Hashing in July...

No matter how often we hash in the same city, we still manage to see new things such as these two cool murals in Amsterdam. 

One sunny Sunday we headed to Hilversum after I managed to recruit a hare for a joint FILTH / Amsterdam / Wageningen hash. We had no idea what to expect in this city on the way to Utrecht, but were very impressed with this pedestrian bridge over the train tracks.

We were even more impressed with the trail, which was great with much of it off road.

The Hague Urban Trail...

Almost missed posting about our first Urban Trail, which was awesome. On July 2, Ashlynn joined Jimmy and me for The Hague Urban Trail, a 10K non-competitive run through buildings in the city center. It started next to the Hofvijver across from Parliament and included 18 stops, many of which were buildings that we ran through. Our first stop was The Hague Historical Museum followed by the Escher Museum where we ran up to the first floor and then down to the basement and exited out of a back door. Later we went through Humanity House, a museum focusing on refugees.

We had a lot of respect for the organizers of this event as they found so many interesting places to take us through including Resident Restaurant and its kitchen, followed by a horse stable and then the royal gardens.

We visited these two hofjes (housing for the poor) dating back to the 17th century.

How fun to run through four theaters: movie theater Pathe, Nuthuis built in an old bank vault, Paard which hosts concerts and the National Theater. 

Ashlynn had run ahead so missed out when we took this selfie at Leiden University The Hague...

...and when this photo was taken after we had passed through the auction house. The three of us all loved this race and look forward to doing more in other Dutch cities in 2018.

Scheveningen Beach...

After our ride, we walked over to the bungee jump tower to see yet another cool view of the Ferris wheel and pier.

The lighting on the Kurhaus was lovely.

24th Anniversary Selfie

We completed our celebration with a nice dinner on the beach.

The Hague’s Ferris Wheel...

After we finished at the museum, we grabbed a bottle of wine and headed to the pier to ride on Europe’s first  Ferris Wheel built over the sea, which opened in August 2016.

In honor of our 24th anniversary, it was fitting that we rode in gondola 24.

Luckily it wasn’t too crowded so we had the six-person car to ourselves.

 The views of the sea, beach and city were fantastic.

Celebration Starts with Sculptures...

Late in the afternoon of our 24th wedding anniversary, Jimmy and I met at the Beelden aan Zee Sculpture Museum in Scheveningen. The main exhibit was of an artist named Zhang Dali, a performance and graffiti artist from China. This eerie sculpture, called Brownian Motion, was made of rusty iron bars taken from real construction sites that pierce models made from 3D scans of ordinary Chinese people. This was intended to depict the chaos of economic growth where some people benefit greatly and others lose their homes.

In addition to some very cool photography, there were some other interesting sculptures by Dali such as these horses...

 ....and some dragons in compromising positions with humans.

There were several small exhibitions of other artists, including these interesting Delft pottery wheels within racing bike tires...

 ...and this creepy one with girls’ heads and traffic cones.

There is a very small permanent collection that includes this female tree...

...and this male fox.

Lots of Hugs...

It wasn’t all hard work those two weeks. While the BSN guys played football against the kids, the BSN girls enjoyed lots of hugs. The BSN girls also played against the girls, which resulted in a tied score.

Ashlynn is holding Mishel, who looked for her every day. 

Ashlynn found it pointless when the kids were presented with tablet computers by a local politician. Sadly many of them don’t even have pencils or can sit their exams because they can’t pay the fees, so what can they do with a tablet they can’t charge or connect to the Internet. She believes that they need to walk before they can run. 

On the final day at the school, they were presented with blankets as a thank you gift from the fellow that they purchased their construction materials from.

Teaching in Kenya...

Ashlynn was in charge of teaching a class about biodiversity at the high school. She was really nervous, but it ended well.

The BSN supplied all the equipment for the high school science lab. On a previous trip, they also built a library for the primary school. 

At the primary school, Ashlynn taught beginner math to the preschool class and, along with another student, taught ten-year-olds about the respiratory system.

A portion of the funds raised by Project Africa was used to provide a breakfast for all the primary school students, which is the only meal that some of the kids will have on a daily basis.