Settled In

I should probably stop apologizing at this point for the length of time between entries...but I will try to be better!

So, nine months after moving to Cape Town, I can finally say that I feel settled in. I have an established group of friends, I'm doing well with school, I don't gawk at the scenery (though I still make a point of being grateful for my mountain views each morning and night), and I have a solid idea of how to get around Cape Town and where things are.

Of course, it's just around this time of settling in that it comes time to go home again--thankfully only for a long visit, before returning to Cape Town for at least another year.

I am incredibly excited about the impending visit (I leave in less than five weeks!). I'll be able to work and replenish my bank account a bit and also hopefully get a bit of health policy experience out of an internship. But, the top two things I am looking forward to? The people and the food. :)

But, as I said, I've been making more new friends recently and have a fairly solid group of people here as well. At Gabby's going away party I had met a group of five young women who are here in Cape Town for a year doing the Princeton in Africa fellowship. They are really incredible women with impressive resumes despite being a bit younger than I am!

Apparently, I have managed to neglect mentioning that I have been taking courses in salsa dancing for the last eight weeks or so. It started because a woman I know really wanted to go so I volunteered to go with, figuring I'd try something new. Honestly, it's turned out to be one of the best times of the week for me. It is SO much fun, decent exercise, and I've actually met some people through the course. I have a new friend, Homero, who is from Angola and came to Cape Town for an English language course. We decided to get together before class yesterday for dinner so I could help him practice English. Honestly, I don't think he needs the help--he talked up a storm! All I knew about Angola prior was that it is located on the west coast of Africa (kinda in the middle) and that the national language is Portuguese. Afterwards, I knew about the thirty year civil war, the politics, the role of the U.S., and what the main city Luanda is like. Oh, and it's good to have a boy to practice salsa with, since Thomas refuses!

I also recently met a couple of whom the guy is South African, the gal is Chilean. They are both super sweet, plus it's always nice to hear about another successful international romance--they are getting married in February and are taking the dance lessons because their wedding will be Latin themed! We're going to try to do a double date when Thomas is home. He FINALLY got the right visa for Nigeria, so I'll have him home at least a couple of days each week--could not be happier about that!

If I haven't made it clear by now, Cape Town is a very international city--not just the MPH program. Everyday you hear a variety of accents and, if you're friendly about it, you're constantly meeting new people. I have a theory that many of us internationals aren't outgoing because we were naturally born that way, but as a survival mechanism. Any time you go somewhere new, you need to reach out unless you want to be a loner. At least, I've become much more willing to strike up conversation since moving here. I find that other non-South Africans tend to be same.

Alright folks, don't forget to mark your calendars: I'll be home November 22nd! Love.

Climbing, Driving, and Same Old, Same Old

Hi folks!

Oh no, two weeks without writing--sorry about that! This will be a quick update. Thomas and I are heading out shortly to the climbing gym. Federico and Nany are very into outdoor climbing. We went with them and their friends Julie and Sam on Monday to a "wall" (outdoor rock) in Muizenberg. It was really fun to watch everyone climb up. It was Thomas and Julie's first time climbing outdoors and they did really well! I was tempted to join them, but I decided I would rather climb in the gym for my first time. So we're all going today! Don't think it'll become a hobby for me, but I'd like to at least try it.

School is rolling along. I've had a couple of meetings with the Learning Network, but I'm not 100% sure they are who I'll do my thesis with. It is a relief to know they are an option though! I have two big papers due in May, so I'll be relieved when they are over.

A few of my friends and I are planning a trip to Namibia in June. Has anyone out there visited there? Thoughts are welcome!

Yesterday I had my first driving lesson (to learn stick shift while driving on the left side of the road--two things I've never done before!) and it went really well. At first I wasn't sure if I liked my instructor. He seemed sort of disinterested. But he turned out to be perfect for me because he didn't really tell me what I was going to do next so I didn't have time to be nervous. He was very calm so I also stayed calm. By the end of the lesson I had driven us from Seapoint to Rondebosch and back through town up to Vredehoek, including being on the highway! I couldn't believe how much I got to do in one lesson. Thomas and I are going to practice in his car tomorrow and then I'll have another lesson next week.

Also, we had a nice Easter. We went to Annibale's house for a pot luck lunch. I made potato salad and we also had pasta and Zambian food. Yum!

