Today was very rainy- and I'm completely ok with it because it means one less day of hauling Jaclyn's hose across the front of our house and back to my garden. Hopefully my plants all got a deep drink today and will be sprouting up pronto! Last night I could barely get to sleep because of the strong winds whipping through our corner of the valley. It seems that when the seasons change around here we get about a week and a half of intense wind. The same thing happened last fall when we were moving into more wintery weather. I remember it clearly since it was always coming from the direction to which I was biking to get home after school. The wind was so strong that my bike and I would literally stop moving between each half cycle of my feet on the pedals. This time around, I can mostly just laugh into the wind, but it is still keeping me up at night. Unfortunately there are apparently still others that are trying to bike into it. During my morning teachers' meeting, a homeroom teacher announced that one of his students (a great kid with a Beatles obsession) was biking on our day off yesterday when he and his bike were knocked over by the wind. He broke both bones in his lower leg and had to have surgery with an 8 month recovery time (so through the mugginess of Japanese summer and an entire season of basketball for him). The poor kid!

Ok, so the tulips were not at all what I'd been imagining. The event was kind of a Japanese take on the Rose Parade. They'd decorated the boulevard leading up to Zenkoji Temple in Nagano City with tulip petals, rocks, evergreen fronds, and pepples arranged in a gigantic Italian mosaic design. It was impressive. A bit strange, but neat. I wish I could share pictures because it is pretty difficult to describe. Just imagine the Rose Parade squished down to one dimension and paste that image onto a street. Add about 10,000 people and a surprisingly hot sun. A once a year event that I don't think I will feel obligated to repeat next year. ;)

The area rice fields are filling up with water. It really seems strange since they're so close to the edge of the street. I get this eery feeling that I'm driving through a flood zone on the way to school. The other evening, as I was driving to my Shodo class, I glimpsed a perfect image of the Alps in front of a lingering sunset reflected upside down in the rice fields. It almost felt like I was driving across the sky instead of the water. It took my breath away but I recovered quickly enough to avoid ruining the image by driving into it! Ah the hazards of spring!

Beautiful, Beautiful, Beautiful... That's the only thing I can think when I look out the window today (that and hum more of the Mr. Roger's theme song). Even more beautiful because I have the day off! I slept with my windows open last night and slid the screens open this morning to full sun and blue skies. Perfect day for a road trip. Danielle and I are going to head northward to Nagano City this afternoon. I think we're going to see a "highway carpeted in tulips"?! It is one of those events that I've been hearing about but still don't quite understand what exactly it is. More later. Should be tons of tulips and a mass of humanity (dangerous mix in Japan: national holidays and flowers). Then, we're headed to Zenkoji, a massive Buddhist temple which happens to be displaying a Buddha statue only visable once every seven years. Lucky me! That will also be wall to wall people and will more than likely involve a lot of flowers. We'll be taking the train today, for sure.

I need some space here to boast about my new garden. It still geeks me out to actually have a house of my own... and then when those thoughts extend to the amount of ground I am allowed to "play" with... I'm simply beside myself. I spent around 3 hours planting on Sunday and I'm very excited at the thought of what I'm now waiting for: strawberries, lavender, chamomile, sweet basil, and spearamint in one corner. 15 sunflower seeds along the back fence. (If they all come up it will be like being in jail!). Interspersed with the sunflower seeds there is sweet corn!!! (How could I pass up that one? Come on.. the Sun Prairie girl not have sweet corn??) Considering that they sell an ear of corn here for around a dollar... I could be very popular come August! In the side yard, I currently have tomatos, cherry tomatos, cucumbers, peppers, and carrots. Then in the back where the tulips and the rose bush are... I bought a stack of different flower seeds that still need to go in. Now that it is Tuesday... I am still sore from all that planting! The waiting to see if any of it will humor me and produce food will be agonizing. I'm very eager to see how it goes. Being able to produce some of my own food will be so rewarding!! (again... veggies in this country are insanely expensive!!). So that's my pet project for the summer. I'm welcoming any and all advice, please!

More on the tulip highway later...

After four and a half days of rain, gray skies and an intense (and loud!) wind, it is beautiful outside! Before getting out of bed this morning, I was already sliding my windows open. I love sleeping on futons because (since they're on the floor) I am level with my sliding glass doors in my bedroom. There's a fabulous breeze that I will appreciate more and more as it heats up. There's a balcony out there too, so whenever I open the paper screens my bedroom size grows by a third.

