Monty: member of a pack

Monty is not a group dog.  He can be timid and awkward or even unfriendly.  When it's his sister or mother, he's fine -- he just chooses to ignore them.  But when there is a strange dog, it is rare that Monty is not a jerk.

I have to say, I was concerned about this weekend.

At first, Monty was so thrown off by the strangeness of it all that he behaved.  Then, he started getting comfortable enough to be protective.  Of just me.

Cesear Millan would be so disappointed that I wasn't being a better leader.

My brother's dog, Macey, would walk by me or come up and want lovin' and Monty would lose his proverbial shit.  Fur is flying, teeth are bared, and my arm ends up in the middle somehow.  The other dog Porter was so submissive to Monty that he could tolerate her by ignoring her existence.

Then enter my buddy Greg and his two dogs, Jofa (which does not stand for Jacket Over Fat Ass despite what I learned in the 90s) and Tyke.  My sis-in- law's friend brought her pug Nova and suddenly we had a pack.

A big, hairy, loud, hilarious pack.  Monty was completely out of his element.  It was good for him.  By the second day, he could sit on the same couch with either Porter, Jofa or Tyke and not have a problem.  He still isn't thrilled with Macey (she's the boss and he's intimidated by a strong woman)  but he will let her walk by without trying to kill her.

All in all, I think he's adjusted.

Monty surrounded by the pack.
L-R Porter, Macey, Monty, Tyke and Jofa.

Of course, just in time to go home tomorrow morning.

Don't lick the pigeons

I find pigeons fascinating.  They are beautiful and strange creatures that seem to be every where despite not being cared for at all by man.  They exist in all sorts of weather: from -40 degrees to +40.

But what I love most, is how much LynnieC hates them.

When we were in Havana, I told my SiL Kelly about Lyn's fear of pigeons.  I explained that Lyn finds them disgusting that says they spread diseases.

Kelly looked at me in surprise and said, "So don't lick the pigeons."

Well, heck.  There we go.

My first snorkeling trip

Anyone who knows me, knows I cannot swim.  Any time I get into water that is up to or over my chest, I start to panic.  I'm best if I can touch the bottom, but even then I am likely to start panicking if something unexpected happens in the water.

So of course, knowing this, I thought it would be a good idea to go snorkeling.

I had a blow up life vest with me that The Guy ordered off the internet.  I had his old snorkeling gear and the promise that it would all be okay.  Foolishly, I believed this.

The wake of the catamaran.
Picture by The Guy.

The Guy, his sister and I rented a mini catamaran boat ride to about 1mile out from our beach.  It was quite deep and, as our guide said: "There have been hardly any reports of shark."

The Guy and I ready to snorkel.
Picture by SiL

  I started the trip a little nervous, but trekked on ahead regardless.  I put on my gear as instructed and jumped into the water.

And then I died.

No wait.  Instead, I started to hyperventilate.

Now, The Guy and his sister had instructed me that all I had to do was breathe slowly and deeply through the snorkel thingy and I would be fine.  They did not however take into account that I would hyperventilate the entire time.  This did not work as well.

I spent a few minutes preparing myself to stick my head in the water.  I slowed my breath enough to brave an attempt to actually snorkel.  Gingerly, I put my head in the water, let go of the catamaran (oh yes, did I mention the death grip?) and kick away.

This is what I saw.

FISHIES!
Picture by The Guy

It was glorious and beautiful and amazing.  And UTTERLY EFFING TERRIFYING.

After a few short minutes of being amazed, I hyperventilated enough that water had leaked into my mask and I started to sputter.   Popped to the surface, I pealed off my mask and dumped the water out.

Lather, rinse, repeat.

I took a few minutes to "calm" myself (I use that term loosely) and then would go back into the awe inspiring world until the panic took over again.  It was a cycle: PANIC, Oooooh pretty!, PANIC, Ooooh pretty!, PANIC!!!!!!!!!

Finally, I realized I was wearing myself out.  My heart was beating out of my chest, I couldn't catch my breath and I was losing my mojo.  I "swam" my way back to the boat and dragged my sorry ass back on.  It took my another 10 minutes to calm my heart, but I was glad I went.

And I will never go again.  Well, maybe not ever...

