Being a tourist

Today we went out with intentions of just going out for lunch and returning - I have had a hard two nights with neck pain so we thought a walk would be nice. However, it was such a clear day, we decided to go to the top of the Mori building - it's a 53 floor building which I'm thinking is the tallest in Tokyo. At the top they have a Tokyo City View - a panoramic view. It was stunning. Unfortunately, we couldn't see Mt. Fuji due to cloud coverage there, but we could make out the base of it in the distance. We also were able to see the Sky Aquarium on this floor which is just there for the summer. The next floor housed the Mori Art Museum with some very interesting "Modern Art" - Chris and I steered the children to some different pictures more than once...

Next was the Sky Deck - an outdoor observatory ON TOP of the building - literally surrounding the helicopter pad. WOW.

After we flew back down the elevator we went for a treat at the Cold Stone Creamery - clearly some of the best ice cream we have ever had!

OK - I have to veer away for a moment... we are now watching Pearl Harbor on TV which is being brought to us by Calpis - remember how we say that? Chris and I are just laughing out loud as they are saying it - sounds more like cow piss-o... Now we just watched a commercial with Santa advertising Premium Calpis-o... who knew it came in premium form??? And by the way - the movie's in English with Japanese subtitles - that is until the parts where the Japanese talk - then we just have no idea what's being said.

Oh well - we've had a great weekend and it was so nice to get out and start exploring. I will post more pictures on a snapfish account but am not sure who might like to see those - if you'd like to be added to the contact list for that, send me an email at hudsons4ny@yahoo.com and I'll make sure you get the link... I always manage to take more pictures than I will ever need! Also make sure to click on Older Posts today since there are more pictures that aren't listed on the main page... enjoy!

Aqua City

It's Saturday and we just got home from a trip to Aqua City - which is a big mall down on the waterfront. It's relatively easy to get to - only two trains. We do believe we have moved past the "train novice" stage... It was so nice to be able to see some different views - the second train we were on actually went out over the water and made a big loop - a bit unnerving but doable. It was very crowded but a neat place - we saw several "American" stores like Eddie Bauer, Disney, Gap, and Brooks Brothers. We also saw a personal favorite - Kua Aina - our favorite hamburger place from the North Shore of Hawaii. When we came in they said "Aloooooo-ha" and took our order - it's wasn't as good as the North Shore - but it was pretty darn good. I had the pineapple burger (they put grilled pineapple on it) and we had a huge order of onion rings and fries... YUM! We saw a brochure that there are 13 Kua Aina's in Japan - very exciting!

After lunch we went to the Toys R Us - Geoffrey greeted us and we had a great time looking at everything - Nicholas found himself a Leroy Stitch - something he's been looking for for about 2 years! Sydney found a Hello Kitty dressed as a Statue of Liberty, which was a perfect choice because there at Aqua City was a replica of the Statue of Liberty.

We took a VERY crowded train back and then strolled home in the rain... after a dinner of turkey hot dogs, the little ones are now in bed, cuddling their new creatures.

Friday... an adventure to say the least!

Where to start? This was to be my first day alone... things started off rocky when I took a wrong turn and ended up taking twice as long to walk to Sydney's school. She was a few minutes late but the teachers did a good job helping her get started. I met a woman on the way out, however, that showed me the "short cut" back to our apartment so next time should be better!

Next I met a woman from the Japanese versions of the "Welcome Wagon." We had a very nice time chatting and she gave me TONS of information about Tokyo - from medical to shopping to travel. She even showed me a good place to get facials and pedicures...

Afterwards I went to the National Azabu which is the international grocery store - I had the most fun time walking around looking at all the different items and really taking the time to shop. I still find myself scurrying past the fish section though... I went to pay and arrange for delivery - that's when the trouble started. My credit card was declined... and it was the only card I had with me! We don't have our local bank cards yet so I'm assuming the American card was declined for security purposes... anyhoo - the store said they would take cash on delivery... so I had to run back to the house (10 minutes away, uphill, in the midday sun, and 100% humidity), get the bank card, run back to the ATM that we can get to work (10 minutes, fortunately downhill, in the midday sun, and 100% humidity). Got the cash, came back, and waited for the delivery - which didn't come in time for me to go pick up Sydney... I went and got her and fortunately as we came back we saw the delivery truck pulling away - I flagged him down, he came back, and we got our groceries. Whew...

