Translation of erzwingen

A bystander who watched the entire scene all the time decided to help me. He was an older man, around seventy, but nonetheless he went to the oldest of these kids and slapped him. The boy was sixteen.
Anyway, I used these two weeks of break in order to fly to a Spanish speaking country and learn a new language. My friends told me that it was a waste of time but I really insisted. It is educational.
Some of the people had invited me for dinner and I joined them. I soon found out that they were eating at their apartment and were cooking by themselves. I found myself peeling raw potatoes.