The courtroom - update at the ICC

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.