Cuba the saga: Week #1 -- Havana

This time, we took a three day trip to Havana.  We had been there once before on a day excursion and it ws not nearly enough.  Since then, SiL has been there 3 or 4 times, so we used her as our tour guide and translator.  Despite how much work it was for her, she did an amazing job and we had an amazing time.

There isn't anything I don't love about Old Havana.  I love the architecture -- falling apart or being rebuilt -- it is some of the most gorgeous buildings of all time.  I could wander each and every street without problem.  Though, some are a little more "real" than others.

Recently renovated building in Plaze Vieja.

Windows in Old Havana.
Every day is laundry day.

We stayed in a hotel in Old Havana.  It's called a hostel, but isn't how we normally think of them.  These hotels charge a bit more, but half the money goes to restoring the other old buildings.  It was a gorgeous hotel and a beautiful room.  And then we saw our beds.  The Guy's feet hung almost a full foot off the end.

Twin beds.  ROMANTIC.

However, the roof top terrace more than made up for the teeny little beds.

Roof top terrace look out.

On one of our days, we revisited San Cristobal -- one of the most beautiful churches in Old Havana.  This time, we decided to climb to the top of the bell tower.  It was a wonderful and terrible idea.

San Cristobal

It was amazingly beautiful, but a little intense coming back down.

Bell -- halfway up
Picture by The Guy.

This was the view coming down.  It caused more than it's share of nervousness.

Hello down there.

We did many other exciting things.  We went to the market (and bought a gorgeous painting), we ran in the rain, we had real Cuban hot chocolate, and visited the newer side of Havana.  Including The Hotel National, Hotel Habana Libre, and walked the Malecon from Old Havana.

We also found a couple of the greatest, most inexpensive restaurants ever.  The entire bill for 4 people was $30 including tip!!

I also got to hug some puppies.  We watched this little guy almost get run over by a cart.  The lady who owned him reamed out the driver of the cart.  She was very attached to the little guy.  The husband?  Not so much.

Wittle, wittle, baby.

And, I got the chance to relax with my hubby.

Cuba - the saga: Week #1 Varadero

Since I've been home for 2 days now, I figured I should write something.  I mean, I've unpacked, finished the laundry, worked a night shift, reorganized the spare room, cleaned out my closet and played with the dog, so I should be doing some updating.

Thing is this: I went 2 full weeks without internet.  And I kind of liked it.

I pre-posted things for you guys so you wouldn't be bored, but I didn't check email (too much stress) or Facebook (inconsequential) or blogs.  I didn't miss much.

Okay, I did miss Facebook and wonder a bit about all the exciting things I missed those two weeks, but whatever.

Wait... I forgot the purpose of this post!

CUBA!!!!!!!!!!!!

The flight down was rather traumatic as we had a seat mate who was like an 8 yr old with ADHD. Except he was 28 and not medicated.  He was up and down and back and forth and talking and singing and playing his drumsticks on his feet while hitting me with his elbow and offending the flight attendant and then hitting on her and MAKE HIM STOP!

Thankfully our hotel was one of the first stops along the way and enroute, we bonded with an awesome couple from a small town close to our city.  Turned out they were staying at the same resort so we were pumped.

Barlovento Hotel

We settled in at the hotel rather quickly.  Most days we beached in the morning, had a great lunch and then did things in the afternoon -- you know, like... napped.

The weather was great but for one afternoon and the following day.   On the non beach day, we took a double decker bus around town and explored all the nooks and crannies we could.  It was great.  Except for that part where The Guy stood up and got a tree right in the face.  Well, it was funny, but not great.

Flags at our resort 

The days we spent at the beach were wonderful.  Resort dogs were everywhere and one even slept under my lounger that first day.  The only problem with the beach this time was the sand fleas and/or weird teeny tiny spidery-scorpian things that kept biting me.  One bit me directly on the tip of my nose and left a terrible blood blister that would not be tamed.  I spent the next week refusing to put my head in water and worrying that all the photos would make me look like Rudolph.  Of course it happened the first day.  I'm fine NOW.

Resort dog.  Very young and skitterish.
She did not give me fleas.  That I know of.

We did our regular tour of the town and spotted new and exciting things we hadn't seen before.  Like camels!  And Snoop Dog performing in the park.

Random camel

Snoop Dog rockin' it out.

