The Other World Cup

Last night, I watched a professional rugby game for my first time, in an Irish pub in The Hague’s city center. It was the US vs. UK, so it was fun to have someone to cheer for – though since I didn’t know until yesterday that there was a Rugby World Cup or that we even had a national team, I can’t say that I was terribly emotionally invested. Still, it was a fun experience. I was amused how an injured American player would be dragged off the field every five minutes or so (yet it never happened to any British player) as well as by watching the commercials on Irish tv. The US never came close to winning (the sportscaster called the game “the world champions vs. one of the minnows of the tournament”), but they held up surprisingly well and lost by the lowest margin ever against England. Way to go, guys...
This week has been incredibly busy; it figures that I set up my phone numbers as soon as I’ve reached far enough in the semester where I’m never around to answer the phone. Still, it’s nice to have a phone available. This week included a few more trips to the bars (I’m really not sure why everyone loves beer so much; I have been hanging out with German/Scottish/Irish friends this week, maybe that’s part of it...), as well as attending a potluck thrown by some of the interns. Though I’ve been to potlucks almost every week since I moved to Los Angeles, apparently such a concept is not known in Europe. I heard them trying to explain it to each other: “Everyone comes together and brings some kind of pot...” (I intervened in the conversation before I found out if she was referring to drugs or cookery.) The meal appeared to come together pretty well in the end, so that was always nice.
I don’t have anything exciting to say about work, but it's going fine and hopefully I’ll be on a new case in a week or two. In any event, I’m missing half of this week anyway for Rosh Hashanah. This will be my first time experiencing the fall holidays abroad since 1988 (and that was in Israel, so that’s not quite the same). The current plan is to spend all the holidays in The Hague besides Yom Kippur, when I’m hoping to make it back to Amsterdam to go to the historic Portuguese Synagogue. We’ll see how it goes... Shanah tovah! (Happy New Year!)