Teaching: DAY THREE

Today I taught my third and final day this week at Ueno. I taught all of the 1st grade classes and the average class size was about 35 students. The first graders enjoyed my self introduction and some reoccuring responses are developing from every class I have introduced myself to I've noticed. After the class the kids came up to me and asked a couple questions and a few of them wanted to touch my beard hahaha.

The first graders were SO FREEKIN CUTE! I taught them about the weather. How's the weather? It's sunny, windy, cloudy, rainy, ect. The kids all had a blast learning because I was being really funny. For wind I would pretend to get blown away they were all cracking up. And during some of the other ones I would do a little dumb dance or mess around and a few kids would catch it and mimic me it was funny.

The teachers had to encourage them to speak louder so when they started yelling I pretended to be shocked and covered my ears. This made them yell even louder hahah then the teachers had to tell them to quiet down. I ate lunch with the kids too, we had some good food today, we had 2 meatballs (ahahha) some asian version of vegetable soup, a small sub sized piece of bread (covered in sugar like a doughnut) and some apple jello. After that I went out to play recess, alot of the kids from my previous classes recognized me and wanted to play frisbee again WOOP!

Shortly after getting outside one of the teachers (Ms. Matsumoto who's 22 like me yay!) told me I had a meeting so I had to skip recess. I was bummed out but its ok because the meeting went well and the teacher Mr. Ayuse kept saying that I was skilled in Japanese. I was like hells no I'm not!

Whenever I'm bored in the teachers room I learn from my Genki textbook and use my dictionary to learn some new words. Even if I don't learn much new grammar its always good to know more vocab. Everyday I've been taking notes of stuff I want to say in Japanese and then adding it to my Digital Flash Card deck, so even though I'm not getting any official schooling on Japanese I'll learn new stuff. I almost fell asleep in the teachers room the past two days, so I should start getting more sleep. It's rough because I eat, then go to recess, then come back and sit for two hours in the hot teachers room and try to study but always come inches from dozing off.

I also am a bit bored at home so I've been drawing more pictures haha, tonight I drew Sasuke from Naruto. Its cool because they will make great prizes for kids in some of my classes. Check em out.

Tomorrow I go teach at Funatsugawa Elementary School, which is about a 30 minute bike ride out in the country side. I'm actually teaching the entire school in one day. It's funny because an average class size I've taught so far has be around 35. Funatsugawa Elementary has a total of 21 students (including 1st - 6th grade). It's crazy, but its great because then I can actually get to know the kids names! Unfortunately I only get to teach there twice a month but by the end of the time I'll def. know the kids names there.


Tomorrow should be fun.
EXCITEMENT!

2nd Day of Classes

So today, I taught at the same school as yesterday Ueno Elementary School (this is my primary school in that I teach here the most). Today was much more fun that yesterday since I taught 3rd graders, which I've heard are supposed to be the most fun to teach. All the kids loved my introduction and wanted to see the stuff after it was over. They think Luke is really cute, that my Mom is beautiful, and are all amazed at the age difference between me and my brothers. They think I'm good at drawing, haha no way, they asked if I was a comic artist haha NOPE! It's funny because alot of the teachers here like Naruto (an anime I watch) as much as the kids. I taught 4 classes today, which is all of the 3rd grade at my school. The lesson plan was almost the same as yesterday. I got to sing head shoulders knees and toes and the kids all laughed because I did mine exagerated. I would open my mouth huge on the mouth part and pull my ears out on the ears part. I also lifted my leg and touched my knees and toes instead of bending down sometimes hahah. The kids are all so freekin cute!

It seems that every class has some sort of trouble maker, which isn't that bad because I can just tell them to stop it in Japanese. Some are just more forward and or weird that others, like one today tried to jump to much on me so I stopped him.

Today I got to go to recess with the kids which was alot of fun. I taught them how to play Frisbee. This one kid, I never got to asking his name, was attached to my hip for the whole recess. Even though all the rest of the kids went crazy for the Frisbee, would throw it and rush to it, this one kid just stood by me the whole time haha. They just crowded and fought over the Frisbee until someone finally threw it. I had to break them into teams so they could actually throw it and catch it without hitting each other in the face. Naturally they wanted a Otoko team and a Onna team (boys and girls) which was fine. After breaking them up they threw it from group to group which was fun to watch.

