Hello All

I just got back from my THIMUN trip in the Netherlands. We left on the 23rd, and returned on the 29th. We travelled 6 hours on a double Decker bus with a couple other schools also going to THIMUN in The Hague. I had never been to The Netherlands, or anywhere else in Europe for that matter, and it was cool to see how much the people and culture changed in a 6 hour drive!

There were a total of 12 people in my school group from the Gymnasium Isernhagen, representing Barbados. On the way in the bus, I taught my German friends how to play our favourite Eastwood Collegiate card game (you know, the one we played with like 6 decks of cards and 12 people.). Anyways, that was a hit (as I try to share with the Germans something truly Canadian..very hard).

So, upon arriving in the city 'Den Haag', we were dropped off at the 'Empire Hotel'. I have to explain this because it cracks me up. The hotel was more like a small run down house, had one shower, and a smoky bar. There were mostly three of us to a room, and only two beds per room. This meant that one person had to sleep on the floor. Wow, what an Empire!!! That night, we went to Pizza Hut all together to eat.

The Netherlands is really something else. All the people working in the shops can speak Dutch, English, and German. It's so funny. The Bible on the night table in the Hotel was only the New Testament, but in all three languages. It's so confusing because I would speak half German and half English all the time. It's so confusing!!!! I ended up speaking Denglish, Deutsch and English. Mann oh mann. The Dutch people seem to be friendlier than the Germans. I don't know why that is. However, I've been generally blessed with the German people that I know!

On Monday morning, we took the Strassenbahn to the Congresscentrum, found all our different committees, and starting informally discussing our draft resolutions. Each committee had about 4 topics or so, and by the end of the conference, we were supposed to have full resolutions for all the topics. Of course this is a lot harder than it sounds, and the process is long, and sometimes boring. So, with the resolution that you write at home about your topics, you have to merge them with other countries thinking like you.

After lobbying, I had an ambassador's meeting, and we prepared for the opening ceremonies with the flag parade that we would be doing. I was supposed to meet the real ambassador for Barbados, but he didn't show up, and I had to carry my flag alone.tear. oh well.

That night, we ate at an Italian Restaurant. The owner was there, and was so amazingly cool, that we went back again on Thursday night. He gave us free drinks and was just really funny. A kid was having his birthday party at a table next to ours, and we all sang Happy Birthday to him.we were really into it clapping and snapping. They really got a kick out of us.one large table of crazy teenagers.

On Tuesday, we broke off into our committees, and discussed out designated issues, in a seemingly hopeless effort to agree on something. Some countries were just out to make it hard for us. We had a topic with the Israel and Palestinian wall, and it was hard to get past the fact that out Israeli representative wanted nothing to do with taking down the wall. The whole conference was about role playing the country that you represent, and Israel played it well!!!

I got to talk to the girl in my committee representing Canada, and that was funny. She did a good job of playing the peacekeeper, I must say (regardless of the fact that she didn't know who our Prime Minister is.).

On Wednesday and Thursday night, they showed movies in the Congresscentrum, and we went to see those after eating. My friend Anja had her birthday, and we went back to the Italian restaurant. We also went to a bar, and asked the live band to sing Happy Birthday for Anja. The city The Hague is right along the beach, and we all went for a midnight walk as the waves roled in. It was pretty cool.

A big difference between schools here and in Canada is the 'parent supervision' thing. Our school group had no curfew, no time to be in bed, and we just went our and explored the city at night as we pleased. We met with our teacher sponsor once or twice a day to just sort of keep contact, but other than that, we were all on our own. The freedom is something that the German kids are used to, but sometimes I still feel a little weird not calling home or telling my mother exactly where I will be at what time.

On Friday, we discussed selected resolutions as a General Assembly body, and voted on them. Once again, the whole process was a lot of discussion, debate, and listening. There were closing ceremonies on Friday, and we, the ambassadors, participated in another flag parade. The 222 of us paraded around the GA, we were accompanied by drummers. It was very impressive, and colourful.

That night, we went to a closing dance for all the delegates. It was a lot of fun as there were so many people there and it was packed.

I think the best part of the whole THIMUN trip was that I got to meet so many different people. Since we always sat in alphabetical order, I got to know the people with countries beginning with 'B'. The delegate representing Belgium lives in Malaysia, but is a British citizen. The representative for Bangladesh lives in The Netherlands, and the representative for Belarus lives Greece. It was just incredibly multi cultural. I met people from New Zealand, many from Canada, the US, India, Australia, Germany, Japan, and people really from all over the world. A lot of the students go to international schools in their countries, and have learned English there. Also many students have parents that travel a lot, and have maybe lived in America for a year or two, and of course a fair number of exchange students. I fit right in. I am from Canada, an exchange student in Germany, and was representing Barbados. How cool is that???

So, I haven't been to school for over a week because of my THIMUN trip. PLUS, I have another two days for National Semester change holidays here in Germany, and I have a musical that I'm in for another day, and then an opening night on Thursday. This is feeling like my busy schedule in Canada! I like to be busy and involved.

The musical that I'm in is something like the GALA at Eastwood. It's sort of a mush of different skits and so on, but all tied together with a common theme. I am playing my double bass in the orchestra. This musical however is on a totally different scale. It involves the music school here in Iserhagen, elementra school kids all the way up to the teachers in our school. Our 'super' orchestra has 9 year olds through 19 year olds, making the whole musical a funny thing to watch. Everybody takes part and has something to contribute.

Well, I must be going. I have musical practice, and then I should sleep. I went to a VOR ABI Party last night, and am extremely exhausted.

Looking forward to hearing from Canada.

Lots of Love

Danielle