Amboseli Continued

I am flip flopping between two of my field components- my independent study and my visit to Amboseli, one of Kenya's many national parks. I wrote about Amboseli earlier in my posts but I never showed any pictures- which were the best part!

 The elephants go marching one by one hurra!

 So majestic!

 We rode around in our own safari cars. Zebras are passing in from of the road!

 The animal kingdom. We stopped for lunch on top of this hill- away from the animals of course and had this wonderful view!

 We saw this female lion right as we were leaving the park, how lucky! We didn't expect to see any of the big cats during our safari because it was so hot out.

 This picture is taken from an elephant orphanage. This is a blind rhino.

 Mamma and baby posing for the camera.

 Outrages!

The giraffe eating in action, they're so tall! 

 Wildebeest

 Some cool lookin bird. East Africa is filled with beautiful birds!

 This picture is actually taken from a park near Nairobi- the skyline is in the back, how cool! Two worlds combined: the animal kingdom and the human industries.

Zebras!

Jinja, Uganda

It is now June 22nd and I have been home from my trip to Africa for about a month.  Kenya seems like such a long time ago now, and I honestly can't believe how fast four months went by. I remember my first week in Kenya we were thrown into our rural homestays and all I kept thinking was 'get me outta here.' Kenya came as such a shock to me but by the middle of the second month I was beginning to feel very comfortable and safe where I was. I noticed once I got home, that I had unfinished business to attend to- this blog. The last month of my trip was undocumented and a complete mystery to my family, but this month was the most fun-filled. This part of the trip I really started making moves on crossing off some agenda items on my bucket list. I was unable to share it with you because Uganda has alot of electrical problems which is actually ironic since I was living right on the Nile- Ugandas main source of hydroelectricity. The power outages, and network malfunctions were daily. The compound I was living in overlooking the Nile would lose power everyday for about 1-4 hours and everything would go dark at 10:00 PM when the bar/living area would close. Anyway, keeping up with this blog and finding access to the internet was costly and a real hassle hence why it seemed like I fell off the face of East Africa for a little while. Right now I am picking up where I left off in the middle of April.
        A quick recap- for the last month of my semester I was allowed to choose and work with any NGO (non-governmental organization) of my liking in East Africa. The first thing everyone always asks me is- how did you choose and where did you know where to look? Well, since St. Lawrence's Kenya Semester Program (KSP) has been around since the 80s, our name and connections are well established. I had reference to dozens and dozens of index cards with a synopsis of different NGOs in East Africa organized by genre: Conservation, AIDS organizations, Orphanages, Wildlife, Education, Culture, Politics, Community, Tourism, etc. I spent my time thumbing through cards and looking up the names of various organizations and enthusiastically settled on an organization located in Jinja, Uganda called Soft Power Education. With them, I worked with the community by running secondary school (US equivalent of high school) workshops, disability lectures, painting schools, and working in the Kybirwa (pronounced Tri-bera) disability outreach clinic. On my time off from work, I was never bored- and how could I with the Nile River as my backyard! When I come home from volunteering I would order lunch from the bar area and read my book for a little bit on one of the hammocks that had a beautiful view of the Nile. After the volunteers would brainstorm what we would do for the evening whether that be going out to one of the bars in the town of Jinja, watching a movie, going out to dinner, or splurging any little amount of cash we had to go jetboating, or quad biking. Other days when I felt like keeping to myself, and if there was power, I'd watch a movie on my laptop or take a boda (motorcycle) to the gym that looked like a resort! So that was my day in a nutshell and I will make sure to get into more detail in my later posts but for now I want you to get a visual of the place I was staying at!

 The compound had a in-ground pool and in the back you can see the bar/lounge area that had a couple couches and two tvs. I am taking this picture from the steps leading up to my dorm room. I shared the room with three other girls one from London, one from Vienna and one from Stockholm.

 This is the view from a sunset boat ride I went on with some of the other touring college students. Jinja is a popular place for tourists to visit and I met a lot of gap-year students from England who were traveling around East Africa. Jinja is definitely the place to stop off in for some white water rafting and touristy stuff like this!

 The view from the compound.

 The entrance to my compound- the Nile River Camp!

 Me on the sunset cruise!

