I'm in Europe and You're Not...

The courtroom - update at the ICC

2008-07-02T05:35:00.000-07:00

I have been going to the court hearings again now that I'm back in Holland. In the both Lubanga and Katanga's cases the prosecution has misused the laws. The prosecution has tried to hide behind a law that says that when you get info through confidentiality agreements, that info should be used for the sole purpose of generating new evidence. Also, info that has been received through these agreements is info that you are not aloud to share with any of the other parties. The prosecution is now trying to use all the info that they had gained under the confidentiality agreements in Court without letting the defense see it. In the U.S. this would be ok because we don’t have to give the defense evidence that will help to show there innocence, but at the ICC that is a rule that should not be broken. By breaking this law, the prosecution is making the trial an unfair trial. The bench in the Lubanga case has staid the trial because the prosecution is making the trial an unfair one. (To stay a trial, for those of you that don't know, is the same as halting the trial until the prosecution can get it together.) Upon a stay in a trial, the accused is supposed to be released until the trial is started again, but the prosecution is now trying to appeal the stay saying that the trial is still fair. Unfortunately, for the prosecution everyone thinks that the trial was not going to be fair. Because the prosecution appealed the accused or Lubanga is not let out until the appeal has been resolved, so Lubanga is "getting released" but we will see if it really happens.

Linkin Park - in Düsseldorf

2008-06-28T05:32:00.000-07:00

So last Saturday I went to a Linkin Park concert in Düsseldorf. My aunt got the ticket for me as a surprise. I went with my Aunts friend (and my friend) Christian, my aunt bought the ticket for his birthday. Also, the nanny that works for him, and her friend drove to Düsseldorf with us so that they could see the city for the day. Elizabeth (the nanny) and her friend didn’t go to the concert, they just hung out in Düsseldorf. We drove to Düsseldorf because it is a lot faster then any other way. When we got there, we parked at the concert parking to make sure we got a good spot and then all went into Düsseldorf for a little but about an hour after we got in there Christian and I had to leave. We didn’t see that much in Düsseldorf but what we did see was nice. Getting into the concert was really easy so I bought my t-shirt first. Sadly, they didn’t have the posters so I didn’t get one of them. The new shirt is a Project Revolution one because the other one I have is the normal tour symbol and I thought it would be better to get a different front. The concert had four opening bands. I don’t remember the first one or the second one but I do know I liked one and thought the other one was ok but probably sounded better on a CD. The third one was a band called N.E.R.D. I didn’t really like them but Christian did so it all worked. The fourth one I thought was AMAZING and that band was H.I.M!!!!! After H.I.M was done, Linkin Park came on. This concert had a lot better songs then the last one I was at but they were both REALLY COOL. The drum solo this time was also a LOT better then the last one too. This concert didn’t have any moshpit’s which surprised me but the people that had to stand were split up by fences to keep the groups smaller so I would guess that was why. We didn’t leave the concert until at lest 12 but it was a lot of fun so it was worth it.

Amsterdam - Again

2008-06-24T12:57:00.000-07:00

Last Sunday I went to Amsterdam with my aunt and her friend, Eleni. When we got to Schipole, we stopped and got Starbucks because my aunt and I love it. After that, we got back on the train and headed to Amsterdam. In Amsterdam, we walked around for a little just looking and then went on the shopping street we had been on last time because my aunt wanted to exchange a movie that the store had messed up last time when she bought it. Then we went onto the street that has the flower market so we could buy a new pot plant because the other one we got didn't grow much at all. After that, we walked over to Bagels & Beans for lunch. I got to have a ham and cheese bagel, which was extremely good. I didn’t get my normal hot chocolate and chocolate muffin because I had that at Starbucks so I was all chocolated out. From there we walked around in the Amsterdam mall and I ended up getting a new backpack in Timberland. It’s not a “backpack” backpack its more of a “side-pack” backpack. Then we went to find a boat ride tour around Amsterdam. I have been on two now and my favorite one was the one I went on this time because we went out of the canals and into the “ocean” then back into the canals. It was really nice to be out of the canals and see were the ships docked. After that ride we headed back to the train because everything was closing and it was getting late.

Christian Youth Gathering

2008-06-18T01:17:00.000-07:00

Last Friday I went to a Christian youth gathering called EO-Jongerendag with my youth group here. The gathering was completely centered around teens so there were a lot of companies that related to teens. There were also a few rides outside the stadium. When we got inside, we had to walk around for a little to find seats because it was packed. Once we did, we were in the far back. The first thing that happened was that the EO-Jongerendag's band played for a little. I liked them but they were in Dutch so I didn't really understand the words. Then there was a speaker but he was speaking Dutch too so I didn't get what he said ether. Finally, a band called Starfield came on and played. They were from Canada so I finally understand what people were saying. I really really liked them. After they were done, it was intermission. During intermission, we walked around and got some food. After that, we went back in so we could get good seats. (We were going to drive to Germany for Starbucks but we didn’t want to miss Delirious the last band that was playing.) The seats we got were third row on the side of the stage. The band after the break called Spacefix was HORRIBLE. It was more like a circus act with music then a band. After that group the speaker came back on and talked some more. Once he was done, Delirious came on. Everyone in the stadium was really happy when they came on. They were my favorite with Starfeild in a very close second. Once they were done, EVERYONE in the whole place practically stampeded the door so leaving took a little. Once we were out the door, we headed home. I'm really glad that I found a good youth group in The Hague. It's great to be here and to hang with my aunt and her friends....but its also great to be able to hang out with some people my own age too.

(product) RED

2008-06-12T02:30:00.000-07:00

This blog is about the Red Product....and it's about my shoes. I LOVE these shoes. I've recently developed a bit of a shoe....attachment. I've been buying a lot of them lately. And, finally I got so excited about shoes, that I thought I'd better design my own.

So I’m sure most of you have heard of the RED product. RED is a group that takes most of the profit from the things that they sell and uses it to help stop Aids in Africa. I found out a few months ago that you could go onto Convers.com and design your own RED shoes. I needed new shoes anyway (OK, let's be honest...I didn't need the shoes so much as I really wanted the shoes), so I made my own shoes. I found it really nice because it’s more your shoe if you design it, if that makes since, and you are helping a really good cause. If you want to do this too go to http://www.converse.com/index.aspx?mode=c1#profile or
http://www.joinred.com/products/converse/ if you want to read a little about it and see other people ideas. This is my shoe: If you are interested in helping out you can join RED by going to http://www.joinred.com/register/ and help stop Aids.

Amsterdam

2008-06-11T05:51:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went into Amsterdam with my aunt. It was the first time I had been into Amsterdam since I had been back in the Netherlands. On the way in we stopped at Schipole airport because we wanted Starbucks and that is the only place to get it in Den Haag. After our morning Starbucks break, we got back on the train and headed to Amsterdam Central Station. Once in Amsterdam we had to decide where to go first. I hadn’t been able to go to the Van Gogh museum last time I was living in The Netherlands because we somehow never made it to that museum, and I really wanted to so we walked over to it. I thought that the museum was really good, though I wished it had even more art from Van Gogh as he is a favorite artist of mine. It was really cool to see how he progressed in his art, till he killed himself because he felt his art was starting to be bad. I think his art was best in the end of the middle and then at the end. It’s a shame we couldn’t take pictures of some of them. After that we went to the Hard Rock café for lunch. It was really cool to be there and I even got 2 shot glasses from there, after having a Lemon Drop shot ;-). After a nice yummy lunch we went back to the flower market that we had walked by on the way to the Van Gogh museum and bought a pot plant. So, now I can officially say that I have grown pot. I haven’t yet smoked it, but I’m growing it….hmmmm…. Then on the way back home, we stopped again at the airport for more Starbucks. (ya we are a little weird…but you try being deprived of the things you love in a foreign country for a long time, and you might change your tune). When we got home, we immediately planted the seeds for the pot plant….I’ll keep you updated on its status.

Back in Europe

2008-05-23T07:45:00.000-07:00

Well I've been back in Europe for a month now and have settled in. Not much has changed. I do miss home and friends but I talk to them a lot and it wont really be that long till I am back home. So far I have gone to Berlin and Florance and have truly enjoined them both. Most everyday has been very hot and sunny for Holland. We have enjoyed all the sun and have gone on a bike ride and might do it again this weekend. Although I have been having all this fun I have still been doing school work. I did go to a court hearing and learned that there was no change in what was happening when I had left last year. All together its nice to be back and i am truly enjoying it.

Third and Final Day in Florence

2008-05-18T05:50:00.000-07:00

Today was our last day in Florence, and it was a blast. Instead of staying in the city, we decided to take a short train ride to the neighboring city of Pisa so that we could visit the leaning tower of Pisa. Once we got to Pisa we walked through the city to the tower and then sat on the grass in the sun for a little. Pisa was small but very nice and it seemed like all the people that lived in Pisa all knew each other. After buying the tickets to climb the Leaning Tower of Pisa we went and got a drink at a small restaurant while we waited to climb the tower. The tower was a lot of fun to be in. When you walk around in it you can tell what direction it is leaning all the time by how hard it is to walk up. The view from the first floor is nice but the view from the top is amazing you can see all over the place. The only things that were as tall as it was the church that was next to it. After all that we went back into Florence to find that it was raining really hard…like REALLY hard! We went into a gelato place to get out of the rain and get some gelato. We were getting late and needed to catch our flight as we were leaving that day so we gave up hiding from the rain and just walked back to the hotel in the pouring rain (pouring!!!) By the time we got back to the hotel we were wet to the bone, and my Aunt was getting hysterical that we were going to miss our flight. The hotel couldn’t find a taxi due to the rain and the situation was getting serious. Finally, we got a Taxi and went straight to the airport. Luckily we weren’t late for the flight so my Aunt calmed down and was not that cranky by the time we got home.

Day Two in Florence - the day of the museum

2008-05-17T05:47:00.000-07:00

Today was my second full day in Florence. My Aunt's meetings ended yesterday so we had all day today to see Florence. This is also my first time in Italy. We started the day by going to a sculpture museum and saw The Beheading of John the Baptist along with some other really cool and very well done sculptures. There were sculptures done by Michelangelo and Rossetti and Brunachelli. All this was in the same museum where we accidentally set the alarm off yesterday because we didn't know the museum was closed and kept trying to open the door. When we got there the doors were shut so we walked all the way around it and ended up back were we started. So we tried to open the door when we heard an alarm sound inside and thought we should book it before we got in trouble so we left. Today we made it inside and it was very nice and open and the walls had different sculptures around them but my favorite one was The Beheading of John the Baptist. After walking around some more and looking at all the different sculptures we headed out. From there we headed to the major museum in Florence, Ufenzi. We had to wait in line almost 3 hours to get in. It was nice once we were in. After that we did a little shopping and i ended up getting the tie that I really liked from the day before.

Then, we headed to one more museum to finish out the day. This museum has Michelangelo's sculpture, David, in it. I have heard about the sculpture and seen photos of it, but I have to say that it is pretty amazing close up. His feet are as big as my head! It stuns me that someone could have had the kind of talent to actually sculpt like that. Even the veins on his arms and back were perfect. It was pretty amazing to see. Michelangelo's 4 dying slaves were also in this museum.

Then we went to the oldest bridge in Florence. The beach along the river reminded me of a beach board walk because it was packed and there were shops all over it and then you could see the water in the background. We didn't spend that much time there because we were hungry so we just walked over it and then back. When we found a place to eat I got really lucky and got to have steak. Apparently this is one of their specialties in Florence so my Aunt thought I should get to have one since I like steak so much. She is a vegetarian, so she just had a cheese pizza.

After that incredibly good dinner we started walking back to the hotel but on the way we went in to a "fancy" story that had lots of papers and calligraphy stuff and the wax ceals with peoples initials. It was really cool so i tried to get my aunt to get the ceal for me because it was really cool. After a little while of thinking about it she said yes so I got to get it. From there we went back to the hotel because it was getting late.

first day in florence

2008-05-16T10:34:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, my first full day in Florence, my aunt had a work thing in the morning and then a big dinner thing for work at night so I spent the morning walking around the hotel looking at what there was to see. I didn’t want to go too far for fear of getting lost. (I had a map but I still didn’t trust myself.) After a nice long walk and getting to see St. Marks church (no I didn’t get any pictures of it sorry) and a few other cool things I went back to the hotel to wait for my aunt. After she got back we went out and started seeing the sights like the big Duomo. It really is beautiful. Inside it was huge and really just amazing to be in and see. Right when we exited we decided to climb the big campanile tower next to it. About 130 stairs later we got to the first of four levels. The view was nice from there but we knew that the view was even better further up so that is were we went. Another 95 stairs later we were at the next level which had an even nicer view but we weren’t even as high as the church we had just been in so we couldn’t see over it yet. After we climbed up the next 94 steps we reached the third floor we could see the top of the cathedral and found that the view was better then we (or at least I) thought it would be. The last 95 stairs weren’t that bad because we were so close to the top. It was nice to sit at the top for a few minutes just because the walk up was long. At the top we could see the end of the city in almost all directions. The decent from the top was fast and easy but once we were at the bottom we thought it would be a good time to get some gelato. I wasn't so sure that I would like it, but my aunt said I should at least try it, because she thought I would really like it. Gelato is a type of ice cream that is not made as much with milk as it is with ice. I found that I really liked it. I go the mint chip flavor, but my aunt got lemon, and after having a bite of hers....the lemon flavor is the best. I'm getting that one next time. After this we went to the Museum del Duomo and saw a lot of really cool Sculptures. My favorite was David and Goliath and Adam and Eve. I even got a picture with it. After we finished at the museum we walked around the streets of the town a little and I saw a tie I really liked but we didn’t get it. We had to head back shortly after because my aunt had to go to a dinner thing for work. After she left I ran out and got some pizza for dinner then went back into the hotel and ate and read because everything was closing.

I have traveled in Europe all by myself

2008-05-15T10:26:00.000-07:00

So now I have traveled in Europe all by myself. My aunt went to Florence, Italy on Thursday for work and I was going to fly out to join her on Friday. So on Thursday morning my aunt headed out to the airport and Twiga and I stayed home. On Thursday I spent time doing home work and playing with Twiga. On Friday when I woke up I made Twiga her food and got every thing ready for Julianne, the girl who works at my aunt's court and who was watching Twiga while we were gone. Then at 3:30 on Friday afternoon I headed for the train and from there to Schipole airport in Amsterdam to catch my flight to Florence. When I got to Florence, I had to catch the bus to the main train station and from there take a cab to the hotel. I think my aunt was really nervous that something would go wrong....but it was all fine. By the time I got to the hotel I was tired and wanted to go to sleep. My aunt was at a dinner thing for work, but she had left me money at the front desk, in case I didn't have enough with me to pay for the taxi....but I did. The hotel is right in the middle of Florence so tomorrow while my aunt is working, I can explore a bit of Florence on my own.

The Beach

2008-05-12T07:12:00.000-07:00

On Monday the Netherlands (or I guess most of Europe) celebrated a holiday....Whit Monday. I think it's some sort of religious holiday, but I actually don't know. What I do know is that Holland had the day off. Unfortunately for my aunt, who works for an international institution, she did not have the day off. However, all the kids in my youth group did, so I went to the beach to meet up with the church youth group I go to. The youth had a "Pasta feed" thing because the sun was out and it was hot and that is not common in Holland. I bussed over to the beach and then walked around for like an hour looking for the church group because it was so packed that it was almost impossible to find anyone without looking for about that long. Finally when I found them I hung out with my friends, Sinclaire and Timothy most of the time. We wanted to play Frisbee and stuff but there were WAY to many people so that idea was scratched. Although this is a beach it still doesn't seem like a real beach to me. The sand here has shells in it all over even in the parts the water is never at and they are so old that they are broken and sharp so when you step on them it really hurts. Other then that I had a lot of fun. I left earlier then most people but it was ok because I was getting a sun burn by then. All in all it was a lot of fun and I've decided that I wholly approve of Whit Monday....it rocks!

Cinco de Mayo en Ocho de Mayo

2008-05-08T00:55:00.000-07:00

On the 8Th of may we celebrated Cinco de Mayo with a party at my aunts house. It wasn't a really crazy party it was more of a stand around talk and get drunk and eat snacks. We got a bunch of alcohol to make margaritas and then some beer. For food we got 3 bags of chips and then I made Quesadillas and we had bean dip and my aunt made her guacamole. Once most the people got there I stayed more to the kitchen to make the food because people were eating it so fast but when I was out with the people I talked to a few people. I thought it went well and I had a lot of fun cooking the Quesadillas, and eating some too, and helping where I could. I talked with Shamims intern the most though and she seemed really nice. I also thought my Aunt's friend Natasha was pretty funny....she seems like this really serious feminist lawyer, and so you would never expect that she is a MAJOR Nascar fan. Guess you really should never judge a book by its cover. It was also strange to see the crowd that is at a party organized by my Aunt....people from Africa and Australia and both North and South America and all over Europe....so many different people from different places....it's pretty cool to be in a group where everyone is so different.

