welcome back

there are so many things to blog about. i have notes on what i wanted to blab about from weeks ago. but i have been super lazy about blogging. it's tragic. i won't bore you with the full-scale version, so here's a re-cap. and i will blog more regularly.

1. 30.04.2009: queen's day attack on queen beatrix. this probably made international news. what's strange about being here is that i don't know anything that goes on locally. all the local news seems to be in dutch - with no english subtitling. i found out about the attack on queen's day though, from a friend who was at the houseboat party. she was expecting visitors from italy and had heard that something happened that put a damper on the festivities. apparently, a lot of events in the hague were scaled back or canceled. the attack didn't take place at the hague, though. the queen was in appeldorn. someone drove through barricades and tried to drive into the bus that was carrying the queen and her family in a parade. the story was covered by the guardian here

2. all the time: my awful tv habits. i've been watching some awful tv while i'm here. the all-the-time in english channels are bbc, cnn and mtv. instead of learning more about the world, i've been watching more mtv than is healthy for a 33-year old woman. and what am i watching on mtv? i know who paris hilton chose for her new BFF. i know more about hulk hogan and his family than anyone else. i've seen relationships die a slow and painful 30-minutes. and i've seen the same 5 videos over and over again to the point where i forget what good music sounds like.

3. all the time: poverty sucks. big time. okay, okay. it's hard to have any sympathy for someone who spent the last 4.5 years being vastly overpaid. but humour me. it sucks to see stuff you can't afford to buy. which is everything. i went to a fancy department store here [like holt renfrew in canada or bloomingdale's in NY) and had to leave before i fell into depression. nice european clothes, that i couldn't buy. i mulled over the purchase of pantyhose and a scarf for about 40 minutes. poverty sucks. yes, i am a brat and i'm not really poor. i will now shut up.

4. J.P.'s visit: we were in amsterdam. P.D. (who is originally from amsterdam) recommended a restaurant on the "9 streets" (nice cute streets, also where the eyeglasses museum is located). J.P. and i looked for it. couldn't find it where we thought it was. so we went to a place similarly-named, thinking it might be the place. it wasn't. but... our waiter was super cute and tall. i was trying my witty banter on him all through dinner. hopefully, not embarrassing J.P. too much. at the end of the meal, i decided to be ballsy. and make his week. i left a note on the bill telling him he's adorable. and then we hustled out of there! no contact information on the bill, though. but still. yay, me.

5. 20.04.2009: houseboat party. E.B., M. (don't know her last name) and I went to amsterdam for queen's day. i wrote about this already. anyway, wanted to write a bit more about B.'s houseboat party on queen's day. the houseboat party was super fun! the houseboat was way nicer than most NYC apartments! very nicely decorated. with a working fireplace! greet food, drink and company.

6. 06.05.2009: there was a status conference in the karadzic case. it was quite the scene. judge bonomy (the presiding judge on the panel) was in fine form, as was dr. k. they were both in very good moods. and, unfortunately for the prosecutor, the judge was kind of in a shut-him-down mood. it was substantively very interesting: i wasn't in the court-room however, since i'm not officially dr. k's counsel. we're his "legal advisors", not counsel. and he's pro se, so he's in there all by his lonesome. the prosecution had 4 attorneys in the courtroom. judge bonomy was on fire, clearing a tonne of motions that were ripe for decision. this is a pretty great job in many ways. i use the word job loosely.

7. i found the post-office.

8. and i also found out that there is a sikh temple in the hague. it's located near-ish the big turkish market (apparently, the largest open-air market in europe) and near a couple of indian shops (little india, style). i'm planning to go to the sikh temple one of thse sundays.

9. i've done very little to figure out project TROM-L (the rest of my life). i'm trying to be okay with my lack of doing anything on that front.

that's it for now.
hope to post some pictures of my digs very soon.