The entrance from the village area to my compound. Behind these gates there are two compound-like areas and a hotel. The Nile River Camp is where I stayed with the other Soft Power volunteers. There was another compound that was a five minute walk up the path called Nile River Explorers that was the home to many kayakers and rafters leading trips on the Nile. Between the two compounds is the Black Lantern- a hotel-like area that had tents to rent, a elegant restaurant, and mini condo houses that overlooked the Nile.

More to come later!

4/9/12

Today I arrived at the Nile River Camp- about a three hour drive from the airport in Entebee. Jinja looks a lot like rural Kenya except more farm land and little shops.  The compound I stay at has a row of dorms, showers, a bar/lounge, a pool, and a rope swing into the Nile. I am sharing a room with two other girls- a English girl, a Swede, and an Austrian.  The manager of the compound is a South African man named Damian who has a pet baby monkey named Darwin.  Darwin likes to pounce on the cat and ride on its back.  He also likes to steal earrings- he stole my earing and ran away with it in his mouth but I fetched it back quick. The monkey is also trained to come when it is called in a chewbacka like tone.  Normally when walking around the compound Damian has Darwin perched on his shoulder- its too cute.  The compound is very comfortable and well finished- there are multiple couches and tvs.  For the most part I eat my meals at the bar, which is mostly western food such as burgers, chicken, fries. Its going to get a bit old so I am working on finding alternative eating areas.

4/10/12

Today was my first day of work.  I rode on the back of a pickup truck to a school about 10 minutes away.  This was a nursery school specifically for disabled children.  We taught them what a disability was: we started off by asking if they knew what a disability was and then told them the causes and the myths of disabilities such as it is not caused from displeasure from ancestry or witchcraft.  We then played games to teach them about the different kinds of disabilities- we wheeled them around in a wheelchair, we blindfolded them and had them pass a ball to each other, we taught them sign language (how are you/ I am fine) and then we asked them to get into height order without speaking. All of these activities helped them understand disabilities better. The kids were very preoccupied with jumping on us and acting as if we were jungle gyms. When they’d cry, they’d come over and cling to us- they felt very comforted by us. The teacher were very appreciative that we were there- they hugged us multiple times and thanked us and told us to please come again. Later in the day we played sports at a school about a half hour away.

4/11/12

Today was basically the same as yesterday- we finished with groups of children that we didn’t get to yesterday. After school I took my first boda ride into town. It takes about 15 minutes to get into town and it’s a nice relaxing ride, unless you have a shitty boda driver. In town we walked around and found the Source Café which has internet, a gift shop, and good coffee. Its really quaint and homey and I think ill hit it up a few times a week whenever I need a break from the people here.  Later in the day we went on a speed boat on the Nile at the Nile River Explorer compound.  The boat could go about 50 mph and the boat driver, Jeff, was really funny and a great host.  We could do 360s, sudden stops, and Tokyo drifts.  It cost me 50 dollars but it was money well spent.  It was awesome to go speeding through the marshes and wiz by birds.

4/12/12

Today we took a tour of the education centre just about a 5-minute walk from the main junction.  After we traveled 45 minutes to a school that we spent the day painting at.  We first did a couple of base coats and then painted the next layer a beige color.  The walls are chipping and broken and really need a good paint job. However, I think it would be more efficient to focus on changing the curriculum with the money we have and not spend it on paint and supplies.  The material that they learn in class is very hard for a beginner English learner.  The science material that they are learning in primary school has words that I can’t even understand! The kids liked to watch us as we painted and were very eager to pick up the paintbrush if we offered it to them. The teachers made us a nice lunch of rice, beans, and noodles that we all at up because we worked up quite an appetite painting for so long.  Later, after work we were able to come back and go for a quick swim in the Nile and also go on the rope swing.  The rope swing is pretty high up and you get going pretty fast- it was so much fun! In the evening Tom invited me to go get curry at this Indian restaurant in town with Rhys and Holly’s family. We took a boda into town and met them at the restaurant where we had a delicious dinner. After dinner we went to a casino nearby and played blackjack for about 2 hours! We all put in 50,000 and with this money we got unlimited blackjack games and free service.

4/13/12

I woke up late today and missed work because I ended up going to bed at around 5 AM.  I woke up at 1 and basically bummed out all morning. I wanted national geographic and made a failed attempt at writing my bio paper.  Later Tomaseen, Josh, Tom, Norway, and I all went into town and had a nice lunch at a place called the Keep. This was a delicious restaurant in Jinja run by a Christian family.  After we went to the market and looked for funky clothes but unfortunately it was closing down when we arrived. 

