Charming doorways

Sweelinckstraat views

Sorry for the blurriness of this photo, I snapped it while walking away. I couldn't resist the blue glass and ivy, and the completely useless but still present striped awning.

More fantastic cars

Symmetry everywhere

Anniversary!

Well, an anniversary of sorts anyway. I have officially been here one month now, so in celebration of making it 1/6th of the way through, I am updating the look of the blog a little.

I can't tell you how nice it is to know that you are all reading this - keep posting (if you can), and keep writing!

Quite the week...

I am finally sitting down to write a little note to all of you, just to let you know that I am still around! This week has been incredibly busy, and I am looking forward to just crawling into bed tonight. Over the weekend I researched case law for certification of an interlocutory appeal. The brief was in the process of being written when Defense decided... to withdraw their motion. Lovely. Other than that I was at the office last night well into the evening, working on something urgent. Even if I get cranky when 9:00 rolls around, it still seems like a compliment to be asked to handle something that is needed right away.

This weekend I will try to take photos of the city and the general area, something representative of what daily life is like here. While I have a softer spot for Uppsala or Berlin, life here suits me just fine. As my dear friend Stacy just described me: I am a 'laid back, Volvo-driving farm girl, with a side of me that's more lawyer, take-on-the-world, nail the dictator.' That just about sums up the Hague as I have experienced it so far.

Escape from the office

Sometimes interns do manage to get out into the real world! These lovely girls are Matilda and Erin, two interns that I share an office with but who work on other trial teams. I am thrilled that both of them go to law school in Boston since we will be able to have an ICTY reunion in January. 

Erin found this fantastic hole-in-the-wall spot when a friend came to visit, and we had a lovely night with tapas and wine. I was glad to still find them sitting at a tiny table in the back, next to a hedgehog doll stuck in the bricks, as I was horribly late. My team had met up after work to discuss the past week and all of the crises that had developed, and our socializing ran to over three hours time. I have no idea what this little place was called, but it was filled with an incredibly eccentric mix of decorations - twinkle lights, balloons, flowers, artwork, sculpture, etc.

Working weekend

I am surprisingly happy that the weather is taking a turn for the worse right now - walking to the court this morning with clear blue skies and a light breeze blowing was just wretched. I will have to go back again tomorrow, and brought reading home with me (the makings of a fantastic Saturday night), but am actually enjoying this since it involves brain cells. 

I'm of course still figuring out how things work, especially since the rules of Procedure and Evidence are completely different than the U.S. federal rules, but I'm starting to know what the working styles are of the different attorneys. Time is absolutely flying by, and I can't believe I've been here almost a month. 

Odd...

At a four hour security briefing that I was required to attend, we interns were informed of the reason why we are required to dismount our bicycles before approaching the gate in the fence. This is to prevent the inordinately large armed guards from potentially sizing us up as being kamikaze bicycle bombers.

Another sign of working in a strange environment is having the staff psychologist apprise the interns of the availability of his services. Check back with me in a few months... please!

Very random thoughts

As any of my friends know, I am capable of thinking of something apropos nothing which in turn cracks me up to no end. This is undoubtedly unnerving for the people around me. Today I was riding my bike down the street, thinking how odd it is to sit ramrod straight on the seat with the handlebars in my lap. The Almira Gulch theme from the Wizard of Oz started playing in my head, and I was chortling while pedaling. All I need now is a scruffy dog to sit in my basket.

Speaking of dogs, my poor little pooch Max is happily doing better after surgery. Get well gifts of Milk bones are welcome! ;)

Diplomatic Drama

Today ended up being a relatively lively day, but not for the 'normal' reasons. 

Even though sirens are a normal sound that drifts up to the windows of the court, something resembling a tsunami warning horn was screaming for attention in the late morning. 

Due to the massive demonstrations in the Xinjiang region of China, some local residents of the Hague decided to bring the protest to the steps of the Chinese embassy, which is almost directly across Johan de Wittlaan from the ICTY. Most employees were not aware what the siren signaled, and we were informed of the trouble brewing when our security force sent out a warning email, informing all U.N. staff to avoid the embassy area as the protest there was "turning violent." 

Hours later the police blockade was lifted; my first sign that things were alright was the sight of baby carriages being pushed with vigor towards the general vicinity of the embassy... 

View from my office, 5th floor

The park in the foreground is the Zorgvliet, and on the horizon you can see the downtown area. To the right is the Peace Palace, home of the International Court of Justice. 

View from the North Side

In the far distance you can see Scheveningen Beach. I once told a friend that the most quintessentially European sight for me is a landscape of red roofs. 

Summer food

Komkommer salade - lekker bij de maaltijd. 

Don't worry Dad, it doesn't hold a candle to your Gurkensalat! Now I am on the hunt for Dutch Streuselkuchen...

End of the week

Hello everyone! I am still alive!

This week at work was overwhelmingly busy. The majority of my time was spent working on preparing for 'proofing' a witness that will be testifying soon. One of the interesting parts of these war crimes trials, something which presents a logistical problem, is the testimony of already-convicted war criminals. Either they have served out their short sentences and require anonymity, or they are still wiling away the years in a prison somewhere in Scandinavia - either way their sensitive status produces a host of problems involving obscuring their identity for court and using pseudonyms. One of the more surreal aspects of my internship is the usage of code names. 

The weather here has not been as dismal as I was warned it could be, and on the contrary has been incredibly sticky and hot. It feels like a Boston summer, and I usually show up on my bike at the court with a sweaty complexion. 

I'm learning how to get to work in one piece, through the speedy cramped traffic, against the gusting wind, in a pencil skirt, over tram tracks, and with a minimum of bruises. Interns swap stories about the latest bicyclist v. car confrontation. The really terrifying bit for someone like me (who happens to want to protect her brain) is that no one, and I mean not a single person that I have seen here, ever wears a helmet. 

Thank you so much for sending mail sweet friends - I adore putting my letters up on the wall by my desk here at home! 

More to follow!