Happy Sinterklaas Day!

Like they say: If it's nice, do it twice!" The Dutch  celebrate Christmas twice! My understanding of the story goes a like this... Sinterklaas (Saint Nicolas) was a Bishop in Turkey were he saved the town from starvation and gave money to poor children. Somehow (not even the Dutch know), Sinterklaas now lives in Spain. Legend has it, every year on December 5th (before Saint Nicola's Feast Day on December 6th) Sinterklass travels from Madrid on a boat. (This is probably because the Holland was famous navigation in the 17th Century.) All the little children place their shoes in front of the fireplace filled with hay and carrots for Sinterklaas and his horse.  'Zwarte Pieten' ("Black Petes") are Sinterklaas's helpers. They are tall elves (no one is short in the Netherlands:) with black faces, red lips, and Afro hair. This is super controversial!! The Dutch dress up their children as Zwarte Pieten and paint their faces black with red lips. The Dutch explain that the elves are black from the ashes after going down the chimney. However, outsiders are often offended and connect Zwarte Pieten with the Dutch history of slavery. The story continues that the good children will receive gifts and the bad children will taken to Spain in Zwarte Pieten's bag. 

Besides the questionable racism, Sinerklaas Day is so special and a bit different. Sinterklaas is tall, thin, and wears a tall bishop's hat. For the day celebration, the families get together and recite poems they wrote about each other. They also exchange chocolate letters based on the first letter of your first name. Today I got a chocolate "A!" In the evening, Sinterklaas leaves a bag of presents for the kids and does not distinguish individual gifts. Dutch children favor Sinterklaas Day above Christmas and Santa Clause.However, with globalization this may change!   

I met Royalty!

President of Mali and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands

Last Wednesday, His Excellency Amadou Toumani Toure, President of Mali traveled all the way from West Africa to speak to the students at my school! A little history lesson.... Amadou Toumani Toure served an army commander. In 1991, he lead a coup over the government and became the leader during the transitional period. In the transition period, he organized the writing of the Mali Constitution and coordinated democratic elections. When the new president was elected he relinquished his power and returned to the the military. This transition of power is so significant. As I am here studying development, I learn about the struggles many countries face in democratic transition. Needless to say, Toure is well respected in African Politics and great example of a strong leader. Later Toure ran for President, winning the election with 27% of the vote. 
It was such a pleasure to meet Toure and hear the history of Mali and his personal story. This is the link to his speech http://www.iss.nl/News/Past-Events/Lecture-by-His-Excellency-Amadou-Toumani-Toure-The-President-of-Mali. (The second posting is in English :)


HOWEVER, I think it was just as exciting to meet THE QUEEN OF HOLLAND!! Beatrix and I are basically neighbors, but she never comes around .... I have tons of sugar (white sugar and brown sugar)...you have to be prepared for these kinds of things! 

There I am! In the back, right... to the left of the bald man :D

My 30 Day Challenge

My sister Breana is taking a speech class this semester. She recently was assigned to do a persuasive speech. Her persuasion was to challenge her audience to do something new for 30 days. Well, her speech worked! She has persuaded me to blog for 30 days, "You just have to do it" and "it's not about if you will do it today, but when you will do it. It is important to find the time."

 So for the next 30 days I will be updating my blog. I have so many stories that I have failed to share. Just to warn you, I will be backtracking some days to talk about things like the "Day of September 11th in Holland" and "My Dutch Halloween."

 As I am starting this 30 day challenge, YOU should do one too! All you have to do is think about something you have always wanted to do... and then DO IT! This is not a link to Breana's speech, but it's second best. http://www.ted.com/talks/matt_cutts_try_something_new_for_30_days.html It's a 3minute clip to inspire you to do try something new for 30 days. We can do the journey together!

Have you Voted Yet?

The student government elections are taking place this week. My friend from China (who works for the Chinese government) is a candidate. I asked her if she had voted, thinking we can go to the ballets together. She responded, "No, in China you never vote, you are just appointed by your teacher, boss, or any authority and then you are required to do the job. Our government is a little oppressive." She had never voted! Yesterday we went to the ballets together and my friend voted for the very first time!

