J.F.R

World Cup Fever!

2010-06-07T20:33:00.001-06:00

Four days . . . !

Winston!

2010-05-24T11:53:00.000-06:00

My favorite movie of all time is called The Longest Day. It came out in 1962 and it is about the D-Day invasion of Normandy during WWII. It was this movie that peaked my love for studying history. I then would watch religiously The History Channel every day after I came home from school. I still remember coming home from high school every day and turning the television on to watch Great Chefs of the World and then turning it to The History Channel to watch Greatest Blunders in History. Food and history are a winning combination.

Anyway, there is a scene from the movie The Longest day with a beach master who was called Commander Colin Maud of the Royal Navy. He was directing the movement of the troops on the beach to move inland against the Germans. What is great about this scene is how he had a small, chunky companion by his side. It was an English Bulldog. Commander Maud named his companion Winston. Obviously after his Prime Minister, Winston Churchill.

Ever since this scene, I have been determined to get an English Bulldog and name it Winston some time in my future. Now this brings me to the real point of what I'm getting at. I read this morning on MSN a slideshow titled What His Dog Says About Him. The last slide mentions the bulldog. This is what it says:

A bulldog man is usually a meat-and-potatoes, football-every-Sunday kind of guy. He's also the kind of guy who may let his underbite-baring, kinda-funny-looking dog grab Cheetos straight from his mouth. One might find that a bit gross . . . or totally endearing.

They nailed it!

I am either a skeptical empiricist or a limousine driver!

2010-05-20T14:22:00.000-06:00

I'm currently reading an interesting book called "The Black Swan". The author shared this story:

"Once, on a transatlantic flight, I found myself upgraded to first class next to an expensively dressed, high-powered lady dripping with gold and jewelry who continuously ate nuts (low-carb diet, perhaps), insisted on drinking only Evian, all the while reading the European edition of The Wall Street Journal. She kept trying to start a conversation in broken French, since she saw me reading a book (in French) by the sociologist-philosopher Pierre Bourdieu--which, ironically, dealt with the marks of social distinction. I informed her (in English) that I was a limousine driver, proudly insisting that I only drove "very upper-end" cars. An icy silence lasted the whole flight, and, although I could feel the tension, it allowed me to read in peace."

The author was actually a very successful quant trader on Wall Street. You will have to read the rest of the chapter to really get what he is illustrating. I thought this was interesting. Black Swans are everywhere!

Two episodes left and I'm more confused now then before!

2010-05-12T13:40:00.000-06:00

Last night's episode of Lost was way confusing. How will the show end?

Q&A #1 - LOST

2010-05-11T15:51:00.000-06:00

OK boy . . . give me your thoughts on LOST and what you think will happen. I cried when Sun and Jin died, but are they really dead since the plane never crashed now?? So confusing! - Katie

I first need to share that I am huge into LOST. What is great about the show is the fact that you never truly know what is going to happen. It constantly keeps you thinking and speculating. There are tons of allusions to religion (the picture that the cast took that alludes to the painting The Last Supper which Lost fans have dubbed The Lost Supper), mythology (Greek and Egyptian), mathematical equations, philosophic thought and literature. There is a huge fan base and they call themselves LOSTIES. The show is so big and frustrating that a website patterned after Wikipedia was created called Lostpedia along with another website titled Theories on LOST where fans can share what they think is happening. However, there are only three episodes left of the entire series. The finale is on May 23rd and I just read that ABC is going to add another half hour to the finale. It will be two and half hours long. I can't wait!

So, what are my thoughts and what I think will happen? I really have no idea. Who is MIB (John Locke or I should say, the man in Black)? Who is Jacob? Are these two characters types of God and the Devil (or Egyptian Gods) and is the Island, Hell, as Richard said it is? There are allusions in some respect to Dante's Inferno about Hell. Everyone on the Island had a troubled past that inflicted some form of guilt (true Hell) upon them while on the Island. Why does Jack feel that he should not leave the Island? Is Jack a Messiah figure (this is a stretch)? He heals, leads, and advocates on others behalf? Will he replace Jacob? What about the Island itself? Is it a parallel universe or is it an alternate reality? These and a host of other questions cannot be answered intelligently (in my opinion).

