We arrived to Amsterdam on Wednesday the 13th and were immediately charmed by the warmth, beauty and SUNNY streets of Amsterdam. I'm not quite sure what I expected to find, but this is a place where I could spend much more than the time we are here for over the next few days.
We've had presentations on the challenges of diversity including a focus on women's right, GLBT issues and the growing tensions among the Muslim community and the dutch. Amsterdam is a very inclusive city where the general motto is live and let live, but it would be wrong to say that the city is without it's community tensions.
For those that don't know A'dam is a city where there are nearly 800,000 people and there are almost as many bicycles (500,000). The entire city commutes to and from by bike and it is just incredible. We had the chance to visit the bicyle repository where bikes that are stolen or abandoned arrive. Adults with learning and physical disabilities restore thousands and thousands of bikes each year and bikes that arrive here are reclaimed, recycled and sold back to bike shops. It is quite the operation.
Today we travelled to the Hague to visit the international criminal courts and were actually able to sit in on a portion of a trial. We also had the opportunity to visit parliament and visit with a member of the VVD party (the "liberals" which here in the Netherlands are socially liberal and fiscally very conservative). Had a chance to talk about issues ranging from the education system to immigration policy and everything in between.
Tomorrow is a trip to Flavoland to visit a dairy farm and learn about renewable energy efforts as well.
Sorry, I haven't written more--we literally start every morning around 8 and don't finish up most nights before 10:30.
Next post will be some photos!
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