Kuekenhof on Cinco de Mayo

2008-05-05T00:49:00.000-07:00

So, on Cinco de Mayo it was my first day back in Holland. I know that it is a day of celebration in Mexico, but to celebrate in Holland, I went to Kuekenhof which is the very nice bulb plant garden. When I heard about it I just thought it would be like all the other bulbs i had seen where it was just like any other farm and the bulbs are planted in long lines and you would just walk up and down and see them all. But, my aunt was pretty insistent that we were going to go, and we were going to take Twiga. She goes every year, so I figured I was stuck going. Instead it was like one big garden with a bunch of little ones in it.

When we first got there we just looked around at the stuff in the front then realized we were hungry so we went back up to the front and got a map and I realized just how big Kuekenkof gardens really is. So we started the long walk all the way around the gardens to get some lunch. The walk was really fun because of all the flowers and just how everything looked. I ended up finding my favorite tulip which is some what like the "Queen of Night" but it has a bit of a fur like feel to it. When we got to the restaurant it took a little while to find a place to sit but when we did it was nice because we had Twiga with and she was really happy and wanted to sniff everything.

After lunch we kept walking and went into the Enlightenment area and it had these really comfy beanbags to sit in on the grass that just made you want to go to sleep. After sitting there for about half an hour we realized we had to get going. We also were shopping at all the stores in the park to find the perfect bulbs to send home to CA next year. We found the best package and bought them and then we finished walking through the gardens and on the way out got a picture of me with the Poffergy sign.

Then, we drove back to The Hague and to the beach where we went to a Dutch/Mexican restaurant for dinner. It was not the best mexican food I've ever had (but I think I liked it more than my Aunt). After celebrating cinco de mayo with a mexican dinner we went to my Aunt's friend, Josy's house to watch their favorite show - Grey's Anatomy. And, this was our Cinco de Mayo! (we've planned a cinco de mayo party...but later in the week).

The Last Day in Berlin

2008-05-04T05:23:00.000-07:00

The last day in Berlin we got up really early and went to the town were Martin Luther lived and nailed up his theses on the church door. Since our family is Lutheran, it was really exciting to think we were going to go to the place where the Protestant movement started. Wittenburg is the tiny town where Martin Luther lived and protested the Catholic Church.

The ride there was really beautiful there were little towns and flower fields and forests all the way there. When we got there we sat down for breakfast to decide were we should go first because we had a limited time there so we picked the Luther house, the monestary of Martin Luther which now houses a museum with collections of all things Lutheran. The house was huge and took a long time but was really cool to see. It even had a lot of his original writings in it. It was so big that it took us longer then we planned but once we had finished looking we went straight to the church that he used to preach at and went in there for a little to look around. It was a very old looking church which was supposed to have Martin buried under it. From there we went to the church that the thesis’s were put on and just took a few picture of it but didn’t go in because we had no time. The drive back to Berlin was long because we didn’t really know how to get back. We were so late that when we got to a rest stop we got off to call Robert because we were supposed to meet up with him before we left. When we got off we realized it was a bad idea because there was a full blown biker convention going on there. It ended up taking like 20 min just to call and leave because it was so packed. Finally we got back to Berlin, had a quick lunch and met with Robert for a few. Then we went and picked up Eleni and headed back to Den Haag. We didn't leave Berlin until after 6pm, and we didn't get back to The Hague until 4am. I slept most of the time, but my Aunt had to drive and had to get up the next morning for work...so it wasn't so easy on her. But, it was worth it....it was a great trip!

Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp

2008-05-03T02:41:00.000-07:00

We are still in Berlin, but today we got up early and headed out because we were going to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. This camp wasn't a death camp it was a work camp so although many people there died it was not even close to how many people died at the death camps. I knew that the camps were big but when i got there i found that it was bigger then i thought. It was also very interesting to see where the people slept every night and sad to see just how little space they had and to hear just how bad there life was. In school you learn about the Holocaust but it is very different to hear about it when you are at the camp and see the things that they had to do and where they had to sleep. I also learned things that you aren't taught in school like if you had a deformity they would kill you just to see what it was. An example of this is when a man with a crooked spine(my guess would be he had scoliosis) was killed and took out his spine and hung it in the courtyard just because they thought it looked weird. After we were done there we drove back and met up with Robert and his girlfriend and took a boat tour of Berlin. The tour was a lot of fun even though it rained a little on us. The tour took us through parts of Berlin that people don't usually see if they just walk the city. After the tour my aunt and I went to the Holocaust memorial which was really interesting because it is a bunch of rectangular slabs that make a maze like area. From there we went back to the hotel and rested for a few minutes before we went back out to meet up with everyone for dinner. (We were supposed to meet another one of Eleni's brothers and the roommate of the brother that lived there.) When we got to the restaurant everyone but Eleni's brother and the other brothers roommate was there. Right after we ordered they both walked in. It was nice to meet them and the dinner was a lot of fun. After diner we went straight back to the hotel and straight to bed because we were getting up early the next day.

Day Two in Berlin

2008-05-02T03:31:00.000-07:00

The second day in Berlin we went to the zoo. When we got there the line was really long so we let Twiga stand in line with us till we were about to get the tickets then I put her back in the car. Right when we got in we started looking for Knut the Polar bear. (That was my aunt’s only real reason to go there) Knut is a very famous polar bear in Europe, though in the US we haven't really heard of him. He was born last year at the Berlin zoo and the whole continent went crazy over this cute polar bear. He is now a teen ager though.

I thought it was a nice Zoo, of course I still think the San Diego Zoo is better but that is because it is :P

Before we could find Knut we decided to get some lunch so we went to one of the food courts and I got a Bratwurst and fries and my aunt got what was supposed to be potato salad and a pretzel. I loved that lunch but my aunt thought the "potato salad" was not good. After that we kept looking for the bear but it was hard to find because the signs aren't really that helpful. While we were looking for Knut we saw some white wolfs and I thought that was really cool because I love wolfs. Shortly after the wolfs we found the famous polar bear. That was the most active and fun bear I have ever seen. It actually was amazing to see.

After we saw that we headed strait for the exit and back to Twiga. From there we went back to the shops we were at the day before and I got some cool stuff. On the way back to the hotel that night we stopped at the Brandenburg Gates and got a few pictures. My aunt is such a freak that everytime we passed the gates she would say, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down that wall." She is very embarassing to hang out in public with.

That night we went to Eleni's brothers Opera at the Berlin Opera House. It was the first real Opera I had been to and it didn't seem to be the normal kind. It was...different. I could always tell where Eleni's brother was when he was on stage. The story of the Opera was Joan of Arc, but my Aunt and Eleni said it wasn't a classic opera but a modern one so there was a lot of weird stuff going on that I didn't quite get. But, it was still fun to be there and to see it all. After the show was over, we met Eleni's brother in the restaurant for the actors and musicians and we had dinner with them and then went back to the hotel and to sleep.

Back In Europe and off to Berlin

2008-05-01T03:11:00.000-07:00

So I have been in Europe for a total of 7 days and yet I have been having a lot of fun. Right when I got here I met up with my aunt at the airport and we went back to the house to drop off my big bag and pick up Eleni then headed to Berlin. We ended up leaving late so we didn't get to Berlin till about 1 in the morning. I slept most of the ride there so it didn't bug me too much. The next day we meet up with my aunt’s friend Robert and his girlfriend for a little tour of the city. The city is so big and fun with a lot of cool things to see and do. We started the day off with a really good breakfast at the hotel then went over to Roberts house where we had another breakfast. I didn't really eat anything at their house because I had eaten so much at the hotel. After they were done eating we went to the train station by there house and went to the city center where we met up with Eleni for a little and walked around the city looking at shops. One of the shops was a shop that sold Ampelmann which are the old stop and go signals for the crosswalk. The shop had a lot of cool things like bags and balls, pins and pens, and even more. The first time I went in I only got a pin because I didn't really know what to get so my really cool aunt said that we would go back later and look again. Shortly after that shop Eleni had to go because her other brother was coming to stay with the brother that lived in Berlin. (Elaine was staying with the brother that lived in Berlin too.) After she left we continued looking around at the cool buildings. After a long time of looking at different buildings we got to Checkpoint Charlie. (The checkpoint got the name Charlie from the communication code "Alfa Bravo Charlie") Robert and Katharina were really great tourguides of their city. It was really cool to see the checkpoint but I think my aunts favorite part was when we got Starbucks right after. From there we all took the train back to Roberts house and then met up with Eleni for dinner...pizza.....yum!

Paintballing

2008-04-19T22:05:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I went paintballing with my church youth group. We went to this place called American Canyon because one of the kids had been there before and said it was good. When we got there we thought it looked really cool and kind of like a forest. The main field is 65 acres and then there is Air Ball, Teepees, and Zulu Territory. The main field is just trees and then 4 forts but is a LOT of fun. The Air Ball part is just blow up obstacles that you can hide behind and attack your opponent. The Teepees are just like what they sound like, they are a bunch of teepees that you hide behind and attack your opponent. In the Zulu Territory there are no rules for the speed of the paintballs or anything like that. We started off in the main field but it closed for lunch right after our first game so we went to the Teepees and Air Ball area because they were still open. We hung out down there and just played games against each other for a long time. I was having sooo much fun--you really have no idea. Then we realised that we had been there longer then we had planned so we figured that we might as well stay till they closed. So we went back to the main field and played like 3 more games with everyone and then the park closed so we headed home. We spent the whole ride home talking about how much fun we had and hoping we could go again.

The Final Part of the Mexico Trip

2008-04-12T17:57:00.000-07:00

The last day before the long and boring ride home we crossed the border and headed to the beach. San Diego beaches rock! This year we had more time at the beach then ever before and we were glad to have it. We got to spend like 4 hours at the beach running and getting sunburned. It was great--I love that beach. Then at 4 we packed up and headed over to the Fashion Valley mall to buy dinner and I got Chinese food. Just Chinese food because last year some idiot got caught stealing shoes at the mall so we weren't allowed to shop this year. Then we headed to the church that we stayed at on the way down and unpacked to go to sleep. That night we talked about how much we were looking forward to next year and how we wished we were still in Mexico. Shortly after that was lights out so we could get up early for the long drive back home. I'm already planning for next year's trip.

Day Three on the Site

2008-04-11T14:45:00.000-07:00

Right when we got on the sight the morning of the third day, we started getting the roof boards up and the tar paper done on the walls. I was on the roof with Papa Sig (group leader) and Kyle Sig (Papa & Mama Sig's son). While we were putting on the roof boards the people we were building the house for asked if we could put in a sky light, so we thought about it for a little while and then said yes, because it hadn’t been done before and we wanted to make a new record. We had to put extra support where the sky light was, because otherwise it would have been a weak spot. We also had the problem of trying to get a hole in the board because we didn’t have a power saw. Then out of no where, the guy we were building it for brought out a power saw and cut the board for us. (The group next to ours was mad because we weren’t supposed to have power tools, but it wasn't our power tool. It was funny.) Shortly after we had the sky light in, Kyle had to leave to help Smit do the barbeque. After he left we started putting the tar paper on the roof and then the roofing tar. Then I had to tar the all the nails and stuff to make sure no water could get in. By the time I was done with that the rest of the people were basically done with the house, so we gave the new home owners the key to the house and took some pictures. The most important part of the whole trip is the end when the family finally has a good house. Then went back to camp for some AMAZING tri tip that Smit makes. For the last night in Mexico Patrick and I made a huge fire and we all sat around it and talked and sang till it was bed time.

Day Two on the Site

2008-04-10T14:32:00.000-07:00

The second day was a lot more fun and productive all around. We started off by breaking people up into groups. Patrick and I were a group and then there were 3 other groups--all of us were making walls for the house. In all there are seven walls and two roof parts that make up the house. After Patrick and I were done we put up our wall because no one else could do much more then make the walls until it was up because it was the front. After it was up I went down and helped Kelsey’s group finish and bring up their wall. (They were down the hill a little bit and it is a steep climb.) Once all the walls were up I started working on the roof parts with Kelsey, Patrick, Mama Sig (adult leader) and Hanna. When that was finally done we had to bring it over to the house and put it on top of the house. After that one was on I got on the roof and started putting the bird blocks in. (yes they do just what they are called, they block the birds from going into the house) While two other people and I were doing that, the other wall was being made and at the end of the day it was finished and put on next to the first half. Then we headed back to the camp site, had a bonfire and dinner and went to bed--we were pretty tired.

First Day on the Work Site

2008-04-08T20:38:00.000-07:00

So the first day on the work site we built the frame for the foundation, and two walls, and also poured the cement foundation. Right when we got to the site we started to make the frame for the foundation. After we had it all square and level (which didn’t take that long) we had to dig about 3 inches down around the edges to make sure the foundation doesn't move. My first job was to make sure all the dirt was loose enough for the people with shovels to get it out. That ended up only taking me like 5 minutes because I got to use a pick axe and when I have one of those I can dig through just about anything. Then we started making the cement and walls at the same time. This didn’t work as well as it has in the past two years because we had a bunch of people that didn’t really want to do any work. (If and when they did work they wanted their friends right next to them so they could talk the whole time.) The cement takes a long time to make and is really hard because we have to make it by hand. This year Patrick and I broke the record of most cement mixed at once. (We mixed 6 buckets and the record was 5 so we thought that was cool.) While we are down there we don't have any power tools because we don't want it to seem like we are better or have better things or anything like that. After all the cement was in we all helped put together the second wall then we had to go back to camp because there are gangs where we do work and we don’t want to have to deal with that. Back at camp we just hang out until dinner. After dinner we have small groups and big group worship then we go to bed.

My Mexico Mission Trip

2008-04-07T11:23:00.000-07:00

On Easter I went down to Mexico with my church youth group to build houses for the week of spring break. We meet Sunday before church and check in so that we know that everyone is there. After checking in we go to church service. In the service there is a part where we have to go up front so the whole church can see us and wish us luck. (I hate that part). After the service we go out to the vans (for those of you that don't know, we drive down to Mexico) to load up and say goodbye to people. After saying bye to everyone we headed out. I really don't know what happened till our first rest stop because I slept on the ride down. At the first rest stop we ate our bag lunches and changed seats. We do a lottery to see where we sit and at each stop we change seats so people get to know more people--people riding with me know that I like to sleep. Then we got back in the vans and I went back to sleep till the second rest stop. That was fun because I got Taco Bell for dinner. The third rest stop was the coolest rest stop we had because we got there just in time to watch the sun set. I wish I could have taken a picture but I didn't have a camera. Once the sun had set we hung out for a few minutes, then finished up the drive to the church we were sleeping at. After all the people were there we unpacked the box truck so we had all our things. After that my Aunt and Bestemom showed up with some more Taco Bell and Easter candy for me (they spent Easter in San Diego). It was cool seeing my Aunt again since I haven't seen her in a few months. Once they left, we were up for a few more minutes but then it was time for bed. Last year we were there too and some of the adults slept outside so me and Patrick and Chris asked if we could sleep outside too. The adults said yes so we all set up outside on the grass and went to sleep. Then at about 2 AM the sprinklers went off...that was a very weird way to wake up. So this year we slept outside but this time we were on the cement.

The Linkin Park Concert

2008-03-10T15:16:00.000-07:00

Last Monday I went to a Linkin Park concert. I had been wanting to go to it for a long time but I couldn't find a way to do it because t he tickets were really expensive and it was all the way in Sacramento. Then I got an email from Music For Relief asking for volunteers for the concerts so I jumped on the opportunity and emailed back saying I could. After I emailed saying I could I asked my Bestemom if I could do it (our family is big on volunteering so I thought she'd probably say yes) and she said that if they had me volunteer I could go. The next day I got the reply saying that I was one of the 6 volunteers. That all happened like 3 weeks before the concert. Then the day before the concert I got a phone call to confirm that I was still able to do it. So the next day I went to the ARCO arena in Sacramento where the concert was going to be. I had to be early because I had to help out with setup. I thought it was so cool to be there and I even got to go in through the security entrance. The setting up was easy. Once the doors were opened we would talk to people about what MFR is and how it works. It was created in 2000 when the tsunamis hit to help people with shelter and they continued it to help people in New Orleans and Florida. They started working with Habitat for Humanity and Plant a Tree after the wild fires in San Diego and they also want to inform people about global warming and help stop carbon emissions. We met the guy that does all the videos for Linkin Park (that was really cool) . After the first opening band, we set up a table for the band to sign posters for people. After they were done we got every thing packed up and then went to our seats because the show was starting. It was SO fun to help with all the things that we did. The concert was awesome, but at that point most the people were drunk so it was fun to watch them too. As a volunteer I was given a free ticket for the floor. I didn't really want to be on the floor because I knew that I wouldn't be able to get close enough to see, but that was what I had and I knew it was cool to have so I was going to try to get close to the front. (I have no idea how I really thought that I would get to the front). Luckily we were told that if we found a seat that was empty we could sit in it and use it as our seat. To make this long and lame story short I found a seat in the front right next to the stage. It was soooooooo cool to be that close to the stage at a concert. The only problem was that they didn't do my favorite song which is Bleed It Out. They ended the concert and people started to leave and then they came back out for an encore, did several more songs and finished with Bleed It Out. It was perfect. I really like Linkin Park and the concert was great. I really hope I can see them in concert again. They'll be in Europe this summer but the closest they'll be to The Netherlands is Germany. Maybe everyone could start a write in campaign to get them to add a concert in Amsterdam.

