The Nutcracker…Sweet!

So on Friday night I went The Nutcracker in Seoul at the Seoul Arts Center. It was performed by the Korea National Ballet. I was super excited about it since I love The Nutcracker. It was interesting. We were actually late to it, but we only missed a tiny part at the beginning. It started at 7:30. We didn’t get off of work until 4:30 (and Jaclyn, 5). The earliest subway we caught in Pyeongtaek was 5:33 and it takes almost 2 hours to get to the subway stop in Seoul that we needed. Plus, because it was Friday night is was super crowded. Then we had to book it from the subway stop to the Arts Center (about 10 minutes). We couldn’t take a taxi (taxshi, as it’s said here) because the traffic was too horrible. Then the place was friggin’ huge with all kinds of buildings and we had no idea which one to go into because of the combination of bad signage, us not knowing Korean, and a seemingly total lack of usher people. We finally found a lady in one building (obviously not the right one) and asked her where it was by pretending to be ballerinas and saying, “Odi?” (Where?) That was interesting.

So because we were late we were seated in a wing area, not our actual seats. But they weren’t too far from our actual seats, so it wasn’t bad. There were a lot of white people there. It was kind of weird. I have to say, it wasn’t my favorite performance of The Nutcracker. There were numerous odd things about it. Or at least odd compared to the versions I’m used to seeing. First off, Clara was kinda old. Not old old, but definitely not a child. Maybe upper teens. And the uncle looked like a wizard. He had a big wizard hat on (pointy blue with silver stars). That made me laugh. The Mouse/Rat king looked like either an action hero or a rapper. He had this big bling-y necklace on with a big star pendent. Again, humorous. But what really got me was the Nutcracker. Usually in the versions I’ve seen, at the party the Nutcracker is an actual toy. In this performance, an actual person/kid was playing him and he was dancing around and stuff. This in and of itself was not an issue. The issue was that he looked exactly like a monkey. They had a mask on him with this garish huge red smile. Seriously, I don’t know how anyone could have thought he was anything but a monkey. So when he first came out and was dancing around and stuff, I totally thought it was just another random toy the uncle was showing off with. I didn’t realize it was the Nutcracker until Klaus “broke” him and Clara started crying. Wha??? The monkey is the Nutcracker??? Huh??? So that was weird. But once he turned into a “real” Nutcracker he was a normal looking guy…no longer a monkey.

The choreography of the various “ethnic” dances disappointed me as well. First off, instead of having an Arabian Dance, they had an Indian Dance. The Arabian Dance was always my favorite, so I was saddened by this. The music was the same, obviously, but the dancers were costumed Indian/Hindu-like and they didn’t do many ballet-like moves…mostly just struck various Hindu-like poses. We joked that this must be the post 9/11 Nutcracker—get rid of the Arabs!! The Russian dance was odd because the choreography didn’t go with the music and was not Russian-looking at all. They didn’t do any of those Russian jumping moves, if you know what I mean. Maybe that’s all stereotypical, but hey, I missed it. Speaking of stereotypical, the Chinese Dance was much less stereotypical than the performances I’ve seen in the US. For example, they weren’t wearing big rice hats or prancing around with their hands together. I had wondered how they’d handle that one. Then there was the French dance. First off, I couldn’t remember there being a French dance, so I was a little confused. But then the music was super familiar so I wasn’t sure what was up. Anyway, the two dancers were French looking with powdered faces and big ol’ fake moles on their faces. But they came out with a little stuffed animal that was standing on a rolling board. I thought it was a poodle (you know, a French poodle) but I guess it was a lamb. So they danced around while wheeling this lamb around the stage. It was quite odd and a bit distracting. I finally figured out that in all the versions I’ve seen the “French” dance was the dance where there was a huge lady with kids hiding in her skirt. The Spanish dance was normal.

Also, I don’t remember the Nutcracker marrying Clara at the end. In this production, they did marry. Which makes it better that Clara was older than a child. I don’t know how the original story went, though. Maybe originally they do get married. I don’t know. So I enjoyed the performance but it wasn’t as good as I remember other productions being. Ok, I just looked up the ballet, and I guess this production was choreographed by some famous ballet guy named Yuri Grigorovich who leads Russia’s prestigious Bolshoi Ballet. I don’t know anything about ballet so this doesn’t really mean much to me. But when he came out on the stage after the performance he did get very thunderous applause. Yeah, well I don’t like your version, Yuri.

