30 Days 'til 30!

Thirty days from now is my thirtieth birthday. I know, weird. I think it might be weirder for my parents, having a 30 year old child, but still. It’s a milestone, for sure, and to mark the occasion and try to update many of you on what has been happening in my life for the past year, as well as share some things many of you won’t know, I’ve decided to challenge myself with this ’30 Days to 30’ writing plan. Each day will have a theme or question that I answer in writing, and I’ll also plan to post some pictures along the way. Some days will probably be shorter, based on time available, and some will be longer. I love getting feedback from everyone, so please feel free to contact me with questions, comments, commiserations, or anything else. J

I’ll start with what I’ve been up to in Mexico. Seeing as I have now been living in Mexico for over 7 months, I am positive that it won’t all fit in one post, so I’ll give an overview and add more information as the month goes on. I had a lovely time in Guadalajara for my first month. My Great-Uncle Pat and Great-Aunt Queta are wonderful, welcoming people and really made me feel at home, and I made some lovely friends while I was there. I got to visit a few places nearby, like the city of Tequila, and really ease my way into living in Mexico. After completing my language class in Guadalajara last July, I went on a scouting mission to Mexico City for a week to see how I liked the place, and whether I wanted to/could work and live there. 

Visiting the Puebla of Tequila with a friend from Language school, Dawnelle

Technically, I was supposed to move to Mexico City right away, as was part of my thesis plan, but I really liked Guadalajara and I had heard very mixed things about Mexico City. So I bought a cheap flight (seriously, the USA could REALLY learn about discount domestic airfare from both Europe and Mexico-so many more people would travel!) and headed west. I was offered a place to stay for the week with a friend of my Aunt Peggy, and they welcomed me in and gave me free reign of their home when they left for Cancún halfway through my trip. I spent my days travelling around the city as a tourist, meeting a few contacts I had from other friends, looking into getting a flat, having a meeting with the Professor who had offered me an affiliation with an Anthropology department, and *drumroll please* meeting my First. Official. Natural. Healer.*

His name is Ernesto, and I have been lucky enough to be able to work with him the entire time I’ve been here. A friend of a friend uses his services, and offered to take me to meet him while I was in Mexico City. He was very welcoming, answering some questions I had during his clinic hours, and his wife, who runs the school part of the clinic where they offer courses in different forms of natural healing, asked me if I wanted to join the herbolaria class that has just started. Herbolaria is the study of plants and their medicinal uses. I immediately jumped on board, having already decided that I definitely wanted to move to Mexico City, and went back to Guadalajara the next day with a focus, a new flat waiting for me, and excitement for the next step of my research.

Checking our the National Anthropology Museum in Mexico City

Eating elote (Mexican street corn) at the mercado

August flew by as I started feeling my way around my neighbourhood and tried to do some research, attending my Herbolaria classes, and made some friends. I live with a middle-aged Colombian woman who is, frankly, difficult. But the flat is clean, in a good location, and an ok price, so I’ve stuck it out. But I am REALLY looking forward to living alone or with someone less insane when I return to Edinburgh. At the end of August I flew to Veracruz for the wedding of a good friend from Edinburgh, who happens to be Mexican. Panagia and Nicholas threw a great wedding at a grand old hotel in Veracruz, and a few of the friends who travelled from afar met up a few days before the wedding and we all got to be tourists and get to know each other before the wedding. It was a lot of fun!

Downtown Veracruz

Me with the Bride and Groom after the civil ceremony (which was after the Catholic ceremony)

Visiting Palacio bellas Artes, one of my fave places in D.F.

September brought news that I needed to do an insane amount of work for a mandatory university proposal that I had been told to ‘not worry about’ in June. Needless to say, much of my time in September and October were taken up with reading, writing, editing, repeating, and overall hating life. But I was able to get a few more interviews done with other natural doctors, and I was able to fly back to California for the wedding of one of my very best friends, Aleem to his lady love Ashley. It was and Indian/Catholic wedding, and therefore went on for three days of festivities and included a LOT of food, family and fun, plus some dancing and henna tattoos just for kicks.