African drums

2008-03-09T13:24:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago I went to an African drum thing at my church. We had a guy that teaches people how to play different tunes that were done in Africa come to teach us how to play African drums. We started the day off by eating and playing games. The food theme was African American food such as "fried chicken, corn bread" and other things like that. I really liked the chicken that was there but people didn't bring much so we only got 1 piece each (3 people brought corn bread so we had an abundance of it--corn bread is okay, sort of, but the chicken was better). I think they needed more chicken but what ever. Then after eating we all picked out a drum and were told how to put it on (its not hard you just take the 3'' rope thing, cross it so it looks like an x then loop the bottom of it on the drum base and then put the rest of it over your neck, put your arms through the rope like thing and...shazzam...you have it on.) OK it is easier to do when you see it then it is to do when it is just written down. Then he had us do some easy stuff just to teach us the three different types of things that are used. Then he started having us do things that were pieces of songs and after we had them down he would break us up into groups and have us do the different parts so we ended up playing songs. It was really fun and cool. Then we moved on to a different song that was harder to play. The teacher asked if there were any people that knew how to play normal drums and every one that was there said that me Andrew and Mathew knew how, so he told us we were doing the hard part. He told everyone else how to do the other parts of the song and then told us how to do our part. We didn't think it was that hard but it was a lot of fun. After we did that song he headed out, and the fun night of drumming was over. I hope we do it again some time, but not until I get back from Europe since I'm going back to Europe in just a few weeks.

snowboarding

2008-03-03T15:27:00.000-08:00

Two in a half weeks ago I went snowboarding for my birthday thing. (I would like to point out that my birthday was a month before that.) We had to get up really early like 6:30 early and leave by 7 because it was a three day weekend and we knew there would be traffic so the whole way up I slept. (I like to sleep) When we finally got there at like 10 we didn't even have to wait in a long line or anything we just walked up to the window and bought the tickets. It had been a year since I had been snowboarding so I thought that it would be hard to get used to again because that is how it was in the past, but right when I got up there I didn't have any problem doing it so after two times of going on the little hill I started going on the normal one. I like the big one most but I only went on that a few times this time for some reason but I really don't know why. I took my first fall (yes I do fall but not often :D ) after going off a jump and landing wrong and then almost running into someone that just turned in front of the jump but instead I fell...but not because I wanted to. My next fall was later in the day when I was going down the hill and a little boy cut me off and I clipped the end of his ski and went flying(I even did a flip) and the kid fell so I got up and checked on the kid who was just fine luckily cuz his dad was right behind us. After that I went in and had lunch. I got a chili-n-bread bowl. They are yummmmmmmmmy. After that I went back out and started using the box. (for the people that don't know what that is, it is a big mettle rectangle that is in the snow that you can do tricks as you ride over it. It is about 6 or 7 feet long and is raised about a foot or so out of the snow but the length and height dose vary.) Then I went down the hill a few more times and then we headed home so again I went to sleep. When I got home I hung out with my friends till 3:30 am.(when my parents called to see where I was and when I got home I got in trouble for being out that late but it all ended up being OK). And they all lived happily ever after. I hope....

My Appendix

2008-03-01T12:50:00.000-08:00

So a few days ago I had my appendix taken out. Now I don't know how most people feel when their appendix hurts but I know mine was not a good feeling. My stomach started hurting at around noon on Monday and it kept getting worse and worse and finally about 9:30 we thought that it would be good to go and get it checked out. At that point we really didn't know what was wrong but my stomach hurt a LOT. Finally after a few hours of waiting in the hospital and tests, they came in and said that I had appendicitis and that it needed to be taken out. By then it was Tuesday. I don't really remember much about what else happened till I went into surgery but I do know that I wasn't allowed to eat and I didn't like that but w/e. Right before surgery I remember that I had an IV in me and that they said that I would be groggy after the first shot but that after the second one I would be knocked out in 10 sec. Right after the first shot I don't remember anything till I woke up about 6 hours later. I couldn't move at first but after a little I could move a bit and then I was brought my dinner. For the next two days I was in the hospital and gradually was able to move more and started walking on Wednesday. I could walk before that but it hurt a lot and I couldn't walk fully upright. The food in the hospital was OK. It really had its ups and downs, but if you asked for something that they had they would get it for you if they could. The entire time I was there I drank so much apple juice that they ran out of it on my floor and had to order more for me from the other floors. I really like the apple juice but it was in really small packs so each one was only really like a few sips so I'd drink four at at time. Finally on Thursday I was released from the hospital and got to go home.

Field of Ladybugs

2008-02-11T13:14:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday I went on a hike with a guy from my church named Brian. (but you don't read this blog to find out about people I know, you want to know about me so I won't talk about him too much.) He goes to my church and is a very active person in the youth activities, he likes to hike and run so he sets up hikes for the youth monthly. We decided to go up to a rest spot called Deer Flat to eat lunch so we started up the hill. As we went up we started seeing what the recent weather had done to the devil mountain. (oh, by the way, I call Mount. Diablo devil mountain.) There were trees that had been pulled out of the ground by the wind in piles that the park rangers had moved up out of the way and even more that hadn't been moved. However the view was really cool when we got up to Deer Flat. By the time we reached it I felt very relaxed. I guess I just felt better then when I started. After a nice break/lunch we started up a trail that I don't remember the name of, where we could see even more and Brian took a few pics. I really liked the view from there. Like 20 feet after we had looked at the view we turned on the wrong trail called Eagle Peak but we got a cool pic of me that I will put up when I get it, so you can see my new hair cut. When we figured out we were going the wrong way we turned around and only had to walk about ten meters and we were at the right trail which was called Back Creek Trail. This trail was practically non-existent and looked like it was made by animals. If you don't like tight spaces don't go down that trail. Once we were close to the bottom we ended up by a creek so we got a pic of the creek. Close by the creak we found a big mob of ladybugs so naturally I got a pic. We finally got back to the car after the 5 hour hike and we were both tired. Right when I got home I went to sleep.

Glide Memorial

2008-02-04T11:27:00.000-08:00

On Sunday I went to Glide Memorial in S.F. with my church to help make bag lunches for the homeless then go to the service. I didn’t really want to go at first because we had to meet at Good Shepard at 8 in the morning (Why did we have to meet that early???) but I ended up having fun. It really surprised me, when we started to make the lunches, that we could make around 200 lunches in 15 min when we only had 23 people all together. The lunches had one ham and one peanut butter sandwich, one mustard packet and one fruit snack pack. After making all that and putting it in the brown bags we would count out 50 and put them into big trash bags and tie them up. We ended up making 658 lunches in 1 hour and then sat around till the first service at Glide was over so we could go to the second one. It was half an hour before the service was over but there was a line started so we stood in line so we would get good seats. Right when the first service was out we were aloud in to sit. The service was really cool and very fun. Most of the service was singing which is why it was so fun. The band there was great and the drummer made me look like I don’t even have any idea about playing the drums. The sermon was hard to understand for me because most of it was the pastor yelling but I think the sermon was about treating people equally. All in all I had a lot of fun there and hope we do it again some time.

Homeless In The City

2008-01-28T10:37:00.000-08:00

Last Friday night my church went into to city to help with night ministry work for our former pastor who now runs the San Francisco night ministry and helped hand out jackets, pants, food and most importantly socks. Night Ministry is a group of ministers and volunteer that help people between 10pm and 3am. Most of the people that they help are homeless or part time homeless but they also help people that just need someone to talk to. This is my 3rd year of doing this and I really enjoy it. That Friday was rainy so there weren't as many homeless people out as there were last year but we still gave out a lot o' stuff and helped 11 people.

Last year was a bit of a weird time because we went out and were giving out stuff to people and these two women started fighting over a jacket. They were swearing and hitting each other and accidentally ran into me and my friend Patrick and then they both stopped fighting and hitting each other looked at us and apologised very nicely the returned to fighting like nothing happened. Patrick and I thought that that was really funny because after they started fighting again someone else came and took the jacket and walked away.

This year that didn't even come close to happening. We walked around and saw people in only 1s and 2s but never more and always under an over hang. I had a lot of fun and am looking forward to doing it next year too.

My Birthday

2008-01-20T16:36:00.000-08:00

I had my 17th birthday last weekend, and spent it with my family. It was actually a lot of fun. I got to sit at home all day after sleeping in and going to IHOP for breakfast. I had a really big ham and cheese omelet and 3 pancakes It was yummmmmmmy.

After sitting at home relaxing and reading all day, I had band practise at 5 so I went to that and ended up having a lot of fun drumming there. We usually do slower songs and this time we were doing a really fun faster song so that made me really happy. Then I went out for dinner with all but my Aunt because she sucks and is in Den Haag (when you read this Aunt Tudy this is for you ;p ) I was going to go to P.F.Chang for dinner with the family, but the wait was too long for me so we went to Yan Can for dinner instead. Dinner was a lot of fun and really good I got to have Kung Pow chicken. When we got home I finally got my gifts and ended getting everything I wanted to get. My grandparents got me a lot of sweaters and shirts that I had shopped for with them, and my Aunt got me a new pair of shoes, a new pair of pants and a new jacket. We went shopping at Christmas, so I had picked out all the clothes myself, but I didn't know that they had bought everything for me. So, that was pretty good. And I also got a $50 I-tunes gift card from my great Aunt that I look forward to using. After all the gift giving, I had cake and went to sleep so I could go to church the next morning and not be asleep during it. My Bestamom makes my cake every year and it is my favorite kind. Last year, I didn't get a cake from her, so I convinced her to make me two cakes this year I have to finish this one first, and then she said she'll make me another one. SUCKER!!!!! ;-)

My Aunt Left

2008-01-10T13:32:00.000-08:00

Sadly my Aunt left yesterday so now I am stuck with my Bestemom till I go back to Europe. (I hope she'll be really nice to me...hint, hint). I helped my Aunt go to the airport yesterday because A) she had a lot of stuff in her bags so they were pretty heavy and B) because its my Aunt and she is so cool that I had to see her off.

When we got there my Aunt didn't have a ticket with her because she had switched flights so we had to stand in a lllllooooonnnnnggggg line and when we were close to the last turn we had to make it that line the stupid United Airline worker told us to go to the other side because it was "faster" but when we got to that side they had one person working it and like 20 people in line. I guarantee, it was NOT faster.

Half an hour after we had gotten in the second line we had barely moved at all but the guy that was behind us in the FIRST line was done and walking to the gate and then half an hour later we got to the counter. From there, they sent my Aunt to yet ANOTHER line and then finally, it took another 15 to 20 minutes to get all the stuff like the ticket and checking the bags.

By then we had been there for about two hours which was nice to spend with my Aunt but not great to spend in the lines at the airport. I definitely would have preferred a nice conversation over a mexi melt at Taco Bell.

Then we walked my Aunt to the gate and couldn't go any further so we said goodbye and then left.

This morning she called and said she was home but the airport had lost one of the bags that she was taking with her so it seems that her flight sucked. All in all Twiga is happy to see her but we miss her here.

CNN NEWS

2008-01-07T10:57:00.000-08:00

I was watching CNN this morning and there were a lot of interesting news stories. Iran had boats attacking ours and the Supreme Court is debating the way that our country administers the death penalty. However, I was most interested by the stories and reporting on the upcoming democratic primary elections and who will win.

Although I can't vote yet nor will I be able to for this coming election, I have been watching the polls and the candidates Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. Hillary Clinton to see who I would vote for if I could. Fortunately and unfortunately I still haven't fully decided which of the two I would vote for because they both seem like they could do a good job. It would be good if Sen. Clinton won because 1) she is a women and I think it would be good to get a women president because of all the great things they can think of and she was a first lady so she is already used to how things work in the white house and 2) because she has some really good ideas that she would try to put in motion if she was the president. One of her very good ideas is a health care plan that will help all Americans and that is really needed.

On the other hand, I think it would be good if Sen. Obama won because he has a lot of good ideas and although he doesn't have the experience that Hillary Clinton does, he seems very good at what he does. One of his really good ideas also has to do with health care and seems like it could work too. Right now Obama is doing great on his campaign leading 39% to Sen. Clinton's 29%. All though they both seem good only one can be presedent but the quesion is which one will it be. I hope all of you that can vote will and if you want you can leave coments on your opinion for the Democratic nominee for President and why you think one candidate is better than the other.

Since I've Been Home...

2007-12-31T10:27:00.000-08:00

I have been home now for 2 weeks and have been having a lot of fun. The first day back I was hanging out with my friends but was really tired the whole time. The friends that I was hanging out with were all from my church and school so I know them really well. Since then I have spent a lot of my time with friends and a little with family. The two big things that I have done with them is Christmas eve/day and the Nutcracker. My Christmas this year was sooo cool because it was the first time I was away before Christmas so it made things more fun to come home. I got some really cool stuff like a long board (a really long skateboard), a new cell phone, new shoes and clothes and some other cool stuff and I got to give really cool gifts from the places I have been. I always like giving gifts. The big things I have done with my friends is go cosmic bowling (for those of you that don't know what that is it is when you bowl from 10:00 to 1:00 or for some of you 22:00 to 1:00 while listening to really loud music, with flashing lights and fog systems going off sometimes), go to Q-zar for laser tag, and just hang out till 12 or 1 am a lot. That all changes now because now I have to start school again. I dont really want to but I have to get back to it so that I might get to start driving around and get a job.

The Plane Ride Home to America

2007-12-18T14:06:00.000-08:00

Well, I am home in California for the few people that don't know that already.

The plane ride was quit long but I got to eat and sleep so it worked. I had a stop over in the Philly airport. The first ride from Amsterdam to Philly, all that I did was sleep and eat but the second flight I stayed up so that I wouldn't be so jetlagged. It has been fun to be home and see some of my friends but I can't wait to see them all. I dont know if I am going to keep this blog going or just let it sit in syber space but whatever I choose I will let you know as I go because I have no doubt that I will be back traveling soon. I plan to go back to Europe or go to Africa with my Aunt depending on where her job takes her and if I have no doubt I will write while I am there. Well I hope you liked reading my blog and I hope you will continue!

My last week in Holland

2007-12-17T11:17:00.000-08:00

Well its my last week in Holland/Europe. (at least for now...I might come back and live with my Aunt again).

It was very hectic because we had to clean the house (have I mentioned that my Aunt is a clean FREAK), make a LOT of Twiga food, pack, and work (well only my Aunt actually had to work).

Tuesday I had to go to a hearing at my Aunt's work. Part way through the hearing the security came over to me and told me to stay awake and I said "OK" because what else was I supposed to do, but I was very confused about why he said that because I was staying awake. I was also very scared that my Aunt would KILL me after the hearing. She sits in the courtroom and here is bullet proof glass that separates the people in the courtroom from the observers in the gallery....but the Courtroom looks out onto the public gallery, so she sees everything that I do.

After the hearing my Aunt told me to go home so I did and right when I got there I e-mailed and said that "I am going to do my work" because i thought that this would help calm her down if she was mad at me but when she got home she wasn't mad at all, so I was scared for no reason.

On Wednesday I started doing Twiga food but then lost track of time and cooked it for 5 hours so I ended up with a free day watching TV, until my Aunt got home and I was sitting in the same place the couch watching TV as when she left me. She was SO mad at me I thought she might kill me for doing that. She yelled a LOT, and told me how much work we needed to get done before we left to go home and how hard she was working at work that week and how irresponsible I was, etc. etc. etc. I mean, she was right, but I was a little surprised she got THAT mad. We did need to cook 4 more batches of food for Twiga for the week, so that meant that the next few days were nothing but cooking food for Twiga.

On Wednesday night we had to go to Judge Blattmann's house (my Aunt's boss) for dinner in celebration of my Aunt signing her new contract at work. I was worried that I wouldn't like the dinner because it was cheese fondue but I really did so it ended up working really well. Judge Blattmann's wife is swiss so she brought back the swiss cheese to make the fondue with and it was really really good. It was pretty interesting to have dinner with them, Judge Blattmann told me about his days as the Minister of Justice in his home country of Bolivia and he told me about the time when he started to run for President in Bolivia (he pulled out part way through the campaign).

The next day I had to go to the store to get more Twiga food so I could keep cooking. I ended up spending most the day cooking and cleaning a little. Thursday night was a BIG night in my life. I told my Aunt that I would give her complete power over my next haircut, and that she could choose what to do with it. She looked on line for a perfect hair cut with her friends, and Josy picked out the winning haircut. My Aunt took me into the city to the Aveda spa and I got my haircut and then after the haircut we met up with Pilar and went for one last sushi dinner (as usual, I did NOT eat the sushi!!) As I sat in that chair in Aveda and watched all my long hair getting cut off, I was VERY nervous. But, my Aunt did ok....its actually a pretty good haircut! You will have to wait until I get the photos developed to see my new haircut. But, I will post it soon!

Friday was my last day in The Hague. I went to youth group. The youth group was having a Christmas party so we were playing games and talking and just having fun but I had to leave to finish packing so I didn't really get to say goodbye so I am sending an e-mail to them after I write this and saying good bye like that. It was a fun way to end my last day. After that, I headed home.....finished packing and went to sleep because we had to be up pretty early to head to the airport for our flight home for the holidays. I can't believe my first time living abroad is almost over!!

The Third Day of Oslo

2007-12-15T10:03:00.000-08:00

Our last day in Oslo was all about shopping for gifts for people and seeing Al Gore. Yes I saw Al for those of you who wanted to know. He was in Oslo for the Nobel Peace Prize events. He won the Nobel Peace Prize this year for those of you who have your head stuck in the sand.

