Wow Time can Fly

Sur, Oman

It's been a pretty big couple of months, to say the least.

I am in fact now married to a beautiful woman. I've accepted a new job in Oman and my whole life has changed around. So far everything has been pretty great. For those that don't know, the wedding was on August 4 and although the day was a usual bundle of stress I am really really REALLY greatful to all the people that came all the way from Canada. Mom, Dad, Pa, Matt, Jeremy and Melissa. Thanks all for coming! It meant a lot! I will put some photos on here in the next couple days.

After the wedding came a sort-of honeymoon in Olympos in Southern Turkey. I say sort-of cause about a million of Sadife's friends managed to tag along so it ended up a little less personal than we would have liked. Still, Olympos is one of my favorite places in Turkey now. A fantastic beach with huge Roman ruins overlooking the whole site. Best of all, no big (or small) hotel chains to be found.

In the beginning of September I arrived here in Oman and have been "working" throughout the month. I put it in quotes because so far we have had no students and I only come in for an hour or so each day. Not bad for 2500 a month +housing/utilities/medical! Buuuuuut the party is over and starting next week we expect students to start rolling in.

Oman is a lot nicer than Saudi Arabia. The people here are equally (or possibly more friendly) but the key is they are much more open minded. Sadife is comfortable here and isn't forced to wear the head to toe black abaya. She normally walks around in t-shirt and a long skirt/pants. We are staying in a small city (about 60,000 people) by the name of Sur on Oman's east coast. Our flat is only a five minute walk from the sea where there is a nice beach and a promenade for walking. About 50 km south is a popular beach where giant turtles come to breed all year round. To the north about 150 km is Muscat, the capital, (and a little further on is Dubai) and to the west a ways off are the sand dunes. It's a very centrally located place with lots of good opportunities for outdoor activities. The only downside is we need a car... which isn't too hard once we get a work visa... but we have been waiting a month now and there is still no sign of it. Hopefully it comes soon as we'd both like to get out and about and start experiencing the country a little.

I'll also post some pictures of my apartment and a few of Oman in the coming days. Right now I'm writing from work and as such I don't have access to all my files.

One last piece of news... Perhaps the main reason it's been 2 months since an update here is I have been working a lot on a new website which is also a "blog" on this trip but is being designed in a much more professional way. Check it out and let me know what you think. http://www.onwalkabout.net/ I will have more pictures on there as the time goes by. For now I have published 2 different articles in 4 different online magazines and I hope to get a few more as time goes on. I will be updating the site regularly starting in November.

I think that's it for now. Check back in a few days for some photos and I hope everyone is doing well!

Half-Time Numbers

Izmir, Turkey

Well, I am a month late... oops...

But here are the numbers for the first year of my trip, as begun 6 months ago... wow, I have been gone a long time....

From June 25/09 - June 25/10


Intercity Flights Taken: 13
Intercity Busses Taken: 35
Intercity Trains Taken: 12
Intercity Ferries Taken: 6
Cities Cycled Between: 7
Missed Busses/Trains: 2
Cars Rented: 1

Times hit on by girls: 9
Times hit on by guys: 1
Times fallen in love: 1

Times Couch Surfed:10
Panick Attacks Had: 3
Times Lost Something: 1
Times Robbed: 0
Times Seriously Sick: 2
Injuries Received:15
Streetshows Watched: 25

Caves Viseted: 4
Castles Visited: 8
Religious Buildings Visited: 26
Cities Visited: 49
Countries Visited: 15

Times I've been Lost and Taxi's taken have been eliminated from the list... the numbers were just too numerous! I've also eliminated Times Watched TV. But don't judge me! I spent 5 months in Saudi!!!

Also, I added Cars rented and times sick.

That's it for now. Will write more later! I'm getting married in a week!

Wedding Plans

Izmir, Turkey

I'm getting married. Three weeks to go. After a nightmare of a week running around, basically being the government's bitch, we finally have our permission to tie the knot and thus choose a date. As it turns out, August 4, 2010 will be a pretty important day for me!