Ashely and myself before the Indian ceremony

Aleem, me, and Ashley

October flew by as well with a two day music festival, the celebration of a good friend's birthday and a visit to the Mexican version of Oktoberfest (so wrong, yet so right), then bled into November which started with the celebration in Mexico of the Day of the dead (Dia de los Muertos). One of the most participated in religious holidays, it is actually two days: November 2 and 3. November 2 is the day to remember the dead who passed in adulthood, and November 3 is for remembering children who were taken too young. For weeks in advance, stores sell the special pan del muerto, a bread shaped to look like it has a spider on top, calavera de azucar y chocolate (sugar skulls and chocolate skulls) as well as decorations, candles, marigolds (only used for remembering the dead) and other items for the family altars. Each family sets up an alter to their dead relatives, and I decided to join in, to remember my family who have passed on.

A the Corona Capital music festival

Happy Birthday Ammal! (Back, centre)

My family altar for Dia de los Muertos

On the second, a few friends and I went to a town known for its Dia de los Muertos celebrations, which has a huge graveyard where families decorate the graves of loved ones and stand sentinel over the graves for an entire day, paying homage to the dead. Children also run around on these days asking for money and candy to put into carved gourds or watermelons, a Mexican version of trick-or-treating. It’s a beautiful and interesting celebration, and we really enjoyed seeing it and being a part of it.

graves covered in flowers by families for Dia de los Muertos

I also maintained my tradition of throwing a Thanksgiving dinner outside the USA this year, bringing my new Mexican girlfriends into the mix, and teaching them about one of my favourite American holidays. We cooked and ate at my good friend Ammal’s house, and had a wonderful time. I forgot to account for the super high elevation here and how that affects cooking time, so we ended up eating really late, but they were good sports and absolutely loved the turkey, stuffing, potatoes and pie I made. And they all pitched in with veggie dishes, breads, snacks, and drinks as well. It was a great Thanksgiving!

Mmmm Thanksgiving! 

Ammal, me, Gloria, Renée and Marcé

December was full of me trying to get as much work done as possible before leaving for the US for three weeks in California and Seattle, seeing friends and family and celebrating Christmas and New Year. It was a lovely trip, although I felt a bit guilty being gone from Mexico so long and not practicing my Spanish…whoops! My Spanish IS much better, but far from perfect. I think I would need to live here for years to get there, so hopefully in the future I can return to a Spanish speaking country for more time!

Barnes Family Cousins Day of Fun in Newport Beach! 

New Years in Seattle With Auntie Marla and Auntie Hallie

January included the visit of my family from California. I showed them all around Mexico City, and then we went to Guadalajara to visit the family there and tour around a bit. It was a really fun trip, and I definitely got a lot of Spanish practice in being the translator for everyone! I am also working closely now with both Ernesto, the ‘Médico Naturista’ I met in August and another Naturista called Alfredo. They allow me to work with them in their consultations with patients, giving me access to some really good information for my thesis. This is great, and has really helped me focus my ideas into a rough thesis plan that I am using to plan out the rest of my time here because in January I also bought my plane tickets to leave! Eek! I leave Mexico in early April for California, spend a few days there, then I head to Edinburgh! Having a leaving date is both a blessing and a curse. It forces me to focus and really get as much work done as I can, and I am trying to soak up as much of Mexico and time with my friends as possible. But it also makes me think a LOT more about how soon I’ll be in Edinburgh, and there are some things here *cough crazy flatmate cough* that I can’t wait to leave behind!

Sigmund Family at the top of the Temple of the Sun in Teotihuacan

Uncle Pat, Derek, Me, Cindy, Jazmin, Aunt Queta, Dad, Mom and Jaclene in Guadalajara

So that kind of sums things up in a very general way. I’ll add more detail to a few interesting events as I go along, and more detail about life in Mexico in particular. I am so very sorry for being rubbish at writing in the last few years, but when you write for your ‘job’ everyday, it’s hard to then write anything else at the end of the day.

I hope you are all well and happy!

Until tomorrow!

Kim x

Angel of Avenida Reforma! 

*Just an FYI, I am studying a group of alternative healers in Mexico City called 'Médico Naturistas' who use natural medicine, trying to define what natural medicine means to them, and how they use it to treat patients. 

Viva la Mexico!

Well, once again I have relocated to a new place! For the past 2 and a half weeks I have been living in Guadalajara, Mexico.