After recess I had a 2 hour break and then a meeting to make lesson plans for classes next week (4th grade and 6th grade). It went well and I understood alot of what they were saying at the meeting. I also brought my dictionary just in case haha.

After the meeting I posted a note in Japanese that if any teachers want to learn English I'd be happy to teach them, and I put my email on it.

On the way home (on my bike) I rode past a store and some kids inside said NIKORASU SENSEI!? I noticed and waved they all went crazy haha. That right there pretty much made my day that I've only been there two days and kids are already recognizing me and excited to see me.

Tomorrow I teach 1st graders, apparently they don't learn anything, but I'll see what I can do.

Drunk and Soaked but Lovin It

Let me tell you im kinda drunk and soaked but tonight was fun. More about it later when I wake up and I am capable of typing.

**Edit**

Ok, so yesterday was pretty fun. I woke up and started my day. Went out and bought a couple more things for my house including printing paper (because I was inspired to draw haha). I read alot of manga yesterday, something I don't really ever do. After watching Naruto here on TV I got inspired so I read the manga online. I read a bit ahead and after reading a few chapters I stopped myself because I want to wait for the Anime to catch up to where I am now. Its crazy how far ahead the manga is. After reading I also got inspired to draw (someting I haven't done since like middle school) and I drew a picture of a character from the show. I'm still working on it but so far I like how it has turned out considering how long its been since I've drawn anything.
After drawing for a bit it was time to head to the station. So I hopped on my bike and went there. I met up with everyone at about 7:00. Once we all met we went to an Izakaya (A bar with big tables and good a la carte food) It was about 17 people total, the biggest get together we've had so far. It was hilarious because 3 of my bosses we're with us. Noshiro-Sensei (The head of all ALT's in Sano), Grant (the guy from joytalk who hired me), Asumi (Another staff at Joytalk, ALT cooridnatior) were all going to come out with us which was awesome. You all know how I am with pictures so here's a pic of me and the staff.

Noshiro and I (He's awesome)

Asumi and I (She did a good job of looking crazy, haha she's alot of fun)
Grant and I (He's the man because of all the work he does for us at the office) He takes time away from family to help us and of course party with us ahhaha

In addition to all the bosses almost all the ALT's from Sano and Ashikaga came in addition to a couple people I met for the first time. After enjoying ourselves at the izakaya we went to Karaoke (the 2nd time for me since I've been here).

Karaoke was alot of fun but hella expensive. I need to cut back on stuff like that when I can because it's pinching my wallet! Next time I'll head back lol, or not get all you can drink. Haha I want to say thank you to Zamira for singing "If we hold on together" by Diana Ross ahaha that song brought be straight back to my childhood. It was the ending theme to The Land Before Time .. an awesome movie. Once it came on I somehow knew the lyrics... good song.

After that I biked home, in the pouring rain. Kind of sucked but ya know it was worth it. I'm looking forward to more nights like this.

To see more pictures for those of you who don't have facebook click the following link : http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2064570&l=d684a&id=38001190

A little Better

Ok, so thankfully I felt a little bit better today. I was able to eat some regular food finally. I finally got a rice cooker and some groceries. This way I can control my own diet a little better.

Training today was better than yesterday. I learned a bit and got some good ideas for lesson plans and games. We watched a video basically giving us examples of how work will be in the classroom and it looks pretty fun. The kids in elementary school are all super enthusiastic to learn English. The stuff they review is pretty basic as most of it is vocab and just word exposure. The Junior High looks a little boring as most of it is grammar related but luckily I will only be teaching it twice a month.

The weather here is still very bad in that its really humid and its been raining on and off the past 3 days. Tomorrow all the ALT's are going to an overnight kids camp. While there I guess we're supposed to interact with the kids and break into groups and make lesson plans. Joytalk never really tells us what's going on until its happening so I don't really know what to expect. I think we're also supposed to practice being around kid and getting everything we've learned in training down. Its a 1 hr 30 min train ride on top of a 2 hour car ride to the camp so I hope it'll be fun.

