Scottish Country Dancing...

It took me a while to get back into the swing of things, but eventually I got used to the rhythm of the dances and had a lot of fun.

Scottish Country Dancing isn’t anything like the ballroom dancing that Sally did at Oxford, but she thoroughly enjoyed it.

Burns Night Supper...

I must admit that I was skeptical when I heard that this year’s Burns Night Supper was to be held in the hall at one of the BSN junior schools. Not quite as elegant as the British Ambassador’s residence, but a surprisingly good venue. As usual, the event was kicked off with a salute to the haggis.

I was happy to be surrounded with several of my British friends: Sally, Jane and Gillian.

Jimmy was happy to pose with me while I wore my Scottish kilt. I teased Gillian that we both were wearing our tarty tartans. Of course, as a Scot, she had much more of a right than I.

We were especially happy that John and Sally could join us for the first time. 

First Project Nepal Fundraiser...

One of the requirements to go on the Nepal trip is participating in fundraising activities. Veronica and Michelle were in charge of the first group fundraising event. They decided to host a chocolate making workshop for junior school students for Valentine’s Day.

Veronica spent most of her time helping make Valentine’s Day cards. Hopefully the parents enjoyed the treats the kids made.

Her First Press Badge...

It is very cool that the entire Y12 (11th grade) group at the BSN got to go to THIMUN (The Hague International Model United Nations) for an entire week in January. Some of the kids are involved with MUN as a club and they all got to be delegates, while the rest are admin with the exception of Veronica who was part of the Online Press.

Veronica was thrilled to have a press badge and full access to the conference in order to take photos and shoot video. When a security guard questioned her while she was taking a time-lapse video at Den Haag Central Station, she was happy to flash her press badge. You can see that time-lapse as well as several others in the overview video that she put together. She had a great time during the event itself and also during the three nights she went out dancing.

Our Mad Scientist...

Veronica is thoroughly enjoying her science classes this year. She’s taking both Biology and Chemistry at higher level for her IB Diploma. Clearly she enjoyed dissecting this sheep’s heart. She also really loves wearing a lab coat!

She was the lucky one to examine the heart of an obese sheep (all the white stuff is fat). It also had a blood clot, apparently due to the obesity. In addition to lab work, she made a video about HIV/Aids for Biology. Check it out here.

Around Back...

After we dried our tears (and I read Jimmy the riot act), we explored as a group. We’d seen photos from other urban explorers featuring a piano, but it was no longer there. Once it got too dark inside, we headed around back.

It was eerie when a gust of wind would catch one of the few drapes remaining in the building.

Veronica enjoys experimenting with digital editing tools; enhancing the colors of these shutters turned out pretty cool.

Daring to Go Upstairs...

The sun was already at the horizon, and all the light we had was the remaining weak beams of the dying sunlight. My father decided to go ahead, leaving us girls together with the two cameras. When he didn’t reappear after a few minutes, we began to get worried. 

In a normal situation, I don’t think we would have panicked like we did. However, I can now tell you from experience: while in an old building as it’s getting dark, your imagination starts playing tricks. Did he fall down and was lying somewhere hurt, not able to reply to our yells? 

Was there someone else in the building? Zombies, perhaps? (Okay that never actually crossed my mind, but if zombies did exist, they would have loved this place.) Frantically, we began calling for him, having no idea where he possibly could be. My mom took the tripod to use as a weapon and we crept up the stairs. 

There was movement at the end of a long corridor, a man with his back to us. The initial fright gave way to relief when we saw that it was my dad. After some tears of relief, we stuck together. The light had almost completely disappeared inside the building, so we decided it was time to leave. Definitely the scariest adventure that I’ve been on.