                                    

I'm in Mexico in order to undertake research for my degree. I'll be here for around 7-8 months total, returning to Edinburgh to write up my thesis early 2014. I am researching traditional healers in urban Mexico, and how they use herbal remedies to treat disease. I am especially interested in the use of herbal remedies to treat Diabetes-which is a major health issue in Mexico. Presently, I am registered in a language course 4-5 hours a day, 5 days a week. I'm finding it very helpful, but I have also gained perspective on just how hard it is to become proficient in a second language!

I'm not sure yet if I will remain in Guadalajara, or if I will re-locate to Mexico City. I had originally planned to work in Mexico City, but I really like the city of Guadalajara. I find it easily manageable and navigable, and the people are friendly. Mexico City is about 20 times larger than Guadalajara, and therefore has both the positive and negative attributes of a large city. I plan to go and check it out after I finish my language training course, and make my decision afterwards.

Presently, I'm living with Pat and Queta Doyle. I am so grateful to them for opening up their home to me and allowing me to stay here for the first month while I do my language training! Their home is beautiful, and they have been so gracious and generous with me! The day I arrived, they picked me up from the airport and whisked me straight to a Correria competition in which their Granddaughter Yasmine was competing. Correria is one of Mexico's national sports, combining horse training and traditional costumes. It was beautiful! And so nice to be able to meet some more family members. Pat and Queta's daughter Cindy, and her husband and children. All are so lovely and nice!

 



 I began my language class the next day. While I am glad to be able to learn in a structured environment, I am finding it exhausting! Learning a new language takes a lot of mental energy, and I'm usually exhausted by 7 pm! Good thing, since this is also about the time (almost every night) that Guadalajara experiences massive thunderstorms with torrential rain. The streets become rivers, and the thunder and lightening surround the house like angry giants, beating the walls to get inside! But afterwards, the reward is this:

                                              

I take two buses to get to school Monday-Friday, each costing 6 pesos. This comes to a whopping $2/day. Nothing in comparison to what I would pay to take even one bus in Edinburgh, but a lot in comparison to the daily minimum wage income in Mexico, which is about $5/day! This is my view every day, as I sit in the front to make sure I don't miss my stop!

 

 

Pat and Queta live near an amazing park called Bosque Colomos. It has gardens, play and picnic areas, outdoor gym equipment and running trails for runners! This is the Japanese Garden:

 And an amazingly tall and beautiful Bougainvillea growing in the middle of the forest:

My first weekend, we went to visit some ancient ruins about an hour from Guadalajara. Called Guachimontones, these ruins are unique in that they consist of multiple circular pyramids. No one else ever created circular pyramids, and seeing these was a real treat for an Anthropology/History nerd like me!
                                    

 

 

 

I loved seeing these! And enjoyed the visitors centre as well, where this mural was located, showing what life may have looked like for the people who built these amazing pyramids! 

 

 I have also done a bit of exploring in |Guadalajara. I visited the Hospicio Cabañas, which used to be an orphanage, where Orozco painted some amazing murals!

 

 
 

 

Here's an example:

 

 I also visited Zapopan, a sort of township just outside of Guadalajara with my class. They have a statue of the Mexican national symbol, an eagle perched on a cactus holding a snake. The Aztecs, who wandered the region for years before settling in what is now Mexico City, had been foretold that that when they saw an eagle perched on a cactus holding a snake in it's beak, that would be the place where they would settle and be prosperous. And that's exactly what they did, creating the most advanced civilization in the Americas before Hernan Cortes invaded.

 

 

 

Last weekend, two friends and I went to Lake Chapala for a day of sun and relaxation. Megan and Dawnelle are both Americans as well, we all met at IMAC, our language school. Once we arrived at our destination, we chowed down on a late breakfast of homemade, fresh gorditas and beer. Saturday lunch of champions!

 Afterwards, we checked into a hotel/pool/spa and spent the day lounging in the sun. We also partook of the natural hot springs around Lake Chapala and did a spa circuit. You spent 20 minutes each in various hot tubs filled with different things: one had apple cider vinegar, one had flowers, one had coffee grounds, one had minerals. We also got full-body mud masks, which we allowed to dry by walking down to the beach, herbal steam facials, and time in the temezcal-a traditional indigenous steam room in which fresh aromatic herbs surround the hot, steaming rocks. It was really relaxing and a nice treat-all for about $7!!!!