I called Chris to tell him my tale and he informed me that his day hadn't gotten off to a good start either - since it was muggy, he went to the train rather than walk all the way to work - which is fine except he got off at the wrong stop and ended up not having a clue where he was... he smartly got in a cab and asked to go to the US embassy - which fortunately is next door to Corning's offices.

It looks like we will have many experiences like this until we figure it all out. The night ended with a massive thunderstorm - the kids stayed up late since it was so loud but fortunately there was a lull in the storm and they got to sleep before it started again.

Thursday Night Rambling

Marianne saw a TV show that said that Japan had more vending machines than any other country... I now know that is correct. No matter where you are, you can enjoy the beverage of your choice if you have the change... For example, within a minute or two from our apartment and you can choose from 4 different machines. Just this evening, Chris realized he was out of soda and went out to get a beverage - his only downfall was that he didn't take the umbrella and although it wasn't raining when he left, it was pouring by the time he came back! He was a little damp...

I have a new book written by the Tokyo American Club Women's Group - it's called Tokyo: Here and How and it basically is the ex-pat's guide to surviving living in Japan. I was just looking through the section on shopping and found a great shopping area on the waterfront - it's called Aqua City and it has several American stores and two of my favorite restaurants from Hawaii - Kua Aina and Sam Choys!!!! It's also quite close... May have to visit there this weekend!

First Day of School! First Day of School!!!

It is now the end of Thursday and Nicholas has two full days of school under his belt... his bus was over an hour late due to an accident on the highway but he certainly had a big smile when he got of the bus... guess he'd had an almost 2 hour playdate of Nintendo DSing... I, of course, had visions of his head in a bucket somewhere along the road....

Oh well, yesterday was a great day - After I took Nicholas to the bus stop and saw him off (with a little low high five and quick smile) I came back and got Little Miss ready for her first day. She had to make a quick craft for her teachers and we were off. Chris and I walked her in and she hid behind my legs for about one minute, long enough for me to give the craft to her teacher, Neal, who made quite a fuss over it being the first picture of the new year... and then she was off. She immediately went to two little girls and they started playing with the Magna Doodle. She was too cute... and was ready for us to leave...

We went back to the apartment and just sat for a bit. I made a new friend with the dry cleaner - he came by to pick up some things and was just the nicest guy, Hiro-san... He will bring everything back on Saturday.

We picked Sydney up at 11:30 and she talked and talked about her day. We took her to lunch and then had to go back for a get acquainted meeting with her teachers.

We walked to the Hiro-o area and did some shopping - we found a nice produce shop and got some things. Sydney loved seeing the new types of fruits and vegetables. She asked us to get her a slice of white melon.

Sydney will only go to school every other day for the next week so she and I were home today. Chris went into the office to get some things and walked Nicholas to the bus stop... Since Sydney was still asleep when they left... I climbed back in bed and read. It was wonderful!!!! We had a nice girls day and I did get a lot accomplished - did 5 loads of laundry and have all but one put away! Feeling quite proud of myself....

Now off to dinner - it's chicken fajita night

Random Thoughts...

* I wish I had straight hair... the humidity and I are not getting along... think lion stuck it's paw in a light socket...

* Iced tea comes with a little creamer size container of "gum syrup" - this appears to be liquid sugar and the kids are loving it!

* Did I mention that I don't have a coffee pot??

* There was nothing in the "moving to Japan" handbooks that prepared for the little critter I found scurrying across my floor the other night... not a reminder of Hawaii that I needed! I do not like big roaches!

* With all of the rice here I can't seem to find rice mixes like Lipton or Rice A Roni... don't tell me I'm going to have to figure out how to fix Spanish rice from scratch!

* The kids are amazing - they love all of the new adventures and don't complain (much). Who knew walking in the rain would make them so happy?

Tokyo Hands

Today was an adventure to say the least - I feel like I've been at Disneyland I have walked so much! We started out today for the train station because we wanted to go to a store called "Tokyo Hands" which from what we had heard was sort of a Tokyo Target... First challenge was looking for a cash machine to get some money. We don't have our local bank cards yet so we are still using our US ones... Chris tried many different machines with no luck so we ended up walking to a different neighborhood where there was a bank machine we knew worked. Once we had some money in hand we went for lunch... this time at a KFC... can't say we're being very adventurous... Oh well, the food tasted different if that helps... We got on the train and headed to Shibuya.

