Recently at home in The Hague...

Sean is being annoying while I am trying to cook so I ask him to Google translate Dutch to English struisvogel biefstuk to see what sort of cut of steak it is that I am searing in the pan. Is it Sirloin or eye fillet? “Ostrich” he replies, which is clearly is not a part of a cow. We eat the bird anyway and in fact it’s quite tender.

In the last couple of weeks I have visited Sean’s office at the ICTY (on the right) to get my flu jab and endured a couple of job interviews in similarly highly secure organisations in The Hague as well as a visit to Shell headquarters of behalf of the Expat Archive Centre. Screened by metal detectors (shoes off in one instance), having my handbag X-rayed and manually searched, tendering my ID before getting a visitors pass and being escorted by a staff member through the key card access doors is par for the course. In this “city of peace and justice” everybody is a bit cagey. On the other hand, all the security personnel who I have dealt with are very friendly and apologetic about the scrupulous procedures. “Sorry Madam, if you could just place your bag there and do you mind at all if I check it. I’m so sorry. Thank you ever so much. Oh please take a seat if you will, Thankyou Madam. I will get somebody to escort you now.” Yes really, the security guards are friendly, courteous even genteel. I hear them wishing workers “an enjoyable evening, Sir” Not my experience in Australia, at least at the places I worked!

Meanwhile at the Expat Archive Centre (where I am not put under so much scrutiny to get through the front door) I am summarising diaries from the 1940’s and 1960’s of adventures in the Middle East and Asia, including an adorable ten year old boy’s journal; digitally scanning old photos and scrapbooks from expats experiences from the early 1900’s in the Dutch East Indies; and listening to the stories of the lives of another volunteer and employee on their expat lives in places like Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and so on. Time flies when I am there.

Last week we saw a performance of the very highly regarded Nederlands Dans Theater. The choreography is artistic and sophisticated, sometimes surprising and bizarre, sometimes simply beautiful. See my review here! I hope we can see more of them. I am a fan.