 

I haven't had time to do much research for my degree, but I'm getting there slowly! I'll be able to focus on it much more after next week! But I did enjoy seeing this wall of herbs in a museum today, and tried to recognise as many herbs as I could (it wasn't many! haha)

Overall, I'm so enjoying my time here! The people, the beauty of the city, the colours and noise-and the FOOD! I already loved Mexican food, but being here, I am loving it more and more! Today for comida (around 3 pm, the largest meal of the day) I had mole verde con pollo, frijoles, arroz, torillas, salsa, y cervesa! What a feast! Mole is a traditional sauce from Oaxaca, and there are many different kinds. With the chicken, beans, rice and accoutrements I was stuffed! I may not eat again until tomorrow!

                                     

 

So I'll leave you on that note, mouths watering for mole! :-)

 

More soon!

 

Until then,

 

Kim x

Where has she been? Oh right...

...Reading everything under the sun on the anthropology of Curanderismo, and Mexico, and diabetes and herbal remedies for diabetes, and applying for funding and going to lectures and getting a job and trying to organize my bills and my flat and my life. WHEW. Sorry for the long delay, but the last two months have flown by! Before I know it, I'll be back in California for Christmas, contemplating the paradox of using the A/C when there are Christmas Carols about 'snow' and 'frightful weather' blasting from the radio. I have discussed this at length with the British. They do not understand. And the mention of THIS guy by an Australian recently sent my supervisor at work into a tailspin:



















"Santa CANNOT wear sandals! You have ruined Christmas for me" (Direct quote)

But for at least one more week, it is still Autumn. My all-time favourite season! I love the colours, I love the scarf and sweater weather, and I love the fact that it leads right into the holiday season, from Thanksgiving through New Years! I do NOT love the freezing cold rainshowers, or the sporadic hurricane-force winds, but I accept that these things come along with the falling leaves and the chilly days that necessitate the use of aforementioned scarves and sweaters.

Here are a few pictures of Edinburgh this fall:

Sunrise and mist over the Meadows

Autumn leaves scattered over the Bruntsfield Links

Infamous Edinburgh 'Haar'-creepy yet amazing

As I said, it's been a busy few weeks. Along with university work, I have started another part-time job. I'm working as a server at Wedgwood the Restaurant. Located on the Royal Mile and serving amazing, locally-sourced food, it's a good job-but the hours are LONG. I've finally gotten used to working until midnight, but with everything going on I'm exhausted! November 2 I submitted my last funding app for this year and now I have a wee break until January! Whew! Of course, I came down with a wicked cold a few days after submitting. C'est la vie! I'm still trying to get rid of the cough! 

But I have been doing some new and fun things since I've been back. I've spent time catching up with old friends, meeting some new ones through university, and re-acquainting myself with Edinburgh. I like living in a different part of the city. Morningside is lovely, and relatively flat! And a completely different type of people live here-lots of families and granny's out shopping and mums with babies in buggies (please, don't call it a stroller! haha). I also finally got around to contacting my family in Vienna. I haven't seen or spoken to them in over a decade, but I remember them all and I really didn't want to completely lose contact with that part of the family now that my Grandmother is gone. So I wrote a letter and mailed it off, and last Saturday I received a call from my (Let's call him an Uncle) Uncle Freddy. He is my late-Grandfather's cousin, and one of the kindest people I've ever met. It was wonderful to hear from him, and he was so happy I had contacted him! It really made my day that such a simple gesture had made such an impact on both of us. I am definitely planning to visit Vienna in the next year to re-connect with everyone!

On a less emotional note, every year Tesco, a large grocery store chain, holds a wine fair in Edinburgh. For less than a tenner, you can sample loads of different wines, go to workshops to learn about different wines, and have a generally good time while getting slightly sloshed on a Saturday afternoon. I went with this fab group of folks: 

And we had a great time. This was before we had imbibed too much.  :-)

 Sauvignon Blanc Master Class

So it's been a wild ride the last few months. But returning to the wonderful Autumn-I want things like pumpkin and chai and roasted root vegetables. But instead, the grocery stores here have been selling Christmas candy and Christmas cakes for the last month and a half. I'm sorry, but late September is WAY too early to sell rum-laden cakes covered in royal icing and holly motifs. I do have my eye on those Lindt reindeer though...But I'll abstain until after Thanksgiving!

Dear Waitrose: stop freaking me out!

