Mullets as far as the eye can see.

Apparently Europeans are still huge fans of the mullet, because I have seen more mullets in these two weeks than I have seen in my entire life. And that's saying alot, considering I have spent almost all of my life in the South. I'll see if I can snag some photos, because they are usually glorious, but the dudes usually look pretty sketchy, and the UN doesn't give interns diplomatic immunity. Bastards.
In other news, I got my a bicycle to ride around like the common Dutchman. I had forgotten how incredibly difficult it is to ride a bike. But it take too long before I figured it out again, like riding a bike. Although, the seat seems to be hurting my bulbous ass. I may have to lose the regular mountain bike seat for some sort of cushy one, built specifically for us large assed people.
I also discovered and put to use one of the Dutch laundry mats, which is not near as similar to our domestic ones as I had hoped. Unfortunately, I botched the payment procedure and had to move my clothes too a new washer and it locked me out. It was about this time that I met my first non English speaker here. I now realize what the Mexicans in San Diego who just came over feel like when they don't know any English, except they usually have a better grasp of English than I have of Dutch. Also, I learned that It is quite difficult to say "I am locked out of the washing maching," using only hand gestures, and that speaking louder is no help at all.

That is all I have for today, so I will leave you with some photos.

For Manda and Ka, this is an entire store, probably 250 square feet, completely devoted to the sale of cheese, nothing but cheese.


Here is the church right next door to the hotel. Every morning, I hear the bells in the tower.


Another guy on a quad on the street. Apparently that is perfectly legal here, which is pretty friggin awesome. Although this one is a Raptor, made for a grown ass man, as opposed to last guy on the children's quad.


And finally, at the Albert Heijn supermarket they have this glorious vending machine. You can purchase razors, stamps, trolly/bus passes and condoms. Thats all you really need in life.

unfortunately it was out of order, so, sadly, I could not partake in the purchase of its goods.

More to come,

Matt

Wacky Macedonians

Updates were slow coming this week, they kept me been really busy at the tribunal. I have been assigned to a case that is currently in trial involving a massacre in Macedonia. I can't speak too much about it, because almost all that I do have to be confidential. But, if anyone cares to read the public info about it you can find it here, http://www.un.org/icty/cases-e/index-e.htm scroll down to the Boškoski and Tarčulovski (IT-04-82) case and you can see the indictments and some info about the case. It deals with a small massacre in Macedonia in 2001 that the Minister of the Interior is being charged with responsibility, It has been pretty interesting thus far, lots of violence. It is a far cry from the tweakers and crack heads I dealt with at the Public Defenders office. Other than all that, this week has been quite uneventful. I have been really busy at the tribunal and not done much else. I'll see if I can work more in from now on, for those of you who are living vicariously through me.

Here is the building I work in, it's the ICTY Admin. building. They have the interns down in the basement with one tiny window at the top of one wall. It's like a dungeon in many ways. They don't pay any of us and relegate us to the basements, bloody savages.


This was a grown ass man riding around on what appeared to be a 50cc quad made for children, crazy ass Dutch.


And, finally, here is a photo out the window of my hotel. It's nice, but thankfully I will be out of here next weekend.


That is all for today, as I must be off to buy a bicycle.
More to come,

Matt

The first weekend

In case anyone cares to comment, I freed up commenting to anyone, not just Blogger members. Some people call me the Abraham Lincoln of Blogger, and I'd have to agree with them.
Anyways, my first weekend in Den Haag was somewhat uneventful. I did much as I had during the week, go wandering around town trying to get unlost. But this time, I found myself at the beach, although that was mostly on purpose. It looked surprisingly similar to the beaches of San Diego, I was expecting something rocky, but just sand and sand, and a shit load of seashells. And odd looking ones at that. Sure there were the same old clam looking shells that you think of when you think "sea shell," but these were long skinny oyster looking shells, all in big piles, like so



I think they were piled like that naturally, but I wouldn't put it past the Dutch to pay a guy just to pile those up on the beach. Side note, they hurt like hell when you step on them in bare feet.

Whilst walking down the beach, I witnessed some kind of rescue mission by the lifeguards. And this was the craziest assed beach rescue I have ever seen. One guy swam out to the girl in distress with some sort of belt that was tethered to a box that the rest of the crew was holding onto as the line reeled out. When the distressed person got the belt around her, the part of the crew on the beach started pulling the line. They claimed this was an effective way of rescue, but I think they just didn't want to get wet. I've seen the San Diego lifeguards in action before and it was much more impressive. Also, I think this was a training mission, as the distressed girl went back into the water with the rescue crew and started doing crazy exercises.