Lucky Pot or Pot Luck?

This is on the steps of my front door. 

I am living in a dorm style housing near the city center. I actually live a couple of blocks from the Queen's Working Palace. I like to think we are like neighbors in the same neighborhood. I live on a beautiful small, narrow, dutch street neighboring cafes, pubs, and there is a lovely bakery on the corner. No cars can drive by, there is only room for bikes. For some reason, this tiny street puts on the biggest street parties! When I first arrived there was a family festival with animal balloons, face paint, and crepes! A couple of weekend ago, there was an Oktober Fest celebration! It is a nice environment, but the best part is actually inside the dorm.

This is nearly everyone in our dorm !

I live in this really special international community. There is about 35 students from all different countries. We have two enormous kitchens. It is so fun to see the different meals each person cooks, whether it is a traditional Indonesian  dish, Indian curry, or Bulgarian cheese dish.Some of their food shocks me, and when I eat raw vegetables, it shocks them. I have been called bugs bunny several times because I don't cook my carrots!

The delicious food! 

Hellen let me try Zimbabwean Sadza
and Aba let me taste Ghanaian Goat.

The CA (community assistant) in me is bursting out! I've made name tags for our doors and organized a pot luck dinner! When I was making the invites my friend asked me, "What is a 'Pot Luck?' Is it a lucky pot? Is it some sort of game"  !!! There is always a language barrier here ! It makes everything funny! So we called it a dinner instead. However, when you organize a pot luck with international students, it inevitably becomes an International Pot Luck with food from all parts of the world!

Matt Damon was right

This is me during my workshop presentation on Capitalism 

I started my first year of grad school. I am taking four classes: Development History, Theory, and Practice; Power and Politics, Sociology: Social Action; and Development Economics. It is a lot of work! I usually have three classes a day. Each class is 2 hours, but we do get a small break. It is mostly reading, but it feels like finals week, every week! Yesterday, I turned in my first assignment on the origins of capitalism. I also did a presentation on this topic. this was my Prezi power point, it is really cool! http://prezi.com/dug23qf8le6s/copy-of-copy-of-was-capitalism-inevitable/

Who would have thought Matt Damon was right about what you learn in the first year of grad school.  Remember the bar scene in the movie, "Goodwill Hunting"  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ymsHLkB8u3s It is true! Maybe he is right about the rest of the year? Maybe he should teach my class? :) 

Hello my name is Ashlee

The Peace Palace, Den Haag

All the students from all over the world have arrived. There are 150 students from 48 different countries. Most are from Africa, South America, and Asia. Less than 25% are from the Northern Hemisphere. My classmates are quite impressive. The average age is 30. Many of them have years of working experience. Some work for their country government and have been sent to the Hague to complete a Masters to enhance their countries development. In my specialization of Human Rights, Development and Social Justice, we all took turns introducing ourselves. The first woman to works for the International Criminal Court!! The second women is an attorney. Then it was me :) So my peers are quite impressive .. the others were lawyers and founders of organizations. My professors are even more impressive! So I lack experience but get to learn from those who have been doing this for many years. I am really happy to be at this school and to be in this unique learning environment. I really feel I am among future "world changers." However, I can already see that because everyone is coming from a different background we will all have very different opinions. There are only 2 other Americans. When I say I am from the United States, everyone gives me big eyes and says. " oh! The big country!" I don't know how to react but I compensate by being just as excited to hear that they are from their country. It has been so fun meeting all new people.

The North Sea! 

This last weekend was the hottest day of the year! My new friends (representing South Africa, Turkey, Mexico, Bulgaria, and Japan)  and I picnicked at the Beach and swam in the North Sea! It was cold, but not too cold.  It is a beautiful sandy beach with little shells, but the beach has no waves.

 

I am arrived at Den Haag at a perfect time. This past weekend was called "Museum Night" where all the museums are opened at night! The Dutch color is orange. They rolled out the orange carpet and the museum celebration began!