A question that I was thinking about after last week's episode is with Sayid. After he was resurrected earlier in the season, he turned bad which is evident in the horrific killings and dirty work on behalf of MIB. But, I don't think he killed Desmond (Brother!) and he willingly sacrificed himself by blowing himself up in the sub. Was that an act of redemption which, perhaps, will save him to see his wife? Also, at the end of the episode, MIB (John Locke) knew that not everyone died in the sub. How? Why did he want them to die?

Like I said, I really have no idea about what will happen in the end. But as you can tell, I think too much about this. It's just so darn good.

Check out this article to unlock the The Lost Supper code

World Cup Fever!

2010-05-08T11:36:00.002-06:00

This is a great commercial for the World Cup next month. I love watching the World Cup. There is just something about watching nations go head to head in a sport where the U.S. does not dominate. It's fun and exciting. One of my goals in life is to attend a World Cup championship game.

Good time to visit Europe . . . The Dow

2010-05-07T23:16:00.000-06:00

The Euro is at $1.27 compared to the US dollar. The last time I was in Europe the Euro was at $1.60. It would be a great time to visit Europe.

I read a couple of theories today about why the the Dow dropped 1,000 points yesterday. One of the theories for the drop is simply from the worries about Greece and their troubles, but for the Dow to drop 1,000 points just because of Greece's problems does not sit well with me. Another theory I read is that an analyst on the trading floor accidently pushed a button to trigger a trade worth $2 billion instead of pushing the button to trigger a trade worth $2 million. How do you make that mistake?

2009-06-18T13:02:00.002-06:00

"The Capitalist Manifesto: Greed Is Good (To a point)"

http://www.newsweek.com/id/201935

This is by Fareed Zakaria. He's one of my favorite political analyst as well as my favorite nationalized American. He illustrates the current economic crisis in a promising perspective.

My generation's inheritance from the government!

2009-06-10T06:21:00.002-06:00

"Mr. Orszag says the president is committed to a deficit equal to no more than 3 percent of gross domestic product within five to 10 years. "

"For U.S., a Sea of Perilous Red Ink, Years in the Making"

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/10/business/economy/10leonhardt.htm?_r=1

This is what my generation will inherit this coming decade -- an almost never ending deficit. I'm looking forward to it!

Defeat!

2009-06-09T06:55:00.002-06:00

This past weekend has been one of the most exciting, yet nerve racking weekends in my entire life. It was the European elections here in Ireland and throughout all of Europe, both local and EU. This means that the last two months or so that I've interned for Kathy Sinnott hinged on two days worth of counting votes to see whether she kept her seat in Parliament or lost it.

The people of Ireland voted on Friday. On Saturday, the votes were counted and it was announced who won within the local elections. Beginning on Sunday, the votes were counted for the European Elections. Because they don't vote electronically, everything is done by hand, which means that it takes not hours, but days to find out who won. It was a three way battle between Kathy Sinnott, Torisea Ferris, and Alan Kelly for the coveted third seat in the South constituency here in Ireland. In the end, after about 48 hours of agonzing pain as I watched the t.v. to see the results, Kathy was defeated by Alan Kelly for the third seat in Parliament.

It was a bit of a bummer, but, to be honest, I was not too surprised. The Irish people are looking for new leadership. They are looking to change and improve their government. It's speculated that the one issue that lost the seat for Kathy is how she's against the Lisbon Treaty that will be voted on again this coming Fall. I feel bad for Kathy and those who work for her. Because she is an Independent, she has no party who funds her. This means that she and everyone who works for her are unemployed. It's a tough defeat because this office put in a lot of time and energy to win. But, I try to look at everything as an opportunity. I'm pretty sure we haven't heard the last of Kathy.