I Gotta Go Phi Phi!

(Fyi, Phi Phi is pronounced Pee Pee)

So, my travel plans have evolved considerably due primarily to Joleen. Although I did book the plane tickets. Joleen, you owe me about $600! ;) Anyway, we're going to Thailand from January 29th (Lunar New Year) until February 8th. We fly into Bangkok and from there fly right to Phuket where we'll stay one night. Phuket is/was a big tourist area. It was also hit pretty hard by The Tsunami. I guess it's cleaning up fairly well, however. The next day we're taking a ferry to Ko Phi Phi, which is apparently the 3rd most beautiful island in the world but who determined that I don't know. Phi Phi was also hit hard by The Tsunami, especially a main beach there (Ton Sai). I guess around 800 people died on Phi Phi and there are still 1,000 people missing (not to be pessimistic here, but can't we assume they're dead by now?). The bungalow (yes, bungalow) that we'll be staying at is located in an area that wasn't hit too bad at all. It even has it's own private beach, so I hear. It looks super pretty. According to something I read somewhere, "The Tsunami appears to have had a "cleansing" effect and many beaches look like they did 20 years ago." So The Tsumani did have that going for it. After Phi Phi we're heading back to Bangkok for a few days. I want to check out nearby Ayutthaya (the old capital) because it has some sweet looking ruins. So I'm very excited about this vacation! I added some pictures for all to view. Some are Tsunami damage, some are pretty. I'll let you figure out which is which. If you need help with that, email me.



The picture on the left is Maya Bay on Phi Phi Le (Ko Phi Phi is 2 islands--Phi Phi Don is bigger and has hotels and stuff and Phi Phi Le is smaller and no one lives there and there's no hotels or anything). Maya Bay is where scenes from the movie The Beach starring Leonardo DiCaprio was filmed. So I'll have to check that out. And hope I don't get attacked/imprisoned by either marijuana growers or freaky island dwellers (that's from the movie and not an actual threat, Mom).

The map is a map of Phi Phi Don. Phi Phi Le is below this. For reference, the area worst hit by The Tsunami was around number 18. Come to think of it, I think the dotted square is containing the hard hit areas. The place where we'll be staying is labeled number 17. So, you can see, it's on a different side of the island. Have I mentioned I'm very excited? And I have over a month to wait...

Snowflakes keep falling on my head

It snowed again today. I'm beginning to think that I was totally lied to regarding the amount of snow Pyeongtaek gets. Also, the snowflakes were really big. Korea must just produce gigantic snowflakes.

I was searching online for downloadable Christmas songs (really simple and clear ones to play for my students). Anyway, I found this site that had a ton of them, but it turns out they were all midi files! Hahahaha!! I had a good laugh with that one. Remember when we used to 'sing' songs in midi, Liz?

Hey, look: the proof really is in the pudding.! [And no, I didn't really shove my book into a giant bowl of pudding...I just utilized my photo-editing skills]

The Proof is in the Pudding
What exactly is the origin of this saying, anyway?

Proof that I am, in fact, the best English teacher in the Gyeonggi province in South Korea--that's right, I am the new face girl of the most recent workshop guidebook. So, on Friday I had to go to that stupid seminar/workshop thing. Everyone who was at the one in August (the first place I went upon arrival in Korea) was at this...except for those who managed to skip out. So as we filed into the auditorium we were given a packet that included a pen and a book containing the speeches etc that we were to sit through. So I sit down...still not having looked at the book. Pretty soon someone yells across the auditorium, "Hey, Emily! Nice picture!" as he points to the book. Wtf? So I get out my book and, sure enough, there I am on the cover teaching my kiddies. It was from my demo class the previous Friday. But it's really not a good picture of me. I'm singing and I have my eyes closed. Why they chose that picture is beyond me. So then the first guy to speak to us gets up on stage and the first thing he says is, "Who is on the cover?" Everyone who knows me yells my name and points at me. The guy then makes me stand up as everyone is staring at me (there's over a hundred people there). He then apologized that I wasn't asked if it was ok and also apologized for picking a picture where my eyes were closed. So why'd you pick it?!?!? Anyway, I thought it was pretty funny. I even signed a few autographs. :)