So now the running around begins... We wanted a small wedding. Just a few people, family and friends..... no such luck. Okay, it IS small, compared with many... probably about 50 people will come. But still, the amount of work we have to put into planning it is fairly large. The good news is, we don't have 6 months to stew over all of it. We'll just put our heads down, get stuff done and in three weeks we can relax! Not a bad deal. Besides, our honeymoon will be in a place called Olympos named after the Gods. It's in Southern Turkey along the sea. Long white beaches, green hills, and houses in the trees. Gonna be awesome!

Also, consider this an open invitation for anyone who wants to come. It looks like a return flight is going for about $1200 with only one stop over. So that itself is not so bad for Turkey. If any of ya'll have some vacation time and want to head out here, send me an email wcarne@gmail.com and I will help you find a good ticket and a place to stay!

That's it for now, just a quick update. I don't imagine I'll write much in the next few weeks, but I'll try to get back to things in August. Still not sure where I'll be off to in September but Oman and Istanbul are the front runners. Will let you all know!

Also, I have published the first of many prospective travel articles based on this trip. If you'd like to read it, the first is online at www.travelmag.co.uk/?p=2215. Hopefully I will be able to get it published in a few more places as I go.

Ancient Architecture in Saudi

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

I finally went traveling again!

It was only for 3 days but it was so great to be on the road again. Random encounters with people, great historical sights, beautiful landscapes, and most of all freedom. Man I love to travel.

I just came back from Mada'in Saleh, which should probably be on a few lists of world wonders. But no one knows about it, cause it's in Saudi. Well, coming here I found out a bit and knew it would be a must see.

I flew to Medina, rented a car and drove North 400 km to find Al Ula, a nearby city. I spent the night there and the next day, started driving the 20 km or so to Mada'in Saleh. With poor signage, most of which in Arabic, I promptly got lost. Which was awesome. I drove around the desert for quite a while and when I finally started to get close was treated by this great, Star Warsish landscape. You know the pod races from episode 1? Just like that. Big towers of rock jutting up from flat plains. Camels wandered around the roads and there were even little sandstone and mudbrick villiages. It's probably the best desert landscape imaginable.


So after that, I finally found my destination and began to explore. A lot of Arabs believe Mada'in Saleh is cursed, and so they don't go there. The reason is that apparently a prophet visted the site many centuries ago. The people of Mada'in Saleh didn't believe he was truly a prophet though so they asked him for proof. For a miracle. So the prophet came back the next day and with him, brought the first camel. He said this animal can drink one day, and you can drink the next (of its milk). The people of Mada'in Saleh still didn't believe so they killed the animal. God got so angry that in return, he killed all the people of Mada'in Saleh and that's why the place has been abandoned for so long.


I heard this story from a local guy I met that morning, and although he didn't believe it was too dangerous to venture to, he did say that it's not safe to stay more than an hour or two. Anyway, it's a shame that a lot of Saudi's don't go here, because it really is a wonderful place. There are maybe fifty or so of these buildings dozens of rock outcroppings. Most of them are tombs but some appeared to me to be living areas and the like. One huge building with something like a trough running all along its perimeter might have been a stable.


Anyway, without further ado, here are the photos. Enjoy seeing a taste of this place that most will never even hear about.

One of the more dramatic entrances to the site.

One of the cliff walls

More of them. Erosion seems to have hit the bottom over the last 2000 years

Cool overhang

Looking inside one of them from the doorway. They are very roughly carved inside.

They started carving from the top down, as seen by this unfinished one. It would have been the largest I think.

The stables, or perhaps just a meeting place of some sort.

Me at what may be the "stables."

Lone building.

A shot from down low.


Camels crossing the road.

My First Travelversary

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

That's right, it's my first anniverary on the road. June 25, one year ago I left Calgary to start this thing and here I am, June 25th again.

It feels strange, my life is moving fast now. Nine more days in Saudi and then it's back to Turkey where I'll get married and make the next big change in my life. I'm looking forward to it.

I've always kind of felt like since I graduated high school in 2000 I've let my life kind of plateau without making any forward movement. Even though I got a university degree, went to SE Asia and fell in love for the first time, I always felt like I was standing still.

But as of a year ago, I'm moving forward again. I've traveled a lot, and in that travel I've managed to make a lot of (in my view) much needed changes in the way I think of myself and run my life. I feel more confident these days, and I've started trying to affect my future instead of just looking forward to it. I still struggle with some things, but the forward momentum is back and I feel good about that.