Well, I was thinking about defeat and what it means. I looked up a couple of quotes that I liked and of course, one from Batman:

"Defeat is not the worst of failures. Not to have tried is the true failure." George E. Woodberry

"Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat." F. Scott Fitzgerald

"You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it." Maya Angelou
"'Why do we fall? . . . So we can pick ourselves up again.'" Alfred

Dingle . . . Four . . . Running

2009-06-01T09:41:00.007-06:00

Last Saturday, I went with a few friends to Dingle, Ireland. Yes, there really is a place called DINGLE. It took about two and a half hours to get there. The country side was awesome. It was very mountainous and very green and the weather was beautiful. Dingle is a small sea port town and is famous for two things: an aquarium and Fungy the dolphin. The aquarium was not too exciting. I paid 9 euros to get into the aquarium to look at . . . fish. Yes, I know, aquariums are places where they have fish, but they were boring fish. I was hoping for a man eating shark or something. There was a sea turtle that I have to admit was pretty cool to look at, but overall, not worth the 9 euros. I also did see Fungy the dolphin. Though it was a statue because the original Fungy died about a decade ago and the city of Dingle made a statue as a memory. So, yep, those two things are what Dingle is famous for.

Because it's a sea port, I was in the mood for some fish and chips. We walked through the town and were shocked at how expensive fish and chips were. The cheapest we found was 13 euros. That's about 16-17 USD! But, I thought to myself, "When would I honestly be in Dingle ever again?" So, I approached my group and gave my speech, remembering that I had attained the gift of eloquence a week before, and when all was said and done, we ate at Subway. O well! The fish and chips were probably nasty anyway. I enjoyed Dingle. It was very pretty and I am glad that I had the chance to visit there.

After Dingle, we decided to travel through Conor's Pass, which is through the mountains of southern Ireland. The roads were extremely narrow and at one point, only one car could pass through on the road. It was rather fun, I thought.

There are four days left until the elections. The latest polls indicate that Kathy is in the third spot but that Alan Kelly is right there battling for that position as well. It's really too close to tell whether she will win or not. The actual elections are this Friday, but the count is on Sunday. So, I won't know until Sunday evening where I'll be the rest of the summer. If she wins, then I'll head back to Brussels. If she loses, then I'll head to London sooner than expected and home after that.

I'm still enjoying work. The first week that started my internship, I researched and wrote a letter to Ireland’s Foreign Affairs Minister concerning the crisis in Zimbabwe. Well, I heard back from him or I assume his intern. The letter said nothing concerning the recommendations that I suggested. Instead, it was a letter telling Kathy (really to me) what Ireland has and is doing to mitigate the situation in Zimbabwe. I didn’t really have any expectations or real hopes that the minister would immediately take heed to my recommendations, but the fact that he responded was satisfying. I wrote the letter on behalf of an Irish citizen who was saddened by what was going on in Zimbabwe and hoped that Kathy could do something about it. For me, knowing that I, in a way, did everything that I could to help this Irish citizen was satisfying. Obviously, there’s probably more that I could do, but I honestly feel proud of what I did. Helping the constituents of Ireland South, real people with real problems, is the most rewarding part of this internship. I'm not sure how many jobs out there accomplish this feat. I know that politics, most of the time, is synonymous with corruption, greed, and scandals, but I do believe that there are good politicians out there who really do everything he or she can for the people they represent. I'm going to remember this.

Finally, today is a bank holiday. It is also the annual Cork City marathon. Now, if I had known about this race and if I had known about 3-4 months ago that I was going to be here in Cork today, I would have ran this race. I've ran a marathon before and vowed that I would never do one again, but as I walked around listening to the music being played, the huge crowd that had gathered, and the cheering on for the racers, I thought to myself, "I think it's time to get back into running mode, again." I really haven't ran much in the past 6-7 months because I was so busy at school. Before, I would wake up around 5:30 to go run and work each morning, but this past semester was the busiest I've had and I evaluated what areas in my life to neglect so I could have just a bit more time for school. It was either running or reading my scriptures. I chose the former to neglect. However, I think I'll get back into running. I enjoyed running races. Honestly, the best part of running a race is the popsicles at the end. Popsicles are the answer to everything.

Well, it should be an interesting week.

Canvassing . . . Ronald Reagan!

2009-05-27T02:40:00.006-06:00

I finally convinced the office to let me go canvassing. It was a beautiful day, finally, and I wanted to get out of the office to talk to people. Here's the canvassing team. We're not much to look at but we're all Kathy has right now.

We're at a local pub having tea and scones. I'm holding a scone. It was very good.