It wasn't that amazing, He walked out waved once got in his car and left. Sadly, I forgot my camera so I don't have a pic of him but I still saw him so that's good enough for me.

I had a lot of fun looking around and actually found shoes I liked. They are Timberlands and they cost $300 in Oslo. We got on line at the hotel and found the same shoes in the States for $90. So when I get back to the states my REALLY COOL aunt is buying me them...ya my aunt reads this.

We spent most of the time walking from one side of town to the other but I ended up getting a new hat that is really cool...but not as cool as my aunt. We also bought gifts for other people...but I won't talk too much about that since Christmas is just around the corner.

Sadly we had to leave today :( I love Norway and had a great time on this trip! Now, just 5 days till I head back to California for the holidays.

Oslo day two

2007-12-14T09:30:00.000-08:00

The second day in Oslo started the same way as the first. An excellent breakfast!!!

When we went outside to start our day, we went to the docks to go on the fjord boat trip that stops at museums. This provides a twofold purpose - we could visit the museums and also be out on the Oslo fjord. We had to wait for a while until the boat left, so we went into the Christmas "village" and I thought it was kinda cool. Santa Claus was playing the accordian! And, it snowed while we walked around, so that was pretty nice.

The boat trip was cold but but very cool. It was great to be out on the fjords again, though the fjords that we were on this summer when I was in Norway were a lot cooler in my opinion. The tour gave everyone that wanted it a Norwegian porridge (because it is the Christmas season). I had tried the porridge last time I was in Norway and didn't really love it so I didn't have any this time.

Once we stopped at the museums my Aunt and I went in to the Kon-Tiki museum. We both learned a lot while we were there. For example, when we were talking about the museum before we went in we had thought that Kon Tiki was a person. But actually it was an expedition to see if people in the past could travel from Europe to other places abroad with a reed boat. A reed boat is made out of small reeds all bundled together and tied, rather than a boat of wood or plastic. The Kon Tiki expedition was done in order to find out if a reed boat could make it across oceans, in order to see if early societies, such as Egyptians etc. could have made it on to the sea and travelled to other continents. The leader was a Norwegian and he wanted to prove that early societies travelled on boats to other continents and islands, and then lived there and populated those places. It was all very interesting.

After the museum we sat at the cafe there while we waited for the boat to come and get us and take us back to downtown Oslo. When it got there we went back to the city and went ice skating for a little which was fun to do in Norway. They have an ice skating rink all set up in the center of the city and it gets dark there so early, so it was pretty fun to ice skate in the middle of Oslo in the evening. After that, we got some hot chocolate, walked around and shopped a little and grabbed some dinner. Then, we headed back to the hotel.

All and all it was a really fun day.

PS

2007-12-13T09:49:00.000-08:00

Photos to come! My aunt's digital camera broke while we were in Oslo, so we had to take photos with my camera that I use to practice photography with. It is a film camera....so we have to get the film developed before I can post any photos up here....but I'll get it done soon!

Check back for the photos next week!

Oslo day one

2007-12-13T08:59:00.000-08:00

So...on Friday after her work my Aunt and I got packed up and headed to the airport because we were heading up to Norway (Oslo) for a weekend of fun before we head home to California for Christmas.

When we got to Oslo it was already around midnight....so we just got on the express train to the city center, got a cab to our hotel (he did not cheat us and my Aunt behaved very appropriately to him....so I thought the world had returned to normal again).

Saturday morning we got up and got ready to go out and look around Oslo at Christmas time. First though, we headed to breakfast at the hotel...IT IS GOOD. The hotel serves as good a breakfast as a breakfast restaurant would, except it is free and buffet style which made me VERY happy.

After we filled up, we started out into the cold outdoors. We headed down to the docks at the harbor where there is this Christmas "village" thing but we didn't go into it right away, because we were trying to get to the fjords boat trip. We went to talk to the boat tour operators, and learned that the Christmas market that they have at the Norwegian folk museum was going to close on Sunday. My Aunt and I both wanted to go to it so we thought that we should go on Saturday because if we wanted to go back to get something then we could so we changed our plans around a little and went to the market on Saturday instead.

The Christmas market is held at the Norwegian Folk Museum which is an outdoor museum of how Norway was a long long time ago. We first visited it this summer....you can look back to my blog here, where I talk about the museum.

The Christmas market was really cool but also really cold so we kept going inside to get out of the cold. There were a lot of stands where they were selling different gifts for people for Christmas. The restaurants were also open so we could go in and get something to drink when it got too cold. They also had fire pits all around, so we could warm up while we stood around in the mud. At the old Stave church they were holding a church service in Norwegian and my Aunt really wanted to go to that....so we did. It was pretty cool. We did the whole church service in Norwegian (with the help of a handout). And, they had an accordion player who played Christmas carols (apparently in Norway, accordions are very important). My Aunt bought me a candy apple....I had one bite and had to throw it out (it was SOOO sweet it was kind of gross).

Around the end of the time we were there we went to the beer brewery. It was a little weird because they were brewing beer old school style, and the stuff didn't taste very good at ALL. My Aunt was trying to be polite because the people were telling her all about how they brew the beer while she had her sample....you could tell that she hated it. ;-)

After we had our share of the freezing cold experience, we went back into the city and to our hotel and warmed up a bit. We actually took a nap at the hotel, and then went out into the city and looked around for a little while. We went to Pepe's pizza for dinner and I will leave you with this final observation of our first day in Oslo....I got a personal pizza and a 7-up, my Aunt got an appetizer nachos and a 7-up.....and the bill was $74.90!!!!

The Cab Driver

2007-12-07T06:20:00.000-08:00

SO last night my Aunt and I went in to Den Haag for a little to meet Eleni for dinner and do some other stuff. Dinner was really good; it was at this Japanese Sushi place but I got beef because I don't like sushi. After the nice dinner we went back to the central station to get a train but we just missed it so my aunt said we should take a cab instead of waiting 30 min for the next train. when we got to the cab my Aunt said Voorberg (where we live) blah blah blah and the driver starts driving and I notice that he put the cost up from 350 to 450 right when we got in the car but I thought that was just the price. Then I see that we are driving in what I thought was the wrong way. Then we stopped at a stoplight and my Aunt and I both notice that the meter was going up like every ten seconds even though we weren't moving. When the light turned green he turned right and went up to the next stop light then turned right again so really he drove us around the block and then when we were about right back to were we had been he turns us back around again and at that point my Aunt turns around and says "We have driven around the block and it has cost me ten euros" then at the stop light my Aunt turns to the driver and says that "it is ridiculous that I have to pay 10 euros to go around the block and that this has never happened when she has taken a cab from there before" and the cab driver has the nerve to say "did the other cab drivers fly over the train station." Now that pissed my Aunt off so much that she told him to pull over and let us out - the whole time the cab driver is telling us that we had never been in a cab here because that is how much it costs.

So my Aunt gets really outraged and starts yelling at the cab driver...I am in total shock in the back seat, because I've never seen my Aunt behave like this in public. She forces the man to pull over by saying she will call the police if he doesn't....and then refuses to get out of the cab until she writes down the cab number and I wrote the licence plate. Finally, we leave the cab and start walking away and the cab driver gets out of the cab and starts yelling at us - so my Aunt gave him the finger and yelled "*&#%#$ off" at him, and we kept walking as he kept swearing at us and yelling. I was a little shocked to hear my Aunt say that, but realize that she must be REALLY mad at the cab drive. I actually thought it was funny but we had to walk home in the wind and rain...It was worth it.

The Christmas parties

2007-12-03T15:15:00.000-08:00

This is the last weekend in Den Haag before I go home (I will be in Oslo, Norway next weekend),I went to two different Christmas parties and had a lot of fun at both of them. The first one I went to was the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia)Christmas party which was held at a church and not even a cruddy church but a huge old fashion church. On the outside it looked like a miny castle and on the inside it looked like it was Gothic. The party was so fun though because it had music and dancing and drinking and food. There were even gogo dancers on each side of the party. When we first walked in I thought it was a little dumb because they had brake dancers in the front that all sucked but when they stopped it got a lot better. I went to this with my Aunt (duh), Eleni, Cynthia and her husband, and his brother. Both Cynthia's husband and his brother loved to drink (I think that the Dutch are big drinkers) so they got a lot of beer, Cynthia (she's from Costa Rica and LOVES to dance) had less then her husband and his brother but more then my Aunt and Eleni, my Aunt had 1 wine or something and Eleni had orange juice. I had a few beers, but my Aunt cut me off after 3. One really funny part of the night was when a REALLY drunk lady got up with the dancers on the side and started to dance with one of the guy dancers. That was really funny to watch. At about 11 my Aunt said she was bored and left but she let me stay with Cynthia so I ended up not leaving till 1. I had a lot of fun at that party.

The next day we went to a Christmas party at Cynthia's house. It was just one of those house Christmas parties so not as much fun as the church party the night before, but it was still ok. It was an all day sort of party which started at 1 and went till around 9 or so. We went late so that we wouldn't have to deal with the little kids that would be going to the afternoon part. When we got there there were still a few kids, but they left almost right after we got there so we sat and talked and ate a little and then around 10 we left. She lives only 3 doors down from us, so it is pretty easy to go to her house. It was a nice last weekend in town because I got to see a lot of people that I won't get to see again. Now, just two weeks till I go home. I'm excited to go home for Christmas, but I will be a little sad to leave Holland and the people that I've gotten to know here.

I have been Tagged

2007-12-03T05:44:00.000-08:00

My Aunts friend Bradi has tagged me so I guess that means that I have to say weird and random facts about me so here goes:

1. I like to run for long periods of time because I feel happier after But I don't mind running short distances if it is fast

2. I put Soy sauce on a LOT of the food I eat but I don't see why my family thinks its weird because it tastes really good

3. I have to eat things in pares or at lest I have to split it as evenly as possible and have it on both sides of my mouth

4. I love junk food but I don't like vary many different kinds candy and yes I am a vary picky eater but that is fine with me sadly that's not the case with my family

5. I like Taco Bell so much that the whole time I have been in Europe I have been looking forward to when I got to get home and eat there that is something me and my aunt definitely agree on and can't Wait till the 15Th of December to get

Now that I have told you weard/random things about me...TAG YOU'RE IT

1.

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the rules of tag...

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.

2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.

3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.

4. Let them know they are TAGGED by leaving a comment on their blog.

My Thanksgiving

2007-11-30T06:59:00.000-08:00

I realized that I hadn't told you about my Thanksgiving so now I have to tell you late. This was my first Thanksgiving that I was not at home or with most of the family so it was a little weird for me but I ended up having a lot of fun with just my Aunt...who knew that was a possibility. We couldn't figure out what to do at first but we wanted it to be a fun and new kind of thing so we ended up picking this really good place we had gone to in Leiden when my bestemom was here. This was the second time we had been to this Indian food place but we liked it so much the first time we had to go back. That Indian food place is not just any Indian food place it is The Best one around and makes me love Indian food even more then I used to which is really hard. When I say the best I mean that it was the 5 star Indian food restaurant. There were a few thing I missed about the thanksgivings at home and that was that there weren't any of my grandads roles and that I was not with the whole family but it was ok. What reminded me of this was that I am going to a Thanksgiving Party thing tonight at the church youth group that I still go to even though they are a LITTLE weird but it gets me out of the house so I'm all good with it.

The Dutch Weather

2007-11-29T02:47:00.000-08:00

I know that when I started this blog I said something about the weather but now that I have been here for a lot longer, I can give you a better understanding of how bad the weather really is.

As I am writing this it is raining outside and is very cold which is how it is almost all the time. The few times the sun is out even if it is 5 degrees everyone is outside because it is "nice weather" but I used to think that they were all dumb that really it was incredibly cold and miserable.

Sadly, I may be becoming Dutch! Now, when we see the sun out we get very excited and put on our heavy coats and head outdoors because it is "nice weather". It also gets really windy here and there have been small lightning storms at night a few nights ago. So really all I have been able to tell you is that it is worse then when I got here. And, I thought it was pretty bad then! My Aunt tells me that it gets even worse than what I am experiencing now. I find that pretty hard to believe. In fact, its such bad weather now that I am the one who doesn't want to ride a bike now because when I do it is SO cold that I think my hands and face will freeze right off!!

California here I come!!

Decorating the Christmas Tree

2007-11-28T02:38:00.000-08:00

On Friday night my Aunt and I went over to Josy's house and helped put up the Christmas tree. We got there at about 8 and started to help by fluffing up the branches. I will add that my Aunt actually helped this year which she never does at home. I was actually pretty impressed, though of course, her main priority was the glass of wine in her hand.

Once the fluffing of the tree was done and looked like it could be tree we started putting up the lights. The lights here seem too hard if you ask me they are a big loop that only has a plug so you cant plug them into each other so then you need an extention cord and when you are puting them on and it's difficult to do the two diffrent parts at once.

After that was over we started puting up the garland and then the decorations with the help of Julianne. She is 2 and a half and did a great job helping out. She helped me put up the star or at least watched as I put it up and smiled the whole time. She was having a really good time hiding things that she didn't know where to put on the tree then we brought out the fake snow! We started putting it up and by the end it looked like a really good Christmas tree.

Then I learned something very important about Josy. She is just a little over happy about Christmas. This became very apparant when she got out the advent calendars and the Christmas card string so she can hang her Christmas cards on it. After we finished the decorating, we listened to the Christmas music and sat and talked. All around it was a really fun night and we got to experience a little Christmas decorating even though we weren't home for it this year.

Afrika Afrika!!!!

2007-11-27T01:18:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was an interesting one. On Saturday we planned to go into Amsterdam for the whole day to see the Van Gogh museum and go to the Heineken experience. Then on Saturday night we had tickets to go see "Afrika Afrika".

But, we were both to lazy to get up and I was a little sick. Finally at about 11 we got up and got ready to clean the house a little because Twiga is shedding like crazy and shop to get the food for the week. We ended up staying home till 5ish and then headed up to Amsterdam with Eleni to pick up the tickets and go to the show. Once we had got to the show we went to our seats but there were other people already sitting there (they had doubled booked our seats). So, they moved us to different seats that were so much better and we were right in the front.

The show was so cool and it looked really fun to do. There were dancers and singers and acrobats and just so many cool things. It was all music and costumes and actors from the continent of Africa, and my Aunt (who loves Africa) was so happy to see it all. My favorite acts were the acrobats because they were so talented. It was amazing. I would definitely recommend the show!

Movies and Documentaries

2007-11-20T06:21:00.000-08:00

So, this past weekend I went to two documentaries. There is a film festival going on in The Hague this month. I think its because The Hague is supposed to be the city known for international law. It has a whole lot of Courts and international tribunals in the city and most of the people that live here seem to be expatriates like me and my Aunt and they either are lawyers working for some court, or Shell (the oil company). So, anyway....back to the movies.

On Sunday I went to two movies one called "War Photographer" and one called " The Devil Came On Horseback". They were both about horrible wars that were and continue to go on. "War Photographer" was about a war photographer and how he felt about his work and the state of the wars he photographed. He said that the only way he was able to do his job and not think he was a horrible person for benefiting from the people's pain that he was filming was by respecting them. That really stayed with me.

The second movie " The Devil Came On Horseback" was about Darfur genocide and how the Janjaweed were created and trained buy the Sudanese government. The Janjaweed are what the title of the movie refers to, they are like gangs of turban headed men that ride into villages of people in Darfur and burn them down and murder the people there. The Sudanese government pay and train the Janjaweed to do it. The government is Muslim and they hate the people who live in the western part of the country which is where Darfur is located. The Janjaweed even openly admit that the government is how and why they are doing what they do even though the Sudanese government refuses to acknowledge that they have anything to do with the Janjaweed.

In the end the war still happens and all that is happening is that the UN is looking into it. This weekend was the first time I have seen documentaries (except for Michael Moore films and Gore's movie, "An Inconvenient Truth"). I really liked watching them, and I learned a lot. It was kind of depressing though....to realize how horrible the war in Sudan is and how much the people of Darfur suffer and still nothing seems to be being done. I don't know if there is nothing else that can be done or if the rest of the world is just not willing to do anything. What do you think??

Do you think more can be done for Darfur or not? Any suggestions on what should be happening for the people of Darfur?

My Second Weekend Alone

2007-11-19T00:04:00.000-08:00

This weekend my aunt went on vacation with her friend and left me at home with Twiga and a report to write. My aunt left at 4ish on Friday for Barcelona and left me with 100 euros to buy the food for the week and for the movies that I had planned to go to this weekend.

Friday night I went to the church youth group and played dodge ball with about 20 girls and 8 guys to start. We kept beating them so in the end 3 of the guys on our team went over to their team. They still lost so we stopped playing.

After the group ended, I headed home because I was not planning to sleep. You might ask why and I would tell you "because when it is day in CA, it is night here and I want to talk to my friends". So that's exactly what I did!!

Well, I also talked to my Bestemom for little but it was nice to talk to my friends like Megan who I don't really get to talk to much but I really like to talk to and miss hanging out with. The next morning once all my friends were offline so about 12 AM I got out of the house and did the grocery shopping. Then, I came home and started working on my report but fell asleep while I was in mid sentence. I woke up two hours later and kept working and then again I stood up really late and talked to my Bestemom then went to sleep.