Anyway- its been a nice weekend. Yesterday I picked up around my place and did some major laundry. Then Jaclyn and I went shopping for fruit, plants, and ice cream! The fruit was for a fun get together with some of the teachers from my school that are my age. Many of the teachers live in "education housing" like Jaclyn and I, over on the other side of the village. Last night we were over there for the first time for dinner at "Sato House". Mr. Sato is one of our new English teachers, a recent grad and a really nice guy. He's also a great cook. We had Chinese food with him, Ms. Hiruma (the only English teacher who stayed) and Taki (Mr. Takizawa, technically), the hilarious new P.E. teacher who lives in the apartment behind Mr. Sato (without a shower so he comes over to Mr. Sato's house every morning!). It was a pretty fun group and I'm psyched about the potential to actually hang out with the other teachers this year. Their houses are pretty stark (I guess totally bare when they arrive including stove/fridge/microwave) so I might run over there today and drive them back here so they can garage sale in my upstairs closets (which are packed with stuff from 15 years of previous JETs). I feel like the roles have been reversed... I'm helping these guys learn the ropes and feel comfy in Misato. Me- the expert on this little village? Not likely.

The plants, from yesterday, I am planning to stick in the ground today. I'm really excited about growing something other than weeds this summer. My daffodils have finished and the tulips are just beautiful.. so now I'm moving on to veggies. I bought 4 tomato plants, a couple of cucumber plants, a pepper plant and three strawberry plants and I'm dying to get out there and get muddy. It will be so hard to wait for the food!

First though, I have vowed to finish cleaning the house... and run... so I need to get cracking. I my blue skies stretch all the way over there...

Is it raining and howling there? I wonder how my tulips are dealing....

The head English teacher was visiting his youngest daughters' preschool this morning, so he entrusted me with three of his classes. I was so busy yesterday I didn't even start making lesson plans until an hour before the end of the day (technically I could stay all night like the "real" teachers, but I choose not too). This morning my stomach was tied in knots and I was sweating. My biggest worry: how do I teach a first grade class all in English when these kids just started English? Officially, they know approximately 15 words. I know that they have been using more in Elementary school with Jaclyn, but I didn't have any idea how it was going to go. I was less worried about the 2nd graders, though still a bit nervous about my mission to teach them how to ask "Did you _____ yesterday?" and the appropriate responses. I don't usually teach grammar, I just reinforce it. Explaining technical rules without using the kids' native lingo is tough. I was less worried about the 3rd grade because they a) are alder b)have had me alone before c) I had an easy lesson plan that worked fabulously on the other "low" course (the 3rd graders are in courses according to ability).

The report: The first graders and 2nd graders were AWESOME. Back to back and I was totally in the zone. I love the first grade!!! They're just fabulous. They made my whole entire day. We laughed for 50 straight minutes... and I have to thank my stars (again) for my experience at Mori-No-Ike (Japanese camp up North MN) which taught me how to communicate with kids who don't realize that they CAN understand what you're saying. That didn't make sense, did it? Let's just say that I was successful at distracting them enough to learn without thinking they were learning. Yay!

Then there's the third year class. It was a mix of the lowest English students and from my three least-favorite classes. NOT PRETTY. At different times during the 48 min (I left 2 min early) I almost: yelled, swore, left, cried or spoke Japanese. None of which I did... impressively, I think. I was so pissed. The kids completely ignored me and would NOT stop talking. I really felt like I was just up there yapping for the hell of it. So I stopped. I gave up on my fun game plan and came up with a totally boring inane writing assignment for them to work on instead. It took me about 10 minutes to get the majority of them just to number their papers from 1 to 5. ARGH!!! I'm still pretty ticked.

Tomorrow's an easy day and I deserve it!! I think I'm going to have to go swimming tonight because I'm sure as hell not running out in this!

Short post (this week class really starts and it looks like I'm going to be BU-SY!): Had a fantastic weekend in Tokyo. Took the bus, enjoyed the weather & actually went to church for Easter. Bought tickets home (more later)!!