4/14/12

This was a lazy day around the compound. I started my government paper, watched national geographic, and went on the rope swing again. The most exciting part of the day was when a English group came to the compound after their day of rafting. All of us hung out and went to some see some live music on another compound just a five minute walk up the road.  

4/15/12

Sundays are usually reserved for doing something fun during the day. Today we decided to go paddle boarding at an area about 5 mins from the compound.  We were able to borrow the owner's boards and go for free around the Nile.  Paddle boarding involves standing on a board while paddling on either side of the board- this is a great core workout! I paddled around for a while and just laid on my board and drifted off into the middle of the river.  At the specific part that the compound is located on there is no rapids or strong current because there is a dam up the road which allows us to swim, boat, paddle board, etc. This was a really fun day, I've never been paddle boarding before! After paddle boarding for about two hours we ordered pizza from a local restaurant- my first time having pizza in 3 months! As we ate we watched The Dark Night and then went to sleep after it finished. I tend to go to bed early over here so that I can wake up early and run before going to work at 8:45ish.  I run around the village area and constantly get chased by little kids who want to run with the mzungu and scream their heads off in delight when they see me. Its nice to run in the morning before it starts to get really hot and humid. I often have to delay my running until the evening due to massive downpours- East Africa is experiencing it's rainy season! 

Amboseli

Over the past two weeks I haven't have any computer access for I have been traveling in Amboseli and Mombasa.  After I spent three weeks with my urban host family, we spent a weekend on the compound then headed off on a two week excursion exploring Maasai culture and coastal culture.  The free weekend on the compound was actually pretty stressful because we had to write a paper on our urban home stay before our departure early Monday morning.  Despite all the work we had we found time to go to the Junction in our town of Karen.  The Junction is a very modern mall with a Planet Yogurt, Nike Store, Casino, and other more expensive African gift shop stores.  We also took a trip to Kazuri- a really cool boutique that sells hand made beads.  It was a nice weekend to have on the compound but I wish I didn't have to rush my urban paper- oh well YOLO (you only live once) for all you oldies.
         We left Monday morning in safari vans and proceeded to travel for about five hours until we reached Amboseli.  Amboseli is the home to an indigenous tribe called the Maasai as well as one of Kenya's most famous national game park- Amboseli Park. The Maasai is a tribe that still practices pastoralism (cattle grazing), live in dung huts, and do not have any running water or electricity.  For food they depend entirely off their cattle or go to the market once every Tuesday.  In Amboseli we stayed in banda/tent things on a huge campground.  We had an awesome staff that were experts in Maasai culture and they taught us about the challenges the Maasai face from pressures to modernize, land encroachment, poverty, and threats from the government to turn their land into plots for agriculture.  One of the first days we were in Amboseli we visited a cultural manyatta.  This is essentially a tourist destination for white travelers to view the Maasai culture- their indigenous dances, houses, food, and beading.  However, this site is a completely mockery- it caters to the tourist thought that these indigenous people are savage and backwards.  They would wear tons of beads on their ears, neck, ankles, and wrists. They would also wear traditional Maasai clothing of pieces of fabric intricately wrapped around their body. They over exaggerated everything they told us and did. Not everything they did was a false representation of their culture- all of their perhaps savage or primitive traditions were practiced many years ago but they have modernized some since.  