Paris, Den Haag and a New Hair Cut!

Hello All!

I have got a new camera charger, and you know what that means! New pictures! Hurrah. I'm just going to put a few pictures up of Paris and Den Haag, so here is the sites so you can see the rest of the photos:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=61130&l=4498d&id=519280565

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=61151&l=3873d&id=519280565

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=61521&l=af382&id=519280565

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=61694&l=5db26&id=51928056

Here are some photos from Paris:

<- The Louvre

<- Notre Dame

<- View from the top of the Notre Dame

<- Notre Dame

<- Eiffel Tower!

Photos from Den Haag:

<- My weekend host family

<- Den Haag from the Pier

<- Sinterklaas!

<- Zwarte Piet

<- The Queen's Work Castle

<- Peace Palace

<- World Peace Flame, with Sara from Washington.

New Hair Cut!:

Last tuesday I got a haircut! (Above). My friends Lotte and Ly went and got their hair cut too, so I had someone to explain to the hairdresser exactly what I wanted in case I got stuck (Lotte is very good at english) and of course to change their hair style as well.

Last weekend I went to Den Haag (The Hague) on a rotary trip! Den Haag is the government city of Holland (Although it is not the Capital), so there was a lot to see and do there! I was there the 14th to the 16th of November, and it was a lot of fun. Here's the run down of what happened:

Friday I was suppose to leave at 4 o'clock and get there at 6:30, however, driving to the train station, I realized I forgot my phone, so we had to turn around and I missed my train. Trains leave every half an hour from the Hengelo station, meaning I got into Den Haag half an hour later than I was suppose to, and ended up missing all the other inbounds. Also, we were staying with host families for the weekend (Above), and I was suppose to be staying with the girl from Japan, unfortunatly, she cancelled last minute and I ended up staying by myself. So Friday night I went to my host families house in Wassenaar (really close to Den Haag) and ate supper, and after that I went over to Sara's (Washington State) house, because she is spending her exchange year in Wassenaar she was staying in her normal house. Elizabeth and Meaghan (Both from Canada) were staying with her, I went over there and visited them and we hung out and watched Prom Night. At 12 Frans (host dad) came and picked me up and we went home and I had nothing to do, so I went to bed.

Saturday I ate breakfast with my host family and then we were a bit early so Frans took me on a tour of the house and garden, which was beautiful, the houses in Western Holland are much more modern than the cottage-style houses of the east. The house was a large one story very modern looking house witha beautiful garden that included a huge Koi pond and 3 different dining places. After the tour of the house and garden, my host parents took me on a short tour of the area of Wassenaar and Den Haag by car and then we drove to the Museum where I was meeting the group. The Museum was called Gemeentemuseum and it showed modern art and several interactive things. It was quite strange and with many things that you could look at, make noise with, dress up in and play with. After the museum we walked to the Tram station to take a tram to the beach. On the way to the Tram, we caught the Parade for the arival of Sinterklaas in Holland (I'll explain Sinterklaas later), which was cool, because Sinterklaas is very much apart of the Dutch culture. After the Parade we went to Scheveningen (the Beach in Den Haag) where we ate lunch (Croket) and walked along the beach and on the Pier. The beach was beautiful (but slightly cold) and was being used as a Motocross track at the moment, so we watched bikers testing the track for a bit. At 5ish our host parents pick us up and we went home for dinner. Afterwards we were told we were going to a Disco, however it was actually sitting there watching an orchestra reherse and then standing in a small room with crappy music. Needless to say, most of us we pretty angry, we were all very excited to be able to finally go out together.

Sunday we all met at the train station and said goodbye to our host families. From there we took a bus tour through Den Haag, where we saw the Queens Work Palace, The Peace Palace, many of the Embassies (unfortunatly not the Canadian) and some other things.

The Queens work palace (Photo Above) is located in Den Haag and is where the Queen does her official Queen stuff. The Peace Palace (Photo also Above) was built in the early 1900's in an acted of trying to keep peace between America and Russia, unfortunatly the year it was finished, World War 1 broke out. Many countries gave something to the Palace, it's gates are from Belgium, fence from Germany, wood from Indonesia and rugs from Iran among other things. Now the Palace is used for the International Court of Justice (or World Court) and Permanent Court of Arbitration. Near the gates you can also see the World Peace Flame (Photo Above) which is a eternal flame ment to symbolize world peace.

After the Bus tour, we went to the Heart of the Government and were taught about how the Dutch government works, which is pretty much just like the Canadian, with a few small differences. And then we went to McDonalds for lunch, where Rotary reserved a table for us (All the inbounds found that pretty epic). McDolands here is surprisingly a lot better here in Holland than it is in Canada and much nicer. Following that we went to the Mauritshuis Museum where we viewed city scape paintings of the major cities in Holland. Then it was time to say our goodbyes and headed home. Fortunatly me and Kalie got to ride together half way, and I didn't miss any of my stops!

So that was my weekend, lots of fun, Den Haag is a beautiful city, if anyone is going to Holland, it is deffinatly something you have to see (along with me of course :P).

Now as promised, Sinterklaas! Sinterklaas is the dutch Santa Clause, only he's from Spain. The Sinterklaas celebration is held in The Netherland, parts of Belgium and Netherlands Antilles (A group of islands located in the Caribbean the use to be colonies of The Netherlands) and is ment to honor Saint Nicholas the Patron Saint of Children. Every year in November (normally on a Saturday) Sinterklaas comes to The Netherlands from Spain on a steamboat with his mischievous helpers, the Zwarte Piet's (Black Peter's). Then on December 5 people celebrate Sinterklaas (I'm not sure how) and eat Pepernoten, small gingerbread like cookies (which are really good), and end the night but placing their shoes (typically wooden clogs) by either the fireplace or window for Sinterklaas to leave presents in them. Then it is said that Sinterklaas goes to all the houses by night and the Zwarte Piet sneak in through the Chimney (to explain their black face and hands) and leave presents in the shoes. Small children are also told that if they are bad during the year, Zwarte Piet will leave them a bundle of sticks or some salt instead of a presents.

Thats all! Nothings really happening here right now, just busy with school and friends and fencing. However, I switch host families in 20 days, and my birthday is in 23 days:) so some fun stuff should be coming up soon.

Thats All For Now!

Doei!

Jayden

p.s. remember! i love comments, so if you have something to say, or just to say hi, let me know your reading and post it!