The best part about the trip was the food.  People always complain about the food being bland, but that is a myth.  If you know where to go and you eat local cuisine, you're a rock star.  I have never eaten so well or so much.  And the best part?  NO GLUTEN!  Apart from the bread and the pasta, nothing - I repeat NOTHING - has wheat in it.  I felt the healthiest I have been since I was diagnosed.

The first 4 days was nothing short of amazing.  I met great people, had a group skinny dipping in the ocean in the middle of the night, ate myself sick and had pina colodas to die for.  Also, I wore a bikini for the first time in 10 years and, I must say, I rocked it out!

I would go back to Cuba in a heart beat.  Some people don't like it, but they are the kindest people I have met.  They are definitely our kind of people.  Also, no Americans!



Selected pics here.
All pics on Flickr.

Finally, I'm relaxed

beach pic 2008

Just in time to come home. See you on Friday!

Notes from the maid

Even Winnie the Pooh like Cuba!

In Havana

Today, we're taking a trip into Havana for three days.  Last time we went, it was by far my favourite part of the trip but we found that one day just wasn't enough.  Now we're spending three days (two nights) in Havana to explore and experience the architecture, the people, and the food.

Old Havana: pic from 2008

Havana life: pic 2008

I love the people here.  Pic 2008

Guess where I am right now?

In an airplane, on my way to CUBA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My view: both beautiful *and* frightening. pic 2008

That's right, folks!  The Guy and I plus numerous friends and strangers are on our way to Cuba for 2 weeks.  I have a few scheduled posts, but things will be pretty quiet here until February.  Hope you have a good time while I'm gone.

Don't worry, I'll come back.

Probably.

As long as you love me, let it snow

It is two weeks before Christmas and I hadn't decorated a thing.  I had put up the cards that friends had sent us, but that was it.  And the box that belonged to our Christmas cards as soon as I finished sending them.  But really, I didn't care.  I really didn't want to decorate.  I was okay if Christmas went by unnoticed in the Hingyatt house.

I was being a Grinch.

I've been a Grinch before.  I inherited it from my mother.  Christmas did not arrive at our house until after LynnieC's birthday on the 9th.  Then, by the 29th it was done, gone, disappeared as though it did not happen.  The Ghost of Christmas presents, if you will.

A couple of years ago, when living with LynnieC, I could not help but get all Christmas spirit-y.  Lyn is a Christmas freak and plays carols in July, so it was inevitable.  It you can't beat 'em, join 'em.  Since then, I've done well preparing for Christmas with gusto.  Only to backslide this year.

However, after a week of hell and a night of no sleep, I decided I could not feel sorry for myself any longer.  I put on a bra, threw on some Christmas music (Glee, Rita McNeil, and Sarah McLachlan), and set to put something Christmas out in our house.

It worked.  The house is now almost completely decorated and I am feeling... better.

Here are my favourite pictures from this year and some links to good memories of past years.

Christmas Angel.

Even Monty is ready!

Last year's photos.
Ky performs for Christmas.
All Grandma wanted for Christmas -- her teeth back.

Wisdom and folly #reverb10

December 10 Wisdom. What was the wisest decision you made this year, and how did it play out? (prompt by @photobird)

I'm a day late on this one.  Well, technically 40 minutes.  If I were in BC, this would be right on time.

Why yes, I am postponing having to answer this topic.

This year, I didn't feel very wise.  I felt as though I knew very little and, the more I learned, the less I knew.  Today, especially, I have felt the opposite of wise, so this makes me feel like I've never been wise in my life.

However, as I go through my year (which Reverb10 is intent on making me do) I realize I have made decisions and, some of them, they were good!  Call it wisdom, folly, or luck of the draw, I had some decisions that turned out for the best.

Each decision led to circumstances that enabled me to make other decisions or discoveries I would have otherwise missed.  I am sure, after this month is over, you will be tired of hearing about these things because my year has been about the same few things over and over and over again.

In February, I decided to go see my sister for Valentine's Day instead of spending my first married V-day with my husband.  Seems like a bad idea, yes, but turns out it was a good decision.  That decision led me to be there for  the discovery of her Celiac's disease and to realize that it might be mine too.

In June, I decided to go on my first trip to Europe.  BY. MYSELF.  Okay, yes, it was to see my Dad, but I was going by myself first and then meeting up with him.  This decision led to a great deal of panic and terror, but it also led to self-realization that I could do it.  I could travel across the world.  And that led me to see where my Dad lives and to meet his new (and my new extended) family.  That was worth every minute.

