Wednesday, January 21, 2004
Statenkwartier v. Scheveningen
Headway in the house-hunting front! Though I'm still enamored with the over-priced flat in Centrum, I viewed two more reasonable alternatives yesterday, both of them in the vicinity of ICTY. One is on Van Edmondstraat, the other on Helmstraat. The Helmstraat apartment (Statenkwartier/Scheveningen) is one unit of a 19th-century (maybe 18th-century?) mansion that's been chopped into apartments, and, thus, more charming. It has a balcony that looks great but could be deadly to Dar. It's the impractical, sentimental favorite of the two. The other is on the ground floor in a quieter but only slightly less-accessible neighborhood (on the fringes of Statenkwartier, as it were). It's cheaper and more reasonable, but has these cold white tiles in the livingroom. I'm such a priss. Anyway, having this choice has lifted my spirits. I'm just trying to not think about how much I'll have to pay for these places plus the mortgage back home.
I'm contemplating a trip to Rotterdam and the Rotterdam International Film Festival this Saturday with a group of other interns. And on Sunday, my new best friend has promised to take me to Germany. Peter is a computer engineer from England, here in The Hague for a job for a year. He's got a wife and daughter Sofia's age back home, and has insisted on being my European travel guide during our stay here. His wife is Chinese-Malay, so his daughter is mixed as well. He's determined to quiz me on all things American; all he knows is what he sees on television. I fear I'm replace one warped view with another.
This Holland experience has been so other-worldly for me, a fact of which I'm reminded as I eat dinner with a Brit like Peter or attend a conference on civil law practice taught by a lawyer from Spain while sitting with law students from Australia, Canada, Italy, Hungary, Spain, Greece and the UK. It is 180 degrees from my usual life, and I have to sit back and remember this whenever the drudgeries of house-hunting or finances get me down. I did this for the adventure of it, and I can't let the mundane details get in the way.
I'm starting a list of things for Sheryl and Dario and Sofia to do once they get here, with Peter's help. He's got a binder of ideas and suggestions he prepared for when his own family visits. I can't wait to see my family again. It's a much-diminished adventure without them.
Today, I'm going to spend the day in the library reading about civil law (what a confusing mess), go to the Milosevic trial (winding down before a three-month break for him to prepare his defense) and a lecture on crimes against humanity. Uplifting!
I'm contemplating a trip to Rotterdam and the Rotterdam International Film Festival this Saturday with a group of other interns. And on Sunday, my new best friend has promised to take me to Germany. Peter is a computer engineer from England, here in The Hague for a job for a year. He's got a wife and daughter Sofia's age back home, and has insisted on being my European travel guide during our stay here. His wife is Chinese-Malay, so his daughter is mixed as well. He's determined to quiz me on all things American; all he knows is what he sees on television. I fear I'm replace one warped view with another.
This Holland experience has been so other-worldly for me, a fact of which I'm reminded as I eat dinner with a Brit like Peter or attend a conference on civil law practice taught by a lawyer from Spain while sitting with law students from Australia, Canada, Italy, Hungary, Spain, Greece and the UK. It is 180 degrees from my usual life, and I have to sit back and remember this whenever the drudgeries of house-hunting or finances get me down. I did this for the adventure of it, and I can't let the mundane details get in the way.
I'm starting a list of things for Sheryl and Dario and Sofia to do once they get here, with Peter's help. He's got a binder of ideas and suggestions he prepared for when his own family visits. I can't wait to see my family again. It's a much-diminished adventure without them.
Today, I'm going to spend the day in the library reading about civil law (what a confusing mess), go to the Milosevic trial (winding down before a three-month break for him to prepare his defense) and a lecture on crimes against humanity. Uplifting!