Go see (rent, buy) the movie "Bowling for Columbine" asap if at all possible. I found it deeply disturbing but an echo of how I feel and what I have been reading. It is really well done and won the Academy Award for Documentaries this year. A really important probe into current American culture (specifically gun violence), if you ask me. It was also rather akward watching it in a Japanese theater. Nothing like exiting after the movie while everyone else stares at you (that's not new) trying to guess whether you're one of the "gun-toting, quick-to-shoot" types of Americans (and in Japan, this movie only exacerbates an already solid presumption about Americans).

Also new: try the link to my little brother's journal at the left to see how the other half lives. Ok, kind of kidding-kind of not... Brook's adventures are way out there and utterly separate from how most of us spend our days. Go Coast Guard!! uh, go Navy, too, eh Brook?

I'll try to write more later on in the week.

Not much going on here.. The entire third grade and all their teachers are away on a class trip to Kyoto. The rest of us are working on a half day of classes and afternoons of parent teacher conferences at the respective students' houses. The school has been positively still. I've been working on my new lesson plans (reality of 19 classes a week hits next Monday) and staring out the window. Its absolutely beautiful outside. I think today it may have hit 70 degrees. There are a handful of open daffodils and one proud open tulip. I think they're all waiting to bloom until I board the bus for Tokyo on Friday. Running outside has been wonderful, though.

On a random happy note: my plan to wait for the outgoing JETs to sell their skis has worked! Yesterday I committed to buying skis from a woman up north. She's a fantastic skiier from New Zealand and had "sweet bindings" (her words, not mine... like I'd know the difference!) put in them after having her knee reconstructed (eek!). She says they've been everywhere and are top notch. They even have tongues of fire down the middle... now that sounds like me, don't you think? ha! I will probably still need boots because her feet are smaller, but she's throwing them and the poles in for free.

Other than that... there's just not a heck of a lot to report! Hope you're well!

You would NOT believe the place we tried out for Friday night onsen night this past Friday. Really, I have never wanted to bring a camera into a bath more in my entire life. I don't quite know how to describe the place, besides just amazing. We decided it was the equivalent of the Willy Wonka Chocolate Factory but in bath land. Willy Wonka bathland: I am sure that is the next book. This place was a crazy adventure from the Mu-pants to the purple bubbles and the gigantic tea bag. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

This entry is dedicated to the lovely ladies of global who were just brave enough to try the Japanese bath experience with me once...back in Korea. I missed you ladies on Friday night!! (and you'll love this story!)

For those of you (most of you besides the aforementioned ladies, I suppose) who have never experienced a Japanese bath, I ought to give you a simple intro. Japanese people really enjoy bathing. Though they are typically seen as a pretty shy bunch of folks, they are very comfortable bathing in public. Well, I suppose it isn't exactly in public there are separate baths for women and men, but still, when you go to an onsen, you could end up hanging around naked with just about anyone.

The first step to bathing (after getting undressed), is to take a shower. You are absolutely never-ever to enter the bath without first scrubbing yourself silly. I have seen little old ladies down on all fours scrubbing so hard that their backside turns bright red. I usually just do my normal routine, but the different thing is that everyone is sitting down. You get a little plastic bucket turned upside down to sit on in front of a shower head attached to a hose (so you can spray where you need to without moving). There is typically a mirror in front of you so you can spot random dirty areas (or something, I have no idea, really) and a shelf with soap.

After you are certain that you are completely clean, you can enter the bath. Depending on where you are, the bath tub�Esize can range from about the same as in a home to as large as a regular swimming pool. They are sometimes square but often round or in pond-like natural blob shapes. They are almost always very hot. Japanese baths are also usually (and I must stress usually due to my experience last Friday) just water or mineral enriched water. They are often spring-fed but also can be just tap water like a pool.

Once you're in the bath, you sit, enjoy, and turn bright red from the heat. It's really wonderful and highly relaxing. Our onsen in Misato has a bath outdoors which was fun in the winter with the snow and steam.

Ok, now that you may or may not have formed a loose picture of my typical bath night (and yes we all do bathe on our own more often then once a week!), let me tell you about the crazy place we tried out on Friday!