So far the other ALT's in Sano seem real nice. Two are from New Zealand (Regan and Oliver), One is from Canada (Astria) and the rest are from America (Graham, Becky, Me). There are a couple others that are in a city close by called Ashikaga that are pretty nice people as well, Sean (British) and Zamira (American). The problem is we all live so far away and don't have any real transportation (besides my bike). Sano Japan is kind of like the suburbs of America. You really need a car to get around/have fun/go fun places. Some of the other ALTs might be required to get a car but until then we're all kind of stranded in our own places. Also we don't have cell phones yet so communication is tough. Yesterday I registered to get my Gaikokujin (Foreigner) Card yesterday and I can pick it up on Sept. 3rd. (You need this to get stuff like a cell phone in Japan) Today once we got back from training I helped Becky and Graham get theirs as well.

Working in Japan will be alot different than going to school here. Last time I had tons of free time, this time I won't have that much free time because I'll be working probably over 40 hours a week and have tons of school event to go to on the weekends, seeing as how I'm expected to attend school events and I have 5 schools I'll be teaching at. I really just want to start already, all this training has got me ansy.

One more thing, I experienced my 3rd earthquake in Japan, but don't be alarmed it was nothing serious. It just felt like a subway was going by.

I Moved In!

I changed my blog layout because this one is a bit easier on the eyes. Anyways....
Ok, so today was a bit stressful and very long but now has almost come to an end. It started off with me waking up at 4am again. I talked with people online and killed time until 8:00, then Graham (Another ALT, from Texas) and I went out for a stroll. We had a good chat about how he's never been to Japan, and I explained how he's going to be in culture shock for about a month, then we went to the convenience store.

After getting some stuff at the store we came back and got our luggage ready because today we were supposed to move into our new places. After getting everyone rallied and packed up we got in 2 vans and headed out. After about an hour of driving we made it to Sano city. Once we got there we went to pick up two other ALTs from Sano Train Station. After that we were supposed to find the office for the housing we live in (Leo Palace). This way we could get our keys and everything settled. It took us a long time to finally find the office. Once we got there, there were some problems. Apparently the office (in Utsunomiya) our company filed all the paperwork with hadn't sent it to the office we went to (in Sano). After about a half and hour of getting that settled Grant showed us where we'd all be living. See the picture below for my location in relation to Sano Station. The station is right above the red, and I'm at the blue circle.

I live in southwest Sano about a 15-20 minute walk to the main station. I also found out today that I'll be teaching at 5 different schools! This wasn't very good news considering I kind of preferred to work at less schools so I could get to know the students and staff better but I guess on the brighter side I'll get to meet tons of people. After that we started to move into our new places one by one. Next we went to a shopping mall and bought futon matresses for our bed area. I also bought sheets but they were accidentally left in the car so now I'll have to just sleep on the futon itself. Below are pictures of the main room. Click on them to make them bigger.



My place is actually really nice, and I'm glad I got to choose this over the older place. Also the internet wasn't supposed to start working until tomorrow but it luckily works tonight. Next you can get a virtual tour of my house haha.(Once it uploads I'll post it)



Sano isn't quite how I pictured it, but most of the time things rarely look how you imagine or picture them so I wasn't too surprised. I think it will look much nicer once it stops raining. Today the weather was pretty bad but hopefully tomorrow it will be nicer. Tomorrow I have to wake up early because I have a meeting with one of the schools I'll be teaching at and the board of education. Its kind of important that I make a good impression with both.

All my life up to this point I've been living with other people whether it be family or a roommate/roommates. Now living on my own I kind of see how much I enjoyed living with other people. Don't get me wrong I enjoy the luxuries of living on my own but I feel it doesn't make up for having a someone around to just hang out with or talk to ect. I need to make some friends here to keep myself from being lonely. Right now I'm ok but I can see myself getting lonely and possibly bored pretty quick if I don't make friends quickly.

In other news I haven't been eating much at all but surprisingly I haven't been hungry. I hope I'm alright.. my stomach must of resigned itself haha. Either that or somethings wrong with me, I need to see a hypnotist to make me like Japanese food or a doctor to find out I have some type of psychological problem or something.

I MADE IT! やった！

I just wanted to let everyone know I made it safely and now I'm in a hotel in Utsunomiya Japan. I move into my apartment on Sunday and training begins Monday.

Here's how it all went down: Read if you're curious (It's kinda long)

Monday: PACKED! Went to the bank, and eye doctors.