For example, they no longer drink blood or dance on no occasion, or just live off eating meat, they also attend school.  However everything they portrayed to us was for us to be entertained- we paid $10 to visit and so they wanted us to get our money's worth.  We were able to see how the Maasai really live when we stayed with a family for a night.  A girl from the SLU trip and myself stayed with one family along with a guide who was able to translate from Kimaasai (their language) to English. We stayed in their dung huts, helped heard cattle, cooked chipati, and engaged in a traditional women's job of beading bracelets and necklaces- we were even able to make our own. On our down time I would chase the baby chickens around their fenced off plot.  Inside their plot of land about 200 meters in diameter was a cow pen, baby cow pen, and two dung huts.  The fencing was made out of thorn bushes and the mom and dad each had their own house.  It really was an awesome experience to live the way this group has been living for thousands of years.  When one thinks of Africa- the image of the indigenous tribe Maasai comes to mind.  The Maasai represent a romanticized view of Africa- men and women with enlarged earlobes decked out in beads and headbands leading 50 cattle around the dry African land. This was truly a once in a lifetime opportunity because the Maasai culture is slowly evolving.  Education has played a huge role in modernizing the Maasai group.  Children that go to school and move on to college will eventually be employed and thus will not return to their hut. In turn future generations will not be integrated into the Maasai culture and so this culture, in its original form, will cease to exist.  Their are certain elements that will remain such as their traditional practices of beading, and their language.  But their markings as Maasai such as the elongated ear lobes, removed front 4 front teeth, and burned circles on their cheeks will no longer be in practice.
          Later on in the week we were able to interview local farmers on their lifestyle of farming and the challenges they face from wildlife interferences.  The camp we were staying at was in the middle of a wild life corridor.  A corridor is a strip of land that allows animals to migrate between one national park and another thus we saw a ton of animals.  While running with the usual crew in the mornings, we ran past giraffes and zebras, and occasionally ran past huge elephant tracks.  So, farmers faced threats from all of these animals- especially the elephants. The next day we hopped in our safari vans and went to Amboseli National Park where we rode with our heads out of the top of the car acting like the biggest tourists ever. Whatevs. We saw tons of zebras, elephants, impala, gazelles, wildebeest, buffalo,  hippos, and indigenous birds. This was hands down the funnest part of the trip. We were inside the park for six hours and I was never board there was always something to see or something to learn about a certain species of animals or plants. 
        In all this Amboseli trip was really amazing and educational.  What I didn't enjoy very much about the trip was the bathrooms- they were in straw huts and bats hung from the ceiling.  Breakfast, lunch, and dinner was made for us everyday and it was delicious.  But, at dinner time when we were exhausted and trying to enjoy our meal, weird looking bugs kept dive bombing my head like kamikazes.  Every night I'd have anxiety attacks because of the presence of so many bugs!!!! After dinner we'd  play cards for a long while and then head to bed and wake up early to go for a run before the day's activities. I always love driving through rural places where the children rarely see white people.  As we were traveling in our safari cars, school-aged children would sprint after screaming HOW ARE YOU, HOW ARE YOU! They are always so excited to see white people however if you talk to them they will ask you for money or beg something from their mom's crafted jewelry.