We knew from Danielle that it was going to be really interesting, and decided it was going to have to be to live up to the 2000 yen (a bit less then $20) entrance fee (typically about 500 yen/$5 or less). The building was enormous and we were hungry, so we went to browse the restaurant offerings. We settled on spaghetti which we were able to charge to our locker key number and save paying until later. Back to the lockers after dinner, we were offered three different options of the most hideous bath wear. All three of us chose a nutty, yellow, flowered, polyester number, the top of which was like an old housedress, then had mustard colored capri pants to go with. Danielle referred to them endearingly as Mu-pants (as in mu-mu). We wore them long enough to take a couple pictures with our phones and then buried them in the backs of our lockers.

On to the bath! The first stop (after showers, don't forget!) was the purple bath. Yes, purple. Bright purple with bubbles. We never figured out what the scent was, but it was deep, Barney purple. The tub was sectioned off into personal bath tub sized sections for about 6 ladies, with armrests and then the foot end of it open to walk between the sections. The bottom was sloped just perfectly to lean back in the water, with a ice-cold bar running the length of the tub to lean your head/neck on. The three of us soaked for awhile, before I realized I had accidentally forgotten my locker key on my shower seat. I was really disappointed when I returned and it was missing. I mean, how far can someone really go without their locker key once they're in the bath? I really thought they might have just left it for me, but no...I had to walk back out into the locker room and track down an employee to go fetch it from the desk (and yes, I was dripping wet naked for the entire conversation and search).

Back in the bath room, we next ventured to the sauna, which was insanely hot. Thoughtfully though, they built a TV into the wall so I was able to distract myself long enough to stay in the heat for exactly 3 minutes (Jaclyn counted down). Right out the door of the sauna was an ice cold bath, and that's a pretty precise description since there were literally ice cubes floating in it. Jaclyn braved it for less than a minute while I stood next to it and laughed at her.

Next we went outside. There was a lovely pond-shaped bath out there with rocks to rest on. It was in a mini-courtyard and the wind was whipping through creating scary animated steam dragons chasing each other from corner to corner. In addition to the steam dragons, the howling wind, and general darkness...the mood of the courtyard was further Halloween-ized by four bubbling cauldrons! They were wooden kegs for single baths, right out of the past. Even better, the kegs were hooked up to electricity, so when in one you would experience the ultra relaxing sensation of being zapped from all directions. Doesn't sound so relaxing to you? Yeah, me neither I passed on them but Jaclyn plopped into not one, or even just two...but three of the four. She looked a lot like Bugs Bunny in rabbit stew and said they really were nice.

While I soaked outside Danielle & Jaclyn also tried the salt sauna. Having already determined that salt is less then fun during my stay in Hawaii�EI stayed in the bath while they checked it out. They were inside for less then a minute and exited hacking and spitting. Turns out the salt bath is a big cloud of misty salt, that, according to the ladies in the tub with me, is good for your skin. But they also said that D & J didn't stay in long enough for it to be of any good! Too bad...

Next (and I know this is getting long, but it was this amazing!!) we tried a little ledge area next to the pool. You sit on the floor (or like one lady we saw...sprawl on your stomach like a sea lion) and let water cascading down from the ceiling pound on your head, back, shoulders or anywhere else you line up (right, Jaclyn?). It felt incredible, kind of like a massage you could steer.

After our shoulders turned red from the beating of the water, we rolled off the shelf and into the pool. Yes, pool. No chlorine that we could sense, but it even had lines on the floor like a real pool and there was a lady doing the backstroke! We tried out naked synchronized swimming and just generally made a horrible scene laughing hysterically at each other. Never would have thought skinny dipping in a pool could have been so much fun!

Next to the pool were two sidewalk shaped baths with hand rails along the sides. The bottoms were layered with black volcanic rock for a nice foot tenderizing stroll. One was cooler then the other and we tried both.

We wrapped up this grand adventure with two more flavored baths. My favorite was, I kid you not, a tea bath! The water was such a dark brown that you couldn't see past your waist. The best was the pillow-sized tea bag sitting in a little cage in the middle of the bath!! It was so unbelievable! I'm not sure what soaking in tea is supposed to do for your health, but it was totally worth it for the laugh. We then tried the bath next door which was flavored a mysteriously citrus yellow smell/color. It seemed a bit too strong for our tired noses, so after a dip in the Jacuzzi bath (the size of a small pool), we finally wrapped it up with another shower. We were such prunes!!!

I tell you, I have never laughed so hard while getting clean in my entire life. I'm relieved and thrilled to know that after the time I've spent here, Japan is still pulling the rug out from under me and totally taking my breath away. It was a blast of a Friday!!