Tuesday Night: I went to my Aunt's house because Joytalk was mailing my COE (Certificate of Eligibility to my Aunt's work in NYC because they could guarantee an earlier delivery. After not sleeping all night from stress I "woke up" at 7am to start the day. (THANKS TARA YOU ARE MY SAVIOR) (and you rock!!!!!!!)

Wednesday: Went with my Aunt to her work so I could go to the Japanese Consulate in the city. We took a ferry there and it was pretty nice. I got to see the Statue of Liberty for the first time with my own eyes. I also saw ground zero (World Trade Center) and it was interesting. I haven't been there since Sept. 11 happened and it was good to see that they've started work on the freedom tower.

After getting to her work she gave me a tour and her office is really nice. The people working there seem nice too. I could see myself working at a place like that, but I don't know if I could handle living in the city for a long time.

My package (COE) arrived at about 10:00am. This was what I was praying/hoping for all last night. As soon as I got the COE I made photo copies and started to make my way to the Consulate. It took me 30 mins on the subway but I finally made it. Once there I talked to the woman at the window and she said "You know its supposed to take 4 to 7 business days." I was like I know and I'm really sorry, but I need it done today! She said she'll see what they can do, and then gave me a reciept to pick it up at 3:30 that day. (The consulate closed at 4:00pm)

After I got the reciept I went back outside around 49th St. and Park and just started exploring. I wanted to get used to being alone in a city and exploring it hahah. Found some OK stuff. Ended up going to a book store and getting a drink and relaxing. I got some food at Cosi's (pretty good food stuffs haha) I bought a Japanese English dictionary there. I also wanted to get some more Omiyage but only ended up getting one more thing. After hours of waiting and exploring I went back to the Consulate. While there I talked to a few people and thankfully picked up my Visa! After getting this in my hand I was so relieved.

Next I went to the Port Authority and took the bus back to Newburgh (about an hour and half) where my Grandmother picked me up. (THANK YOU!) From there we went to my brother Luke's tee ball game. It was good to see him play one last time before I left. After the game we went to a playground and played around for a bit.

Then we went back home and put the boys to sleep. I did some last minute checking and just made sure everything was set. I printed out my boarding pass and emailed Joytalk a scanned copy of my initial visa entry paper. Went to sleep with excitement (JAPAN) and sadness (I will miss my family).

Thursday: Woke up nice and early, 6:00am and got in the shower to get ready for the airport. After getting everything in the car my step dad and I headed out. We talked a bit in the car on the way. After getting there I checked in my luggage and went through security ect. to get to my gate. I got there around 8/9ish, and had plenty of time to browse the stores around for whatever I might need before I go (magazine or last minute omiyage wise) I was going to buy a book about Japan, but I figured that if I just made Japanese friends I wouldn't really need a book hahaha. Before boarding the plane I made last minute goodbye phone calls to a couple friends I hadn't seen. I just went through my contacts and called people.

Next I got on the plane. I was in the back in a window seat. I was hoping I'd sit next to Japanese people and luckily I did. I watched as they looked at this "Attractions" booklet about what movies were going to be playing for the flight. After watching them try to figure it out I asked if they spoke English in Japanese hahah. The woman next to me gave me a double take and was saying えええええええ？！Basically she was really surprised and told her friend next to her I spoke Japanese. After explaining to them what movies were coming on we talked alot more. I introduced myself in Japanese and they we're both still surprised. Both of the women were really nice and very curious about me. I never asked their names, but I know they both live in Chiba and were coming back from vacation, they went to Cancun for 2 days and NYC for 2 days. I showed the woman next to me all my pictures of Japan so we had something else to talk about. Also I showed her my online flash cards and she helped me learn some more Japanese and fixed any mistakes my flash cards had. I showed them my Genki books and it amazed them ahah. They we're looking at the workbook and textbook for over an hour. After talking to them for a while and learning about them and telling them about myself we finally arrived. (13 Hour flight)

Friday:(Kind of the same day, but I flew over the international date line) After getting to Narita I had to go through customs and immigration and get my luggage. I did all of this with relatively ease and then had to buy a bus ticket to go to Utsunomiya. I bought a phone card and called my Contact here from Joytak and then bought my bus ticket. The bus didn't leave for about 45 mins. From there I bought a Pocari Sweat (YES!) and waited. Got on the bus and found out you could only check 1 bag under the bus. So I had to carry one of my huge bags onto the bus and sit it on my lap for 3 hours on the way there (SUCKED). I felt like a stupid foreigner for about 3 hours on the bus. For some reason the bus felt like a time machine. I kept sleeping but time wasn't moving. The 3 hours felt so long.