So what does the next year hold? Well obviously there's marriage. The plan is to work the next school year in Istanbul to save some money. Saudi has helped get all my accounts back into black, but I still don't have a whole lot of extra cash to work with. I think I found a well-paying job in Turkey so 10 months of that should put me in pretty good shape to travel a bit more with Sadife and then take the next step forward and move to Vancouver to finally start my career in film.

That's the plan as it stands right now anyway. My plans have been pretty fluid though since this trip started so I'm not really sure if they'll be the same one year (or one month) from now, but I feel pretty good about them. We'll see what happens.

As for the immediate plan, I am off to a place called Mada'in Saleh tomorrow. It's an ancient city carved into mountains much like Petra. In fact, it was made by the same civilization. It looks pretty spectacular and it's the one thing I'm excited to do before I leave Saudi. I will take lots of pictures!

So I think that's it for me today. I'm looking forward to seeing a few of you guys in Istanbul for my wedding and the rest of you I'll see in another year or so when I get back to Canada!

The Adventure Takes Another Step Forward

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

It's funny, when I set out on this trip nearly a year ago, there was a lot I didn't know. I didn't know where I was going. I didn't know when I was coming back. I didn't know where I would find money when it started to run out (I still don't have most of these answers!). But as cliche as it sounds, I did know one thing. I knew that no matter what happened, it would be a life changing experience. But there was something else I didn't know. I didn't know just how life changing it would be.

As you all know I met a girl by the name of Sadife (Sedef) when traveling through Turkey. I met her in September and ended up staying in Turkey for more than five months. I was finally forced to leave because my bank account had hit zero about five months prior when I met her. I lived off of people's charity, staying at different houses around Izmir, first with Peri for two months, who I owe greatly for giving me the opportunity to stay and eventually fall in love. Later I stayed with Öznur for a month, then with Fatma for a week, Gül for more than a month, Gamze in Istanbul and finally Ümit. I never paid a dime for room and board and I owe all of these people greatly for their kindness. Most of them don't speak English and will never see my thanks in writing, but there it is. They changed me life. As did Sedef.

I went back to see her during my break in April and although I'm a little late delivering this news on my blog (I wanted to make sure all the family heard from me directly first), I will be getting married to her this August or September. It's a quick marriage 'cause we didn't want to make a huge deal out of it. Why wait a year when you already know the outcome? Instead we decided a small ceremony, a quick wedding and thus I begin my life anew, for the second time in less than a year.

It's funny, you really never know how things will pan out when you just let life happen. But so far everything has been so much more than I ever imagined it could be.

Anyway, I'll stop my ramble here. I took some pics of the area here lately and I will post some on the blog soon. In the mean time, here's a couple pics of my new fiance and I. I'm sure you'll all meet her eventually!

Sedef in April in Akyaka

Sedef and I at Christmas

Back in Istanbul again!.... again!

Istanbul, Turkey

Well, I am taking a much dserved break from Saudi Arabia (afterall I've been working four day, 20 hour work weeks!!!! phew...) and this morning have touched down in Istanbul. Tomorrow, I'm off to Izmir and later the beach! Gonna spend some quality time with Sedef and relax in what has become my european home.

It's funny, starting this trip, and even spending time in Turkey a couple months ago, I never thought I would find a second home on this trip. And I don't think I even realized Turkey had become that until I came back here this morning. But I stepped off the plane, and sitting in the ridiculous 2 hour cutoms queue I realized that the stupid lineups, the strange language (although it is admittedly becoming less so), and the bi-polar population that can be incredibly friendly one minute and jaw-shakingly rude the next really had become a home.

I also got a piece of good news in the shape of a followup email from a good international school here in Izmir that is considering me for their fall semester. So maybe I won't be spending a year in teh desert afterall! It would be nice to be in a better climate and a more relaxing enviornment, that's for sure! Will keep you all updated. If I make enough from Saudi maybe I can just skip on to more travelling. I plan to make lots of plans this week so stay tuned.

Oh, and in regard to the student strike... I guess they couldn't get enough solidarity together to pull it off. No surprise there. So sadly, they had a late paycheck that month. It's a tragedy the world may never recover from.

Dr. Will and Students on Strike

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Well, as all you hospital peeps still reading this blog will appreciate, I am once again known as "Doctor Will." That's right, for my second consecutive job, my name is Dr. Will. I'm thinking of asking U of C for an honorary doctorate!