Everything here is going well. I like our new teachers and I'm psyched to start classes tomorrow so that I can stop worrying about them (both the teachers and the classes). I chatted with Mr. Matsuo (the new head English teacher) and he asked if we could split all the classes, so one week's class I will plan and the next week he will plan. It wasn't exactly something I was asked to debate so I said it would be fine. Really, I think it will work out well and it will force them to talk to me before class. Ms. Hiruma, the teacher left from last year, asked if I would continue planning all of the classes that we have together. That will keep me busy because I'll need a new lesson each week instead of only once a week. I have one class tomorrow (with the new 1st graders) and four classes on Friday. Next week, the entire 3rd grade takes their 4-5 day trip down to Kyoto and the remaining homeroom teachers who are left will do student home visits (parent-teacher conferences at the students' houses), so the school will feel really empty. We will only have classes in the morning. The week after that, we finally start teaching for real.

The sun is back out today after a full day of rain and I managed to drag myself up out of bed early today so that I could run before school. I'm sure you can all imagine how rare that is, but it was totally worth it. The mountains were clearer then I've seen them in weeks, it took my breath away. Of course, I'm ready for a nap and its not even past lunch time. :(

My dad bought me a cell-phone... ha! It's my first and I feel like a total geek because its become my new toy. It can send and receive e-mail and take pictures... its really cute and yellow and I can change all the different noises and backgrounds, etc. and it also fortunately can be switched between English and Japanese. Now Tom's laughing at me because the two things I swore I would never buy (a car and a cell phone), I have. Oh well... the car was more essential than I'd estimated (and technically I only own half) and the phone was a gift. What's a girl to do?

Anti-consumerism aside, sometimes a new purchase, no matter how small, can be really sweet. On Sunday after dinner, I bought some new pillowcases for my bed. The old ones match the duvet cover but were too small for my extra large pillows. The pillows always looked like they were about to explode. The new pillowcases are from the same store that sold the pillows and they are huge! They are fresh and new and because they fit, the pillows have relaxed. The newness of the sheets feels wonderful and having something a little bit different makes my whole bedroom feel ready for spring.

It has also helped to be able to open the windows! I'm not leaving them open during the day when I'm gone (especially because its pouring today), but I hung sheets out to dry on my balcony before going to bed and it was so strange to be outside that late in my pjs. The sheets were dry by this morning! I'm still cheering on my tulips and daffodills, but I think it is only a matter of time!

Snowed and was generally miserable outside on Saturday, was sunny, warm and beautiful yesterday (Sunday)... must be Spring!! I was shocked to see the snow... coming down in big clumps, when I woke up on Saturday. So much for plans of hiking and working outside. In fact... so much for doing anything. I think if you add up the hours used for sleeping during the middle of the day between Tom, Jaclyn and I... it would be really embarassing. Once we were bored enough Tom and I went to wander around the mall awhile before heading for an Italian dinner. And that was about it for the whole day.

Fortunately the sun saved our sanity yesterday. (Intermission because there is a new 1st grade class hovering around my desk because they are getting a tour of the staff office. I am back in the zoo!!) We got up, went for a run, had a fabulous breakfast of eggs, strawberries, tea (thanks mom!), and bagels (thanks to the trip to the mall, I guess I have to give Saturday some credit...) and got cracking. Before starting on the garden I did a load of laundry and hung it outside, which felt terrific. In the garden, Tom and I chose our weapons and got really serious. Now that we've gotten some sun and rain, the weeds were coming in thick and tall so we attacked. I yanked out everything in the corner next to my window and Tom started working on the side where I would like to plant veggies. We filled about 6 bags of "burnables" for the garbage guy. When we got tired of pulling and digging, we started a fire! I have (HAD) tons and tons of old rose branches and pieces of a wood fence that fell apart, among other random chunks of wood. They made a fine fire and getting rid of my inherited piles of garbage was rather cathartic. Now the inside of my house and everything in it smell like a wood fire. When I woke up this morning I mistakenly thought I was out camping. Of course with the warm weather, I left my windows open this morning and hopefully the house will loose its "Yellowstone" fragrance soon. My clothes will probably take a little longer...