I decided it was time to go through all the stuff I had in storage and in boxes that belonged to members of my family and had not been opened for years.  It resulted in a great deal of work, but led to gems of terrible pictures, fantastic "heirlooms" and hilarious pieces of my past.

I also decided to open an Etsy shop for all my knitted goods.  I had been knitting and knitting since February when Ky taught me and had a ton of product sitting around my house.  I opened a shop and sold quite a few items.  It's not enough to actually be worth any money, but it has allowed me to be able to buy more knitting supplies!!

Last, but not least, my most wise decision has been one I have made every day for a year.  To appreciate every minute of being married to The Guy.  Yes, even the minutes when he tickles me until I want to pee and the ones that weren't full of laughter.  So, at least once a day, when I decide to love the goofy, wonderful man that he is -- I am wise.

Remembrance

Thank you to all those who fought for us and are fighting for us; who protected us and are protecting us.

We are forever in your debt.

Honesty in a smurf

I heart Halloween.  It's a well known fact.  Here and here and here.  I enjoy it so much that my friends all know they can bring their kids to see me on the big day because I will fawn all over them and feed them candy.

When I lived in my old house, I reconnected with a friend from high school and her husband.  (Story here and here)  Then they had "Neighbour baby" and I fell in love.

Last year, she came by the new house in her outfit as Eyore.  So, when Used-To-Be Neighbour Lady called to say she was bringing her over this year, I couldn't wait.

She was a smurf.  White felt hat, blue sleeves, white dress, blue leggings and holding a little smurf toy.  So cute!  She came in, showed me her costume and promptly ignored me as she and Monty chased each other all over the house. 

After 15 minutes, Monty jumped onto the couch and passed out cold.  I teased her that she made him tired. 

In solemnness, she looked at me and said "Yes, I do wear people out."

Photos from my trip to Ukraine

All photos from my trip to Ukraine can be found here at my Flickr account.

If you would rather not wade through 500 photos (even though I did separate them into topic) you can see a few choice pics via my Facebook.  Even if you don't have a Facebook.  Or, if you're not my friend.

Friends and Family of Ukraine
Kiev and Dniepropetrovsk pictures
Dogs and Cats of Ukraine
Alupka, Yalta & Ay Petri 
Count Some Dude's Castle
White Palace

Children I stalked in Ukraine

One of my favourite things to do is take pictures of little kids without them knowing it.  Now, yes, this is creepy and stalkerish, but not if you're a tourist!  No one notices you taking pictures when you're a tourist.  So, I got to take pictures of some of the most adorable kids and didn't get arrested.  Win win!

Waiting for the tour to start.

Tuckered out

Waiting

In awe

She was adorable. The next shot of her, she's smacking her Dad on the head.

All dressed up!

My favourite part about Ukrainian children is that they dress like children.  No little girls dressed like tramps here.  The moms are the only ones who do that.  Being a little kid seems to last longer here and they just go along their merry little ways.  At the beach, they didn't need swim suits and no one freaked out that some crazy person was going to be there.  In town, they were little kids in spring dresses, overalls, and adorable outfits.  I loved all the kids I saw.  And I talked to them which freaked the heck out of all of them.

I really need to get my own kid so I can stop bothering everyone else's.

Meeting the family

One of the biggest reasons I wanted to go to Ukraine was to see my Dad and meet his Ukrainian family.  I had met his wife Tanya a few times in Canada and I quite liked her.  However, I hadn't gotten a chance to really get to know her (being that we didn't speak much of the same language at the time) and I really wanted to meet her sons (oldest Andrei, youngest Roman), their wives (Tania and Lena respectively), and her grand-daughter, Masha.

Tanya arranged to have the family come over for Sheshlik (shesh-leek) which is basically the Russian / Ukrainian BBQ.  It is a ton of meat on a stick over hot coals.  Everyone gets about 1 lb of meat and it is awesome.  We all sat around, ate ourselves silly, laughed hysterically, and felt like family.

We decided we needed a picture of the whole gang.  It's not quite complete -- being that it's missing our brother, his wife, LynnieC, and The Guy -- but it was close, so we took the picture.  Both sides of the family would like to have the whole group together eventually.  We will work on that.