Unfortunately I'll probably not be able to have a Thanksgiving this year. I have to go to an Anthropology pre-fieldwork training weekend over Thanksgiving weekend, and because of that, I have to work ON Thanksgiving. Sigh. Maybe I can pull a wee something together next week. But after Thanksgiving everything has Christmas written all over it. I'M NOT READY! I HAVEN'T HAD ANY PUMPKIN PIE YET! Sad face. Don't get me wrong, a free trip to the Highlands is always great, but in actuality:

1) I have to take time off work. And I'm poor.
2) I have to sleep in a hostel with 50 anthropologists. I hate sharing a room with ANYONE. And all anthropology all the time drives me mental.
3) This happens to be the ONE weekend my good friend Adam is visiting form Paris. And I'll miss seeing him.
4) The weather report for Comrie this weekend includes rain, rain, and temperatures topping out at 42º.
5) The sun sets these days at 4 pm. And there is no pub near our hostel. What exactly are we supposed to do with ourselves in the evenings?!?!
6) NO THANKSGIVING!

I'm not feeling very positive about this experience. Hopefully it will amazingly exceed my expectations and I'll be able to rave about it in my next post. Besides, what with all the horrible things happening in the world just now, (Cough, Israel-Palestine. Get your ish together and stop bombing each other, Cough) I need to focus on the good to come. The Edinburgh Christmas Market, pre-Christmas wedding, Christmas with family, Hawai'i in January, Weddings and trips to Hamburg and Vienna and Italy and St. Petersburg in 2013, and fieldwork in Mexico next autumn!

So i'll get me some of this to toast the dark, over-anthropological weekend to come:

And leave you with a sunset picture of this lovely place I live in:

Have a lovely week!

Kim x

There and Back Again

Greetings from Lovely Edinburgh, the city I can't seem to escape no matter how hard I try! :-)

I know it's been a long time since I wrote-but I didn't feel much motivation while I was living back at home in California. Yes, I did a lot, but I didn't feel very motivated to write. Before I jump into an update on my life as a PhD student, here is a wee 2012 update:

I was lucky enough to find a job straight away in Simi Valley at a restaurant called Market Broiler. I worked with great people, made adequate money, and was able to leave with 2 weeks notice when I needed to return to school. The hardest part, as always, was leaving new friends! Thank goodness for the internet! I met some fabulous people there, and I'll miss seeing them all on a weekly basis!

















Kori and I at the beach

















Brittany, Me and Britnianne

I lived with my parents again-which was easier than one might think. I cooked for them, they let me stay in my old room and use my Dad's truck to get around. A good trade-off, I think! :-)

The Fam Whale Watching for Mom's Birthday

I took a few trips while in the USA too, which was nice. In January I road-tripped to Las Vegas to see my Auntie Hallie for a few days, then continued on to Union City to see my friend Amy for another two days. Lots of driving, but a lot of fun as well! Plus, since I hadn't been driving much for the past three years, it was a welcome change!

Our Vegas Hotel-Paris, Paris

In April my brother and I flew to Seattle for a few days to see friends and family up there. it's always nice to see the Morgans and my friends-and Seattle with a bit of sunshine! July brought a girls trip to New York City. My mom, Aunt Peggy and Aunt Marilyn flew East for my Mom's first trip to the Big Apple. We spent a lot of time sightseeing and visiting with my cousin Autumn, and seeing my Yarita before she moved to Hamburg to start a new job with the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea!





















Auntie and I in Seattle

All the Ladies at Les Halles in NYC

A week later, My Dad and my friend Bryan and I conquered Mt. Whitney-the highest peak in the 48 States. I say 'conquered', but in reality, that Mountain kicked our butts! Yes, we did it, and yes, I'm glad I did, but NEVER AGAIN. It was the hardest thing I've ever done. If childbirth is worse than that, I will definitely NOT be having any children! A few weeks later, my Mom and I had a stay-cation in Los Angeles. We got to stay at a nice hotel and do all the touristy things that I had never done, while spending time with each other. It's so easy to look afield when you want to go somewhere and experience something new-it's easy to forget how much great stuff is less than an hour away from where you live!

















Bryan, Dad and I atop Mt. Whitney-15,505 feet!

