In and Around Den Haag

After what felt like a nearly frenetic pace of life (busy with work, busy with school work, busy with travel), I was looking forward to spending just a few glorious weekends at home in my boring, little apartment, catching up on some much needed rest, relaxation, and reading. Yeah, that lasted all of five minutes. I spent one Saturday at home in Den Haag, grocery shopping, cooking, and watching movies, and I woke up the next morning and decided I was going to run a half-marathon on March 14. Because that’s what normal people do on their weekends off, right?

Started training for the half, which has been going great, in general…the only that hurts are my knees, my ankles, my back, my hips, my shoulders, and my lungs. But yeah, sounds like it will be a really enjoyable experience. Life in Den Haag is generally “typical” in every sense of the word, but I had yet to feel like a local. So several weekends at home really helped me settle in. I went to museums, shopped, went to restaurants and movies, and biked my way around everywhere. P.S. Biking is my new favorite thing. Micol and I decided to bike to Delft, which is about 13 km away, and what Brad calls “just a crappier version of Den Haag.” But we wanted the exercise, and we wanted to explore. Delft was cute, and the poffertjes (my FAVORITE Dutch food) were amazing. The Dutch don’t “do” a lot with their food…it’s generally fairly bland, but there are a couple of things the Dutch do well, and poffertjes are one of them. Poffertjes are kind of a mini-pancake, about the size of a silver dollar, but much sweeter and less cakey than American pancakes. (For my Quinn relatives, they have the consistency and sweetness of frenchies, but are thicker and smaller. Still not as good as frenchies on Christmas morning, though.) The best thing about poffertjes (and my mother will love this) is that they are served fresh off the griddle, piping hot, practically swimming in butter and powdered sugar. Don’t worry Mom, I promptly purchased a poffertjes pan to bring home with me.

The weather has been, for lack of a better, more articulate description, totally crappy. Snow, ice, freezing rain, massive hail storms…I’m freezing my baguettes off here! And the Dutch still bike everywhere, it’s amazing to me. It really is their way of life. This is a boring entry, and I’m sorry for that, but sometimes life in Den Haag is just kind of…boring. Don’t get me wrong. This is a very cute, quaint, international city, and I’m enjoying my time here. But when life literally shuts down at 5:30 every day, there is not much to do. Except run and drink beer. And often, the weather is so bad that neither of those things sound appealing. So I read a lot, and watch Dutch television. Last season’s episodes of shows that are just beginning to play here. And try to prepare for real life after this. I can’t believe I’ve already been here for two months, and only have about two months to go. And then I have to get a real job, yikes! My evenings lately have been consumed with my Bar application, and scouring every job website I know of so I can apply for anything and everything.

Work at the Tribunal is amazing, but unfortunately, I can’t speak in great detail about what I do or the case I’m working on, because we are in a fairly compromising position in our jobs. I work in Trial Chambers, which essentially means that my team acts like a group of law clerks to our three judges on the case. We research legal and procedural issues and issue decisions on motions submitted by defense counsel and prosecution. Understandably, because I’m somewhat privy to the inner thoughts of the judges, that is essentially all I can tell you about my job. But I will say this…it is really, really awesome. And now I feel like a spy because I can’t tell you anything. Which makes it even more awesome.

I imagine the next few months are going to fly by quicker than I may want them to. I am spending this coming weekend in Paris, the half-marathon is the weekend after that, London at the end of the month, and then Istanbul, Turkey, right after Easter break to go visit Sinan and watch him play ball. And before I know it, it will be May, and my work at the Tribunal will be done, and I will be boarding that long flight back to where my heart is and always will be…Seattle.

Walking to work. The Dutchies bike in this kind of weather. No way was that going to happen.

In a wooden shoe in Delft. The good news is that I definitely don't look at all like a tourist.

My beach...Scheveningen. Yeah, you're not jealous now, but you will be once the temperature rises above absolutely frigid (that should be what an actual thermometer reads...because I'm telling you right now, anything below zero all feels the same...absolutely frigid).

Sunset at Scheveningen. Also note: sad day because it was my last weekend with Jess (remember Entry #1). I miss Jess.