For now, I'm keeping my same serving job. It's still mostly boring and I don't make too much, but I like the flexibility of it. I'm keeping my eyes out for other jobs and applying for stuff here and there as well.

Okay, time to go get ready! Love.

Life is Good

Hello, hello!

I am writing to you all in good spirits! The last week was certainly busy with lots of prepping and paper writing, but I handed in my first Biostats assignment and turned in a major paper for my Gender and Health course which was a gender analysis of rape in South Africa. I put a lot of reading, note taking, and thought into the paper and am pretty proud of the work I did. We'll see what the professor thinks though! Regardless of the mark, I certainly learned a lot from the research process.

Although I am giving myself a bit of a break, I don't want to lose momentum. I have two more big papers due at the end of May. One will be on homicide in South Africa and El Salvador and the other I still need to choose a final topic for, but will be an evaluation of how gender sensitive a program is. Although I won't be turning in my mini-dissertation until the end of next year, I decided to contact some people doing research at UCT to learn about what they are doing and see if it might be appropriate for my project. Hopefully at least one of them gets back to me with interest. Will let y'all know if something pans out!

As per usual I am changing my mind often about what I want to do with my degree when I graduate. Currently, I've been thinking a lot about ways to improve health services, both for staff and patients. A friend of mine used to be a nurse here and actually changed careers because she became so frustrated with the system and barriers to giving good care. We also did a class on childbirth in South Africa last week and talked a lot about patient abuse and neglect in that setting, something that also came up in the abortion lecture and likely exists in other health care settings as well. They are such large problems that it is hard to know where to begin to address them, but it would something I would certainly be interested in dedicating my career to. Of course science and medicine are incredibly important, but why deliver those services without treating patients with dignity and care? And isn't mistreatment detrimental to health outcomes (well actually, I don't know, will have to look into what research has been done)? These are things I would be interested in further examining not only in South Africa but in the U.S. as well.

As for my social life, it's doing well! Thursday night an MPHer from Italy, Annibale, had a group of us over for "International Dinner" night. We were all supposed to bring a dish from our culture. Well, I didn't have time to even attempt cooking something, so I bought an apple tart (closest thing I could find to apple pie, one of the few dishes I could associate with America!) and ice cream. I was glad it was the only dessert and folks seemed to enjoy it. We also had guacamole, curry, lentil rice, AWESOME pasta, and arepas (by Federico and Nany, los colombianos). And of course, lots of wine. :) It was really nice to spend more time with the MPHers outside of class to just talk and enjoy delicious food. We all agreed it should happen again soon.

Saturday was the night of the birthday party my customers invited me to. They are a really friendly group, so I figured why not, but didn't know what to expect. I had no reason to be nervous as everyone at the party were just as warm and welcoming as my regulars. It was quite the fun event that I could go on in detail about....summarized version: amazing spicy seafood curry, monk cleansing the house, one of my adorable regulars, Shane, regailing us with Whitney Houston songs (amazing coming out of a boy!), Dutch lesson from folks from the Netherlands and, once again, lots of good wine! I also met one of Shane's friends who works for Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation and has been working on the research that shows ARV treatment can prevent HIV infection in those uninfected--kinda like meeting a local rock star, imho!

I was torn about whether to leave such a fun gathering, but headed out a little after midnight to catch up with some MPHers out for a lady's night in town. From there, I decided to go dancing with Eliana at a place called DecoDance, which she always talks about. It's a more expensive cab ride for me, but it was a really fun time--they play a lot of hits from the '80s and '90s and we really enjoyed ourselves. It felt to get out and dance after all of that paper writing!

I guess the last update is that I LOVE my gym! I met with one of their staff on Friday and she helped me with an exercise plan. This is SO hopefully for me because I am a planner and really need structure for motivation. I'm planning on doing yoga once a week in addition to my regular workouts, and will probably be checking out a dance class on Saturday. There is also a yummy smoothie place in the gym, so I treated myself today. They have those frequent buyer cards and if you buy a smoothie on a Monday you get two stickers instead of one. So I've decided that for each week a stick to my workout plan, I will reward myself the following Monday with a smoothie!

Oh and Thomas is wonderful. :) He's away again for two weeks but I have a lot of good things going for me to keep me busy til he gets back. Our couch should be arriving in a little over week which, speaking for both of us, we are super excited about! He also got us a coffee table and microwave, so once the couch arrives we'll be pretty settled in.

