Loft Living and Office Olympics

With my sister still in town, we managed to walk what felt like every corner of The Hague. We discovered a surprising number of parks scattered throughout the city, many of which I hadn’t properly explored before. Since my room is a bit small, my sister and I stayed with Hershey in her expansive loft. She had landed a great housing deal for the summer—a full studio loft at a reduced rate in exchange for cat-sitting two resident cats.

Staying there was a real treat. We had plenty of space to cook ourselves hearty breakfasts and dinners. The loft is also closer to the city center than where I live, so it was a fun, unexpected experience to temporarily live in a different part of The Hague. We spent quality time with the cats and enjoyed simply being in a new environment.

At IDEA, it was a lighter week. I worked on a few short projects, including cite-checking publications and researching formatting standards for our upcoming reports. The whole office was also looking forward to the Constitution-Building Programme’s annual “Office Olympics.”

This year’s Office Olympics took place at Hart Beach in Scheveningen, conveniently close to my accommodations. Hart Beach was a bit more “groomed” than the wilder dunes and beaches near my house, giving the event a polished backdrop despite the heat (it was an intense 89 degrees on the beach).

The competition was a playful yet spirited clash between two office teams. We kicked things off with a three-legged race, which was predictably clumsy and sweaty. Then came the blind potato-plucking competition, where a blindfolded teammate had to collect scattered fingerling potatoes marked with a red “x,” guided only by their team’s frantic shouting. My team lost that round. We also lost the tug-of-war badly. However, we redeemed ourselves during ultimate frisbee, which brought out everyone’s competitive side (for better or worse).

Earlier that day, the office had held a serious strategy meeting about the year’s budget and project planning, so the Olympics were a much-needed distraction from the heavier discussions about funding and the future.

Sadly, that evening was our last night at Hershey’s. After moving our things out the next morning, my sister caught her flight home. And just like that, another week comes to an end.