So, we went to the lake to meet up with volunteers. I was pumped up and I wanted to get out there and start knocking on doors, but this is Ireland and these people are not a bunch of fireballs, so we went to get some tea and scones. I didn't have any tea but the scones were amazing. Well, I got a little annoyed by the fact that we were just sitting around, so I grabbed Liam and headed out. We split up so we could cover more houses. In total we knocked for about 5 hours. Combined we probably knocked on about 450 houses. It was fun. Everyone was very nice. I didn't have a single rude person. (If only tracting on the mission was like that) A few individuals were puzzled as to why an American was canvassing, but they were still nice. Though, I am still having a hard time understanding the Irish accent. The Irish accent is a lot harder to understand than the Aussie accent. A few people tried to talk to me, but I just smiled and said, "Vote for Kathy" because I couldn't understand them. Overall it was fun. My feet, though, are killing me. I'm just grateful that it didn't rain.

Funny experience this morning. As I walked to Wilton Shopping center to meet up with Caroline and Liam. This older gentleman stopped me and said I looked like Ronald Reagan. He was talking really fast so I couldn't quite make out exactly what he was saying, but I think he said that I should go into politics. I just smiled and thanked him. It must be a sign, though. On Sunday I gave a talk at church and afterwards everyone came up to me and said that I should go into politics. We'll see. If there is anything in Washington that I'd want to be apart of, it would be with foreign affairs. Something to keep in mind.

HAHAHA . . . what do ya think?!

Blarny Castle!

2009-05-24T09:26:00.011-06:00

Yesterday I went to Blarny Castle. I was dropped off at Blarny city around 8:30 in the morning. I stepped out of the car and into the pouring rain. I walked across the field to the entrance to the Blarny Castle park, in the rain. The park opened at 9:00, so I waited in the rain. I finally got in and walked toward the castle. I walked (in the rain) for about 20 minutes toward the castle. The trees opened and there's the castle. It was pretty cool to see. I really couldn't stare up too long because it was raining so much.

I went inside and explored. Because it was raining, not very many people were there, so I was basically by myself in the castle. I made my way up to the top and back into the rain. There's a tradition associated with the castle. At the very top is a stone that hangs over the edge. Tradition has it that those who kiss the stone gain the gift of eloquence. Winston Churchill before he became Prime Minister kissed the stone. Well, I have a great desire to become a great orator someday, so I had to kiss it. I found the stone, laid on my back, and gave a kiss. It was pretty funny.

In all it was a neat castle. I explored for a while . . . in the rain. The real kicker, though, was as I walked through the exit, the freakin sun came out and blue skies began to emerge. I was so mad. I was soaking wet. O well.

I then took the bus into Cork city. I walked all around all day. I went to the Shandon Tower to ring the bells. I played "Don't cry for me Argentina" and "Three blind mice." I also visited University College Cork. It was very nice looking campus. Two of the interns for Kathy attend there.

I was craving all day frites. I walked for hours looking for a place that sold good frites. I couldn't find one; instead, I found probably one of the best Kebab places that I have ever eaten at. It was called Istanbul: A Real Taste of the Orient. It was so good. I love ethnic foods. I think my next trip will be to Greece and then over to Turkey. I also went to the English Market. It reminded me a lot of the market in Footscray, Austrlia as well as the market in Florence. Except the English Market did not have the kinds of cheeses that Florence did.

All morning, for some reason, the Laura Ashley store kept coming into my mind. I remember growing up that my mom and dad would go here quite often and of course drag me and my sisters along. Well, as I'm walking around Cork, sure enough I walk past a Laura Ashley store. I took a picture and walked on, but I thought, "Maybe I'm supposed to go inside." Perhaps there is someone I know who is inside. So, I turned around and walk in with the expectation that someone was in there that I knew. I stood around for a few minutes, didn't see anyone, so I left. The End.

"Thanks a million!"

2009-05-22T04:37:00.009-06:00

Everyone here in Ireland says, "Thanks a million!", after they finish speaking to someone. For some reason I think it's so funny. There's sincerity in that, eh? Anyway, I've spent the last week and a half organizing canvassing. Since I'm not going out talking to people, I've been asked to organize the volunteers about where to go and what to do. It's not too challenging. I just organize it like I did in the mission when I was a district/zone leader. I've also been continuing the madeinmunster.com website. Everything is going well with that, though, Kathy's daughter has taken the lead on it now. I've taken a back seat. She wants to change a lot. I voiced my opinion on how the website should be directed towards, but she has other ideas. O well! As I said before, "I do what I'm told." I'm here to help Kathy win.

