Yay Holland . . .

Mon-
Quiet day at home, but tonight we went to a lecture in the shul. Talk was about Jerusalem and The Hague; Challenges to Israel from the perspective of International Law and the speaker was Yitzhak Blum, Deputy Director of the Department of International Affairs in the Israeli Ministry of Justice. It was so interesting because there was actually a nice turnout-close to 20 people, which is about what they get on Shabbos and this is the turnout that you may see in the states for a lecture. Most of the Jews here are Israeli, so they were very interested in this topic. (Note most Israelis do not come to shul on shabbos, which is why we see such low numbers to services when the community is a decent size) The speaker spoke about the way Israel plays into matters of international law. Also tied this in to the international offices which sit in The Hague and their relationship to Israel. Was quite interesting.

Tuesday-
Today was so much fun. Started off the day with going to see a movie, Letters to Juliet. It was so great, highly recommend. Took place in NY and Italy. What was very interesting to me is often I would see a movie about NY and say how exciting it is that I live in this place and then see places in Europe in a movie and say wish I could be there. Now there is a change of thought that when I see NY, I think wow I miss NY and when I see Europe, I think so exciting I am here and can experience all that this place has to offer.

At night we went to watch the World Cup game in a square in the middle of The Hague. This place is filled with restaurants and each place has TVs set up and chairs for people to watch the game. We got there early to get seats as its gets packed. Everyone was in orange and had amazing team spirit. People were going crazy from the beginning. It was an incredible atmosphere and I can’t even describe in words what the experience was like. It was so crazy. Every time Holland scored people were screaming, cheering. Orange filled the square. People were in all types of costumes, young and old. And then Holland won. If I thought people were crazy before, boy was I wrong. The screaming was elevated. Everywhere you went you heard honking of horns and noise. We went home fairly after to avoid the mayhem, but from our 11th floor window for hours after they won you heard honking of horns and screams. No joke. Now we wait until Sunday for the final game and here is hoping Holland wins.

Going to update pictures from the night on the blog.