Sunday morning I had to go to a movie that started at one but I didn't wake up till 12:30. I had to bike there so i actually broke my record for how fast I can bike to Den Haag central. It only took me 10 min but i was only part way there and I didn't know how the building looked so it ended up taking me 25 min to get to it.

Once I was finally there I really enjoyed the movie. It was about War photography. Then I headed home to meet Cynthia, my Aunt's colleague and I went to see another movie with her and her husband. It was really good. It was called "The Devil Came On Horseback" and is about the genocide in Darfur and how the Sudanese government has been trying to cover it up.

Finally, late Sunday night, my Aunt got home at about ten from Barcelona. She had gotten me a gift so she gave it to me. I really like it. It is hard to explain but it is a sweater which you can zip up and is really warm because it is lined with fleece inside. Apparently, they are very popular now in Greece and Spain. She and I told each other about our different weekends and we decided...we both agree that the weekend was a good one. I hope yours was good too!!

Its been a while

2007-11-15T05:01:00.000-08:00

Sorry it's been so long since I have written anything but nothing really interesting has happened. Most of the time i am just living a normal daily life, only I am living it in Holland instead of CA. My Aunt and I have our daily routines of school work, and her work and dinner and lunches and taking care of Twiga. We go to the market on Saturdays - I go to a church youth group every other Friday, and then every other Tuesday I/we go to Shamim's house for a spiritual talk thing. Then we have dinners out with friends and stuff. Sometimes we go to a friend's house for dinner, and we sometimes go on the tram down to Delft for dinner or poferjes. My Aunt got a poferje pan from my Bestamom for her birthday so now we usually have poferjes for breakfast one day out of the weekend and that's pretty fun. Last weekend I got a haircut. I will take photos soon and post my new haircut. I will probably get it cut one more time before I head home for Christmas.

That is pretty much what has happened since last I wrote but in a next weekend I will be home alone for the weekend while my aunt goes on vacation with a friend of hers and no doubt I will be writing about that weekend so for the 3 readers I have don't stop looking at my blog.

Halloween

2007-11-02T07:25:00.000-07:00

I spent Halloween in Den Haag this year and we had to make our own Halloween because they don't really celebrate it here. At least not in October. The Dutch have this thing on November 13th supposedly, that is kind of like Halloween but kids don't dress up, they go door to door singing for candy or something. Stay tuned, I'll tell you all about it after it happens here.

So, in order to make our own Halloween we went out and got these miny pumpkins and carved them as best as we could, We really looked hard to find the big pumpkins but they seemed no where to be found. So, we finally found a few small pumpkins at the grocery store and picked the best two out of the 6 or so sad, uneven pumpkins and figured we would make due with those. Then, we also got all these baby pumpkins and corn and squash and stuff to make decorations around the house with. Finally we bought our own candy and just had fun. The night before Halloween we carved our pumpkins, which I have to admit was pretty fun. Back in the US now, there are pumpkin kits and everything to make fancy looking pumpkins, but these pumpkins were just done with a kitchen knife. It was actually pretty fun to do.

On the actual night of Halloween, my Aunt came home and ordered us some pizza and we had our dinner and then met her friends out at this bar that was "celebrating" Halloween and hung out there and just had fun. So, that was Halloween here, not exactly the way that I would have done it at home, but probably a Halloween I won't ever forget.

The laws of War

2007-10-30T06:58:00.000-07:00

For the past two days I have had to go to my Aunt's court to view the hearings that are going on, because I have to write a report on it. It sucks but that's my Aunt for you and there is not much I can do about it. I have been forced to take notes on the hearings and even thought I have resisted, I am actually learning things from it. For example, this hearing was to talk about the victims and witnesses and how they will be able to come up to Europe and give their testimony. It must be so hard to be one of the kids that are going to get up and talk about what happened to them.

I have also been thinking about it from a different perspective. Lubanga is a hero to many of the people in his community because he stopped the Hema genocide. So, in a way what is happening to him now is a horrible thing for us to do. Most people don't think of things like that. Instead, they just think right away "He is a monster for what he has done" but in fact to many people in his old community it is the complete opposite. When my Aunt and I talked about it we agreed that there are often different opinions in the world about people like Lubanga because like the saying goes, "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter."

I have been reading "A Long Way Gone". It is a book written by a former child soldier in Sierra Leone who was recruited by the government to fight the rebels. It is interesting to read right now, because it is the same thing that Thomas Lubanga is being charged with, recruiting and using child soldiers. From the book, I learned that nowadays it is close to impossible for there to be a war and not break the code of conduct and the rules of war, because if one side does it, you can't win if you don't also break those same rules, which is what happened is Sierra Leone and many other places. War is so brutal now its sad that it has gone this far.

I have learned a lot of things from both attending the hearings and reading the book "A Long Way Gone". I recommend the book and in case you want to read it, the author is Ishmael Beah. The web link is:
http://www.alongwaygone.com/

I would also like to know your ideas and input, so be sure to leave comments about your thoughts. And, I have some polls on the side of my blog for you to answer...so answer the poll and give your opinions.

A typical weekend in Den Haag

2007-10-29T06:04:00.000-07:00

On Saturday we got up nice and early to go to the farmer's market to get our food and Twigas food. While we were there we ran in to my Aunt's friend Cynthia and her husband Patrick. We later saw Eleni and her brother also shopping at the market, and talked to them for a little but we were going to see them later so we didn't talk for too long.

When we got home we put everything away then we headed back out to to go to the cafe that we go to when we meet Eleni and waited for her and her brother, Aristotle (they are Greek, if you can't tell). When they got there we had the usual..the girls had chai tea and bagels and I had hot chocolate and a chocolate Muffin and Eleni's brother had Fresh Mint Tea and a chicken sandwich. Eventually we had to go home to clean so we paid and went home and did just that.

On Sunday we got up late and went to meet up with Eleni and her brother to go to Amsterdam for the day. Unfortunately we had a snafu! Daylight savings time does not change over at the same time in Holland that it does in the U.S. My Aunt has a U.S. calendar and it was marked that daylight savings would switch over next week. However, we were an hour early for things on Sunday and eventually we figured out what the problem was....its not that everyone else was running SOO late (my Aunt was getting really pissed off), it's that we were running SOO early.

So we sat at the train station for an hour longer then we needed to and decided to go to a cafe nearby for some poferjes. While we were over there waiting for Eleni and her brother to show, Eleni called asking where we were and then headed over to meet us for some poferjes while we waited for her brother to finish shopping downtown. Unfortunately, Eleni got a call that her brother had passed out at the store that he was shopping at and had a seizer type experience so she went to get him.

We weren't sure what to do, if we should stay in town in case she needed help or go. It was getting too late to go to Amsterdam anyway, so we decided to stay closer to home in case Eleni might need us and we went to Delft to look around for a little and to get my Aunt a poferje pan that we have been meaning to get since her B-Day. Unfortunately, the shop was closed (because ALL shops in Holland seem to be closed on Sundays!!) So we just walked around, got some food and then went home...what a fun weekend.

Shamim's House

2007-10-26T00:25:00.000-07:00

The other night I went to my Aunt's friends house for this group. (kinda like a small group for those of you that went to church as kids) Shamim and his wife are Baha'i' and so we are doing a sort of group based on a workbook that is from the Baha'i' writings. But, there are others who are in the group that are not religious at all, and then others who have different religious beliefs. So, the idea is that we would all come together and talk about these things with different perspectives. I was not at all sure about it, but my Aunt wanted me to come along and try, and I do like Shamim and Eleni (two of her friends that are in the group), so I told her I would come once and see.

We talked about different things like what what goodly deeds are and whether words or actions speak louder and other thing along those lines. We start off with a new section of this book each time that has different questions and stuff and we just start talking about it and the answer and why we think what we think. Last night was the first time we actually started it. We had met one time before but it was sort of an introduction to each other and to the idea of the group and so we didn't have time to do anything that night because it was so late.

I must say that I felt more comfortable when it is just like it was yesterday instead of the first time because yesterday it was just me, my Aunt, Eleni, Shamim, and his wife Rebecca all of whom I know so it is easier for me to talk to. When there are lots of people and I don't like to talk much and I feel more uncomfortable. So, in the end, I had a lot of fun and am actually looking forward to going again.

The Church Youth Group

2007-10-23T00:05:00.000-07:00

My Aunt has started going to a different church here because the one she went to didn't have a big youth group and she wanted for me to have that while living here with her. So, we started going to a new church and I started going to a new youth group.

She and I both admit that the new church is a little bit different than the churches that we are used to. But, beggars can't be choosers and English speaking churches in a Dutch speaking country don't exist on every corner, so you take what you can get. I started going every other friday night to the church youth group. My Aunt is a little nervous about it after the first night when I came home and told her that we were talking in the small groups and the leader was talking about how homeless people want to be homeless and are sinners. I thought she might have a heart attack when she heard that. She keeps saying she's afraid she's signed me up to some kind of homeless person hating cult. But, I really wanted to go back to the next youth group meeting because they were doing this ropes course thing....so I convinced her to let me go back despite their issues with the homeless people. Below I list reasons to like and dislike my new church group...keeping in mind that it could never replace my church groups back at home in California.

Five reasons I like the group:

I really miss my St. Marks and St. Mathews so now I have a church to go to

The church is close to where I live

The people there are really nice

They have some fun things to do

The talks we get into when we get into the small groups are good

Five reasons I don't like the church

The church is like a born again church

The youth group leader is a little, well actually a LOT, weird

They only meet every other weekend

The talks that we have before we get into the small groups are dumb and a waste of time

Its not like the other churches that I used to go to and I miss them

So last Friday was my second time there and so far the only fun thing that I have done is this obstacle coarse that we did. The coarse was climb over a 4ft wall crawl through a small triangular thing. Then you have to grab on to a rope and swing over the mats climb over a second 4ft wall then two benches. After that you climb a ladder and come back down and crawl under a foot high mat thing then run to a wall and back first with a 5 pound backpack than without it...it could have been better but it was OK. But, no matter what they will just never convince me that all homeless people want to be homeless and are sinners!

Thinking of Home

2007-10-22T14:03:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to all those in San Diego. That's one thing that's hard about living away from your home. When bad things happen, you are so far removed and its not easy to get news about it. Southern California is going up in smoke right now, and that is where I lived when I was a little kid. Our family lived in Poway and that is where there are evacuations and fires and we have family friends there now. My Aunt is watching the news and getting updates from her friends who are there and is really worried. The hospital close to our family home in Poway was evacuated and the Wild Animal Park was too. So, I thought I would just send out good thoughts to everyone down there and let you all know that we are thinking of you here and wishing we could do something to help other than watch CNN for news.

Portland, Oregon

2007-10-20T03:48:00.000-07:00

My Aunt has a friend, Bradi....she lives in Portland, Oregon and though I don't think I've ever met her in person (if so, I was really young and don't remember it) she reads my blog and comments sometimes and even made a post on her blog about my blog! So, I'm returning the favor. I think her site is great....

http://www.conchodandy.blogspot.com/

she is a great writer and seems really nice, and my Aunt likes her.

Goodbye Scotland...it was great!

2007-10-15T00:56:00.000-07:00

Today was the last day in Scotland and we spent it back in Edinburgh. We were thinking of climbing a hill which overlooks the city called Aurthur's Seat, but it was pretty drizzly and we had a lot of shopping and looking at the sites that we still wanted to do, so we decided against the hike. The Royal mile is the mile between the Queen's Palace and the castle and has shops and sites to see all along it. There was this really cool store along the Royal Mile that had all these swords and shields and hand cuffs and stuff like that but it was all old fashion...I liked it there...and I ended up getting the hand cuffs for my wall at home. They are really cool and REALLY old school.

Then we went back to the graveyard and looked around for a little and saw some cool head stones. There is another interesting story from this particular graveyard. It's a dog called Bobby. Greyfriar's Bobby (after the Greyfriar's Churchyard). The story goes that Bobby's owner had rough winter one year and died of the cold. He was buried in Greyfriar's churchyard. Bobby wouldn't leave that grave's side and no matter how many times they kicked him out and closed the gates Bobby found a way back in. The bar across the way started feeding bobby because they felt badly for him, and for the next 12 years that was where Bobby sat. When Bobby died, they buried him there at Greyfriars Graveyard and there is a monument to Bobby outside the churchyard. So, we had to go back and visit Bobby's grave. After that we went to Greyfriar Bobby's bar and had lunch. I had chicken and garlic bread...that was some of the best garlic bread i have ever had...that's a little sad now that I think about it. And, I tried a new kind of beer which was pretty good.

Then we went back out shopping...we got some cool things...I actually convinced my aunt to get me the kilt so now I have a kilt that is my own clan pattern (the Royal Stewarts)...it is so cool.

Finally we got to the end of the mile and saw the palace...so naturally we went in to the gift shop and looked around but we had to go because it was time to go get our things and head to the air port. We got home pretty late that night (around midnight) but when we did, Twiga was happily waiting for us. It was nice to come back to Twiga but I was sad to leave Scotland, it was really great there.

The Highlands

2007-10-14T00:43:00.000-07:00

Today was our second day in Scotland. We got up really early to go on this highland bus tour, so we were up by 6:30 and out the door by 7:30. Once the bus got started, we drove for a while before anything interesting happened, so I slept on the bus till the breakfast stop where we got to see the highland bull. (they are furry)

We had about 30 min to eat/drink and look through the gift shop...I like chocolate muffins. Then we got back on the bus and kept going...all this time looking out the window at the amazing view of the highlands with the leaves turning to brown, red, yellow, and still some were green. We stopped at Glen Coe (where three mountains come together and where a terrible massacre happened during the Jacobite uprisings) and got out for a photo break.

The tour was great, but the bus driver was questionable. He was really really really annoying and would not stop talking and would whistle into the microphone which was really loud. So, if I had any complaints it would be him!

After lunch we headed out to Urquhart castle (which is a castles ruins). It is situated along the bank of Loch Ness. Did you know that Loch is Scottish for Lake?? Anyway, the castle ruins were actually really beautiful. We got to look at them for about an hour and a half...they were so cool...Most of it was completely demolished but there were parts that were partly intact...I think that parts of it have been rebuilt but still cool to see. I definitely would have been cold to live in though, that's for sure.

After that we hoped on the boat that took us on to Loch Ness so that we could have a look at Nessie, the famous Loch Ness monster. My Aunt swore that she saw Nessie, but mostly she's full of it. Even though Nessie was sleeping, Loch Ness was still cool to be on. After the VERY wet and cold boat ride, we had to get back on the road to Edinburgh. Once we were on the rode I fell asleep and didn't wake up till my Aunt wanted to switch places with me...I had been sitting next to Mel but had fallen asleep so my Aunt wanted to talk to her. Finally we headed home to Mel's house....totally exhausted and ready for bed. That was a fun day.

Scotland here we come!

2007-10-13T22:50:00.000-07:00

This past three day weekend we flew to Edinburgh, Scotland for a long vacation. It was a rough start, the plane was late so we got in to the city really late and arrived just in time to catch the second to last bus to the city. Once in the city we took a taxi to Mel's house where we are staying this weekend. (Mel is the old next floor Neighbor) When we woke up the next morning we headed into Edinburgh city center to explore but, as we were in the United Kingdom where they actually have Starbucks, we had to make a first stop there and then to the Edinburgh castle. The castle was so cool and big that it took most of the day but it was worth it. When you first go in you are in what used to be nothing but is now the first gate you go through. It was built after the English took over Scotland to help fortify the castle. Right when you have entered the second part there are canons and fun things like that, they also have the one o'clock gun that obviously fires every day at one...except on Christmas and New Years Day. We then learned at the history museum that I might be related to Mary Stewart Queen of Scotland. After visiting the museum, we looked around at the shops for a little while...I want a kilt just because it would be cool to have but my Aunt said NO because she thinks they are dumb. I like them.

We had Indian food for dinner and then around 9pm we went on the night time haunted graveyard tour...that was fun. The tour started off by talking about how Edinburgh used to be. There were 80,000 people stuffed into a very small section of land (less than a mile) and there was no sewage system so it was really dirty and filled with disease. The guide also told us about the witch hunts that took place back then. So, there were a lot of people that were dying from disease and bad living conditions and also being killed from the witch hunts. Next, the tour took us to a graveyard that is so filled with bodies that what was the the low end of the graveyard is now the high end. The grave yard is where one of the mass graves for the plague is. There the guide told us about the covenantors prison where people who did not go along with the kings religious beliefs were kept and tortured. This guy Mackenzie was the main guy who came up with the idea to put the people in prison and torture them, and when he died, he was buried close to the people that he put in prison and tortured. So, the guide said that people think that Mackenzie is haunting the graveyard because his soul cannot rest. At this point, they take you into this locked part of the yard and and then in to this locked grave chamber were a "poltergeist" is. The people on the tour all go crazy at that point. One lady who was standing next to my Aunt was really freaking out and screaming and laughing hysterically. She kept grabbing onto my Aunt's shoulder and it was pretty funny because my Aunt was getting so irritated about it.