I can't delude myself into believing I'm never going to feel homesick again, but my first wave has passed and I am soaking up the sun and loving life here. I think part of what was helpful was to begin planning my visit home in the winter--hopefully I'll be back in time for Thanksgiving!

That's all for now. Remember, I have skype at home now, so get in touch with me if you want to have a chat! Sundays are best for me, usually.

Love y'all,
Kristen

Hey everyone,

Sorry I'm so far behind on updating. For a little while I was waiting to have things to write about and then I got a bit busy and didn't get around to writing!

First of all, a little over a week ago I finally got that pang of homesickness I was expecting much earlier. I was feeling frustrated knowing that back home I have an amazing set of friends, my family, had a job I loved, community organizations I believed in...sometimes I can't help but wonder what exactly it is that I'm doing here. Those moments are rare, but they happen. I think that even when we are pursuing things that we love, we all have moments of questioning.

After a couple of days, I decided to stop feeling sorry for myself and figure out what to do with my life here. I chose to stop banking on finding a research job and starting looking into being a server again. The fact is, I just needed to get out of the apartment, interact with people, and have something else to think about besides school, my relationship, and what I should make for dinner. I dropped my CV off at a few places and was basically offered two jobs almost immediately, one of which is in Vredehoek. I decided to take that one since I could walk to work and because the manager I spoke with made it sound like a local place with a lot of regulars. I liked that vibe.

I started training last night and it was a pretty good time. Unfortunately, it was a slow night and somewhat boring--I like to keep busy. But the people I work with are cool and I was pretty amused that kitchen staff automatically took to me because I was American. There was also a hysterical moment when two of the regulars were discussing me. The one guy told the other that I was a "Jersey girl" and he took it to mean I was from Jersey...like Europe...yeah no. :) But we had a good laugh. The whole experience helped me realize just how much I've come to like working with people (even though I still think I'm an introvert!). I think it's going to be a good experience for me.

I also made some new friends which helped get me out of my slump, too. I had a met a woman, Catherine, who worked in a shop on Long Street a couple of weeks ago. We had chatted for a bit and when we realized we were both interested in women's health, decided to connect later on facebook. At first we didn't really talk, but my friend Federico's girlfriend, Nany, invited me to a SWEAT march for sex workers' rights. I passed the info on to Catherine and sure enough she came. The march was a really good experience and it felt awesome to be involved with activism again. As Federico pointed out to me, it was really amazing and brave that so many of the sex workers came to march--the purpose of the march was to call for decriminalization of sex work, but sex work is still illegal in South Africa (to learn more about decriminalization, check out SWEAT's website, linked above). Afterwards, Catherine, Federico, Nany, another SWEAT volunteer, Flor, and I went to the Eastern Food Bizarre, which is one of my fave places to eat in town. Cheap, delicious food of Asian influences? Yes, please! Everyone seemed to hit it off with each other and we had good conversation before heading off to class.

I mentioned to Catherine that I was going to watch the Pride parade on Saturday, and she told me not to be silly, that I should walk with her and the store in the parade! It was really cool with her to be so welcoming. I did walk with her and the store owner. I had an awesome time! It was very hot, but the walk was nice and some of the floats sprayed water to cool us off. After the parade you could pay R30 (less than 5 USD) to hang out outside the stadium to watch different performances. My initial thought after the parade was that I was tired and wanted to go home, but we ended up dancing for several hours! Federico and Nany also showed up. My new friend Natasha (who is friends with Catherine) then invited us all to go back to her place to eat dinner. We stopped to pick up food and then Catherine put together the meal for us! So there I was, randomly hanging out with a whole lot of people I'd just met (including more of Natasha's friends whom were at home) having a great time. Everyone was so friendly and welcoming. Leave it to Pride to bring people together!

So I would say that between the job and spending time with new friends has really helped me feel better. I don't think it's ever going to be easy being away from so many people I love, but I am starting to make more connections here, too.

Tomorrow night I am going to a documentary about women's sexual and reproductive rights. Thursday is a double class day and then I'll be finishing training at work on Friday and Saturday. Then I can start taking real shifts and actually make money!

Just writing this post was really helpful to remind me of all the good stuff I have going on, as I was starting to feel a bit down again today. I really miss you all!