Yesterday, though, I was given a foreign affairs assignment. This is what I like doing the most. Organizing canvassing and developing a website is good experience, but I really enjoy researching and writing policy recommendations. The issue that I'm writing about deals with Israel and Palestine. Apparently Israel have kidnapped and hold 39 democratically elected members of the Palestinian Legislative Council in Israeli prisons without recourse to due process since June 2006. I've done a little bit of research so far, but I'm going to research the court orders and the Inter Parliamentary Union's ruling on the situation. From what I've read so far, it seems that there are human rights violations on the part of Israel in this situation. Israel has been bombarded lately with accusation from world organizations about human rights violation, especially in relation to the recent war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. There are some interesting articles about that situation. So, Israel is not looking to hot right now. This will be interesting.

I'll head to Blarny Castle tomorrow. I'm going to check out and see what the buzz is all about. I'm also going to explore Cork city. I also have to prepare a talk on Sunday for church. I attend a small branch and they have asked me to speak. I'm happy to do so.

This is just a random picture. I took it two days ago. It was pouring outside and everyone (except me) were going to go canvassing. We were crammed into this tiny car. What made the drive so funny is we were listening to Britney Spears "Hit me baby one more time" to rally everyone to go canvassing. The windshield wipers made this loud, annoying whining sound and the car also smelled like coffee because Elena a couple days earlier had spelt a cup. I was laughing the whole time.

Elena, who is from Germany, (front left), Olivia, who is from London, (back left), Miriam (back middle) and Liam.

16 days . . .

2009-05-20T09:01:00.007-06:00

There are 16 days until elections! June 5th is the big day. It's important for Kathy because she is in a heated battle for the third position. Ireland South elects three MEPs for Parliament. So far the polls have Kathy battling for the third position with two other candidates. It's important for me because I'll have an idea of where I'll be for the next couple of months. If she wins, then I'll most likely be headed back to Brussels. If she loses, than I'm headed to London sooner than expected. Either way, it's exciting right now. There have been a few debates with Kathy and the other candidates. Kathy has done quite well, but I'm not sure that the people are convinced. We'll see. I was supposed to go canvassing, BUT the canvassing team felt that because I'm an American and have an American accent, it would be best that I don't go door-to-door or talk to people on the street about what's going on. You know what I call that . . . DISCRIMINATION! Who cares that an American is campaigning for an American born Irish candidate for the European Parliament?! hahaha . . . I'm just kidding. I don't mind. I do what they tell me to do.

Well . . . the weather still sucks! Every so often, though, the sun does shine. Here are some photos of Ireland:

Me, Liam, Caroline (front right), and Hannah

I walk home from the Wilton shopping center. It takes me about an hour both ways. I prefer to walk because it would cost about 6 Euro a day to take the bus. This is one of the scenes I walk past everyday.

Caroline and I waiting to take the bus into Cork.

The office that work at is nestled within these hills.

This is the bus stop right next to our office.

I am enjoying my time in Ireland. But I still hold true to my statement that Ireland is a good place to visit . . . not so much to live. These next two weeks will be busy. Because I'm not going to be canvassing, I'll probably be given all the office work that the other interns are working on while they canvass. hmmm . . . as I said, DISCRIMINATION!

hmmm . . . Ireland!

2009-05-16T14:12:00.004-06:00

Well, it's raining . . . again. That's all it seems to do here in Ireland. I've been here a week and it just rains. Add the cold wind and that's what the weather is like here. But, it is very pretty. Ireland is exactly what I expected. It's very, very green, hilly and filled with cows. I live in Ballincollig, which is next to Cork. It's a little less than an hour south by flight from Dublin. Life is very slow here. It reminds me a lot of Tasmania, Australia. I would go crazy if I had to live here. I pine to be back in Brussels. I miss the waffles and a good transportation system. The bus system here is terrible. Instead of paying 5.29 euro a day, I just walk an hour to and from work.