So the seminar was at a 'resort' called La Vie D'or. Apparently it's really nice, but I don't think it's so hot. I guess the Ministry of Education forgot to tell the resort people that we were sleeping there Friday night (the seminar continued until Saturday afternoon). So there were only enough rooms for 1/3 of us. Hahahahahahahahaha!!!! If this situation isn't Korean I don't know what is. :D So the rest of them had to get shipped over to 2 other hotels. These hotels turned out to be 'love hotels.' The name pretty much speaks for itself. Each room contains a goodie basket of...goods of a certain sort. Not that I'd know or anything... But I was placed in a room in the resort in a very nice room (that had carpet...amazing! It does exist in Korea!). I didn't get to enjoy the room, however, as I was a naughty girl and skipped out on the second day. All the whiteys on Friday night invaded the 2 bars in the nearby vacinity and drank well into the night. The bar I was in actually ran out of tap beer before midnight. The bar owner had to go procure some from somewhere else. But I ended up leaving that night around 1am with Jaclyn, Andy, and Elissa. We took a taxi back to Pyeongtaek (since the buses and subways stop running much before that). It's a nice distance away...I got home just before 3am (but I had to walk about 10 minutes from where the taxi dropped us off between my and Jaclyn's apts). The fare was about $40, so only like $10/person. Well worth it not having to go the conference on Saturday. I hope I don't get in trouble for it, but what are they gonna do, really? Nothing, that's what.

I'm currently trying to plan vacation things for when Joleen comes. We want to go to Thailand. I attempted to go to a travel agency yesterday, but due to many debacles, it didn't happen. And it pissed me off. I wanted to go to the travel agency located in the USO Seoul near Camp Kim. Because they speak English and the tour I want to take of the DMZ is through the USO. So I take the subway 2 hours to get to Seoul. It's the coldest day ever, I might add. It was the wind that was the killer. It doesn't help that Korea is full of high rises so the wind channels through them creating a wind tunnel. It was horrible. Anyway, I never found the place (where I believed the entrance to be was being patrolled by Korean-looking soldiers who had no idea what I was talking about when I asked about the travel agency...but yes, they did speak English). So I just had to turn around and spend the next 2 hours going home. It turns out that it didn't matter that I never found it because it closes at 2 on Saturdays and I was there around 3. So that blew big time. I'm just going to try and do everything over the phone with them now, since I can't go there again until next Saturday. Which is Christmas Eve, so who knows if they're open? Bah. I also somehow 'broke' my T-money card...this card that you buy and put money on so when you use the subway you just scan the card and don't have to buy tickets each time. So it's not working and the ticket window guy was only able to say to me, "change-y." Then pointed to Korean on the back of the card. So I have to figure out how to get a new card, plus I had over 10,000 won ($10) on it, so I hope I can transfer that over.

Miscellanei

There's this box of 'tissues' (using the brand name Kleenex has not carried over here) in our classroom. They honestly smell like feces. I don't know about you, but if I were to make a short list of things that I wouldn't want smelling like fecal matter, Kleenexes would probably make that list. I mean, really, you wipe them against you nose.

So I see that Minnesota is the healthiest state again. Nice going! I guess it's been number 1 or 2 for the last 10 years or so. Kind of surprising. I think a big part of it was that Minnesota is #1 on number of people with health insurance. Wisconsin is the 13th healthiest state.

Someone should seriously do a study to determine if cords are sentient. No, not umbilical cords...I mean electrical cords. Seriously, they have an uncanny ability to become completely entangled either with itself or with other cords. No matter how carefully you think you're storing it. For example: headphones. No matter how I put them away, when I take them out they are tangled up in knots. Creepy. Speaking of creepy, Gremlins 2 was on tv here the other day. That is creepy on many levels.

I will now link to an article that you may be interested in reading. It's about Anti-American protests in Pyeongtaek. Don't worry about me. I may live here, but I had no idea this protest even took place until I saw the article. I guess they realize it's not me personally who is going to take away their rice fields. Protests in Pyeongtaek

In other Korean news: Korean Air pilots went on strike. The government broke the strike. They may go on strike again later. I will not be buying tickets through Korean Air in the near future. Oh wait, I might have to go through them if I go somewhere over my break...hmmm...