The Abortion Entry

If you know me well, you knew this was coming. Maybe you didn't know it was coming. This post isn't meant to be controversial in anyway or start up moral debates.

On Tuesday we had a lecture on abortion in South Africa in my Gender and Health course. Prior to the class, we read two studies that the guest speaker, Jane Harries, had conducted: one on health workers' attitudes on abortion and the other on delays in seeking abortion until the second trimester. She also recently did another study but is having trouble finding a publisher. As one might imagine, it can be difficult for researchers to receive support in examining abortion.

It's impossible to cover everything that I learned in one entry, so I'll try to summarize my thoughts (all of the info is coming from her presentation and studies. Email me if you want more detailed info). First of all, South Africa has some of the most liberal abortion legislation in the world. This is a recent development that occurred in 1996; prior to that it was very restricted. Most of the rest of African nations still have very restrictive laws on abortion, which leads to unsafe, illegal abortions. Approximately 68,000 women die every year from illegal abortion and many more are injured, often permanently. Keep in mind that abortion is an extremely safe procedure when done in a legitimate medical setting, so the liberal laws in South Africa have saved thousands of lives. Abortion is available on demand in the first trimester of pregnancy, though it is more restricted in the second trimester (only for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, fetal abnormality, life threat to the woman carrying, or if the woman can prove low income status). Abortions are also FREE in the public sector. Yes, free! In the U.S, first trimester abortions cost about $300-$700 depending on where you are, and second trimester procedures can be $2000-3000. Something else exciting is that "mid-level" providers, such as midwives, are allowed to perform first trimester abortions here with MVA. (By the way, abortion rights are increasingly under attack in the U.S. If you'd like to learn more and support abortion access in the U.S., please click here).

Something surprising was the high percentage of South African abortions that occur in the second trimester. Later term abortions are relatively rare in the States, but here they account for 20+% of all abortions. Harries' study on delays in seeking abortion covered most of the same issues I've heard from women back home, so I haven't drawn a conclusion myself for why there are more delays here.

Probably the biggest shock for me was that medication abortion is very commonly used for second trimester procedures. Back home, it was offered to nine weeks at the latest, and to seven weeks in the FDA approved version. Here, a woman in the second trimester can be admitted to a hospital, administered medication, and then waits it out until she passes the pregnancy. To me, I can only imagine that that is a very difficult, painful (physically and emotionally) process for the woman. I would really love to see a study on women's experiences of second trimester medication abortion (I believe that is what Harries' latest study examines, so I am going to try and get my hands on it!).

Overall, despite the liberal legislation, there are certainly problems with the implementation. When the most recent legislation came out in the nineties, very few doctors were trained or prepared to offer abortion services. Also, the stigma of abortion often keeps providers from getting training even when they are seeking it out. Most disheartening to me was to hear that there isn't much pre or post abortion counseling being given to clients, and that includes contraceptive counseling. I wish there were some type of organization to offer these services, even outside of the clinic setting, like CHOICE or Exhale back home. Giving women safe spaces to discuss their health, particularly with a professional, is something that I am very passionate about. I wish I could find away to be involved with such initiatives here.

I'm going to leave the abortion portion of this entry there. But if you have questions or want more info, leave it in the comments or email me (disrespectful anti comments will be removed, so please show courtesy!).

Some updates in addition to all of that...we now have home internet (thank you, Thomas)! Schedule your skype call with me when you have time!

I've been a bit of a hermit this weekend after a bunch of classmates and I went out on Thursday to celebrate handing in our first paper. Tonight, I am going with my friends Bob and Ozie to some type of church gala dinner thingy. I have no idea what religion it's for, so it could be interesting! But it should be fun. Tomorrow night, Thomas gets home for a couple of days (yay!), so we're planning on possibly going to beach and also going out with the MPHers on Monday. I'm also going to try to persuade him that we should buy our couch this week!

Missing y'all!

The Life!

Things are looking even more up since last I wrote!

Firstly, Thomas is home! He is in the other room doing his ironing as I type this. I get a weird joy out of doing normal things with him. Cooking and eating dinner, watching TV, being here when he gets home (or vice versa) is a beautiful kind of normal that we've never had before. Yesterday we went shopping and got some much needed things for our kitchen. Today's task is trying to figure out space for our (ahem, his) clothing. A pretty lazy Sunday before I begin Biostatistics tomorrow!