Can you say busy??? Got there and I think we were joined by every young, trendy person in Tokyo... apparently this is a BIG shopping area. Saw Tower Records, Gap, and a Disney store - BTW Stitch is HUGE here... like bigger than Mickey huge... Got to the store and it was monstrous and has just about anything that you need. We got several things and arranged for delivery for Thursday.

Made it back to Azabu Juban on a different train since we couldn't find where we started from... thinking that might have been an easier route anyway. Stopped for a Starbucks treat (again not very adventurous) and walked home in the rain...

Now we're home and ready for the evening, gotta get everyone ready for school tomorrow!

Imagine this if you will...

I just tried to order a pizza over the phone... from Dominos... I asked the guy if he spoke English - in Japanese - he said Yes - clearly he did not... put me on hold and gave the phone to someone else... He said thirty minutes and the total was about $20. We'll see how this goes...

Yesterday was very pleasant although it rained ALL DAY and let's all remember that we don't have a car and that we walk everywhere... everyone now has their own personal umbrella but do you know how hard it is to push a stroller and hold an umbrella at the same time??? We rode the bus to Nicholas's school and dropped him off at his class. His teacher is Mrs. Nelson - she is an older teacher who welcomed him in and got him started. She took a picture of our family and shooed us out the door (in a very nice teacher manner way...). We then went to a parent orientation where we listened to a presentation from the principal and assistant principal. After that we wandered through an activities fair. At about 10:30 we picked up Nicholas and from his smile we could tell he had a great day - he told us about a new friend in his class that was a Red Sox fan who's name was Justin - turns out Justin rides the same bus home!

Once we got back we went for lunch in Roppongi... (we ate at Wendy's!) and then had a Starbucks treat (there are more Starbucks here than at home!). In the afternoon we went to Sydney's school for new parent orientation. She was able to meet her teachers and see her classroom. She will have two teachers - Neal and Mia who were very excited and have a great room. She will start half days on Wednesday and go every other day for a few days.

Well, the pizza just came... I ordered two, I got one - I ordered Hawaiian and a Veggie Feast - got the Hawaiian... which apparently here is called a Tropical and also includes corn and onions... Now preparing something else for dinner since it's also very small... Oh well, having fun looking at the menu, which fortunately is in English. I liked the looks of the lasagna pizza until I saw that it had potatoes on it. They also have a Mayo Jaga which has potato, bacon, mayonnaise, corn,pimento, and onion. ICK. There is an American Special which includes Pepperoni and onion.

Oh well... gotta go work on something else for dinner! :)

Azabu Juban Street Fair

Look at the size of this wok!

Azabu Juban Street Fair

This weekend...

Not too much going on this weekend - we went yesterday for lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe and then went to look at cell phones. We weren't very successful as we needed our passports - we had been that we would only need our alien registration paperwork... so we'll have to go back later and finish that paperwork. The amount of options was quite overwhelming! Saw the Japanese version of the iPhone and the "Disney Mobile" line - the phones had little Mickeys all over them!

It was a bit drizzly but cooler so we thought we'd try to take a walk through the Azabu Juban street festival - this is right near our house. Oh my goodness - it was CROWDED!!! This apparently is quite the big event... The street closes down and there were TONS of vendors seeling all kinds of things from foods to crafts. Seemed like there were lots of things cooked on sticks and HUGE woks for noodles.

It started raining a bit harder and everyone brought out their umbrellas which made it even more crowded - and slightly more dangerous since we now had to look out to make sure we didn't get our eye poked out! We thought we'd try to go back this afternoon but after a walk to the grocery it was raining again and we didn't feel that adventurous...

Sydney went over to the neighbor's house for a playdate and Chris and Nicholas got a chance to play catch outside this morning before the rain. Chris was also nice and walked down and got me a cup of coffee... Seems I didn't plan correctly and didn't pack my coffee pot in the air shipment... Looks like that won't come until the last week of September!

We're now at home watching some TV and getting ready for tomorrow's first day of school... We all get to ride the bus with Nicholas and go meet his teacher tomorrow morning. Then in the afternoon we go for new student registration for Sydney. They both seem excited...