In more Korean news: The Korean stem cell research guy...now, I haven't read up on this fully, but I don't really see what's so unethical about using eggs donated by people on your research team. I guess they're worried about coersion, but I wouldn't think they'd have a problem finding people to donate so why would they need to coerce anyone? I have no idea if coerce and coersion are spelled with a c or an s...which is why I used both. Yes, I guess I am too lazy to look it up. Even though I am online already.

In not so important Korean news: I saw this picture on the google news site and had to laugh. It's a bunch of Korean Santa's going on a ride at Everland. I saw a Korean Santa over a month ago handing out coupons outside a subway station.


In AFN PSA news: Ok, here's a commerical that I find very funny. It shows a military guy sitting at his computer typing an email to someone. First off, he's incredible unskilled at typing. And you can see he's typing something about M16s and getting up at 0400. So then we get a voice over saying (and I quote), "You might think it's a great way to make new friends. The websites say there are thousands of people out there wanting to meet someone just like you. But remember: when you send an email to someone you've never met, they just might be a terrorist. Terrorists want to make new friends, too, especially ones who are in the military. And when you post a picture of yourself and your biggest weapon on that web, you just gave our enemies their biggest weapon. That weapon just became you. Think before you post." Then the phrase, "Practice good OPSEC" is flashed on the screen (operational security). Man, these commercials crack me up.

Another thing about AFN: They play these short spots of people back in the good 'ol US of A standing in front of landmarks like Mount Rushmore and the Statue of Liberty. They're all giving little heartfelt speeches about how appreciative they are of the men and women serving in the armed forces. But what makes is kind of sad is that you can tell they're all directing their statements to the people serving in Iraq, not Korea. It would kind of annoy me if I were a troop stationed here. Speaking of troops and annoyances, how annoying is it that a troop is one person? This is true, right? I feel like it's not only one guy, but then you read articles where they state that "3 US troops were killed." In that sense, you kind of have to be referring to a troop as one person, right? Can anyone clear this up for me? I feel like a troop should be a group of people. If there's a one man theater production, is he considered a troupe? Yeah, enough for now...

40 Days Until I See Joleen!!!!

I really need to start taking notes on things I think of to write about, because when I sit down to email people or write an entry in my blog I suddenly forget everything. Very frustrating.

Today all the students had finals. Which means they were taking tests the whole morning then they got to leave and go home after lunch. So I didn't have to teach any classes today. I also didn't have to administer any of the tests since the students take all the tests in their homeroom class. Being an English teacher, I have no homeroom. After lunch I had the fortune of grading all their English tests. There were a lot of perfect scores. The test was really easy. I didn't make it--Ms. Lee did. All the 5th grade teachers (I'm considered a 5th grade teacher even though I also teach 4th graders) got together in one room to do all their grading together. As is always the case with Koreans when they do pretty much anything, we had a bunch of food to eat. Dunkin' Donuts (yes, there are Dunkin' Donuts' here), coffee, tea, this food that is kind of spicy and has ramen noodles in it as well as this weird rice cake stuff and some other substance which is foreign to me, and a crapload of kimbap (like sushi but sans seafood). Quick note about Korean coffee: it's 90 percent sugar. Everybody gets the kind that's on individual packages. One package makes a little cup worth (like a smallish Dixie cup). I swear the coffee mix itself takes up a quarter of the cup. Almost everything that is poured out of the package is sugar...although yes, there is a small amount of coffee included. I quite enjoy it, however. I never liked coffee in the US, but here I drink too much of it. Because I like it so much my co-teacher says I'm "turning Korean." If only I could become Korean enough to like more of the food! [For those who don't know, I really do not like the taste of sesame oil. I detest it, in fact. Unofrtunately, it's in approximately 50 percent of the food. Another 30 percent is seafood, which I also am not a fan of. That leaves 20 percent that I enjoy. Ok, that's not true, I do like more than 20 percent of the food, but there is a lot I don't like...especially in the school lunches.]

I'm super excited because Joleen decided to visit me here over my winter break instead of my summer break! Woo-hoo!!!! A visitor!!!! She just bought her plane tickets and she'll be staying here just shy of a month. I only have about 13 (consecutive) vacation days, so the other days she's here I will have to go into work (teaching English camp). But we still have the weekends. Plus, she can come in to school with me. The students will love it and undoubtedly flip out. So now my task is to plan out stuff to do while she's here. Man, the pressure...