After the tour we headed back to Mel's because we had to be up early the next day for a bus trip to the highlands. However, on the way back to Mel's there was a fight on the bus we were on and the police had to be called. This is the second time that something like this has happened (it happened on a bus we were on in London as well). The guys who were fighting on the bus were really drunk, so I'm thinking that either we have really bad bus luck or people in the UK drink WAY too much!

Why Democracy?

2007-10-09T12:19:00.000-07:00

Tonight My Aunt brought home this article called "Why Democracy?" and we went over it. The article was very interesting to me and brought up some great discussion questions. The author of the article started by discussing what two of the questions were and his responses to them.

The first two questions were: "What is the biggest threat to Democracy" and "can terrorism destroy democracy?" In my opinion the biggest threat to democracy is itself because in voting for a person you are trusting them to keep the basic principles of democracy like free expression and free movement, and yes I do think that if we as a people let it terrorism can destroy it.

Two more good questions were brought up that were related to one another, they were: are dictators ever good "and is democracy for everyone?" To answer the first question I would say, yes if you want to have a stable government that doesn't change often, and to the second question no I don't think that democracy is for everyone because for some people it is better to have a stable and secure place to live were there is more thought for the community as a whole rather then just about yourself.

The next five questions were not related but are very interesting.

First "is God Democratic" in my opinion no. God (by what the bible says) requires obedience, and for you to give up your desires to his will...that is a Monarchy.

The next one was "are women more democratic then men" again I say no. As a people we are equal yet some women may be more democratic then some men but it is the same both ways, to generalize that all women are more democratic is just wrong.

After that came an interesting question "who or what rules the world" to me that is unknown.

The last two questions are my favorites: "what would make you start a revolution" and "whom would you vote for as President of the world?" To the first question I would have to say that if Bush turned whats left of the democracy into a monarchy, that would make me start a revolution. My answer for the last question was simple...George Washington, because he was offered the position of president of the US for a third term but declined because it was not right to do a third term when the law said you could only serve twice.

If you want to read the article and/or make comments go to www.whydemocracy.net or www.myspace.com/whydemocracy

Also if you have your own answers or thoughts you want to share feel free to send me your comments here on my blog. Just go to the link below and click on comments and then tell me what your thoughts are on democracy! Thanks for reading...

A Sunny Weekend

2007-10-08T01:23:00.000-07:00

This weekend was a really really really nice weekend which doesn't happen very often here so we spent most of Saturday outside having fun even though there was a lot of work to get done this weekend. It's too hard to stay inside working when the sun is shining and everyone else is outside (this only happens maybe 2 times out of the 3 months I've been here...so you really have to take advantage of it).

First thing we did was go to the market and get Twiga all her food and me all my food then went to this cafe and got some hot drinks and muffins that my aunt calls scones (they are not scones...they are muffins I tell you...muffins!!)

...anyway then we went home, put the food away and took Twiga and her red ball out and played with her in the grass. She is really funny with it...then we took her on a lllooonnnggg walk which she liked.

When we got home I went out for a nice run...I wish I could run with someone, its so boring to run alone. However, I don't know any runners here....believe me, my Aunt is NOT a candidate, she hates running!!

Once I got home I had to shower and get ready to go to Shamim's house for dinner. He was supposed to be having a cookoff with his friend to see who cooked better but Shamim failed before he even started so his friend did the cooking. His friend was a good cook and all the people at the dinner party were really nice, so I had a fun time, even though I was definitely the youngest person there (by a lot). We Finally left a little after midnight and had to bike a half hour home.

On Sunday we spent the whole day doing the work/school work that we were supposed to do on Saturday and cutting Twiga food...it was a long day. But, it's a weekend in The Hague. Not that different from the types of things I would be doing on the weekend in Martinez.

Thank goodness for week nights!!

2007-10-06T00:57:00.000-07:00

So, all during the week days, I am stuck doing school work while my Aunt is at work (and she is there a lot!). BUT....at night, sometimes we get to take some pretty fun breaks.

On Monday night of this week it was my Aunt's birthday and I already told you about that.

On Tuesday night Eleni, my Aunt and I all went over to Shamim's house for this talking group thing were we talk about religion and beliefs...I don't really know how to describe it but it was fun non the less...and we even biked there. Shamim is a Baha'i (I've never heard of it, but it is a pretty interesting religion and the really good things is that they are really tolerant). Anyway, it is going to be a talking group that meets every other week, so we'll see how it goes. It is interesting, but I'm not that comfortable saying much about things...so we'll see.

On Thursday night we biked into Den Haag to meet up with Eleni and Robert (her German friend from Berlin who was in town for some international law conference). My Aunt hadn't seen Robert in a long time so that was fun for her and he seemed really nice. We went to this place called Limon that serves really good Spanish Tapas (so I got my fill of meat....mmmmm, yummy meat! I'm a meat loving kid living with a vegetarian Aunt, so its not always easy).

Then on Friday I went to the church youth group...it wasn't that good, in fact it was a little weird. But I will be going back not this Friday but next Friday because they are doing this ropes course where you are swinging from ropes and doing group activities and games and stuff. In the end, I missed most of the youth group because I couldn't find it for a while, so only got to the last half of it.

So, these are examples of what my week nights are like in The Hague.

The Hearing

2007-10-02T23:33:00.000-07:00

I had to go to my Aunt's work to watch the hearing...it was really boring and I can't even figure out what's happening and I was supposed to take notes which I did for a little but gave up when they didn't make sense. (You can tell that I'm loving this part of my life, right??? ;-)

The hearing lasted a day and a half so I had to go to the whole thing...it sucks! But it's cool at the same time. The prosecutor was so so boring...he talks like he is in slow motion. The worst part was he was the one that talked the most...it sucked.

When my Aunt got home at lunch on the second day I got in trouble because I hadn't taken notes but it didn't make sense to me so I stopped. The point of the notes were to write a report about the hearing...I was then supposed to ask my Aunt questions about the hearing. We will see how I will manage to do this. She tells me that she will bring home the transcripts of the hearing, and I will have to work off of those since I didn't take any notes....stay tuned, this could be a complete disaster!

Happy Birthday to my Aunt

2007-10-01T03:46:00.000-07:00

Today is my Aunt's B-Day, but she still had to work...she was not happy at all about that. It's not that she had to work as much as that it was a really intense day of work today because it was the first day of one of her trial things.

So we went to the Court and she took me up to her office and dumped me off on her intern, Pilar. Pilar was nice enough to get me down to the Courtroom and into the public gallery (where we got to sit in the VIP seats again). My Aunt was in the Courtroom again in her big robe with some white bib down the front (she looks like a moron). I had to sit through the long trial till 4 when it was over and i got to go home. But she had to stay till 7 because there was so much work. (she works as a legal advisor to the Vice President of the Court who is also a Judge on the first trial at the Court....so her job is to give advice to the judge and to help manage the trial and draft decisions and the judgement).

We had reservations at an Indian restaurant in the city center at 7:30 with a group of her friends to celebrate her birthday with everyone. When she finally got home we had to rush to get ready to go because we were going into Den Haag and her friend, Cynthia was driving us in. Once we were at the restaurant my Aunt started to have a good B-Day because her friends were there and she just got to have fun and talk with people. The food was pretty good and it was fun to talk to all her friends (they are pretty nice to me....I pretty much like them all). It was also funny to watch her different friends and see how some of them liked each other and some didn't like others at all. I haven't been to many adult dinner parties but it is really weird to watch how everyone behaves with each other. By the end of the night, I also observed that my Aunt's wine glass was constantly full (and not because she wasn't drinking out of it). I wonder how she'll feel in the morning?? ;-) Happy Birthday Aunt Toody!

The Big B-Day Weekend

2007-09-30T14:40:00.000-07:00

Saturday we had to go to the outdoor market to get Twiga food and a little food for us just like every weekend. We got bread, cheese, apples, kiwi, and pineapple for us and a lot more food for Twiga...she eats better than the family does.Once we got home and got all the food put away we choose to stay home instead of going to Delft like originally planned because it was raining so we stayed home and...cleaned...not just a little pick up here a little dusting there but really scrubbing every where till it was all shiny and sparkly...I HATE TO CLEAN...but my Aunt wanted the house to be clean on her B-Day so I cleaned. That night we talked to my Bestemom and I got to talk to my girlfriend...I miss them...finally around 12 we went to sleep...I love sleep. It was not a riveting day, but I guess every day can't be a super exciting one. Sometimes you have to have the necessary days.

Today instead of going to church we slept in till 10...YAY! At around 1 we went into The Hague city center to get to my Aunts hair cut. She wanted to have a new hair cut for her birthday tomorrow. Once that was over we walked around for a little then decided to get some tea and sit for a little. Then around 5 we walked to the Japanese restaurant that I was taking my Aunt to for her birthday dinner. It's one of my Aunt's favorite restaurants in The Hague and she loves sushi (YUCK!!). She and my Bestamom went there over the summer and so my Bestamom gave me the idea that I should take my Aunt there for her birthday. She got sushi and wine while I got some beef and a Heineken. I'm pretty sure mine was better then hers but she won't admit that, so I just let her think what she wants. I know better! ;-)

Then we had to head home because we have to get up really early tomorrow. I am going with my Aunt to her work tomorrow because the hearing is in the morning and I have to go to it.

An Average Friday in Den Haag

2007-09-28T00:16:00.000-07:00

Living here in Holland for a while now, I have a few observations.

I have noticed that it rains more often then not but I guess that is what happens when you live in the sea. So let me explain that. The Dutch reclaimed Holland from the sea centuries ago by constructing an intricate system of dijkes which build up walls in order to keep the water back. So in a certain way, we are actually living in the sea.

I have also noticed that people her are not very nice or helpful where as when I was in London they were very helpful and nice. To me it almost seems like people here are looking for a reason to yell at you or glare at you and act like they are perfect and you are below them and just a wast of there time. This is not an attractive quality of Dutch people. Lighten up guys!!

Biking is very popular here and is one of the main ways to get around, but a lot of the bikes are not like the ones in the states. They are the really old ones that you would rarely see in the states (though I must admit my Bestemom has one that looks like it came from here). My bike is a mountain like the bikes in the states so I think it is better then the old bikes that most people ride here.

I also don't think I have seen a day here that has not had clouds. I guess that kind of goes with the bad weather thing.

London - Day Three

2007-09-23T01:49:00.000-07:00

Today is our last day in London. We had so much to do that we had to get going right away. We got up really early to go see the the things that we missed. First we got on one of those famous red double decker buses and headed to Piccadilly Circus, which is a big square with stores and a big billboard - sort of like in NY Times Square. We walked around there for a while looking at the touristy stuff, shops and stuff, and got our ever important Starbucks.

Then we went to the National Art Gallery which had a lot of really cool art. I got to see several really cool things on our fast run through, one of them was a sketch by Davinci and also one of Monets waterlilies. Next door to the National Art Gallery we went to The National Portrait Gallery we saw a lot of cool portraits. All the portraits are of important UK citizens who have had an impact on the world. One that I thought to be really weird was a scientist that had a bunch of his DNA cells in a container as his portrait...that's weird right?

Last but not least for the day was Spitifields Market, on the East End of London close to where where we were for the Jack the Ripper tour where we met up with Tanya again. At that point, we split up for about an hour so my Aunt and Tanya could talk and catch up over coffee and I got to look at the Banksy store and that area which was really cool. The market has a lot of vintage type shops and one of the cars that Banksy tagged is displayed in an alley in the area. It is the ghost car...that is a car that he had tagged "Death" on the window.

When we met up again we went to a chicken food place and ate there...it was really good...then we got our stuff from Tanya's house and went to the airport and again it took 5 or 6 hours to get home. We got home finally, in the middle of the night and fell right asleep.

London Baby - Day Two

2007-09-22T01:36:00.000-07:00

We got up and went to Starbucks this morning and then headed right over to the Globe Theater to go on the tour of the place. We figured that since we couldn't actually see a play there we could at least take a tour. They taught us all about how they constructed it, just like the original Globe in Shakespeare's day....even with a thatched roof (they said that they had to get special permission for thatched roofs since they were banned in London after the original Globe burned down). While on the tour we got to see the stage close up and we got to see the gentleman's box (where the wealthy people sat). The King or Queen would sit right behind the stage to show that they were better off then everyone else. Then even though we knew that they didn't have tickets for "The Merchant of Venice" we went to the box office and asked again to see if there were any cancellations. They told us we could go out front and wait in the line to see if somebody that had extras would sell them...so we went out there and got in the line and without much trouble we got some really good tickets so we ended up getting to go see the play.

The Merchant of Venice is about a business man that barrows money from another man (who is from the Jewish quarter) and then loses his fortune when his ships don't come in (literally). The agreement that he has with the lender is that if he can't pay back his debt, the man from the Jewish quarter can take a pound of his flesh. It was a really good play and I am SO glad that we were able to get tickets. My Aunt says that if Shakespeare is done poorly, it can be really bad, but if its done well, it can be really good. This was really good! She has seen another Shakespeare play here before (Romeo and Juliette) and she really liked that one too. So, if anyone is ever in London....I would highly recommend seeing a play here!

By the time we got out of the play, it was 5pm. We spent nearly the whole day there! So, we had to get moving fast. We walked down the river and went across the Westminster bridge to put us directly in front of Big Ben, West Minster Abbey, and Parliament. There, we met up again with Tanya and walked to Buckingham palace. I had fun doing that but I really liked what we did after that.

We headed over to the London towers and after it was dark we took a Jack The Ripper tour. The tour takes you to the places that he killed his victims. It was really creepy and two people fainted. The tour guide explained all about the 1800's and how the city of London was back then. The murders happened in the fall of 1833 there was the industrial revolution going on and the east end of the city (where the murders happened) were all slums. He killed prostitutes, and there were a LOT of prostitutes in those years because the city was in a major depression. It was definitely creepy but also so cool to learn about.

London Baby - Day One

2007-09-21T01:16:00.000-07:00

Today we got up and got ready and then went to Starbucks. They don't have Starbucks in Holland and my Aunt craves her Chai tea from there, so whenever she goes to London she is constantly in Starbucks. So, even though I don't get Starbucks much in the States we went for a Starbucks run at least twice a day this weekend.

After getting our fill of coffe, tea and hot chocolate (mainly for me it was a huge amount of whipped cream), we headed over to the Globe Theater to get tickets to see a Shakespeare play. I was really bummed to find out that they were sold out. The Globe theater was built near the site of the original globe theater that Shakespeare used during his day (it burned down....TWICE!) I was really thinking it would be cool to see Shakespeare there.

We went to the Tate Modern museum next and looked at all the modern art stuff. I really don't think that all of the stuff hanging in there can be called "art". Like a big canvas with a big red dot on it and I'm supposed to be impressed?? There were some WEIRD things in there. There were two tubes with bubbles coming out of them (like a fountain of bubbles or something). And, there was a really weird display that was in a room....you could only have 8 people in the room at a time, and there were birds in a cage (live birds) and sand on the floor, and thatched huts all around and when you went in the hut there was some weird TV playing that made no sense at all.

However, there were also some cool pieces of art in the museum. We saw some of the pieces that started the modern art ara, like Picasso and the impressionist movement. And, there were some paintings that I thought were cool. They had some comic stuff that I liked.

We got a snack at the museum cafe (I was HUNGRY). Then we walked across the Millennium bridge. It was built (can you guess) for the millennium (that would be the year 2000), and it is a pretty cool looking bridge.

By the time we left there it was getting pretty late actually, so we went back to Tanya's house where we were staying and met up with her. She took us on a walking tour and showed me some Banksy's that are still around. Banksy is a tag artist that is amazingly good at what he does. He goes all over the world and has never been caught, most of his work has a political meaning to it even if its not completely obvious. My Aunt first introduced me to Banksy's art a year ago or so and got me some pieces that are in my room back in California. I really like his work and really wanted to find original pieces around the city, so it was so cool to be able to go and see it on the walls around London.

The first one we saw was an ATM that had a robotick arm coming out of the money slot and it was picking up a littel girl.

The next ones we saw were a boy with a paint brush and a paint can that had just painted a heart on the wall. Then, right next to it, we saw a new one (the others have been published in books or have had prints made out of them, so you know that they have been around for a while, but this one, I had never seen before). It had a monkey with a sign on him that said "I'm With Stupid ->" and Mr. Bush was next to it. The last one we saw was a thug rolling a blunt...but I couldn't get a good photo of it because by then it was almost dark and the painting was under a bridge so it was impossible to get a photo. It was my favorite part of the day.

Finally my Aunt decided we might need to eat (how can she keep forgetting about food??) For dinner we headed to a pub and I got a hamburger and a Guinness beer. My Aunt didn't think I would like Guinness, because she thought it would be too heavy, but I liked it just fine.

So, all in all, a pretty full day for our first day in London. I was really excited to see the Banksy, but pretty disappointed to miss out on Shakespeare. Now, I'm just exhausted from all the walking and ready to sleep!

To London

2007-09-20T00:49:00.000-07:00

Last night we were supposed to go on this Hash run thing. It is a running group that they have in most cities around the world where each week they do a different route that is marked with different symbols to tell you were to run. The course is made to trick all the fast people. However, we didn't do it. This was for a few reasons, 1)it was freezing cold and rainy, 2) my Aunt was totally dreading it, but came along with me because she knew I wanted to do it, an 3) because when we got there the people waiting to do it looked mainly all old and definitely weird, so my aunt and I went to really good 5 Euro pizza place instead.

