Delft in Pictures

Ah, Delft. A small little town just south of The Hague with charming canals. It is home to the painter - Vermeer, the father of international law - Hugo Grotius, William Prince of Orange (who later became King William III of England and married Mary Stuart), and Delft pottery (which was a painting style that blended the styles painted on porcelain from China with European styles and became popular when the Chinese porcelain became unavailable after the death of Chinese emperor Wanli in the 17th Century).

The town is only 10 km from The Hague and makes for a great little day trip.

\

"Istanbul Was Constantinople, Now It's Istanbul Not Constantinople"

March has been a busy month! Life in The Hague has continued along at about the same pace. I've noticed that the biggest demand on my time here (aside from working M-F) is socializing. And I definitely do not regret all the socializing because I've met incredible people from all around the world and formed some great friendships.

Unfortunately, while I've been socializing I've been neglecting my blog updates. So this posting will be less detail and more summary of the month of March so far.

The first weekend in March my friend Rob and I took two days off from work at the Tribunal to head to Istanbul for an extended weekend. This was my second time visiting the city. I first visited the city with my friend Lena three years ago, while on my Fulbright. I was dazzled by the city and was anxious to go back. This second definitely did not disappoint and there were many improvements that I noticed (perhaps coinciding with Istanbul being named Europe's Culture Capital in 2010?!?!).

It was much different traveling with a guy than with another girl. We still experienced heckling, but instead of being leered at by Turkish men we were frequently met with greetings like "Nice couple, want a Turkish rug?" or "I can help you spend your money" or "Nice honeymoon couple, come inside for delicious dinner." Traveling with a guy also made it much easier to experience a flavor of the city's night life.

Over the course of four days we walked a lot, saw numerous sights, and ate a lot of delicious Turkish cuisine. I had seen some of the sights before, but the addition of new audio guide tours assisted me in learning much more than I had before. We visited the Hagia Sophia, the Topkapi Palace, The Spice Market, Grand Bazaar, Blue Mosque, and Basillica Cistern to name a few (some pictures are posted above).

We also paid a visit to a Turkish Hamam (a Turkish bath) for some much needed relaxation. A Turkish bath is a much different than any other "spa" experience. The himam experience this time was also slightly different than my previous himam. Typically the baths are segregated. You are given a towel (which looks a bit more like a picnic blanket than a towel) and taken to a changing room. There you strip down to nothing but the towel and are led to a room with a hot stone slab in the middle. You lay on the hot stone slab for a spell. In this instance I was then directed to the sauna where I steamed for about 30 minutes before a bath attendant (read: large Turkish woman in a bikini) fetched me and guided me back to the stone slab. Once I was comfortably laying on the stone slab she sloughed my top layer of skin off and proceeded to give me an incredible soap massage. I had purchased the deluxe treatment so after being exfoliated, suds-ed and rinsed, a different attendant came over and gave me a massage with honey. I think the honey was probably mixed with some type of oil because it was not sticky. After the honey massage I was led to a water spigot so I could wash the honey off and from there I was taken to a cold pool where I was able to swim for awhile. Finally, after feeling properly relaxed and rejuvenated I was taken back to the changing room to put on my clothes and head out for a night on the town.

The week after returning from Turkey was crazy. My friend and roommate, Marion, had a birthday and so my other friend and roommate, Becky, and I decided to throw her a surprise party. Miraculously we managed to keep the whole event a surprise. There was one moment where I almost cracked and confessed the surprise to Marion because she was so sad. To her it seemed like nobody wanted to celebrate her birthday. Other plans had been made for the weekend and when she tried to invite everybody to meet her for drinks after work nobody RSVPd or showed up (because immediately after she sent an email invite we sent an email around reminding people of the surprise party). I feigned fatigue and passed on going to drinks saying that I needed to go home and nap but set the stage for luring her back to our apartment by explaining that maybe after my nap we could go to dinner. Becky bailed on drinks with an excuse that she had to work late. So while Marion was at our favorite after-work watering hole with just a few people, all of the rest of our friends were gathering at our place to prepare for the surprise. When Marion finally arrived and everyone yelled surprise, she was INCREDIBLY surprised and happy!

That same week was a sad week in that a few of the close friends I've made here left to return to their homes. My roommate and friend Anna Clara and my friends and office mates Rob and Rabea both completed their internships and headed back to Brazil, DC, and Germany respectively. It was sad to see them go and their presence will be deeply missed here in The Hague. In order to provide a proper sendoff, however, the week was filled with delicious dinners, after-work drinks and a Crazy Hat/Silly Hair party. In my opinion, you couldn't ask for a better sendoff.

Last week it was business as usual and life was a bit calmer. The weather is finally taking a turn for the better and it is enjoyable to bike in the sunshine on the way to work. I had one minor bike fiasco on Thursday when I was biking along and my pedal suddenly flew off my bike. Luckily it was an easy and fairly inexpensive (17.50 Euro) fix and I was enjoying my bike again by Saturday.

Saturday I biked to the train station and then Marion and I took the tram to Delft. Delft is a quaint town about 10 km south of The Hague. It is famous for its pottery and also was home to Vermeer (painter who painted "Girl With The Pearl Earring"), Hugo Grotius (father of International law), and William of Orange (Dutch Monarch). Marion and I spent the afternoon wandering through the tiny canal filled town. We took in the sights and sounds of the market and ultimately camped out at a table in the sun for a late lunch and some delicious Belgian beer. I'll post some pictures of Delft soon.

Today was another vitamin-D filled day. I biked around The Hague with Becky in order to run a few errands. Then when Becky and Marion headed to work (yes, on a Sunday) I ran a few more errands and then took a nice run in the sunshine. It was a wonderful start to Spring!