Though life is very slow here in Ballincollig, I've been extremely busy at work. I'm continuing to research and write up documents concerning issues throughout Europe. I've also been given another assignment which is to help develop a website sponsored by Kathy called madeinmunster.com. The point of the website is to help stimulate economic growth here in the province of Munster. It's quite ambitious. I've been trying to synthesize information regarding libraries, employment agencies, etc. to put on the website for the people of Munster to refer to. Next week I'll go out canvassing (campaigning). I'll do some door knocking and street contacting. I was asked if I've ever knocked on doors before. I just laughed. I'm looking forward to it. I enjoy talking to people.

Politics is quite depressing here in Ireland. The people of Ireland are not happy with their government. Fine Fial is the political party that has the majority power in government. They have a 10% approval rating. The Prime Minister has a 24% approval rating. It's really sad. The Irish are nice people, but once you mention politics or the economy, I can see and feel how depressed they are right now. What's interesting, though, is when I mention anything about President Obama, they perk up. They really like Obama here in Ireland. But it's not that they like his politics, but they like how he speaks so optimistically. They look at President Obama as a leader. Someone who can rally the troops. It seems to me that that is the kind of leadership they want here in Ireland. Simply someone who can bring a more positive view on a dire situation. The people of Ireland look at their leaders as boring men and women who are constantly making poor decisions. Anyway, I'm rambling. Ireland is a nice place . . . to visit--not to live (this is a personal view).

I'll try to post some pictures up tomorrow.

Parliament!

2009-05-08T09:29:00.004-06:00

This past week I've been working at Parliament here in Brussels. Overall, I've enjoyed every minute. I was afraid that on Monday, my first day, I'd be going through some kind of boring orientation. On the contrary! I arrived at 10:30 and met Hannah, who is my supervisor. We went straight to the office. As I entered, I met Olivia, who is an intern from London. Hannah showed me where I would be working and showed me how to use Microsoft Outlook. After she showed me Outlook, she simply turned around and went back to her computer. I then sat down and noticed that Hannah had sent me an email that contained my first assignment. So, within about 10 minutes of arriving here at the Parliament, I began working. It was great!

For my first assignment I had to investigate a case involving a dispute between two families in Ireland. The one family was feed up with the courts and decided to contact Kathy, who is a member of Parliament that I work for, to ask her for help. I was given the task of investigating the case and to make recommendations according to my findings. It was an interesting case. I'm not sure if I can share in detail what was involved, so I won't, but let's just say it involved death threats, school board members being fired, and false accusations made by the local Diocese. Honestly, this case would make a great movie. In the end, I wrote a letter, in Kathy's name, to the Catholic Bishop of Meath. I simply wrote about my findings and shared with him my recommendations of how to reconcile the situation. I sent it to my supervisor who liked it a lot. So, hopefully my recommendations will be of use.

My next assignment dealt with Foreign Affairs. Kathy is a member of the Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee. Foreign Affairs is something that I'm extremely interested in. I hope to pursue a career in Foreign Affairs. Anyway, Kathy received an email from a person from Zimbabwe who shared about the depressing situation there. This person desperately asked for our help. I was asked to research all about the crisis in Zimbabwe and then write a letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ireland. I already have a great interest in the development side of Africa, so I was pleased with this assignment. I researched all day on Tuesday about the problems in Zimbabwe. In a nutshell, Zimbabwe's economy has literally collapsed and they now have the highest inflation rate in the world. Nearly five million Zimbabweans rely on humanitarian aid for food and because of the corrupt government, not enough aid is getting into the country. HIV/Aids is rampant throughout the country. Nearly 15% of the population has HIV/Aids and around 3,000 people die each WEEK from HIV/Aids. This past year Zimbabwe has gone through a Cholera epidemic that has infected nearly 100,000 people and killed thousands. The list goes on and on. It's an extremely depressing situation. I ended up writing a letter to the Minister outlining my recommendations for what Ireland can do to mitigate the situation. After I finished, Kathy had a look over it and liked what I wrote. She gave me the go ahead to send it to the Minister. I was pleased she approved. I'm going to stay current on this issue in case Kathy needs some more work done on Zimbabwe.