Today I spent an hour and a half talking to Amy on the phone and waiting for my Aunt to get home. At her lunch break we went to the store and bought Mel and Shamim flowers (they are both friends of my Aunt's and they both had birthdays). Mel is the neighbor who lives upstairs from us, and our dog Twiga REALLY likes her. She is taking care of Twiga this weekend while we are in London. Then my Aunt went back to work and I cleaned up the house a little and packed for the trip to London. Then at two when my Aunt got home she told Mel all the important things about taking care of Twiga and then we headed to the airport.

The flight from Amsterdam to London takes 45 min but the total time it took to get there was 5 or 6 hours...way too long. (this is because you have to take a train, to the central station, another train to the airport, get to the airport two hours early for security, get on the flight, fly to London, then take another train into Waterloo station in London and then take the tube to where we were staying). When we finally got to Waterloo station, we went over to an Indian food place for some dinner and met up with her friend Tanya, who we will be staying with. The Indian food was so good. I can't wait to explore London tomorrow!

This Weekend

2007-09-16T01:38:00.000-07:00

This weekend was really fun, We stayed in The Hague for the weekend and just hung out. That was nice because we haven't really done that since I arrived.

On Saturday morning we woke up and went to the farmer's market near my Aunt's house. She buys most of her food for the week here so we rode our bikes there and shopped. There is a lot of fresh produce and vegetables and chicken and bread and cheese. After that, I got to go to the bookstore in the downtown with my Aunt and her friend Eleni for coffee and breakfast. They talk so much that after a while I was really bored, so I got to leave them there talking and walk around on my own for about an hour...but I had fun so it's ok. The best thing that happened was riding the bike with my Aunt to the book store and back because she can't ride a bike well at all. It's funny to watch but hard to ride with her.

Once we got home we cleaned the house. On Sunday we biked to a church that is supposed to have a good youth group (no I'm not cheating on my youth group at St. Mathews) but they only meet every other Friday but they do things during the week so I might do that some time next week. Then we went to my Aunt's friend's house for a birthday party. The party was OK but the best part was the BBQ at the end. I got to cook and the food was so good. I ate a LOT...chicken kebabs are about the best invention in the whole universe!

baby sit'n and taxi rides

2007-09-14T00:13:00.000-07:00

The first week without Bestemom here has gone just fine...a little sad but fine. Today I helped my Aunt babysit her friends kids ages 1 and 2. Luckily she did all the baby sitting while I went to get food. When I got back with the food we...(OK she)...put them to bed. We spent the rest of the time eating...Shwarma...YAY Shwarma its so good. It is a type of food from Turkey and I haven't ever seen it before in the States, but it is all over Europe at donor kebab places. They have turkish pizza and this thing that in Dutch is called kip donor (it is sliced juicy chicken in a pita bread and it is SO good). Then we just watched movies for the night until my Aunt's friends came home. Finally around 12:24 they came home...totely smashed. They said that if we ran we could catch the last bus back to our house, but when we got to the bus stop there was no bus that ran at that time so we had to get a cab. This was the first cab I have ever been in...it was fun.

My PE Here Is So Much Better Then In The States

2007-09-13T02:41:00.000-07:00

So here in Holland I don't really have PE so my Aunt made up a PE class for me. I have only had PE class once so far, but it rocks! I get to take the morning off school and ride my bike to the skate park and skateboard. I suck at skating so its nice to skate when there is nobody there. I leave around 9:30 or 10 and get there at about 10 or 10:30. I skate till 11:30 and then head home to be back by 12. The skate park is half metal and half cement but still really nice to ride on. I just wish I could drop in (for those of you that don't know what that is it is when you start at the top of a half pipe...U...or a quater pipe half of the half pipe and ride down and in to the half pipe) because that would make my life so simple when skating. While skating I also learned that I suck more then I thought and that I need to practice more. But I had fun so it was all good. When I get back to the States I'm going to try to get a membership to the skate park by my school and start practising again.

The School Routine

2007-09-10T00:04:00.000-07:00

So we started a school routine today so that I do my school stuff...I don't really want to but it is necessary.

I wake up around 8ish and get ready for the day. This involves making the bed, showering, take the dog out for a walk, getting breakfast etc. (all the normal morning activities). Then I sit in my aunts room at a desk and do school work from 9 till 12:30 1:00 ish when she gets home for lunch. Then we walk the dog, eat some lunch and check the work that I have done so far and I get my afternoon assignments. She heads back to work around 2ish, and I have from 2 till she gets home from work to finish up the afternoon work. (she says she gets home by 5:30 6:00 ish but it really tends to be more like 6:30 7:30ish). When she gets home we walk the dog again and maybe wach a little TV and check my school work. Then we eat and talk and then go to sleep...wow...that is how most days are...how boring!!

Bye Bye Bestemom

2007-09-09T00:04:00.000-07:00

Saturday was a sad day because we were driving my Bestemom to Frankfurt to send her on a plane back to the States the next day, but we still managed to have fun while trying to find the hotel. Naturally I sat in the car while the family went in to check in and up to the room really fast. They said the room was big but I didn't really believe them fully. Then we went to this authentic German restaurant and got what we thought was going to be just a small meal. It ended up with me eating some of my Bestemoms because she couldn't finish hers...I LOVE FOOD IN GERMANY!!! (I cannot stress this point enough).

After dinner we went back to the hotel and I found out that they weren't kidding about the size of the room, it was as big as the living room at my Aunt's house if not bigger...I liked it.

The next day was really sad because we took my Bestemom to the airport and she was sad which made it even worse. We got her through the lines and the security checkpoint and then headed out on our way back to Holland. Even though we were both bummed out, my Aunt was very very sad, and I felt bad for her...she kept tearing up all day. I guess it's kind of hard to live in Europe when your family is so far away and you don't get to see them very much.

Then it was just us heading back to my Aunt's house...well Twiga was there too. We went to this church we had seen on the way up...it was so cool looking and it looked like a castle from the Autobon. Tomorrow we start our regular routine and I have to start working on my school work...summer is officially OVER ;(

The Beach

2007-09-07T23:59:00.000-07:00

Here in The Hague there is a beach that is about 20 min away from my Auntes house in Voorburg. It's what the Dutch would call a resort town and they all go down there during the summer. This beach is different than the ones that I know however. For one, the beach is part of the North Sea...but then again, so is the rest of the Netherlands. The Netherlands is mostly under sea level and we are here because a long time ago the Dutch "reclaimed" the land from the sea. They did it by building all these dams and stuff which is why there are all these cannals everywhere. So, there are all these walls and gates under and around us that are holding back the sea. It's weird and I can't figure out why they decided to do that in the first place. It's not like its overpopulated....they could have just lived on the land that they had. Anyway...my Aunt always complains about The Hague and the weather and the flat land, and sometimes she says, "Why would anyone reclaim this land....give it back to the sea!".

I have now been to the beach two times but its nothing like a nice Californian beach where it is nice and sunny and the water is nice. It was fun to go though because it was still a beach and because it IS the North sSea and to me that is cool. The first time we went to the beach we got pics of all of us there...my Aunt lookes cold and miserable in the photos, but my Bestemom loved it. A fews days after our first trip , my Bestamom wanted to go again, so we drove down with Twiga. The second time I went we walked around on the beach. I walked in the water which was cold at first but then it was fine...so that my Bestemom could get pics of me there and she loved it even more that time. Then we walked around on the board walk and ate Poffergies. It's fun down there, but I kind of agree with my Aunt, I miss a real beach like San Diego.

my bike

2007-09-06T01:14:00.000-07:00

Last night we went into The Hague city center to meet one of my Aunt's closest friends in the Netherlands, Eleni. She was very nice. We all went to Vapiano's which is a really good pizza place. I got a pizza and beer for dinner...it was soooo good...I love pizza.

Today we went to another of my Aunt's friends (Shamim's) house for lunch. All her friends are lawyers like her who work at the International Criminal Court, so you might think that they are boring, but so far, they are not boring at all. Shamim's place was really nice, they had just moved in and the house was really close to the beach and also close to where I was picking up my bike...another of my Aunt's friends had an extra and is letting me borrow it while I'm staying here. After the lunch we drove over to the house with the bike and my Bestemom and I were dropped off and got the bike then walked home...that was a 3ish mile walk but we only had one bike so we had to bike. Two hours later we got home...that was a long walk but I got a bike so it was ok. And, now I have a bike...and this means freedom!

The Hearing

2007-09-04T05:09:00.000-07:00

Today I went to watch my aunt while she was in court. Not on trial as a defendant or anything, but she is a lawyer. She is working on the first case to go before the United Nations International Criminal Court and this hearing today was the very first one before the Trial Chamber. The person on trial is Thomes Lubanga he is in trouble for recruiting kids to be soldiers. He is from the Congo in Africa.

When we got there, we weren't sure where to go, but our names were on a VIP reserved list as guests of my Aunt and so we had seats in the front row. There is glass in between the visitors gallery where we were and the actual Courtroom itself where my Aunt and all the participants were sitting. The glass is bullet proof to protect the people inside....its a lot different than the courtrooms I've seen on TV in the US, and a lot more modern with computers and technology all over the place. There are TV monitors in the gallery and because the trial happens in a lot of different languages, there are head sets for people to wear and there are interpretors in a booth to the side who translate what is happening in the Courtroom immediately into all the different languages. I didn't know how to work the head set so I didn't understand half of what was happening because it was in French but apparently if you put the Chanel up one it was all in English. My Aunt laughed at us later for not knowing that, but how was I supposed to know that, nobody told us how to use them.

It was still cool to watch my Aunt wear that big black robe...even though all she really did was sit there and talk to her friend...what a slacker. Then at the end I found out that Thomes Lubanga, the defendant was in there to but he looked like a lawyer to me till I found out it was him. My Bestemom had taken the paper that said what was happening that they gave us when we first went into the gallery. Supposedly it was an agenda for the hearing, but she didn't let me see it even though I was the one who got it. She put it away for safe keeping because she was excited to see my Aunt's first day of Court at the ICC. She has worked for other international tribunals like the Rwanda Tribunal but since this was the first hearing at the ICC, my Bestamom was excited.

The hearing didn't last too long and then we went back to my Aunt's house and waited for her to finish up at her work (she lives across the street from the Court...literally, you can see her office from her living room balcony), and to come home. She was mostly bummed out that the next hearing is scheduled for her birthday. It's a Monday and we were planning on taking a 3 day weekend and traveling in Europe for her birthday, but now she'll have to be at the Court on that day....bummer!

Home alone...dun dun dunnn

2007-09-02T05:43:00.000-07:00

This past weekend, my family headed to London WITHOUT ME!!! How rude! They left me to babysit the dog because apparently the U.K. is difficult about bringing animals in. So, I spent the weekend with the dog...while my family toured Europe. However, karma kicked in because their first night in London they got the car towed. They should have been nicer to me and Twiga!

Friday afternoon I finally got to hang out with that kid Chris that I wrote about. He was cool....he and his Mom live here in Holland. We hung out and ate pizza and played video games all afternoon and evening. Unfortunately he starts back to school next week, so he'll be really busy again. But, its cool to know that kids are kids wherever you go.

Well, after that I spent both the weekend days on the computer talking to my friends back home. I was really glad....I miss everyone! While doing this I also had to walk Twiga three times a day and feed her in the morning and night. Now when I say I was on the computer both days I mean all day and night. On friday night I talked to my friend Megan all night and day and most of the next night. I also talked to Becca and Kels part of the time. While I did all this I also watched movies. Then on sunday night my parents got home and told me that they were dumb enough that they got the car toed on the first night...that is just sad. finally I went to sleep around 1 1:30. I can't decide if they had a better weekend in London or if I did just getting to be without them and to talk to people my own age for a while.

I might have thrown a party except it would have been a sad one since I don't really know anyone....my Aunt is just lucky, otherwise we might have trashed the place. oh well....maybe next time they go away and leave me alone for the weekend I'll have found some friends here.

A Love / Hate relationship

2007-08-30T05:06:00.000-07:00

10 things I like about Europe

They have really good food here.

The transportation system is better than in the CA.

The landscape of Norway ROCKS.

My aunt is here.

It is legal to drink once you are 16.

You can smoke and grow pot...I have not done either.

I get to spend a lot of time with Twiga (our awesome African dog who has lived on three continents and is not even two years old yet).

See number one.

I don't have to be around losers...Waite I'm with my aunt never mined

Traveling to a gazillion different countries and seeing a lot of things is really easy because Europe is really small space wise and there are so many countries all right next to each other.

10 things I dislike about Europe

Things are more expensive here.

I don't have friends here.

I'm in the middle of the freaking ocean.

My aunts a loser.

I miss my friends a lot...especially Amy.

It's hard to communicate with all the different languages...bascially, people don't listen when you order your food.

It is always cloudy.

It rains at random times.

See number three.

They think its cool to wear orange pants.

IKEA!!!!

2007-08-28T05:03:00.000-07:00

I was actually woken up this morning by Twiga digging at my head like she was digging a hole in it. That hurt a lot.

The past two days have generally been spent with me walking around while my bestemom sits at home or reading. I have a book that I've started to read in anticipation of school starting. It is from the Anne Frank house and is written by this woman Miep who helped to hide Anne Frank and her family. It's actually kind of interesting.

The best thing about the past few days is that when my aunt gets home we (my aunt, grandmother, and i) all go to IKEA and look around then eat there for dinner. mmmm....meatballs!

I have been spending the rest of the time trying to get some friends. It's not easy here. The Dutch aren't very friendly, and I don't want to hang out with family 24/7....something has got to give! I have been talking to a kid named Christian on MSN messenger. His Mom works with my Aunt at the Court so maybe we'll hang out and do something sometime. He's really into video games, and has a big tv and a ton of gaming stuff. We'll see....life in Europe has its ups and downs. It's so fun to travel and see everything here, but it's kind of hard to move here for a while and not know anyone.

Driving the wine road of France

2007-08-26T00:52:00.000-07:00

We started our drive this morning in Strasbourg. We went into the city center, to an area of the town called "Petit France" which is sort of like an old town with old buildings and stores and traditional foods and stuff. We looked around down in that area for a bit and got some brunch. I got to have steak while the others had this thing called a tarte flambe which is really popular in the area of Strasbourg. My Aunt spent a summer living in Strasbourg when she was in law school, so she knew the area and she always talked about how much she liked tarte flambe, so of course they all had to eat it. I tried a bite of theirs, but to be honest....I was not impressed!

After that we headed on down the wine road. We only did one wine tasting. While we were there there was an old man that came in and bought some wine and while the cashier was gone in the back wrapping up his packages, he stole 3 little bottles of wine...I guess you are never to old to steal. Ididn't really like the wine but it was ok, and at least I tried it. Then we were off again. Along the road we were traveling, we stopped to look at all the vineyards. This is the area where they make a lot of french wines. We saw a really big castle on the hill overlooking the vineyards, so we drove up to see what it was. The castle was so cool to be in. It was originally used in 750 so it was realle old. I love castles, they are so old and so cool. The day went so fast....we stopped at a few towns along the road, they all looked like they were from a postcard. Then we got back on the road again, drove through France and into one of the smallest countries in Europe, Luxembourg. We stopped there for dinner. After that, we had to book it home cause my Aunt had to be at work in the morning. We didn't get home until around 2am. I kind of feel sorry for her because she drives all the time on all these trips and then has to go to work the next day while we all sleep in. Oh well, better her than me!

A Day Wasted

2007-08-25T23:55:00.000-07:00

Do you remember that i said last night that a car window was broken in the hotel parking lot? Well we were woken up this morning at 7am to a phone call from the front desk of the hotel, saying that OUR car was also broken into. So we (and by we I mean, my parents), went down to talk to the police. Then when the police had finished finger printing they had to go to the police station. There were 5 different families, who all had their cars smashed. We were luckier than the others. All we had stollen was the........M&Ms...dun dun duuun. (I guess the looters were hungry). Soo the guests asked the hotel to pay for a taxi to take them to the police station but the hotel said they could walk, very customer friendly, this hotel. Especially, considering that they could have prevented the robbery by calling the police last night when we asked them to. WE HATE THE HOTEL

So, once all of that was over we had to wait until after 5pm to get the glass fixed on the car so that we could drive. We had reservations in Strasbourg, France for the night, and were planning to spend the last day in Paris and leave for Strasbourg in the late afternoon. Instead, we spent the whole day dealing with the car. What really blew the fuse was that when we went to check out of the hotel, they actually had the nerve to charge us for an extra night because we didn't check out till after 12...did I mention that in the mornig they had told us that it was no problem to stay in the room until the car was fixed? Don't ever stay at the Richemont Hotel in Paris....they SUCK! However, it was pretty funny to watch my Bestamom loose it at the hotel desk girl when she charged us an extra nights stay. My Aunt and I were so uncomfortable that we just backed away from the desk and left the area....my Bestamom is scary when she is mad!

We headed back into Paris after we finally got the car window fixed at 5:30pm, to get our last Paris meal of street crepes....a final drink at a street cafe and then we were off on our VERY long drive to Strasburg. We didn't get there till 2AM ish. It was a rough day....but I guess it happens sometimes, and as my Aunt kept telling my Bestamom, "now we have an interesting anecdote from Paris to tell stories of at parties".

