Since I've Been Home...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

2.

3.

4.

5.





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

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

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

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!!!!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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:

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



2. The church is close to where I live



3. The people there are really nice



4. They have some fun things to do



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

Five reasons I don't like the church

1. The church is like a born again church



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



3. They only meet every other weekend



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



5. 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

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

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!

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

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!

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?

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

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!!

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

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

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

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.

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An Average Friday in Den Haag

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

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

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

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!