Alien Registration

We went and filled out the paperwork to get our alien registration cards - guess this is sort of a "permission" slip to stay in Japan for an extended period of time - it just sounds wierd - I am an alien residentof Japan. We have temporary cards now but I will go back in a few weeks to get the card. Fortunately, I have been able to sign over permission to someone from the relocation company who will register us at immigration. That's at least one line we won't have to stand in...

Stay to the Left!!!

One of the hardest things to adjust to is the fact that people stay to the left here whereas we usually move to the right - guess it has to deal with the fact that we drive on the right and they drive on the left... When getting to the subway, those who wish to stand on the escalators, line up on the left and those who want to move faster walk on the right - Seems like we are all constantly reminding each other to "stay to the left!" This also includes walking on the sidewalks...

HOT HOT HOT

It is clear that I am living South of the Mason Dixon line!! The heat and humidity of the first few days were almost unbearable - But yet there were still people in long sleeves!! I've seen many people with a little washcloth wiping off the sweat... guess I am going to need one of those!! Fortunately, a storm moved through on Thursday, and it's almost pleasant out now...

Need a Serviceman?

So far we've had an issue with our refrigerator and our dryer - What is the most amazing is that when I call to make the report, I am met with about 10 "I'm sorry's" and then we are promptly given a time slot for when the serviceman will come - within a one hour time period, not an entire morning or afternoon - and you can guarantee they will be early.
For instance - the movers with our air shipment were to come between 9 and 10... they arrived at the building by 8:45, started unloading the boxes and rang the doorbell by 8:55. Yesterday the dryer workers came - they were to be here between 1 & 2 - they arrived around 12:55 and were concerned that I would be upset that it would take around 90 minutes to do the job... frankly I didn't care as long as I could get dry clothes!!!

Calpis...

There is a sweet drink here that is milky white - a little thinner than skim milk - they even make it into popsicles - it's name is Calpis - say it fast... yep, sounds like you're saying "cow piss" - thank goodness it tastes better than that!

Meeting the natives...

Met some of the native creatures already - With the massive amounts of heat and humidity, there is a full supply of mosquitoes to welcome us to Tokyo... they especially like my sweet little children... it has made for some miserable children! I discovered that Zyrtec works like Benadryl and helped Nicholas greatly... I also found bug spray at the pharmacy - it's in an aerosol can and helps!

Time for School!

On Tuesday, we went off to Nicholas's new school in the area of Chofu - Nicholas will ride the bus to school but for New Student Registration, we were on our way getting there. This meant a walk to the train station, followed by riding and switching trains, then taking a cab from the train station - all in the 95 degree heat... Needless to say it was a bit overwhelming for the kids! They did well - Sydney was excited about the adventure since she doesn't know much different, Nicholas was a bit more nervous. Once we got to the school we realized that I had messed up the appt time - which meant they would have to "work us in" to meet with the counselor - but it all worked out and once Nicholas saw the big green field he would be playing on, he was OK. He also met his counselor and got the "run down" on what to expect for the first day of school on Aug. 25th.
The parents attended a meeting and I was amazed at the group of "mutts" that we were all with - There were such a large variety of places where everyone was from or had lived. There was another Corning family there who have just moved from Kentucky. It's exciting to think about all of the different experiences and traditions Nicholas will get to learn about at school -

Off to the grocery store...

We've been to the grocery store several times now... It's like a big puzzle figuring it all out. There are several markets nearby - both large and small, local and international. We like the things with pictures on them best since we can somewhat figure out what's inside! There are 2 international markets with many of the same brands we usually buy in the US - the kids have found goldfish, Doritos, and Cheetos so all is well! The biggest difference is that the packages are smaller and 2 - 3 times more expensive... We've noticed that there are several of the same things at the local market and they are substantially cheaper. You can also get the same brands we use for cleaning, etc - but the bottle of Tide is about $16 and you can get a similar P & G product for less at the local store. You just sort of have to guess at the directions...
The one thing I had some trouble finding was cottage cheese... I finally found it in the third store I looked in - it's creamy with the same texture as sour cream, although it has the same taste. They had two different kinds - one labeled for cooking and one labeled for sweets - so maybe the one for sweets has the curds.
Produce is much more expensive no matter which store you go to - I paid over $4 for 2 ears of corn... They also have several types of produce that can be used to give as gifts - take cantaloupe for example - the more round and perfect the look of it, the more expensive - I actually saw one yesterday for $140!!! I don't care how round it is, I'm not paying that!!!
Many of the larger stores will deliver which is very helpful since we are walking -

Moving In...