After finally getting to Utsunomiya I met with my Contact and walked 5 minutes (which took forever because I had to carry all my stuff) to my hotel. I got to meet another ALT, who has been staying here since last monday due to confusion. Then I went to my room, which I was told women we're not allowed on because there we're naked men there hahaha. (My contact and the other ALT were both women) Anyways I went up to my room which I'll post pictures of later. It's a capsule hotel as well as a normal one. Next I took my shower lol, in a public bath area. A little weird but its ok, once I got back I went to sleep.

Saturday: Now I'm awake and its like 4:00am, and I'm not tired, but I should really try to go back to sleep. I sent out emails and stuff telling everyone I made it safely. Now I'm just talking to friends back in the States because its only like 3:00pm.

****************EDIT****************

Ok so after I woke up around 4:00 I talked to people online until about 5/6 then started to explore Utsunomiya. I posted pictures of my exploration on facebook, of if you don't have it you can see them here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2063476&l=a4a2a&id=38001190

After that I came back to the hotel and actually slept because I felt a little sick and was bored. I woke up a little while ago and saw Becky arrived and met the other ALTs. Now its about 8:42pm and I guess I'll go back to sleep since I move into my new house in Sano tomorrow at 8:30 am. (I'm not a morning person!)

Farewell to America アメリカよ さようなら

The next couple days I'm going to be pretty busy getting everything packed, and getting my visa processed, so more than likely this will be my last post from America. I'm only three days away from Japan. It doesn't feel like I'm that close to leaving. I'm pretty much positive it won't hit me until I'm on the plane. It doesn't feel the same as it did last time but that's because this time I'm going to a different place, and I'm going alone (at least until I make friends). If this trip is half as fun as the last it'll be amazing and well worth any stress I've dealt with up to this point. (Including the fact that I have to get my visa processed in one day, and hope I get it otherwise who knows what I'll do.)

(Last time was awesome)

My family really helped me out a ton with raising money for my first few months in Japan. My grandmother even gave me Yen so I don't have to scramble for an ATM in Narita (awesome). I set a goal to raise $2000 in the beginning of the Summer. I wanted to get a job over the Summer to raise some money but it didn't work out (Stupid Target). Luckily I have an amazing family that helped me out big time. They helped me raise over $2200. This is so generous considering I recently received graduation money from all of them. I'd pay them back but I know more than likely they won't want money they will only want me to enjoy myself in Japan. I want to make a big list of everyone who contributed and get them something really nice from Japan. The only problem is deciding what to get for everyone, but I have plenty of time to figure it out.

I plan on posting a ton (if not on this blog another one) once I get to Japan so everyone back home can see how my life is while I'm there. I've started packing and I'm asking my American friends to tell me what they missed when they we're in Japan. This way I'll have ideas to tell my family because they all want to send me stuff. I'm also asking them to send me the name of songs they like so I'll have music to listen to while in Japan.



Overall I've had a pretty good Summer. It was good to live with my family again, even though the new house is so far from all of my friends. It's weird because its almost like I'm going back to school since every year over the past four years I've moved back into school about this time of the year.

Hanging out with my Brothers was alot of fun, they're both crazy characters and are a blast even though at times they got on my nerves (as brothers do). Seeing them grow up and being a part of their life is very important to me. I hope both of them turn out to be good men, and I hope I'll have an active part in that. I was also very happy to get to see and hang out with alot of my close friends before I leave. I didn't get to see everyone I wanted to, but I will see them when I get back and maybe if I'm lucky they will visit me while I'm in Japan.

I'm going to miss my brother's laughter.

I've got tons to pack. My friends and family will be missed dearly.

As Summer comes to an end my life in Japan waits in the distance.... (almost sounds like engrish)
*Edit*
Just finished packing and I got everything under 50 lbs. so I'm almost READY!
I wonder who reads this without me saying check out my blog? I like comments! (Make one)

Another Edit*

I went to the Japanese consulate today, and luckily, very, very luckily, I got my Visa processed in one day. Now I'm set to go, I have to wake up early and go to the airport. GOODBYE AMERICA!