I also got a package from Joleen yesterday and from my mom today. Exciting!!! Amongst many awesome things in my sister's package, there were a few things that made me positively giddy when I saw them. 1) a big baggie of home-made beef jerky. It is delicious, let me tell you. I seriously need to try and control myself so I don't eat the whole thing in a week. 2) These awesome truffle things. Short anecdote regarding these: They were in the bottom of the box and the box was sitting on my floor. The floors in Korea are heated. I opened a truffle and bit into it and the inside part was completed melted. Oops. I waited a while, ate another one and still the inside was totally liquified. I was a bit worried I messed up the structural integrity of them for good. But today I had another one and it was back to normal. Crisis diverted. 3) Cheese. Cheddar and jalapeno jack. Enough said. 4) Home Alone dvd. Can it really be Christmas without watching this movie? I don't think so. 5) The most exciting of all...home-made christmas cookies!!!!!!!! Ah man, those took the cake. And my faves--frosted sugar cookies and ginger creams. They are scrumptious. Thank you a million times over, Joleen! There was also other great stuff in the package, but I will spare everyone the tedium of a complete inventory. There were a few wrapped presents in it as well, so I have to try to wait until Christmas to open those. I hope my curiosity doesn't get the better of me...

My mom's package contained all wrapped gifts. Which is very exciting, but the mystery of what they contain is dampered slightly by the fact that you need to list what you're sending on the customs slip. So I pretty much know what they all are...except one thing is a dvd set...and I don't know what dvd set it is. So that'll be a surprise. :) I told my co-teacher I was really excited because I had wrapped presents and she says to me, "Ah, you are young." Huh? Do Koreans not wrap Christmas presents for each other? What's up with that??

Here's another example of Korean last minute-ness that has pissed off all the UWers here: Ok, we all (English teachers from UW) have this website where we can post messages to each other, etc. Last week someone posts this message asking if anyone else has heard about this mandatory "reunion," aka seminar, at the "resort" that we all met at the first week we arrived. No one had at the time. This seminar starts Friday afternoon and goes until Saturday afternoon. So it's just a bit over a week before the stupid thing is going to take place and the majority of us hadn't even heard about it yet. Which is incredibly stupid and rude being as it impedes upon our weekend. And we don't get paid for it. So my school didn't mention it to me all last week. Saturday morning a teacher at my school calls me and asks, "Are you going to the meeting next weekend?" Ok, I only knew what she was talking about because of other people in the UW group. Otherwise I would have been completely clueless as to what the hell she was talking about. So I tell her, "Umm, yeah, I don't really know anything about it." "Oh, well I have a schedule for you. They really think you should go." Ok, I guess I'm going. Anyway, that's just one example of not knowing what's happening half the time. It gets old. Fast.

Emily Seonsaengnim, Teacher Extraordinaire!

So, there's a group of about 6 elementary schools in the Peongtaek area that have native English teachers (me, a sickly looking American guy from Utah, a big black guy from the US, 2 Canadian girls, and an English guy). The last couple of months on Fridays we've taken turns watching a class at each school (a demo class). All the native teachers show up, as does their Korean co-teachers, the Pyeongtaek educational office people, etc. All in all about 25 people sit and stand in your classroom watching your class. Like it's not crowded enough as it is. Anyway, I guess it's a pretty big deal. After the class we all sit around and have a 'discussion' about it. Which is never really much of a discussion. Anyway, my demo class was this past Friday. It was the last demo class, save one (next week). And it totally was the best one. My co-teacher planned most of it, although a lot of it was from the books. We prepared a crap load of materials for it, though. She had me drawing and coloring shit all the time up until the class. She's a perfectionist. But anyway, I guess everyone was super impressed with it and my superior teaching abilities. I'm much more animated than the other native teachers were, which "makes it easier for the students to understand things," according to the Korean teacher people. I pretty much think I look like an ass up there, but hey, I guess it's a good thing. :) I honestly feel like an actress when I teach--pretend I'm interested in what I'm teaching even though I've taught it about 8,000 times, use excessive gestures and facial expressions, etc. After the class one guy came up to me and said, "Thank you so much for finally allowing me to see a very good English lesson." Ouch! That hurts if you're one of the other native English teachers! I don't think he really meant it in that way, but that's how it sounds. Another guy said to me, "You are definitely a natural teacher." Then I told him I actually had an education degree and he almost crapped his pants. Very few English teachers here have teaching certificates. I guess the Korean people were also telling my school, "Don't let her fly away back to America! We must try to keep her in Pyeongtaek!" Sorry guys. Not going to happen. Anyway, I just thought that was funny. I rock. I hope my principal hears that I was awesome. I don't think he likes me much for whatever reason (I think because I'm a girl and I'm shy). But I guess it's a source of pride to have a native English teacher...and I'm apparently a good one, so he should be happy with me. Anyway, enough bragging for now.