We arrived at our new apartment at Moto Azabu Place around 9:45 and by 10 there was so much activity I wasn't sure what to do... The kids ran through the place and quickly picked out their rooms - they were very excited and started to unpack their little suitcases...

There was someone there to do inspections, there were movers coming in with our rental furniture, and there were people there explain the security system to us - I'm serious - at one point there was no less that 12 people flitting about each doing their own part to set us up. And Chris and I just were there if they needed to tell us something - Everything was a process. I watched them put together the dining room table - They brought in a blanket, then set down the table top and leg pieces. Next the women from the furniture company put the legs on. Then the movers inspected their work, and finally they flipped the table over and removed the blanket...

Sydney is very excited that she has her own bunk bed now! It comes complete with a pink hand rail!

They literally had all of the furniture in, put together, and arranged within 2 1/2 hours... I get the whole idea of Japanese efficiency now!

We got several "welcoming" gifts - several rolls of toilet paper and garbage bags... but it did come in handy!

Day 1... DS Disaster...

Remember me saying how cute it was to have us all sleeping in one bed??? Well, at 3:45 A.M. I was rethinking that thought... I heard the sweetest little voice in my ear singing Cruella Deville... pretty sweet but it was VERY early... everyone was up around 4:30 and we watched a movie and then went down for the breakfast buffet - The kids loved it and thought they were pretty big being able to select their food from the many different stations...

We went back to the room and got everything ready for check out - our realtor was to come and pick us up at 9:15 to head to the apartment. As I looked at the bags, I realized that we didn't have Nicholas's Nintendo DS bag - which had not only his DS, but all of his games, and his L-Max... We realized that in our jet lagged state we had left the bag on the bus from the airport.

Chris went down to the bus company desk to see if they knew anything - they called one place that didn't have it but said they would have a definite answer as to where it was within 30 minutes... sounded promising but Chris and I were already calculating how much all of this would be to replace!

Well, wouldn't you know that as we were walking out the door with Atano, our realtor, we heard someone running up behind us yelling "Mr. Hudson, we found it!" He ran up to Nicholas and rubbed his head - he was so happy to be able to tell him the news. The only catch was that it was at another station 25 minutes away... Atano quickly said he would go get it for us after dropping us off. And he did - he came into the apartment to make sure everything was OK for a while and left - he was back within an hour with the bag in hand. He didn't have to do that at all for us but he did and we were all very appreciative (especially Nicholas!).

Arrival in Tokyo

After making our way off the plane we arrived at the immigration station - with Visa paperwork in hand we all stood politely as the woman arranged everything - there were no questions so we did no talking... We collected our bags and headed for customs... Mr. Customs man looked over our passports asked if these were our bags and we said yes and we were off.

Next Chris arranged for our bags to be delivered to our apartment - less stuff to have to carry with two very tired children! We then got our tickets for the Friendly Limousine Bus... the woman told Chris that it was very busy and she would try to get us seats which seemed confusing to us until the bus arrived and the worked came off with reserved seat signs - they had called ahead to the bus to reserve seats for us so we could all sit together with the kids - I thought that was extremely thoughtful especially after having to beg and plead with people on US Air to let me sit with my little ones...

Sydney and I napped on the way to the hotel - didn't see much of the trip. Nicholas had trouble falling asleep and was pretty miserable by the time we arrived - Chris and I had were dragging by this time as well...

After we checked in and in our room we got a special treat... ROOM SERVICE! A first for us - the kids loved it and we all had dessert! We all pretty much crashed after that - our room only had one big king size bed so it was nice to all be able to snuggle together...

Follow the sign and Stay in your Seat!

After our three day retreat, we promptly boarded the Super Shuttle (this time with a much nicer driver who knew how to operate the AC!) and headed back to LAX... We were to fly Korean Air which is run by Delta so I'm thinking Delta - no, it was Korean Air. No Delta anything...