Paris day 2

2007-08-24T09:16:00.000-07:00

Today we started out not in Paris, but instead drove north toward Normandy (where the English touched down in their liberation of France during the Second World War) and went to the small town of Giverny where the painter Claude Monet lived and painted for over 30 years. We went to see his house, but also and most importantly the gardens of his house which were his inspiration for most of the paintings he's done. Monet was one of the most important impressionist painters, but I don't like impressionism that much. I like the Dutch painters much more because they are a lot more detailed in their painting. Impressionists like Monet paint things really fuzzy-like, and I don't like it as much.

Monet's Garden is about 45 min from Paris. It is so nice to see the garden and the water lilies...I want to live in a house like that...I got an illegal pic of the kitchen...HeHeHe

The water lilies and Chinese bridge are so cool. Then we went to the Restaurant there and got some REALLY good lunch then went back to Paris.

When we got back in to Paris we went to the Louvre again and looked at the sculptures that we had missed before. It was much quieter in there this time, since we went in on Friday night. We got some street crepes from a place that my Aunt knows (she has been to Paris a lot) and she was right...the street crepes and much better than the restaurant ones we got yesterday....I wonder why that is? Well, I won't question it, I'll just enjoy it!

Late in the evening (around 11pm) we went to the Eiffel tower and went up to the second level. The view is so cool from up there...and it was sparkling...it does it every hour. Finally we went back to our hotel (but not before getting lost in Paris for a good hour on the way back). When we got back to the hotel, we pulled into the parking garage, but felt like something was fishy. There was a car in the garage with its window smashed in and an alarm going off. We didn't know where else to park, so we took everything out of the car and went upstairs to tell the hotel desk that there was a problem in the garage and that they should call the police. I'll save the rest of the story for tomorrow! Tonight I'll leave you with all the beautiful photos taken from today!

Paris day I

2007-08-23T06:42:00.000-07:00

We woke up in the morning and started out to explore Paris. The first place we went to was the Louvre. This is the most famous museum in Paris and I know it from the Da Vinci Code. Going into the museum is cool....it is SO big. The building is really old but to get into it, you have to go into the Courtyard of the building and then go down under the ground. To get down under the ground you go into this glass pyramid thing.....it was cool.

Right when we got in we got some breakfast at the cafe...the food there is good...then we went in and looked at the works of art. I really like it in there. There were tons of sculptures that we saw first....and I thought they were amazing. To be able to make a human look so....human, I don't think I could do it.

After a while though, we got some food again because we were tired of all the rude French people. That is one difficult thing about Paris, the people are pushy and not very friendly. After the tasty snack we went and looked at the Mona Lisa which I had really wanted to see. There were SO many people who also wanted to see it. It's difficult to get up to the front to see it, but cool that I got to see it, even if I had to push through the crowd to do it.

Once we were done there we went out to take Twiga for a walk and get a drink for us. We walked until we found a cafe to sit outside at. It was cold and rainy today, so the family got some hot tea....but I stuck with my coke. We were sitting outside under the canopy and it started to rain. After the downpour we walked up by the Notredame cathedral and then took Twiga back to the car. Then we...I mean the parental things I live with...went shopping...can you tell i love to shop with them. Finally, for dinner we stopped at a crepery and got some Crepes...those are good. I get crepes with jambone and fromage (that's ham and cheese for you non-French speakers out there). We figured that it had been a pretty full day at that point, so we headed back for the hotel, so we could rest up for another big day of exploring Paris tomorrow.

Off to Paris

2007-08-22T06:33:00.000-07:00

I spent the morning just walking around it was so boring. Today we were mainly getting ready to leave tonight for Paris. So my Bestemom sent me to get some snack food for the road (we are driving to Paris so that we can see more of France....on the way back we will drive through the Alsace wine region and then up through Luxembourg). We were supposed to leave around 4 or so, but my Aunt didn't get off work until 6:30. We were hungry then, and since we were already SO late leaving we went to.....................SHOARMA...........................I LOVE IT (it is my favorite food here so far....Turkish food apparently, it is SO good). Then off to Paris. We got in very very late at night (after midnight), but lucky for me, I slept through the whole drive.

Delft again

2007-08-21T05:07:00.000-07:00

This morning Twiga was very friendly and would not leave sight of my Bestemom and me. That made it hard for my soft hearted Bestamom to leave the house. She was dog blackmailed. Finally we had to go or we would miss Delft...our second trip to the city. In order to get there we have to take public transport. (in order to get anywhere we have to walk, bike or take public transport). We had to walk to the tram stop and get the #1 tram. The walk to the tram stop is really long and longer still because they closed the bridge over the canal that we need to get over, so it is necessary to take a ferry across the canal and then keep walking till you get to the tram stop. Cars are easier to use as transportation, though I am learning a lot about environmental issues and am not sure if I think cars or public transportation is better. Cars are more convenient, but public transport is better for the environment.

To make it worse, it is a bit complicated to use public transport in Holland. In order to get on the tram you have to use this strippencards that you stamp different amounts depending on were you are going...there are different "zones" that need different amounts of stamps, only it doesn't seem totally clear where these zones begin and end.

When we got to Delft we had Poffergies (Poffergies are little pancake like things, but made in sort of small flat balls with powdered sugar on them and then you can get whipped cream and strawberries or what ever you want)...they are so good. Then we did some shopping...why that is legal I don't know...but after that we got some food. I love ham and cheese toasties. Then we walked around a little more, and headed home to spend the evening at my Aunt's house with her.

Amsterdam Part II

2007-08-19T06:54:00.000-07:00

Today we headed back to Amsterdam for day 2 of our exploring the city. The ride is long to get there (about 40 minutes by train) but you see cows so its all good. Once in Amsterdam we bought that boat taxi ticket and went to the Anne Frank house. It is so weird to be in the building and see the annex that they lived in for two years. The rooms were so small I would have hated it there. I have to read some books about the places I'm traveling to for school, so I picked out a book from the Anne Frank house to read, written by Miep Gies, who helped to hide Anne Frank and her family.

From there we want to the Rijks museum to see a bunch of delft paintings and delft ware...i didn't like it much but it was ok i guess...After that we went to look for the Heineken Experience but we never found it so we went back to the cafe that was by the Rijk museum and ate there. Finally we got on the boat and went to the train station and went home.

Amsterdam was pretty cool as a whole, and has tons of cannals and water ways. The city is built in a circle around all the canals, which was pretty interesting to learn about. I guess since we are living in The Hage which is pretty close to Amsterdam, we'll go back to Amsterdam another weekend. For now, it was enough....I'm exhausted.

Amsterdam Part I

2007-08-18T06:13:00.000-07:00

It's Saturday. I spent the morning in the house with Twiga while the parental units went to the farmers market getting food for Twiga. I think that the dog may eat better than I....the family certainly seems more worried about her food than about mine...what's up with that???
Then we went to a book store in the Hague and got some food before we went to Amsterdam. Once we were there we went to the floating flower market and got some tulip bulbs, black ones. They sold pot plants at the flower market and I tried to get my Aunt to let me grow weed in the house because it is legal but she said no because it would be frowned upon at her work (she's an international human rights lawyer)...oh well, it was worth a try because I didn't really think I could so it was perfectly fine not to get to. Then we walked around looking at stores...how surprising...but we at least looked for food while looking at stores. We had found a place to eat that i really liked but we didn't eat there because my Aunt wanted to eat at her DUMB cafe that SUCKS...i didn't like the food like stuff they had there. When you order they don't listen...at all. What is up with the Dutch and not listening to my order?? I do NOT want mayonnaise on my food! This is REALLY NOT a tough concept!

It's All about the Food

2007-08-17T05:20:00.000-07:00

Up until Thursday of this week it was really boring but finally we did something fun. We went into The Hague and naturally...we had to shop for a little then did something fun...we ate some Mexican food. I love Mexican food so it was really nice to have.

However, this brings me to a difficulty that I am experiencing in Holland. While they do speak English as a general rule, it is definitely the second language of the Dutch and since I do not speak any Dutch, there are sometimes communication troubles. Somehow, these troubles seem to arise when I am ordering food. I have specific foods that I will and won't eat and a specific way in which I want this food to arrive at my table....so far, it is almost always wrong. I think I am clearly ordering what I want, and it always comes wrong. For example, I ordered a chicken quesadilla without the vegetables...and got a vegetable quesadilla. This was not good. However, they did take it back and fix it.....whew, I was NOT going to eat a vegetable and cheese quesadilla! Anyway....

Then on Friday we went to the Mauritshuis museum in the Hague. I don't really like this museum that much but my Bestemom did so we went through it twice...sigh...then we went to Leiden and walked around for a little. After that we found a really good Indian food place and had dinner there. Finally we went to this cafe and got hot cocoa with whipped cream...there is as much whipped cream as there is hot cocoa. I love this place....vive la whipped cream!!!

The Dutch....a special breed

2007-08-15T12:47:00.000-07:00

I have now been in the Netherlands for over a week and have noticed some weird things.

For example i have seen people wear Orange pants. Why would you were Orange pants?

The language is also a little weird and sounds very...interesting. I have learned a few words:
Donkuvell - means thank you, Bedankt - means thanks.

One positive thing I've noticed - the public transportation system is really good here which makes life easier. We take the train, the bus and the tram....and we can go almost anywhere.

People ride bikes here a lot! My Aunt is supposed to be supplying me with one, but so far she has not produced one. I think there should be a letter writing campaign - "Free Chris" in order to get me some wheels!

Oh, and the toilets....I'll save those for another day, but needless to say...well, there is a lot to say.

On The Road Again II

2007-08-12T12:23:00.000-07:00

Naturally we had a late start and got pastries in Gothenburg, Sweden for breakfast. Then on the road for straight driving/sleeping till we got to Keil for dinner...ya we didn't have lunch...I'll never forgive them. But we at least got pizza for dinner so it got better...you can never get enough pizza. Then we kept going/sleeping all the way through Sweden, Germany, and Denmark till we were Finally in the Netherlands. Then it was oooonly a two hour drive to the house where I ate a little more food and then went to sleep. So, pretty much the last day of our trip to Norway was spent driving and sleeping.....mostly driving for my Aunt and mostly sleeping for me.

On The Road Again

2007-08-11T11:34:00.000-07:00

I was forced to wake up early and get packing so we could head toward home. :'(

But naturally once we get in the car I went to sleep. We were headed toward Flam to see if we might take a boat ride up the smallest fjord, the Naeroyfjord. However, there was difficulty when we figured out that we would have to leave the car for the entire day (as we are traveling with Twiga after all). So, we did a little research quickly and figured out that we could catch a ferry up the fjords (both the Naeroyfjord which is the narrowest fjord and the Songerfjord which is the largest and widest fjord). So, we headed out to catch that ferry. I feel sound asleep again, but I was again awoken once we got to the ferry to go through the fjords and keep going to Sweden. The ride on the boat was really long but fun. The fjords are really amazing...but two hours of it can be a lot...

When we finally got off the ferry, we headed down the road quickly and after another long drive (most of which I spent sleeping....minus the moments when the family woke me up to see something or other), we got to Oslo. We stopped in Oslo for dinner. That was really good. Then we quickly piled back in the car and drove on further to Sweden (Gothenburg) where our hotel room was waiting for us.

A Little Fishy

2007-08-10T11:47:00.000-07:00

We spent today at the fish market in Bergen. I had more fun lookig through the stores and standes around the fish markit then in the fish market itself. I founed a really cool belt and a new wallet the first time through. We stopped for lunch down at the harbor and my family ate fish. Since I don't like fish, I ate two miny bagets. SO filling...not!!!

After lunch, we finished our shopping in Bergen (I bought a belt and a wallet) and then headed out to the old city of Bergen. It's like the folk museum that we visited in Oslo....I guess each city in Scandinavia has some form of it. Anyway....we went to it but there really wasn't much to see. I had a headache and we were all thirsty but nothing was open there. So, we weren't there for long, before we headed back to the B&B we were staying at.

I was slightly bummed out because the B&B had a boat that we were supposed to get to take out on the fjord, but they had just recently moved it and so it wasn't able to be used. Instead we sat outside and had a picnic for dinner overlooking the fjord and it was pretty fun (despite the fact that I think I've been with my family every second since the moment I arrived here and its getting a little old). But, it was pretty fun, and we decided to have an early night tonight because we are planning to be out very early tomorrow so that we can try to make it onto a boat on the fjord tomorrow. Wish us luck!!

World Famous Lom Bakery

2007-08-09T12:47:00.000-07:00

Today we went to the best bakery in the world and got great pastry's to start our day and sat by a window looking out onto a waterfall that turned to rapids beneath....it was cool.

From there we visited a stave church....these are churches from the time of the vikings and there are only around 20 some left in Norway...

So, I was thinking my day was starting off pretty good....and then my family left me at the car while they ran up to the ATM machine for 2 minutes to pull out cash. 45 minutes later, I was really wondering where they had gone...but eventually they managed to find their way back to the car....with packages in hand. OF COURSE....I should have known, they went shopping while I sat in the car. Very cool...no really, that was fun for me.

So, anyway....we headed down the road leading to Bergen and the Norwegian fjords. The drive today was actually really fun because we were driving through the tallest mountains of Norway with glacier ice and stuff. We stopped at one point for a picnic and were able to fill our water bottles with the water from the river which was so cold and clean.

We continued on the road, though my Grandmother did not love the road that much, she gets nervous with 10 hair pin turns (the guide book described them as white knuckle hair pin turns, but I think the author may have exagerated), but my Aunt is a very safe driver, so there really is no need to be worried.

Naturally a day cannot go by without us getting lost, and so we found ourselves out on some tiny pennisula in the fjords at around 11 at night looking for our bed and breakfast in a town that didn't have a bed and breakfast. I really don't know how my Aunt messed this one up, I mean getting lost is one thing but ending up in the entirely wrong town is another.

We had to ask some people who lived in the town, and they called the bed and breakfast and got us the actual directions to the actual town that we were staying in. We arrived after midnight, and went pretty immediately to sleep! Tomorrow we begin to explore Bergen and the west coast of Norway where the fjords are. I'll tell you about them tomorrow.

Family Roots

2007-08-08T12:35:00.000-07:00

Today was a day all about family. We headed out early today to visit my mothers side of the family who are still living in Norway. They live in Nordburg and Skjak in the Gudbransdal Valley. We first went to visit Aslaug Nyhus who knew both my Great Great Grandmothers side of the family and my Great Great Grandfathers side of the family. She didn't speak any english (and we spoke no Norwegian) but we were able to communicate through her granddaughter, visiting from Oslo on holiday. After visiting with Aslaug for a while and learning more about the family and the area, our cousins arrived and we all met and talked and then we drove to the farm where my great great grandmother was born and lived until she went to the United States. It was pretty cool to see where they came from and my grandmother was really having a good time. I thought a lot today about how important family is and it is really good and interesting to know where I came from. We went back to the cousins house and saw the farm where my great great grandfather came from. We spent the rest of the day there with our cousins looking at old photographs and hearing stories. It was pretty cool. They also showed us the church in the town which is was really beautiful inside. Olga is my grandmothers second cousin and Siv is her neice. Siv is a school teacher at the local school and went away to college but came back to live there. I really liked the whole area and thought it was someplace that I could see myself living. They were all so nice and they prepared this whole big lunch for us at Siv's house (her house is so cool and looks really Norwegian). We had porridge and cheese and ham and potato salad. There was a lot of food and not all of it is even describable, but I did my best to try it all and I liked most of it, which was good to find out.

All in all, we had a really great time. I sort of wasn't planning on liking today that much....I thought it would mostly be boring family stuff. But, I actually really liked meeting my family from Norway and learning about where I come from. It was hard to say goodbye at the end and leave....but we did. Maybe someday I'll go back and visit there again, it's one of the places that I've liked the best so far and I hope I see it again.

The Road to Lom

2007-08-07T13:03:00.000-07:00

Another day at the bed and breakfast means, another day that I get to eat a really good breakfast. This time I filled up even more in preparation for a morning with the women of my family....shopping! Seriously....don't they ever stop. How many times can you look at a scarf??

They finished up their shopping and we headed North, on the road to Lom. Lom is in the mountains in the middle of the country and is mostly farm land. My family is from the area and we still have relatives there so we were really excited to go and meet them all. But, first we had to drive there.

Of course, as soon as we got on the road again, I fell asleep. My family woke me up in time to have lunch in Lillihammer. They told me that the 1994 winter olympics were held here. I could see the ski jump from the road coming off the mountain. Lillihammer is a nice city but its pretty small for holding the Olympics in. The main street was not for cars but only for pedestrians. We could only make a short stop here since we had to get to the B&B in Lom, so we just got a few postcards and ate our lunch. After lunch we stopped at the berry bar to buy the best strawberries that I have ever eaten in my life.

The next thing I knew, I was waking up and we were in Lom. I saw farms on all sides and the mountains all around. Lom is really small and our bed and breakfast was just outside of it. The B&B is actually a working farm with sheep and horses. We are staying in a sod roofed cottage that was dug into the mountain side...so at night we have sheep walking on the roof. It really freaks Twiga out, but when she is outside she can't get enough of the sheep. It is also really beautiful in Lom....I think I might stay here and not return to the States.

The Village People Sing

2007-08-06T13:12:00.000-07:00

Check it out!!!