Here are some pics from this trip

End of Urban Home Stay

Yesterday, the urban home stay component came to and end- and it was a bittersweet ending.  I was stoked to be back on the compound and around the other students but I am really really lucky to have had such an awesome host family.  The Okello family, despite being a very rich urban family, is very down to earth, knowledgeable, and accommodating.  They were not pretentious or greedy as may be the case for other host families- other family's kid were bratty or the parents were snobby. I really lucked out, as I mentioned before I had two host sisters 10 and 12 and an older sister who was away at boarding school.  The girls were so mature and knew a lot about Kenyan society and I had some really intellectual conversations with them about presidential elections, gender roles, and other current events such as the current public hospital strike.  By the time I left yesterday I felt like I was completely part of the family, and I had a routine that kept me going.  Maxwell and I would talk about current events, the house-help Katherine and I would watch Triumph of Love- a spanish cheesy soap opera, the girls and I would bake, and the mom and I would talk about her worries about her eldest daughter in boarding school.  I got along perfectly with everyone in the family, and I can tell that I am really going to miss them.  Looking back, it was so much different than my rural home stay... The food was pretty much the same breakfast: sweet potatoes, mandazi, corn flakes, bread and jam, and of course CHAI and so much of it! The maid would pack me a snack everyday, and I would bring my lunch stipend to buy lunch everyday.  After school Josephatt, our driver, would pick the girls up and then me, then bring us back to the house.  The family only had one car and everyone needed to be picked up at different times which is why they hired Josephatt to drive the car.  Depending on the traffic, it would take us one hour to almost two and a half hours to get home from school.  Since no one pays attention to traffic lights, the police manage traffic and often take bribes.  Recently, the president has been passing thorough Nairobi as well as the Ethiopian president and the South Sudan leader because they are all collectively building a port on the coast of Kenya. So, traffic has been very bad because the roads would have to be closed down. Anyway, I would take chai when I got home and do my homework at the big dinning room tables with the girls.  At around 7:30 I'd go for a run around the neighborhood which was only about 400m so it was like running around a track. Lights lined the outside of the neighborhood, and we had Masai guards that would walk around so it was completely safe for me to go running.  Sometimes when I would pass the guard's post they'd run with me for a little bit. I eventually got tired of it so I turned my runs into workouts- when the Masai guards would try and run with me I'd start sprinting to shake them off. Other times when I got sick of the neighborhood loop, I'd run at the Arboredom close to where I take classes.  This park has an extensive network of trails and is patrolled by police officers so once again I feel safe running with a friend there.  I even got to meet and run with some Kenyan marathon runners- it was so cool! Then after running I'd shower, eat dinner, do more homework and go to sleep. But before I sleep, I'd always get a knock on my door and the two girls would come in and give me a hug.  I am so glad that they speak English- the girls are completely fluent and they only speak English mixed with a little bit of Swahili around the house.  I am able to understand everything even when they speak in Swahili.  The absence of a language barrier helps for great discussions. Then that's my day! I'd wake up at around 6 and repeat it all over again. Traffic in the mornings is terrible too, it usually takes us more than an hour to get to school and the girls are always late getting up.
          Almost every night we'd had ugali, spinach, and gizzards.  This was my least famous meals- the gizzards were all tendon-y, and the spinach tasted like wet laundry.  On top of that ugali is kinda like wet, really thick bread, and I didn't like that either.  The ugali, spinach, and meat would all be rolled together using fingers and eaten together  I didn't care for the mixture, needless to say I didn't eat much for dinner while I was here.  Another thing I am not going to miss is the lack of hot water and power outages.  Sometimes there would be no water at all, but normally we had water and it was only cold.  The power would also randomly go out and during the weekends it would go out for over 3 hours due to power rationing. Other than that it as pretty easy to adapt to the lifestyle here.
          One day my host sisters and I made peanut butter chocolate cookies.  Chocolate chips don't exist here so we bought chocolate bars and cut them up.  It was hard to measure out ingredients because they didn't have measuring cups- they didn't do alot of baking, mostly cooking dinner. Plus, the family is so busy with school (school is on Saturday's too), and work that they don't have a lot of time for leisure activities. On the weekends the parents are so exhausted from work that they don't feel like doing anything other than sleeping on the leather couches in the living room.  Another time we made vegetable and meat pizzas for dinner and on the last morning I was here I made them chocolate pancakes- all of our recipes came out really well! I was happy to have the girls doing something else than homework and watching Hanna Montana- yes they have plenty of American shows here as well as music. 
        I felt very comfortable here, and I felt like I belonged.  When my dad or mom would introduce me to people they would introduce me as their daughter.  When a lady asked my host sister who I was she said that I was her sister. It was so cute and I really felt like I was their sister. We got so close throughout the three weeks I was there- we bonded over cooking, making fun of the trashy soap operas, and complaining about the traffic.  I definitely plan on seeing them again before I leave Kenya in May. 
       One day we went to a village market which wasn't much of a market, it was more of a super outdoor ritzy mall.  The mall was swarming with white people and it was almost shocking to see so many.  We are so used to being the minority and by now we are comfortable with it. Then we come here and we are the majority- it was a weird flip flop. This mall had outdoor restaurants, frozen yogurt, and tons of jewelry and clothe shops.  This was nicer than any mall I have ever been to in the U.S. and it not something I expected to see in Kenya.  For lunch I ate a turkey, avocado, and swiss cheese sub sandwich and it was better than anything I could get at Wegmans! It was great because previously before coming to the village market we were hiking in one of Nairobi's forest and we were hungry, and hot. We were all sharing what foods we missed from the U.S. and I said Wegman's subs- so this place answered all of our wishes haha.
       On Monday I will be traveling to Amboseli and later on to Mombasa.  We will be living with a traditional pastoral group, and we will stay in dung huts for a night.
 