Last week was a good one at school. Monday began the block of Public Health and Society. This was a course I wasn't too interested in taking initially, but it's required, and I'm glad that it is! The three days we had were taught by health historian, so we studied definitions of public health from different time periods and also important health documents from South Africa. It really helped to contextualized where we are coming from and where we are going. Our first assignment is to do a comparison of different syllabuses of different time periods for public health at UCT. Hmm should be interesting!

On Wednesday, I went out to lunch with a few people from class: Kim and Whitney from the States, Yas from Swaziland (now a South African permanent resident through marriage), Federico from Colombia, and Bob from Swaziland. They're some of my favorite people I've met so far, so it was nice to spend more time with them. We also had a delicious lunch at a health food place. I had the most amazing mushroom and potato pie and fruit smoothie.

I also broke down Wednesday and finally started an antibiotic for my sickness. It seems to have done the trick, I'm feeling better everyday!

As I mentioned before, I was without internet for a week, but I should be more available in the coming week. Thomas and I are also talking about getting a different type of internet so that I will have it at home all of the time. Hopefully coming soon!

My days off (Thursday and Friday) were eaten by necessary repairs to our apartment. However, I now have a working front gate and no hole in the bedroom ceiling! It also gave me a chance to read. I just finished A Widow For One Year by John Irving, which Jennifer recommended to me. A wonderful book, I highly recommend it if you're looking for some well told fiction! I did also attempt to open my bank account on Friday, but they weren't happy with my proof of address. Hopefully I'll have it sorted out by the end of this week.

Excited for the coming week: intrigued to see what biostat is like (I'm thinking I will enjoy it, but eight hours a day for three days might be a bit much), and then Thomas, his sister Louise, and I are going to see Imogen Heap on Saturday! Absolutely cannot wait. Her music has been a part of our relationship for a long time (we bought and listened to her first solo album together in 2007) and I love her music. Check it out.

Time to get back to organizing. Hope to hear from y'all soon. Love!

January 23, 2011

Hi folks!

Unfortunately, I have been without internet for a week now! I wrote this last week but am only able to post now. Enjoy!

I have made it through my first week of block classes and am preparing for my second tomorrow. I am still surviving off of Sudafed, though on the whole I am feeling largely better besides a pesky cough that crops up here and there. 

Once I was feeling better, I immensely enjoyed my Gender and Health course! We had several guest lecturers which helped the long days go by more quickly. For a few years now, I have been on the 60percent listserv, which is based out of UCT and provides information about women and HIV (the name comes from the disproportionate ratio of women who have HIV vs men). Some of the guest lecturers were names I have seen before on that listserv that I am now finally meeting in person!  I also received a lecture on rape in South Africa by a woman whose book I own. Very exciting!

I am hoping to possibly intern with one of the organizations that provided guest lecturers. One is the Ivan Toms (health4men.co.za) health clinic, which works predominantly with men who have sex with men (MSM) and the other is Sonke Gender Justice, which is a larger organization working mostly changing the attitudes and understandings of men to achieve gender equality. I’ve really been on a kick lately for working with men and masculinities, so I’m thrilled there might be some opportunities with these organizations.

I have also been trying to make friends with my classmates. The Americans are nice, but I am also getting to know some of the South African (and other international students) as well. No bosom friends yet, but these things take time.

Getting home from school continues to be interesting. I have three different options, all of which are fine for now. The difficulty will be determining which is safest once the days are longer and I finish class when it is dark.

This weekend I had a visit from Thomas’ dad, Walter, as he was kind enough to drive Thomas’ car down after it was serviced in Durban. Overall, we had a good time. Last night we went out with some of his friends from the UK and we got home later than I normally would—those party animals! Today we went up to Signal Hill (which I am currently looking at out my window) to take some pictures of the City Bowl and harbor and then went to his Godfather’s son’s, Hans, home for tea. He and his wife Julia had a beautiful home. It was just stunning!

Tomorrow, Thomas will be home for a couple of hours before leaving for another job (fingers crossed that he will be able to pick me up from class so we can have a few minutes together!). However, I will have him home for about a week starting on Saturday. Monday-Wednesday I will have block class days of my next course, Public Health and Society, which is a compulsory course. My biggest goal for Thursday is to open a local bank account and then I will begin applying for jobs.