View from the top of Mt. Whitney

Mom and I having drinks at the top of the Bonaventure Hotel in Downtown LA

Lastly, one week before leaving to return to the UK I went back up to the Bay Area to celebrate my friend Amy with a 3 day Bachelorette extravaganza! There was wine tasting, Horse Derby-ing, food, drink, and a lot of laughter. All the girls were amazing, and I can't wait for her wedding this December!

Ok, now, how did I end up back in Edinburgh? Me, the wandering girl who gets itchy for a new place every 2 years? Well-it was more practicality than anything else. Yes, I have friends here and I am comfortable in the city blah blah blah. But really, Edinburgh has the best options for funding for second year PhD's. And as I was unable to secure funding this year-it was that key issue that saw me flying north from London in the middle of September, instead of staying in the Big Smoke, which I had previously hoped to do.

Returning to Edinburgh has been easy, exciting, and frustrating! When I got here, I instantly felt like I had only been gone for a short time. I was staying with my good friend Siobhan and her great fiance Corey, who really helped me feel at home. I fell straight back into an Edinburgh frame of mind, with no bumps or bruises along the way. I immediately started school, having arrived during orientation week. It was nice meeting the new cohort of Anthropologists who I will be sharing a lot of time, tears, joys, and theories with over the next 4 years, and it was nice to be able to start thinking critically again! At the same time-it wasn't really new or exciting. I already KNOW the University and Department here. I have the insider info from living in Edinburgh, from having completed my Masters here and from still having friends within the department. I have also been able to see and reconnect with many of my friends here, which is always nice! Still a few more to go, but I'll see you all soon! I promise!

Siobhan and I

The hardest thing about the last few weeks has been trying to get everything sorted for my flat! I finally found one that suits my price and temperament in a part of Edinburgh I've never live before: Morningside. It's a beautiful nice area filled with families and well-off old ladies and JK Rowling. My biggest goal for the year (besides, you know, getting funding) is to bump into her at Waitrose, the posh supermarket across the street from me. I'm not sure what I would say to her, if anything, but I still want to see her! Anywho-I'm living on my own, which is really nice. What is not so nice? Waiting another MONTH to get internet installed in my flat because there is a ridiculously inefficient monopoly in place in the UK that is stopping me from being able to do any sort of online ANYTHING when I'm home. Blah.

Moving on. I have started to notice a few things that I never really noticed when I lived here before. Firstly, there are LOADS of Bluejays in Edinburgh. I see them everywhere I go. Have they scared away all the Pigeons? Or is this some sort of South Edinburgh phenomenon? In Leith there were Pigeons galore, cooing on my roof and eating scraps off the sidewalks; whereas in Morningside and at University I get lovely Bluejays, who are quiet and not scavenge-y! Well done Bluejays! I approve!

















My view as I walk to University

Secondly, There are so many people on the streets all the time! I know walking is a big part of daily life here, and I know that it definitely is NOT in Southern California, but I never fully appreciated just how many people walk here. You are literally never alone on the sidewalk, which is both a blessing and a curse. Blessing when it's a bit late at night and you feel safer knowing other people are out and about too, and a curse when you're running late and there are 30 old ladies and schoolchildren blocking your every move. It's like living in a video game where the only goal is to get from point A to point B without 1) being hit by a cab, 2) bowling over a 6 year old, and 3) while keeping your belongings from getting waterlogged if it's raining.

Lastly, the weather changes so much faster than I remember! In the last week, I have twice been walking and watched the weather go from Sunny, to overcast, then pissing rain, then sunny again within 20 minutes. Not fun when you're walking to school. Or home, or outside in general. I'm still waterlogged from walking home from the gym today.

Overall, I'm enjoying being back in the UK and I'm really enjoying being a student again! I am continually reminded by the things I read in the news, in articles for my research, and when I walk the streets just how complex and insane Humans really are, and just why Anthropology is such an important discipline. The ability to look at the cultural milieu of a place, process what happens there, and come out with a useful social commentary that better explains WHY we do things and WHAT effect certain social norms and political processes have on society as a whole is a still-underestimated but wholly useful tool. I hope you're listening-you Congressmen who think the Social Sciences are  unnecessary programs to fund in Universities! Long live educational freedom!















Back in Uni-Reading Reading Reading

Until next time, I hope that you've enjoyed the return of my soliloquy, and I hope you all have a wonderful week!


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