For those that don't know, the Dr. Will trend started when I was at Foothills talking to patients. I guess I come across so authoritatively on the phone that people just assumed I was a doctor and often called me as much. But since I never used my last name, I became Dr. Phil's slightly more handsome counterpart (although I possibly have better credentials than THAT hack....) Anyway, apparently the name has stuck. The students over here call all the teachers Doctors, so after a brief hiatus while travelling, I'm back to my under-qualified, over-inflated roots!


In other comic news, the students (who as you may recall get paid 1000 riyals a month for attending university) are expecting a late paycheck this month. As such, there is much talk at the school of a student strike starting tomorrow. How 'bout that! The students are sad they're not getting paid for school so they've decided to make their tragic cause known! I know they can count on all of your support! There's also a rumor on the grapevine that they're having some unexpected problems getting solidarity. Seems the slackers are much more keen to strike than the really good students. Go figure.

I will let you all know how it goes down.

Out in the desert

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia


Today is March 19, which means I've been seeing Sedef now for 6 months! 6 months! Not sure how times goes so fast. And it was 3 months before that when I left Canada... So yeah, within the next week I will have been gone 9 months. It's a long time and I know I haven't been the greatest at keeping in touch with everyone, but rest assured I'm having a great time, even though, right now as I write this a dust storm rages outside and the smell of dusty smoke is penetrating my room, even through tightly shut windows. Anyway, I digress:


Yesterday I had a once in a lifetime opportunity, and I want to share it with you as I know many of you will never make it to Saudi Arabia. It started last week, when some students offered to take us out to the annual Janadriah festival just outside Riyadh. It's the biggest cultural festival in the Kingdom and a must see if you're in the area at the right time. They then offered to take us out to the desert to one of their uncle's farms. Needless to say three other teachers and me, hastily agreed.


Two days ago, wanting to look the part, us four teachers went out and bought some throbes. You know, those really long pure white linen type things that everyone wears over here? They put us out 70 riyals or about 20 dollars. But they look smooooooooooooooth.

3 students on the left, 3 teachers (alex, me and Matt) and two more students on the right.

Yesterday was the first day the festival was open to the public. Unfortunately the camel races were only on the vip day on wednesday. However we did see plenty of crafts from different parts of the country, met lots of strangers, enjoyed a cup of arabic coffee and dates in a tent, wandered through a couple museums anda couple old buildings (well new buildings but manufactures in an older style), saw some cultural dances and some military gets flying in formation for us. Overall, it was a pretty cool experience. No, a very cool experience. Some photos follow:

A central eating courtyard

My new snake friend and I

Chillin in a United Arab Emirites style tent.

Jets over rooftops


Traditional Arabic dancers

Part of the dancing group. They raised swords up and down with the music.

I never even saw one of these in Canada!!!! But Saudi has them!

A traditional style room and vase

But all that was nothing. The real adventure started at sundown. 10 of us piled into two SUV's and we took off down the highway. About 10 minutes into the drive, we pulled over at what looked to me a fairly random point, and started off-roading. We travelled in the packed dust along the side of the highway for a few kilometers then turned away from it, and headed into the empty desert along roads that were nothing more than a few sets of tire tracks marked by old cement blocks every few hundred meters so you don't get lost. For the next 15 minutes we passed..... nothing. Other than a few shrubs or rocks, there was nothing. Eventually a few camps, lit with electric bulbs in tall treelike shapes came into a view. We passed a couple of them and continued on until we reached a large field of sand, lit by a circle of a dozen floodlights all powered by gas generator.

The SUV's turned in and we found ourselves parked inbetween a makeshift (sand) soccer pitch, a giant bedouin tent and a halfdozen shacks, haphazardly constructed with scraps of metal and wood. The farm's owner, was a very friendly middleaged guy named Aish. He invited us into the tent, a place where they often spend their weekends, he said, and we drank some more arabic coffee and ate some more dates, under the soft glow of electric bulbs and a television set. There was a fire pit in the middle of the tent and the smoke blew out the many opened flaps.

