Tuesday February 8 - Our Working Day - Presentations and Deliberations

Hospitality students Kenya and Navin interview the Mondriaan Horeca hotel students about their program of study

UPDATED: FEBRUARY 9 - JOURNAL FROM SHAKERIA DAVIS AND VIDEO FOOTAGE!

After our long cold walks yesterday we were all pleased when today dawned bright and clear and sunny - and with almost no wind!  The sun proved a good omen for the day, as we managed to leave on time, arrive in good time to the Mondriaan school, and start our real conference activities.

Today and tomorrow the students are split into groups.  The Model United Nations kids are working on a simulated proceeding of the International Court of Justice, involving a fictional suit by Cuba against the United States alleging that the lease of Guantanamo Bay is currently invalid.  The students acting as
judges heard arguments from the agents representing the two state parties today.  (Ryan is acting for the
US and Mohamed is representing Cuba.) 

The case is complex and involves a long and tangled history, and the students made a noble effort to
clarify the issues involved.  According to Kevin Whiston "some real intellectual highs" were reached, but the mental exercise took almost as much of a toll as yesterday's physical activity.

Shakeria Davis summarized the case (a hypothetical suit brought by the Republic of Cuba against the United States arguing that the terms of the lease of Guantanamo Bay have been broken and that the lease is thus invalidated):

The conference was today.  I sat next to Vice President Heegle.  Actually now that I think about it, he sat next to me because I was sitting there first.  [Stephanie's buddy] Sietse sat across from me...but getting back to the important stuff.  I had a really good time at the conference considering I had a minority opinion.  There were a lot of people that were getting a bit up tight because they felt that some judges were being biased.  As far as I'm concerned I have an open mind and I fired so many questions at [Cuban] Agent Khan so that I could understand Cuba's side better to make a decision in the end.  So I'm thinking tomorrow I might be writing my final decision paper by myself or at least with Alicia because nobody else is trying to understand the US's side.  And I really don't think that Agent Khan or [United States] Agent O'Neil helped clear up anything. 

The lunch that the Mondriaan students served was amazing.  There was so much cheese in my sandwich and I have orange juice for dinner at the hostel tonight.
Alicia Smith was also unsatisfied with the state agents answers, and summarized her frustration:

Today was the model UN conference and my head hurt so much.  There was so much confusion and
debate I was glad when it was over...Now I just need to choose a side and write a paper on it because the last day is tomorrow and it's only three hours long plus typing time.

Meanwhile, the Hospitality and Tourism students toured the practical hotel school of Mondriaan's
hospitality program, and then visited students in the hotel school where they worked in pairs interviewing students about the work they do.

When that was over our students took a few deep breaths, mastered their nervousness (and a recalcitrant computer and laptop projector), and gave a presentation about the American school system in general and the EBT program in particular.  The Mondriaan students were especially impressed with the PSAL website, and after Angelo's description of Spirit Week one of them asked if he could fit in a suitcase to go back and be an EBT student.  The new EBT website, with its rotating slide show of student activities, provided a nice backdrop for the presentation.

John Nieto writes:

Hospitality got to visit the Mondriaan and explore around the hotel/school.  It was really exciting.  I got to meet their students and I asked them questions about how different their school system is from ours.

Gabriela Cantos elaborates:

Today we went to the Mondriaan College and Horeca and Toerisme.  (They are colleges.)  The Horeca and Toerisme is not only a college it's also a hotel.  The hotel is being staffed by the students who take classes and work there.  They graduate in four years and every year they have an international internship for five months. 

We had a presentation for the college students about how the school level system works [in the United States].  They were interested and impressed.

 

Working in pairs, students from the hospitality and tourism program meet with students from the hotel school of Mondriaan College, and interview them about their coursework.

The stresses of the morning were rewarded at lunchtime with sandwiches from the Mondriaan students, served in the cantine where the Model UN did their simulation.



After the morning conference proceedings, the groups split up again.  The Model UN students visited the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), near the International Criminal Court.

The Model UN students outside of the OPCW

The Hospitality students started work on their papers about the positive and negative effects of tourism in the Netherlands by working in pairs doing "man in the street" interviews.  Their sympathetic buddies
helped them to stop passers-by in the shopping street of Theresiastraat (by the Mondriaan school), and ask survey them about their attitudes toward tourism and tourists in the Netherlands.  Questions ranged from what local people think attracts tourists to the Netherlands, to which areas of the Netherlands are safest.  (Kamiyiha was surprised to hear the Red Light District in Amsterdam is the safest place in the country due to the large police presence.)

Once again, Gabriela explains, although she focused on some of the disappointments and hardships:

After that we had to interview people on on the streets with out partners and we had our buddies with us.  Some people didn't want to get interviewed and others just ignored us. 

After the triumphant conclusion of the man in the street interview (in the Central Station, where at least
one group politely stopped a pair of track workers in their neon reflecting vests), the hospitality group
split into two groups.  In Gabriela's words:

After all of that the guys went with the guy buddies and us girls went with girl buddies.  We went shopping like the girls we are.  We went in a sneaker store and I saw these vans (sneakers) that I really liked but I didn't buy them because I wanted to buy my parents something.

John's journal gives a counterpoint to Gabriela's:

...Later on we went to play PS3 at my buddy Raymilo's house.  I got to know my buddy more than what I expected.  After that we bought some tasty hamburgers where he lives.  As we're in the trolley [tram] the burger is finishing and we wanted to buy more but we were too far away.  Raymilo said when he comes back tomorrow he'll bring more for me.  My day turned out great.  Now I can rest and get my sleep.

Relaxing in the game room

Resting is a nice way to end this entry.  The evening foozball and pool matches in the hostel game area are currently going on, as students finish their journals.  An UNO game is in progress.  Our last day of work will be tomorrow.  We are looking forward to it, but content to relax for a little while now.

The nightly scene before bedtime: waiting to call home