Soccer game and Host Sister Vanessa (11)

Host Family and Soccer Game

            Yesterday I went to a football cup qualifying game of Kenya versus Togo.  My host dad Maxwell is a huge fan of football and goes to every single Kenya Harambee Star’s game (the National team).  Doesn’t matter what time or what day, Maxwell will always be in the VIP section of every game like the die-hard fan he is.  Football is always playing on the tv- whenever he isn’t blasting Nairobi’s number one hits 100.3 kiss on the radio that is.  When he told me about the game I jumped on it- I have never been to any big sporting event before! I invited my friend Matt who is a soccer player and we went along with Maxwell and a couple of his colleagues from work.  A couple days before the match, Matt and I decided that we couldn’t fully enjoy the football game without going all out- face paint, jerseys, and flags.  We spent the entire day on Tuesday walking around Nairobi in search of the Kenyan team jerseys- which was not an easy thing to do. Every store that usually carries them was sold out because of the upcoming game but we were determined that one store would have them.  After the day was over we were empty handed.  Everyone who tried to help us would always lead us to their shop or their friend’s shop- if you bring a mzungu (white person), you get paid. Every time I ask for directions or where to find something I am never lead in the right direction.  They are always so very eager and excited to help but they don’t actually help- I usually end up in the middle of a market as men and women are pushing necklaces and beaded belts in my face.  I always find it quite difficult to escape the mob of a market, the don’t take no for an answer and will do anything they can to lure you into their shop.  They’d say “looking’s free,” “you are a respectable American girl, I give you good price,” or “you are a student, I know you struggle so I give you student price.” Obviously these discounts are complete rubbish.  I tried to buy four post cards and they offered 1000 kshs or $10 USD.  We are always overpriced and it is very tiring trying to bargain.  Anyway, we gave up looking for jerseys and supplies because we kept on getting turned around in circles and or followed by store owners. 

            The day before the game my dad decided to skip work and help me look for jerseys.  He took me down into the ‘no-go-zone’ part of Nairobi where we easily found a couple stores that had Kenya jerseys.  I am lucky that he went with me otherwise I would have never found them.  Since Maxwell owns his own business on fire protection, he runs his own hours of operation, which I found most convenient during this time. 

            The day of the game Matt and I were set with our jerseys got Tusker flags and bandanas and was ready to go.  We sat in the VIP section with Matt which wasn’t must different from the regular seating but it was higher up and the barbed wire fence wasn’t in the way, and most importantly we were away from the mobbing crowed in the first couple rows.  We counted the mzungus as they came in- and no wonder why white people sometimes receive a bad name as being clueless because this British family was dressed in textbook tourist attire wandering aimlessly trying to find their seats.  Usually Kenyans yell “wazungu!” (white people) when they see any group of white people, and so we yelled it to this family and everybody cracked up.  Usually it’s the Kenyans who yell at mzungus.

            The game was so much fun and such a riot.  Whenever the Kenyan team would touch the ball the crowd would go crazy and run around and lite flares. Everyone was wearing a Kenyan jersey and many painted their whole entire bodies the Kenya- red, black, green, and white. 

         My host family stay has been such a wonderful experience so far, I couldn't have asked for a better family.  One day my host sisters and I made peanut butter and chocolate cookies.  The first batch burnt but then the second batch turned out great and the girls ate them all up.  It has been such a different experience than the rural home stay life. It is hard to imagine that these contrasting life styles exist right next to each other. The rich live right next to the poor.  My only complaint of this stay is the traffic as I've mentioned before.  There is so much of it that when I arrive home, I am so exhausted from sitting in the hot car that I don't want to do anything.  Nothing too exciting happens- after all, I am here to learn and experience the urban lifestyle which entails alot of waiting, and work.  Sometimes my parents don't get home until 12 AM in the morning because of work- and get this, they are not paid overtime.  School has been busy so far.  Since we only have 7 weeks to fit in a semester's worth of classes, each day is filled with school work.  However, I do find time to go out to lunch and go to markets.  A couple days ago I found these awesome cheetah skinny leg jeans that have a gold shimmer haha.  I wore them out the clubs in Westlands and fit right in! The outfits that girls wear out in Nairobi...boy...if only your bother saw you.  The clubs are not much different than the ones in America...(like I'd know..). There is a bar area and a dance floor area, and many have outside seating areas or white tents to smoke hooka in.  The only difference is the dancing.  They like to do what is called the "bend over" which is exactly how it sounds. They bend over and put their arms up by their shoulders and kinda slowly shake their butt and arms. Sounds silly. I haven't been able to post alot since the internet here is very bad but I will keep all updated. I return back to the compound on Friday and will have more free time to write!