He introduced us to his dogs, his two arabian horses and his many camels, one of which he milked on the spot and gave us some to drink only seconds from being extracted. It tasted surprisingly good and not as warm as I would have expected. With a big grin, Aish joked it tasted like women's milk then looked around for confirmation... We returned with blank stares, completely unprepared for any kind of sexual comment from anyone in this incredibly sexually repressed culture.

We returned to the tent where he brought out his horses again and we were able to ride them. At first he had them bareback but upon seeing my apprehension went to fetch a saddle (although I have to admit I was kind of eager to ride an Arabian bareback. nonetheless I got on and after a few minutes the horse and I quickly bonded. His name was Mantar. We rode around the large soccer pitch and after a short jaunt returned to the tent. I went inside to relax with some tea while others took their turn. Prayertime came and Mantar was tied up. I went over to keep him company and later, throughout the night, whenever I was sitting in the tent, and made eye contact with him through the open flap he would whinny eagerly and I would go out to meet him. Later I rode around again, and we went for a much longer ride. He was great with me and after settling in for another few minutes we were galloping across desert full tilt. The other teachers now call me horsemaster Will.

Anyway, once again i returned to the tent. We ate a full sheep with rice that was prepared for everyone in the traditional manner. They don't use utensils here so we dug in with our hands, ripping off pieces of meat and shoveling rice into our mouths. It's even more challenging then you would think though because it's extremely rude to eat with our left hand. So everything is done entirely onehanded. Of course we washed it all down with a cold pepsi! Guess brandname marketing has even reached the middle of ass-nowhere. Afterwards, we kicked pack on the comfortable pillows and carpets in the tent, and after midnight, were driven back to the hotel. All in all, a perfect day.

If you don't travel...... You're missing out.

The camels


Matt, Aish and I with a new camel friend


Getting some camel love


A blurry Mantar and I

The bedouin tent

TV? Why not, it's the 21st cenury

from left to right: ??, Michael, Alex, Aish, Me, Matt - the four teachers that went

Dinner!!!!

The Kingdom

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

A true color image of the street outside my hotel during a sandstorm.

Yes, I know "The Kingdom" is a movie title and somewhat overdramatic name for Saudi, but you have to admit it is cool. And since I plan to talk a bit about the country, I thought maybe it was appropriate.


So..... What the hell is the deal with Saudi Arabia? Well, in many ways it's much better than I expected, in many ways it's worse. But it's entirely different.


The culture here is very restrictive and entirely segregated. Since I arrived here nearly one month ago I have not talked to one woman in this country. I haven't said a word to one, nor heard a word from one, and that includes the occasional western woman I see in the supermarket. In fact it's rare to even see a woman on the street or in a store, let alone her face or hair. It really is... different.


In general the people here are friendly although they are quite distant. I can't help but get the impression that for the most part, they don't particularly wan't foreigners here, and don't particularly want to talk to us. Most of the locals I talk to are other ex-pats, either from another middle eastern country, or from the phillipines.

Saudi's rarely work in the service industry. Instead they hire foreign workers from poor countries that will do the job for very little pay. Every adult male gets a fairly significant annual payment from the government for... well... for being Saudi I guess. About 20,000 USD. Students also get paid by the government to go to university and since all their positions are based on who you know ie. inheriting your father's business (as opposed to WHAT you know, or how capable you are) they have very little motivation to learn or excel. I foresee this being a huge problem for the country as globalization increases and foreign influences exert themselves.


Nonetheless, living here, you can feel the history. Perhaps unsurprisingly, more than any other place I've been too, Saudi Arabia has a distinctive flavour. They're proud of their country and extremly proud of Islam. However, despite their extreme passion for the religion, I would say I have yet to meet anyone I would classify as extremist. For the most part they seem to do an extremely good job of focusing on the positive aspects to the religion. Of course they're extremly uneducated about any other religion or way of thinking and don't welcome other opinions.


One of the first things I was told upon arriving was "don't talk about religion, government, or women. Chances are any positive or negative discussion of any of those subjects will get you fired and sent home." As such, I avoid talking about them.


On the plus side, I have an extremly fortunate opportunity. It is extremly difficult to get a visa to this country, and little about this place is known throughout the world. Especially the western world. I have a great chance to really see one of the last, true, purely independent cultures in the world and that in itself is an exciting prospect.