For dinner, we tried a new Matsumoto restaurant near the station. It is a Nepalese restaurant and serves the best curry I've had in Japan! I will be going back, probably frequently. As I've mentioned, the weather is beautiful today and I'm really looking forward to running after school. I think I'll need to move because it appears that I have relatively nothing to work on at school for the day. I'd love to be planning the first round of classes, but all the other teachers are busy. Same old, same old...

It looks like I have gotten my wish, as far as my teaching position goes. Last year, we worked on a two week cycle: within that two weeks, I had each class of 40 kids one time. During "week A" I had 9 classes total and during "week B" I had 10 classes. Since I plan my own classes, I could almost feel like I had enough to do... but not really. In the last couple of weeks the other English teachers (but not the head teacher) have mentioned in passing that my course load would increase. I tried not to get too excited in case they meant just by a class or two... and really, that's all I thought I would have. BUT... I saw the new schedule today and I have 19 classes both weeks!! I have the same class load as the "real" teachers!! This is incredibly great news, particularly since I've also been given hints to let the other English teachers plan my classes a little more (up until now, I have had 100% of the planning responsibility). Now, we will pretty much be forced to figure out team teaching or we'll all sink. Or I will be at school until 8pm every night... but I refuse to be negative about it. I am really, really excited and hopefull that for the first time I will feel like I have a real job.

I hope I don't regret jumping into the real world head first!!

Back at it, I am. A couple of times during the night I woke up completely confused about where I was... in my very own bed for the first time in two weeks. It felt lovely after all the other futon/floor combinations that I have been "enjoying". Waking up was, of course, an entirely different thing... but it always is. I donned my pretty "use it to get a job where you don't need to use it" suit this morning and set off for Day One of the new school year.

We started the day with a ceremony welcoming the new school principal and new teachers, then began the entrance ceremony for the new 1st (7th) graders. It was practically identical to the graduation ceremony with the same slate of speakers (principal, Board of Education head, Village Head, PTA president, and some other random guy, plus the students themselves). I was struggling to pay attention by the end.. but the new students are pretty entertaining. They are tiny!! Many of them I recognize from visits to the elementary school, and it is funny to see them sitting so pretty in their nice, new, stiff uniforms. There are a couple of girls who need to learn how to sit in a skirt... but on the whole the class was really trying to act like adults.

We sang the school song a couple of times, the national anthem at least once, enjoyed some school cheers, introduced all the teachers and assigned them to their new homerooms (to giggles and groans from the students) and then applauded the new class out the door. It was really quite the ceremony. Jaclyn is over at her school doing the same thing with her new 1st graders... and boy, they must be really tiny! I hope she takes some pictures!!

And it is "finally" Friday. Kind of a strange way to start the year, but I'm not complaining. I am ready to sleep in tomorrow!

Mom & Dad are on the train to Tokyo and I'm back at school. blah. I feel a bit abandoned and a bit liberated at the same time. Overshadowing that is my intense stress about starting the new school year with a bunch of new teachers. It's as stressful as starting a new job... when I walked in this morning someone had to show me where my desk is because they moved over break. The new head English teacher, Mr. Matsuo seems really pleasant if a bit strict. The other two new teachers are fresh out of university, Ms. Takahashi and Mr. Sato... they both look like they will be fun to work with. We're going to have lunch together in the department office and hopefully I'll get a better feel for how things are going to go.

Mom & Dad are having lunch with Tom this afternoon and he'll hopefully get them on the right train out to the airport.. then they don't actually get home until Saturday morning. I will be glad to have my bed back. ;) It was a fabulous two weeks off and I really was sad to dump them off at the station this morning. Jaclyn & I are looking forward to returning to routine tonight with trips to the grocery store and the pool.

Happy Spring!

Well, there's NO way that I'll be able to recount the last 8 days or so of traveling... we did so much. We're back home and are enjoying a very slow morning (its one thing when I sleep past 9am... but when Dad does, you know we're pooped!). We really enjoyed our trip and each other's company but are also all pretty happy that we're back home (or about to be, in Mom & Dad's case). A major highlight was reconnecting with everyone back in Wakayama, and Mom & Dad have some new friends for if and when they ever come back. Hopefully I will figure out how to post some pictures so I can share a little bit more.

I'm sticking them on the train tomorrow morning and will be back at school, so I will try to start getting back into a routine. Talk to you all soon!