Well, another week, another Jewish holiday. This week is Sukkot, where we eat all our meals in little outdoor booths. A family nearby has been letting me use their sukkah this week, which has been nice of them. (I had meat again!) Unfortunately, it’s been too cold and wet to eat any meals outside, so we’ve only been using the sukkah to say blessings. The liberal shul found a good way around this problem: they built their sukkah in the lobby inside the shul. True, that kind of defeats the point, but the congregants seem to love it...
It’s been a fun week outside of the holiday as well – my first attempts at going clubbing in The Hague. The first time I went out with all interns/students from the U.S. and Ireland, so we ended up at the popular expat clubs. They were kind of sad – in one, there were only about four people on the dance-floor when we walked in, and they were all making out with each other. Meh. But it started to get better after we arrived. Plus, our group consisted of me and five women, so I can’t complain. On the second try, we went to a local bar that brought in a DJ for the night. The average age was around 50, including the DJ, and it felt like I was back at a bar mitzvah in 1994. (The most recent song they played was probably “What is Love” by Haddaway, which led me to fond memories of high school.) While it was amusing to see people my parents’ age going crazy at 1 a.m., I don’t know that it was exactly my scene. Thankfully, we had some Dutch people with us that night, and they led us to a local club that was probably the most fun place I’ve found in the city so far.
I’ve also been exploring The Hague during the day, including going to Chinatown, trying a couple more restaurants, and biking along the coast for a couple hours. This coming weekend, I’m planning to go on a bike trip for a day to a nearby city in the Netherlands, most likely Delft. We’re making it a “rain or shine” trip, as probably both conditions will occur over the course of the day. And the next weekend: Belgium! My first visit to a neighboring country, should be exciting...
Work, meanwhile, was insane last week – we were finishing up the closing brief, and I would get a new assignment approximately every five minutes. Still, being part of that rush to the end was kind of invigorating, and we’ll see what they put me on next. The court delivered a couple of judgments this past week, including a few sentences relating to a massacre in Croatia. A lot of people were very upset about how lenient the sentences were, especially everyone in Croatia. My Croatian roommate’s (who also works at the court) family kept calling her and playing the national anthem over the phone. I wonder what the sentence will be in my case, and what the reaction will be then. It’s strange to think that entire countries are focused on the outcome of what we’re doing here.
As a side note, I’ve noticed that ever since I began keeping a blog, I’ve started narrating events in my head as they’re happening. Is that normal?
1 comment:
Yes- It's normal. I dictate my travel e-mails to myself, while I am at the event I want to write about. But is does seem strange doesn't it. Have fun in Belgium. They have great beer.
Post a Comment