is located in some of the newest land on the planet, you'll find a number of active volcanoes that you can visit -- and the nighttime view can be absolutely spectacular!Traveling in Costa Rica is made easier for those of us from the US since most of the population speaks at least some English.

Lake O'Hara Lodge

Several years ago we took a weekend trip to Lake O'Hara Lodge in the Canadian Rockies. The lodge is located to the west of Lake Louise and is accessible only by ski, snowshoe, snowmobile or dog sled in the winter. The route, as seen in the picture, is the road one would drive up (and it is UP on the way there) in the summer.

Since the lodge only sleeps about 18 people and meals are served family style, it provides a good opportunity to meet people from all over. When we stayed there we were surprised to be talking with a couple from Switzerland who said the skiing was much better in Canada than in their own country.

Mt Stuart climb

5 seconds down to the glacier is where this cozy, rock solid bedroom was on a recent climb of Mt. Stuart. Needless to say, I wasn't on this trip!

This was a climb my son, David, and his friend Roman took early this fall. The weather cooperated and the climb was a success!