My room here is far above par, and all of my needs (except food) are covered and for the most part covered well. Money never seems to be an object of debate here, so they are quite happy to provide me with whatever I need. I will talk more about some of the places I've been soon. For now I've included a few pictures of my hotel room, so you can get an idea of my accomodations. Yes I am staying in a hotel. Isn't it expensive you ask? Yes. Yes it is. They why does my company pay it you ask? Because someone with my visa can't live anywhere else.

My hotel lobby


The living area of my hotel room


My bedroom

Kitchen

Bathroom

First payday. Ever seen 9000 in 50's before?

My New Home for a While

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

I've been meaning to write this message for a while now, and I've been putting it off because until recently I'd been pretty upset about it and it was something I didn't want to write about when I was angry.

Before coming to Saudi Arabia and when I first arrived, a lot of my friends facebooked me and said to me "be safe," or "be careful over there," or something to that effect.

This upset me for two reasons. The first is perhaps somewhat selfish and not as serious. Surely in all the years people out there have known me, you have realized that I have no history whatsoever of taking foolish risks or not paying attention in questionable or dangerous situations. I realize some of you maybe only said it to let me know that you are thinking about me, but nonetheless I found it a little frustrating.

The second and much more serious reason this "be safe" thing upset me is because Saudi Arabia is the 15th country I have been to on this trip, and no one said anything for any of the others, which says to me people are concerned simply because it is Saudia Arabia, a country in the "dreaded" middle east.

In the last five years there have been no terrorist attacks on foreigners in the country, with the exception of four french nationals in 2007. Many euopean countries can not boast the same. For example I doubt America can boast less than 4 foreign traveler murders in the last five years. I wonder if even Canada can. The government here is extremly pro-active in keeping this country safe from those types of attacks and have been quite successful. In addition there is currently no travel warning by the Canadian government for coming here.

So why then is eveyone so concerened? This type of unjustified fear of anything middle-east is extremely damaging to not just people from this region, but also unwarrented fears of Islam, foreign governments and most importantly it is counteractive to the idea (and dare I say fact) that a third world country can change, grow, and evolve into something better. And most impressively, Saudi Arabia is doing it without westernizing or sacrificing its culture.

I'm sorry if it sounds like I am soapboxing here, or picking on anyone's general well-wishing, and there are certainly many serious problems that Saudi Arabia faces in its future which I will discuss in detail another time on this blog, but I think this is an important thing to think about, and if we truely want to come together as one people in this world, these sorts of negative preconceptions have to be left behind sooner rather than later.

I'll write again soon and update with some pics of the first couple weeks of my stay here.

It's a new decade

Izmir, Turkey



New Years in Istanbul....

I have to admit, there wasn't much too it! A group of five of us headed into Taksim where we went to a restaurant, had a pretty good meal along with free (bad) alcohol. Unfortunately, the place Sedef's friend had picked was more or less empty. There wasn't much of a party or anything like that, we just hung out at a table and talked and drank. That said though, the company was good, the temperature was in the teens and I had a great night. Just lower key than Sedef and I had expected.


As far as other matters are concerened, this is likely to be my last post from Izmir. Well, for a number of months anyway. As usual, I don't know what the future holds, but I do know this:

Within the next week or so, I will catch a plan to Riyadh, the capital of Saudia Arabia where I will teach english for a while. I say "for a while" because I don't know how long. I'm excited to see the true middle east and finally get a true perception for what it is. Everyone I tell I am going there seems to think I am some brave fool or something but that's not the case at all, and bravery has nothing to do with it (although foolishness.....). I'm not worried for my safety or anything like that. People are people are people, no matter what country you are in. They change a bit with religious and culture differences but in the end they generally want to help you and not the opposite. I don't see any reason why Saudi Arabia should be any different.

Still, I will be away from Sedef for a number of months and that will be hard. I'm really not sure about how I plan to end my trip at this point. I will think heavily about it when I'm ready to leave Saudi and know more about my money situation and what kind of a plan Sedef and I come up with. In the mean time, things will continue their freeze as my bank accounts return to the black again :) i only have a one time entry visa for Saudi so unlike my hopes I won't be able to explore a lot of it's neighbours while I'm there. But I am thinking afterwards I will take the long route back to Turkey by ground and check out some of the neighbourhood.

Anyway, will write again soon. For now it's just a short one.