You know what really annoys me? People I don't know talking to me on the subway. When I'm on the subway I like to just sit and listen to my iPod in peace. That peace is shattered when some annoying person attempts to talk with you even when your body language is clearly telling them that you really don't want to talk. And usually their English is not the greatest, so it's just annoying. And if it's a native English speaker, they're usually weird. For some reason, Indonesian men have a propensity for attempting to talk with me. Today when I was in the subway an Indonesian guy kwpt talking with me. Then he proceeded to try to get my phone number because "I like to practice English." I just said, "I don't have a phone." So then he keeps talking to me. Ok, really, who doesn't have a phone??? If that isn't a "please leave me alone" statement, I don't know what is. Luckily when the subway train came (aforementioned convo happened on the platform) it was really crowded and I was able to hide away from him.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

I have to say, I had a great Saturday. I woke up and talked with Joleen and the phone for a short while. Then, I made my way to Pyeongtaek Station to meet up with Jaclyn and Will. I was harrassed by an old Korean guy at the station while waiting for the others to arrive, but that was just one short blip in the goodness of the day. We then boarded the subway and made our way to Suwon where we met up with Andy, Eva, and Lindsay. We ate at Jackie Chan's restaurant. It was pretty good. I had a chicken curry dish and some egg roles. Then...(drumroll please)...we all went to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire! Huzzah! It came out December 1st here. We had bought our tickets days in advance and still got seated in the 2nd row (assigned seating). But it wasn't too bad because there was quite a bit of space between the screen and the first row. Although I did have a sore neck by the end of the movie. Koreans love Harry Potter just like the rest of the world. The tickets were about $7, so not too shabby at all. I thoroughly enjoyed the film. It was probably my favorite of them all, thus far.

So a bit after the movie Will and I made out way back to Pyeongtaek. We then decided to make it movie day, so we went to Just Like Heaven (I think that's what it's called) with Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo. I thought it was surprisingly good. It was funny. Plus, the tickets at the Pyeongtaek theater are only $5. How can you go wrong with that? The movie finished at about 12:45am. As we walk outside we see...(drumroll please)...



SNOW!!!!! That's right, snow!!! There was about an inch of accumulation on the ground and it was still coming down pretty heavily. It was exciting beyond words. We were told that it snows very little here (like maybe an inch or 2 all winter). Plus, I'm always completely ignorant of the weather forecast here, so it came as a complete surprise. All the Koreans leaving were freaking out and running to their cars to get out of it while Will and I proceeded to have a snowball fight. As we had no mittens or anything, my hands about froze off. Then Will set off a car alarm by getting snow off the hood. Oops, sorry! We then walked around for a while. We went through a park and decided to make a snowman. The snow wasn't the stickiest...we basically had to use the heat from our hands to melt the snow together. I pretty much lost all functionability of my hands. To add to that, I was wearing tennis shoes that are composed entirely of a mesh-like material. So my feet were soaking wet and freezing. I honestly thought my big toes would have to be cut off. But we prevailed with the snowman making (and confused a Korean couple along the way). It was pretty small, but it was the best we could do. And it was pretty damn cute if I say so myself. I guess the total snowfall was around 3 inches? Earlier I had asked one of my classes if they had ever made a snowman, and none of them had! Crazy!

This morning I was able to download a bunch of classic Christmas Cartoons (How Grinch Stole Christmas, Frosty the Snowman, Charlie Brown's Christmas, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer). Now I'm all set to have a Christmas marathon in the coming weeks. So anyway, that was my weekend excitement. SNOW!!!!!!!!