AS the boarding process started, the workers held up signs indicating which rows were to assemble there. It was almost like an elementary school... nice straight lines with no pushing and very organized. We quickly went to the front to join the line for families with small children (not going to be able to use that one for much longer!) and got on board. Before I knew it, the plane was full - it was so quietly done it was amazing. We all had little bags and blankets in our seats when we got there and as I looked around, everyone had their shoes off, socks on, and blankets on their laps. Several were dressed as if it was winter!

The flight was decent as far as flights go (did I mention I'm not a huge fan of flying??) - lots of bouncing throughout but very nice take offs and landings... (my least favorite parts!) It was raining when we landed in Tokyo - we literally didn't see the ground until we were less than 1000 feet off the ground! Not a pleasant feeling... Sydney slept about half of the trip which was nice but quite uncomfortable for me - Nicholas slept for a few hours.

Did I mention that it was Korean Airlines? Needless to say, they didn't have chicken nuggets for the kids for dinner...

Disneyland Retreat

We spent three fun days at Disneyland in Anaheim - I'm still floored that I've been to two Disney Parks in the same year... It was pretty fun being able to compare everything - We loved that this park was smaller - after being dropped off by Mr. Mean Shuttle Guy we didn't see any cars for three days. It really forced us to relax and just enjoy...

Disneyland Park is very similar to the Magic Kingdom with minor differences - Space Mountain is much better here and Dumbo is flying over water - Splash Mountain has bigger boats and you can actually manage to not get that wet... There were also fewer people it seemed which made lines almost non existent... The castle is Sleeping Beauty's castle and not as impressive - in fact, I'm just now realizing that I didn't even get a picture of it!

California Adventure Park is literally across the way from Disneyland - just exit and walk across to the other entrance... This park is huge and has several areas - although it really had a Hollywood Studios feel to a lot of it - The back side is like a Pier/Coney Island area - very neat. The kids loved the Bugs Life Play area - they got soaked and we loved riding Tuk and Roll's Bumper Cars and Heimlich's Chew Chew Train! For those of you from TN... there's even a Grizzly River Run... very similiar to the Grizzly River Rapids from Opryland Days!

We loved the Downtown Disney area - We walked through it each day to get to the parks. It seemed to have many more stores and restaurants.

Things just seemed to be done on a smaller scale here which was quite refreshing - especially since our brains needed a break!

Disneyland Or Bust!

We rolled out of Elmira on Tuesday, August 12th to begin our adventure... we were so busy we really didn't even have a chance to be sad - it was just a giant puzzle to see how we could get all of our stuff to the plane! Fortunately, our neighbor, Sue helped us out and we were ready to go... until the flight was delayed! The flight was delayed getting to Elmira which put us at about an hour later than we thought. Then we had to sit on the runway for 45 minutes while they decided whether there were 49 or 50 passengers... there were 49. Then we had to wait before taking off for a few minutes - there must have been a glider in the way...

We finally made it into the air and made it to the C terminal in Detroit - 40 minutes before our connecting flight was to take off... SO we literally boogied through and were pretty much the last ones on the flight. Fortunately, we were able to look out and see our luggage going on the plane - minutes before they closed it all!

The views from the flight were stunning. We flew over the Rockies and the Grand Canyon. Then as we approached LA - there was literally nothing but desert and mountain and then suddenly there was the sprawl... Pretty amazing how FLAT it was.

Our luggage was the first off and we were off to the shuttle - I do believe it was Grumpy that picked us up - he was not happy at all that we had so much stuff and grumbled all the way. He did not get a tip... But we arrived safely (and HOT since he didn't use the AC) at the Disneyland Hotel and all seemed well! You just can't be tired when you have tinker bell on your wallpaper and little shampoo bottles with Mickey heads! We ate dinner at the Hook's Pointe restaurant and pretty much crashed shortly thereafter... The kids definitely had visions of all things Mickey... Nicholas simply couldn't wait until we found some pins and Sydney wanted to see her favorite princess, Belle!

Trying to figure this out...

Well, here I am trying to figure out how to be a technical whiz!! HAHA! If I'm going to be half way around the world, I might as well bring everyone else along... It's August 7th, just a few days before departure and I am still reeling from our trip to TN - which by the way was awesome I might add! I will next attempt to load pictures from that... I have laundry piled in one section, suitcases in the other, I've had to get a tetanus shot today, and I'm a bit tired! Oh well, that's life and is how this journey shall begin... let's click publish and see if this works!