Home is beginning to feel further away. I can’t say that I’m sad here, but I am missing you all!

Too School for Cool

Hello friends!

I've just completed my second day of orientation, and overall I am very pleased!

I managed to register on my first day (which is quite the success after the hoops I jumped through at UKZN). It was a little tricky. Once my form was filled out, I discovered I need to register as an international student first. With the help of another international from California, Eliana, I was able to hop on the shuttle to another campus, get to the office, do what I needed (special thanks to the awesome desk worker who let me print off her computer despite the rules), and get back to the health sciences campus before long. There was still a problem with registering which made me a little late to part two of registration, but it's all sorted now.

The way the MPH program works is that each course begins with three block days, each from 8:30 to 4. Sounds awful, right? The trade off is that for the rest of the semester you only go to each course for two hours every two weeks. I go back and forth between how I feel about this, but I think it might work well, especially when I find a job.

I'm registered for four courses this semester (although they make you register for the first and second semesters at the beginning of the year): Public Health and Society (required), Intro to Epidemiology (required), Biostatistics 1 (may be required depending on my track), and Gender and Health (elective). I start my three day block for Gender and Health tomorrow, with some misgivings since it is being taught by a professor with a psych background, not a sociology background...we'll see how that goes.

As of now, I am registered in the "General" track for the MPH. There are five: General, Epidemiology, Health Economics, Clinical, and Health Systems. The Health Systems track is brand new, and actually was not available while I was applying. I am considering switching to that track, but decided to put off that decision until the end of the semester. Any thoughts from other MPHers out there? Biostatistics is not required in the Health Systems track, but I decided I definitely wanted to take it either way. Plus, I want to get a little taste of everything my first semester so that I can figure what I gravitate towards and am skilled in. I loved my intro to stat course I took over the summer, so maybe I'll love Biostat, too. Or figure out that I hate it. :) But either way, it's a skill I'd like to have.

Orientation has given me a chance to meet a variety of people. I've been trying to be friendly and introduce myself while also branching out and sitting with different folks once I've become friendly with others. I love being in this program, because we all have similar interests, yet enough variety to keep things interesting. There are a lot of doctors, but also plenty of folks like me without other medical degrees.

I've been trying to step out of my bubble and not gravitate towards Americans, but I have become friends (if you can call it that after two days) with two: Eliana (see above) and Phumelele. Eliana and I are too similar to not talk to each other--we both have backgrounds in reproductive health care and she did a "honors year" in gender studies at the African Gender Institute here at UCT last year (a program I was looking at for a while). Since she's been living here for a year, she has some good information, though she is also a bit tied up in her work, it seems. Phumelele is interesting because although she has a South African name (her mom is Zulu), she has an American accent since she mostly grew up in Pennsylvania and is a duel citizen. She is very outgoing and also has been living here a few months longer than me, working on campus.

I have been successful in meeting folks from South Africa as well,
including Malrich (not sure if that's spelling right) who was kind enough to drive me home last night since they provided us with a dinner in the evening, too late for me to take transportation besides a cab. I have also chatted with classmates from Germany and Colombia, and have classmates from the UK, Canada, Zambia, Namibia, DRC, Zimbabwe, and still more places!

Perhaps I should knock on wood, but taking transportation has been working out quite well. I take a taxi (basically a minibus taken as a group that follows a semi-set route) into town, which is super easy and cheap. Then I get on a city bus, which drops me off at Groote Schuur Hospital. From there, it is about a ten minute walk to the Health Sciences campus, which is where all of my classes are. Driving would probably be shorter, but at least I don't have to deal with the EXTREMELY limited parking at UCT! It's been a long time since I've lived in a new place, so it's funny to remember what that's like--learning to sit on the right side of the bus in the morning to be out of the sun, where your stops are, that sort of thing.

I had a very productive day between orientation, shopping, and having our landlord come by to see about fixing a couple of things. I bought some food, but I'm thinking I may need a pan for the oven (or at least some tin foil) to cook what I'd like. So I'll either save it for tomorrow, or treat myself to some pasta. As I said, tomorrow is the first day of classes, so I'll probably just do some leisure reading tonight before the homework starts up!

Hope all is well on that side! Until next time...