Meeting Tanya's family was like meeting my own family.  The boys were like brothers immediately.  Roman and I got along famously despite not being able to talk much at all.  We tried to pass information to each other with miming and such.  Then I tried to tell him I had been practising Russian words.  I said "Computer"  Roman nodded "Da."  Then I started to count in Russian -- "adeen, dva, tree, cheturny, pyat, cheest".  Roman grinned "one, two, three, four, five!"  Like Tanya said to a lady who asked if Ky and I could speak Russian "Well, they can count."

Back Row: (L-R) Ky, Lena, Roman, Dad, Andrei, Tania      Front Row: Baba Galya, Tanya, Maxim, Masha, Tania's M, me

After dinner, I showed pictures of The Guy's and my house to Andrei and Tania.  I was showing them the unfinished pictures of the backyard, trying to explain things to them in stilted English with Dad's stilted Russian.  I was going through the pictures slowly and then clicked once more.  The picture was not of my yard.  It was of a sock puppet.  Andrei burst out laughing and I died of embarrassment. 

Maxim and Masha

Maxim technically isn't family.  Yet.  He visits his Grandmother on a pretty regular basis next door to my Dad.  He and Masha are best friends and everyone (including Masha) is pretty sure they will be married one day.  They are especially adorable despite his tendency for short-shorts and her pouty lip that will certainly land a rooster if my Dad's warnings are true.

Volk (in the background) and Bobik (in the foreground)

Volk and Bobik are Dad's dogs.  They are precious, but poorly behaved.  Dad has a theory about raising dogs which he shared with me when Vicki and Monty were little.  "Dogs are a lot like kids.  You leave 'em alone and they figure it out."  Isn't it a good thing that Mom did most of the raising of us?  Ky taught them to sit almost immediately upon arriving.  They helped me not miss my own puppy as much.

Kuchma the cat

Since my new found love of cats was brought to light, I have been spotting adorable cats ever since.  Kuchma was pretty awesome.  He couldn't come into the house (stupid Ky and her exploding eyeballs -- but I cannot find that post at all!!!) so I cuddled him lots outside.  He had a spot on the side of his head under his ear that if I scratched, he would kick his back leg like a dog.  It was hilarious.  I couldn't remember his name though (he's named after a past Ukrainian political leader) so I had to call him Coochie-coochie- Kuchma!

Now I've met the whole family, I can picture things better when Dad talks about them.  I can't wait to see them all again!

Maxim and the puppy

Of the days we spent at my Dad's house, we took his two dogs -- Bobik (Mutt) and Volk (Wolf) -- for many walks.  They love to escape out their pen before you can get their leashes on and make a beeline for the cemetery where they can romp and play til their hearts are content. 

One of these days, Dad and I followed them at a slow pace just talking, looking at gravestones, and enjoying the not-too-scorching weather.  Suddenly, we noticed Volk had something cornered just outside the cemetery and was very excited.  We used this chance to catch him (he's a slippery little bugger) and find out what he was barking at.

It was a puppy.  A little, shaggy, obviously homeless, little Rotweiller mixed puppy. I figured he was about 9 weeks or so, Dad thinks maybe a bit older.  He was shaking from fear, had a hungry look about him, and seemed to have some sort of feces on his back.  I pulled Volk out of the way and the pup ran for me.  He cried and cried and cried -- the relieved cry of someone who is finally out of danger -- and cuddled up to me.  I pet him and cooed a bit, realizing he was the homeless dog we'd seen the day before being chased out of somewhere else. 

The abandoned or homeless dogs and cats are one of my hugest problems with less developed countries.  I know the people are having hard enough times feeding themselves so can't take care of every stray, but also they do not do any neutering (which is the easier of the two options) as find it rather repulsive to think of removing a male's "essence".  The situation will ever be as long as dogs who do have homes also have their bits intact and run about wildly.  But I digress.

The point is, my heart broke for each and every dog and cat I saw in this similar situation, but I knew there was little I could do for the little pup.  We took our dogs and continued on home.  I can't say I was either surprised or upset to see the little pup following us.  He walked between the two dogs (or beside me when they decided to show him a little dominance) and followed us right into the dog pen.  We took him with us to the house to show Tanya.