Yesterday and today I researched and wrote to the Minister of Environment, Heritage, and Local Government of Ireland concerning a dispute about the building of a major highway through the Tara Valley, which is just east of Dublin. The Tara Valley is home to Ireland's more ancient and historical monuments and landmarks. This valley for nearly 4,000 years was Ireland's political and spiritual capital. Ancient kings reigned in this valley. Now, the government is building a major highway right through the valley to alleviate traffic congestion. It's absurd what the government is doing. The building of this highway is going to destroy the heritage of Ireland. So, I wrote a letter outlining, again, my recommendations for what the government should do.

I'm really enjoying this internship so far. I'm gaining exactly the kind of experience that I was hoping for. Today is my last day at the office here in Brussels. I leave for Ireland Sunday morning. I'll do some campaigning in Kathy's constituent for the next month until elections on June 5. After that, I'm not sure what is going to happen. I would like to continue my internship as long as I can, but it will depend upon whether Kathy gets re-elected. Until then I'll just keep working.

Other than work, I've explored a little bit more of Brussels, but since I started working, I've stayed at the office pretty late doing my research. Yet, tonight is Friday and I think I'll go get a Belgium Waffle and sit at a table in the Grand Place to do some reading/people watching. I think I'll buy some chocolate for the trip over to Ireland as well‑-Belgium chocolate that is. I have it right this time! Boo . . . ya!

Holland . . . Brussels . . . Waffles!

2009-05-02T10:08:00.011-06:00

The last three days have been rather busy. Thursday, I rode the Metro a lot to get an idea of what the city is like. I went by the European Commission and Parliament. They are HUGE buildings. That's where I will be working.

Entrance to the EP

Side shot of the EP

Yesterday, I, along with a group made up of six Brazilians, two Congans, one Angolan, three Russians, and one American, drove about two and half hours to Holland to attend Keukenhof. It's a huge Flower Festival. It was rather amazing. We spent almost eight hours wandering around and we still didn't see everything.

Today, I spent the majority of it exploring the rest of Brussels. I went to the world famous Grande Place. It's a big court yard with museums, shopping and very old buildings. It reminded me of San Marco's square in Venice. I visited the Museum of Brussels. Advice: It's not worth the student price of 2.50 Euro. It was lame. I went to Saint Nicholas' Cathedral. It was pretty nice. Though not as impressive of a cathedral compared to what you will find in Rome or Florence. (Can you sense that I have a bit of a bias toward Italy!) I hear London has some pretty good ones. I'll be there in a few months and I'll find out.

I spent about four hours looking for Mannekin-Pis. It translates as Statue of the Pissing Boy. I got lost within the streets. However, I eventually found it. It's a pretty funny statue. I've heard he has a sister somewhere in Brussels. I'll have to hunt for her another day.

As I walked around, I found an interesting shop,"Australian Home Made Ice Cream." Now, I lived in Australia for two years. As I recall, I probably ate ice cream maybe . . . twice. The only kind of ice cream that I remember from Australia was Neopolitan. There was no unique kind of ice cream. It was rather boring. I preferred custard myself. I didn't have any ice cream at this place, but it was extremely busy. It certainly is a perfect brand, though. Honestly, it's genius. Everyone loves Australia. Combine Australian "ice cream" with Belgium Waffles and you have a match made in heaven aka profits.

Now to the most important development of the day. Since Thursday, I've found three Belgium Waffles makers to test the world renowned Waffles. I've heard over and over again from my Dad and Aunt Diane about how incredible they are. Well . . . the first place I went to was an absolute failure. It was lukewarm. I chewed it as if it were rubber and it had way too much chocolate on it. But what was I expecting. It was next to a McDonalds. The second Belgium Waffle maker I found was actually at the Flower Festival in Holland. So, I wasn't technically in Belgium but it counts in my book. Anyway, it was better than the first. I had powdered sugar on it instead of chocolate. It was warmer than lukewarm but not hot. It had a good taste that was satisfying. Nevertheless, I wasn't impressed. Today, as I wondered around the city of Brussels looking for the Pissing Boy. I came across a small Belgium Waffle maker. The employees were dressed up and were very busy. I approached the window and this is what I saw:

It looked promising. There was a great smell emanating from this shop. It was crowed, which is a good sign and most important, there were strawberries. I decided to take the challenge of eating such a piece of art. I chose not to be conservative in my ordering. I selected the one in the upper right hand corner. It was a waffle that had strawberries, fresh whipped cream, and white chocolate drizzeled on top. I held it in my hands and it burned. I was filled with joy knowing that aside from the pain, it was hot, which is how wanted it. I quickly ate a single strawberry with cream on it. It was good. Walking a few paces from the shop into the thick of the crowd I could feel the stares from everyone who watched in envy as I slowly lowered my head to take a bit. The moment I bit down I knew I had found a little place in heaven. I had to sit down. This waffle was AMAZING. I never have tasted anything so good before and this the honest truth. I believe I make the best crepes in the world but even at my best, my crepes do not measure to beauty and taste of this waffle. If my stay in Europe ended tomorrow, that would be just fine. This single taste of Belguim was worth the stay.