Housing!!!

I recently talked to Joytalk and I got to choose my housing situation. I had the option of an older house with an additional half room and it was 5000 yen less a month or a newer house with newer furniture and other add-ons. This was a quick decision for me, I choose the newer house. Below is a picture of the layout and the main room.

Although it looks small everything in Japan is small. The housing looks really nice. It is a newer building and everything is furnished. I will also get free appliances and internet/basic cable is provided. The kitchen is tiny but I'm not going to be in there that often. I think I will get an extra futon for when people visit, and I'll set up my laptop on the desk I have. My bed is also in a raised position with storage underneath and 2 stairs leading up to it. I won't be throwing many house parties, but no one really does in Japan (no room).

10 Days

I must of run out of interesting things to blog about, so I guess I'll talk a bit about how I feel about Japan. With each passing day my eagerness grows. My restlessness has become overwhelming.

10 Days from now I'll be on a plane, in the air, and on my way to Japan. Along with this fact come many emotions -- excitement, curiosity, even a little fear. I'm excited because I know it's going to be alot of fun to live in Japan again, even though it won't be like last time with Thirsty everynights and catch last train madness, or stay up all night at some club then almost fall asleep on first train (Which was hella fun even if it was in Arty Farty hahaha). Something else that will be exciting and even rewarding is working with kids. Although I never put serious thought into working with kids I think that I somehow do really well with them and I will really enjoy it.

My curiosity stems from just how many paths the trip has to take in that my experience can be so different, I suppose depending on what I do, and who I talk to/hang out with. In this case there is no usual route. I found out there are 3 other ALT's in my city from Joytalk. Theres two guys from New Zealand and one girl from Canada. The thing is the majority of my interaction, at least during the week will be with my coworkers and not with other ALT's, especially since we're all going to be a different schools. So I'm very curious to see what my social life will be like, if I decide to try and hang out with foreigners or Japanese, but hopefully it will be a good mix. I'm also very curious as to how much my Japanese will improve. One of my goals for the trip is to come back and be able to watch a movie or read a magazine in Japanese and fully understand it. If that's possible I have no idea, but there's a chance that when I get back I might consider Grad school and take Japanese. There's so much to wonder about, but when it comes down to it, you just have to wait and experience it, so I've tried to limit myself about thinking of the possibilities.

As for fear I believe that will go away once I get there. Some of my fears are living on my own for the first time. I've always had someone else living with me, be it family or a roommate. I guess it's not the best idea to start living on my own in a foreign country, but it will give me confidence that I can do it anywhere if I can do it there. I don't really like being alone that much, and I feel if my house can sustain it I'll try to have friends over alot of the time. Also it'll be the first time I'll be virtually friendless on my birthday (since its on the 22nd and I get there on the 15th), and familyless on Christmas. I don't really mind my birthday because I don't really make a big deal of it, and I'm sure by the time Christmas rolls around I'll have enough friends that I'll be fine, and there's even a chance if I make a really close friend that I can spend my Christmas with a Japanese family.

There's tons that Japan has for me to experience. The people there are amazingly nice and will go beyond what's necessary to help me at times. I believe that this trip will be similar to my last visit in that it will once again be a love hate relationship with Japan, the love obviously outweighing the hate. Only time will tell.

NEW JOB INFO!

OK! So I found out a bunch of great info from Joytalk. First off, I got a choice as to where I teach, and where I live! I told him that I'd prefer to work with Elementary School but I'd like a mix. He basically said we have a position that's perfect for that. So I will be teaching for the majority of my time in Elementary School. However I will also have 14 total days teaching in Junior High School. This is great because it's exactly what I wanted. Also he asked me if I preferred to drive or not, of course I said not! He said that the place I'd be living is close to the main ES I'd be teaching at. AWESOME!

Next he told me that my visa is almost done and that it will be sent asap which is good, I need to get it done before I leave!

Also I found out there will be 10 ALT's in Sano, and that Sano has a curriculum which means less hard work for me! GREAT!

Next he told me that all the ALT's will be spread out in different apartments over a 5KM area. This is good because it gives me space, but I'm close enough to other ALT's that if we want to hang out we can!

SO MUCH GOOD NEWS! The little chat I had with Joytalk really relieved some stress.