Here is the "rescue" scene.


Because of my lack of attention span, this rescue had distracted me from my initial agenda. From across the beach, I spied what appeared to be two surfers. So, with my curiosity peaked, I walked down the beach to investigate. When I got down there, behold, I was indeed two surfers.


I was unaware that one could surf in the North Sea, but here it was, two daring Dutchmen were doing it. Although the waves were few and far between and looked way too crappy for me to surf on, as anyone that has seen me will tell you, my surfing chops are neigh on nonexistent, It takes a pretty powerful wave to get my fat ass moving, so I will probably not partake. That and the convenient excuse that the water will likely be way too cold by the time I can get a hold of a wet suit that fits me.

That was about the extent of this weekend's excitement for the weekend, as I prepare for my first day at work on Monday, which should be full of excitement. I will leave with some photos.

I believe I found the coonass owner of that houseboat in all his Pierre Part Reebok glory.

The guy in the chair just sat there motionless while being filmed, no doubt the worst film ever.

This was the second of three sets of people on horseback, just riding down the street as a waited for the bus. Madness.


The most grandiose beach hotel I have ever seen.


And, finally, only my friends from the plant will get this. But, why didn't anyone tell me that Vince quit the plant and moved to Den Haag?


More to come.
Matt

Mr. Holland's Opus

At the suggestion of My buddy Justin, I modified the title of the blog. I'm sure this won't be the last time.
Day two was not that much different from day one. It was strangely cold here, alot like winters in Louisiana, cool and wet, but the wind was the killer. Therefore, I found myself in a store looking for a jacket or the like. It was about that time that I discovered that the average European is quite dainty, as I was a bit too large to fit in to a normal XXL, which is quite troubling, but not surprising in the least.
I went out later that night, to celebrate Cindy, my predecessor at the tribunal, and pretty much the reason I have this job, leaving for London on Friday. We went to this nice little bar where the beer flowed like wine and good times were had by all, and we mourned the death of the King by listening to hours of his music.

During the day, whilst stumbling around town, I discovered this.

Could it be? Dutch Coonasses?


And then this guy thinks just because he has a miniature car, he is allowed to park on the sidewalk. Frikin Dutch


The aforementioned Dutch bar, SOHO and the Elvis loving bartender


Cindy's last night in Den Haag


I like Ike, but, clearly not more than the Dutch.

And, Finally

This is SPARTAAAAAA!
Wait, no, still Den Haag

Day One

I finally made it to the The Hague today. Which was no easy feat, considering how much crap I had to take with me. I barely got my bags through the tiny doors on the train from Amsterdam.
When I get off the long flight to Amsterdam from Atlanta, which went by surprisingly quick, I walk to a pay phone so I can call moms, because I am sure she is still awake awaiting my call. The Amsterdam airport looks like any other airport I have been to, except for all the dutch signs.


So I walk down that hallway to customs and baggage pick up and am greeted by my first taste of Dutch signage.

Which looks innocuous enough, until I look a bit closer and realize that they are fondling David.


The crazy ass Dutch.

After I go through customs, which was surprisingly easy, I grab my mountain of baggage and head to the train. Buying a train ticket was a hassle, because they insist on making it difficult to pay cash for one, but eventually I found the counter, and was on my way, after trying to decipher the signs in Dutch. Luckily, I found the right train and got off on the right stop. Everything was coming up Matt.
When I got into the hotel, I went wondering about town. It seems like just about everybody in this town rides a bicycle everywhere they go. At the train station there was probably 2000 bikes parked out front. I had never seen that many bikes in the same place before. It was alot like the scene in The Bicycle Thief outside the soccer stadium. So perhaps I will get ahold of a cheap bike whilst I'm here.
Also, it is humid here. The weather right now reminds me of Louisiana in the Late fall.

Some photos of my first day.


I was nervous to get on such a blurry train at first, but it ended up being pretty stable.


The Dutch countryside from the train


My hotel, which happened to be right next door to...


The ICTY building, which would be really convenient, If I weren't leaving the hotel before I start work


The other side of the ICTY building


Only a few of the many many bicycles

And finally, I think this guy heard I was coming, so he wanted to make me feel more at home


More to come.

Matt