Dad is forever bringing lost or found dogs to their house, so I knew she wouldn't be surprised.  They had just found a good home not too long ago for a female dog who was heavily with pup.  (I can't find Dad's post for it though.)  I figured they would do the same for this little guy.

While we waited in the court yard for Dad to tell Tanya what I'd done (this time, he was pleased to be able to blame it on someone), Ky came out to help me look after him and feed him.  Since he was so little, we fed him the cat's food and milk.  He ate two helpings and would have gone back for more if we hadn't been concerned that he would get sick or that Kuchma the cat would murder him.

Tanya came outside, took one look at the puppy, and threatened to beat Dad with her broom.  Just then, their neighbour Lucia walked by the gate.  Dad called her in to meet me and then came up with an idea.  Lucia's dog was well into her teens and was not doing well.  Lucia has a 9 year old grandson Maxim who stays with them quite a bit.  It didn't take much convincing.  Within moments, Maxim was over and giving the pup all manners of love.  He looked at Ky before he left and in a quiet voice said "Sank you".

Maxim and the puppy

We went out later and bought some puppy food, a collar, and a leash.  We've also made Dad promise to send us pictures on a regular basis to see how the pup is doing.  I think both the pup and the boy will be very happy.

********************


Here is Dad's version of the story.

Trip to Ukraine - I didn't die, so there was that

Really after the numerous weeks of anxiety and fretting, the trip went surprisingly without a hitch.  I didn't sleep much the night before I left, but that only meant I didn't sleep through my 3:30am alarm.  Seriously, who makes flights leave so freaking early that you have to be up by 3:30am??

I got through security with my knitting needles, but almost got strip searched for forgetting that mascara was indeed a liquid and needed to be in a little plastic bag so they would know it is not a bomb.  That's all it takes apparently.  Bomb? No bag.  Not a bomb? Bag. 

After taking the smallest plane in the world to Minneapolis and barely catching my connecting flight to New York, I had a wait until the flight to Ukraine.  I realized numerous things while waiting for that flight -- one: people dress in the dark; two: Ukrainian people are rude! In line for boarding, I had numerous co-riders just step right in front of me like there wasn't even a line.  This continued throughout my time in Ukraine.  It's like the entire country said to themselves "What line?"

The flight across the large shark swimming pool was relatively uneventful.  I sat in the middle of three missionary groups of teenage girls.  Did you know that kids really say "Oh, snap!" and don't even do it ironically?  I sure didn't. 

On my 9.5 hour flight, I managed to sleep for 45 minutes.  Then, Dad and I toured Kiev for a few hours before getting on the express train to a little city outside Dad's city.  My favourite sight of the day was a minstrel who was clearly the love child of Krusty the Clown and Hulk Hogan.

 That right there made the whole trip worth while.

**************************
There will be more stories later, but I accidentally deleted about 500 pictures, so it will take awhile.  Dad was able to retrieve most of them from his computer, so I just have to get the disk he burned. 

Games I played in Ukraine

I spent most my time in Ukraine amusing myself with made up games. Among them were these main three:

1) Gay or Not Gay:
European men have a completely different way of dress than North Americans. They do not follow the same rules of dress at all. Thus, my gaydar was severely damaged while I was there. Gold short-shorts, jeans rolled to mid calf, and sparkly tight pants did not necessarily mean the same things they would at home. Ky and I would see men walking and have to ask each other Gay? Or Not Gay?

2) Hooker or Mom?
Ukrainian and Russian women come in three styles: hooker, middle aged and Babushka. Seeing street walkers on a fairly regular basis at home, I was quite confused by the scantily clad women who appeared to be just regular Moms. A woman on a street corner dressed in white leather and showing a whole lot of T&A was particularly distressing. I've never seen so many women who would fit right in at Vegas strip clubs.

3) Abandoned, Used, Being Built or Being Demolished?
Every building in Ukraine looks to be under some form of construction. However, you cannot tell the difference in phases of this construction. So, I would guess the building had been abandoned for 20 years and Dad would tell me it is a current University. It was very confusing and quite challenging!

View from our hotel

Technically, I cannot see it from our hotel, but it is our next door neighbour. 

Count Some Dude's castle.

We are in Crimea. Have been for almost 2 full days.  We've seen the above castle, the White Palace (home of the last Tsar and his family), gone to the beach and had many naps. 

I was so homesick the first night here I almost died, but it is getting better.