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!