Brussels!

2009-04-29T10:58:00.005-06:00

After about 20 hours of travel, I finally made it Brussels. The plane flights were not too bad. I watched "The Day the Earth Stood Still." It was a boring, predictable movie. The ending was terrible. I started watching "Hairspray" but it only lasted about 15 minutes before I turned it off. I was getting a headache from watching it. On the flight from Minnesota to Amsterdam, I sat next to a women who teaches Nursing at a private college in Michigan call Finladia University. It was founded by Fins. Serious?! All I could think about when she was telling me about the school was the episode of Conan O`Brian when he went to Finland. Apparently, the people of Finland love him. It was rather funny. Aside from being distracted by Conan, our conversation came upon religion and I was able to share with her the first lesson. I told her all about Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon. I also shared with her how the church is organized. She was shocked to learn that the leaders of church don`t go to Seminary or some kind of school to gain a degree in Theology. She asked how the leaders are able to preach the doctrine without a degree of somesort. I was glad she asked me because I was able to share with her the power of revelation. I`ve come to believe that learning from others is great and needed but to receive personal revelation on a point of doctrine is powerful. You may not always remember what others teach but you always remember revelation.

I finally got to Brussels and as I walked past the sortie gate, I realized two things. First, I forgot to bring a jacket and second, I had no idea what Sinoui, who was picking me up, looked like. So, I pretty much sat around for a bit. Eventually Sinoui showed up with a sign that had my name on it. We went to the car and as he was backing up he ran right into a BMW X5. I felt really bad. Here I am, standing in the middle of a busy intersection waiting for Sinoui and the other driver to sort out their insurance when this SUV pulls up behind me. The window rolls down and a man who looked like he was from the Middle East starts screaming at me (he had a unibrow like no other). I had no idea why. We weren`t blocking the intersection. I just stared at him because I didn`t know what he was saying. I was about to start laughing but he just drove off. Sinoui and I got everything sorted out and went to his place. He went off to work and I took a nap.

I don`t start work until Monday. I`m going to try and take advantage of this weekend to visit a lot of places around Brussels because next week I`ll be heading over to Ireland. This Friday I`ll be going to the Tulip Festival in Holland. That will be a lot of fun.

California . . .

2009-04-27T18:57:00.013-06:00

Today is the day before I leave for Brussels. I'm in California right now with some friends and we've spent the last three days doing a lot. On Friday we went to Hollywood Blvd. to see the Chinese Theater. It was my first time and it was interesting looking at all the stars with the celebrity names on them. Later that night we went to a Angels vs Mariners game. I haven't been to a MLB game for a long time. The weather was great and it was a lot of fun. Mariners won! On Saturday, we went to Disneyland. However, I have to admit something and this may be a bit of a surprise for many of you. Growing up I was a bit of a wuss going on rides. When I was younger, I remember getting on the Indiana Jones ride, closing my eyes, clinging to the side bars, and screaming like a girl the whole time. My dad, who sat next to me, was trying to move as far from me as he could because he thought that I was going to throw up. Needless to say, I've grown up a bit. Disneyland was a lot of fun. Space Mountain was very fun. We went on it twice and both times, for some reason, I was laughing hysterically. I don't know why I was laughing, but it was fun. Yesterday, after church, we drove down to Laguna Beach. It was a beautiful day. All we did was walk on the beach and took in the great weather.

Tomorrow I leave for Europe. I'm excited for what is to come. I'll be in Brussels, Belgium from April 29 to May 8. I will then head over to Cork, Ireland for about a month. After that, I most likely will head back to Brussels. If anyone has any recommendations of places to go and see, let me know.