Chritsmas

Our first Christmas in Bangladesh has been different but better than I expected. It's different because you don't have the whole country celebrating. Funnily enough though, it's been the busiest Christmas ever with Carol services, Christmas parties and end of year break up parties. It does coincide with the Independence of Bangladesh so there are red and green lights and decorations on the streets since they are the Bangladesh flag colours so it feels festive.

On the 24th we had staff from the school for a meal and some games, on the 25th we had presents with the boys first thing followed by a group call with all our kids and Mum and Dad and another with D.C's family. 

The Christmas stockings were a little different this year as I could fill them with things that are treats here, things such as Milo and Tang. Badminton is huge here so we got them each a badminton racquet and a volley ball for them all to share. Then we were off to church for a Christmas service followed by a meal. The biggest difference for us is that we were guarded on the 24th and 25th by RAB (Rapid Action Batallion) They are the equivalent of the SAS here. It's a first to have Christmas with AK47s but it does remind you that we are a minority in this country and not everyone is going to like our presence so sometimes extra protection is given when groups gather. In saying that, we have been welcomed openly by the people we meet each day and everyone has been very friendly to us no matter what religion they are but also like any country, there are radicals that can cause problems.
These are not the guys guarding us but this is what they look like...

On the 26th we had a foreigners Christmas lunch. We had fried chicken, pototo salad, Cauli and cheese sauce (cheese is a luxury as we can't get it here, the couple we are staying with had some bought over when some visitors came) It was a lovely time.

Time is racing

So much has happened in this last week and a half. We've been to the school end of year concert and party, The district Commissioner was there and he called our boys up to unexpectedly talk. They did really well and we really enjoyed the concert from the pupils despite the power going off and not being able to hear the music for dances.  The District Commissioner has been very good to us and really wants to see change in the education sector.

We were also invited to a Holud pre wedding event. It holds a special place among many Bangldeshi wedding traditions. Normally it's held a couple of days prior to the wedding at the couple’s respective city, village or house.  Turmeric paste is mixed with sandalwood, milk and rose water and is applied on the bride and groom’s face, neck, hands, and feet by family members and friends. It is believed that the yellow colour of turmeric brightens the skin colour of the couple and its medicinal properties protect them from all kinds of ailments. It also helps alleviates their nervousness before the wedding. Remember that arranged marriages are the norm here so the bride and groom probably don't know each other very well so that's pretty scary.

We've also been to a pre Christmas "carol" service called a kirtan. It wasn't carols as we know it but was an event full of drums getting faster and faster with people clapping and singing. I can't remember the official name for it.

We also had a fun office party with the tranzsend team where we had a devotion time followed by singing and then sharing of gifts. Everyone had to bring a gift each which was numbered and what ever number you drew, you got that gift. This was then followed by a delicious meal. It was lots of fun.

An interesting fact....

Check out the population per land mass, crazy.

Video of what we are doing.

Here's a link to a video we put together for those wanting to know what we are doing.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1EXKyKPVVT375DcA5gGS0sVlFt0U1_OtK/view?usp=sharing

Attachments area

A little update

Last weekend we travelled up to Dhaka to meet and farewell people from the Tranzsend team here in Bangladesh. We did a day trip which consisted of a 3+ hr trip on the launch, we then picked up a midi keyboard so that Caleb can continue to record music, had lunch with about 20 people whom we met mostly for the first time and then a 3+hr trip back home on the launch. I really enjoyed the day.

The launch trip back was quite an event. We had a large crowd of curious onlookers in a semicircle around us and peering through curtains.  One young muslim  man spoke very good English and came and sat with us. It turns out he is studying English literature and has a passion to see a change in the education sector in Bangladesh. DC and he spoke for a long time and exchanged numbers. His family is from a village not too far from Chandpur and he studies in Dhaka. They exchanged phone numbers and email and have since made contact. On Thursday DC had an email saying he would be passing through Chandpur and could he come visit. He ended up having lunch with us and playing badminton with the kids. He's such a nice guy and we pray he might be someone who will work alongside us.

What's different?

I feel very at home here in Bangladesh and the transition here has been much easier than our move to India. We loved India but we were doing it on our own and arriving with nothing but our suitcases. We also had much younger children with us. I'm pleased we had the experience of India. We had to work hard to make ends meet and find our way around but here in Chandpur, Bangladesh, we have been so well looked after.
We arrived to a furnished home to stay in, no need to buy anything for the house unless we really want to and we'd already had the experience of shopping in markets and catching Tomtom's (Auto rickshaws) in India so it didn't take long to feel at home shopping and travelling in this way again. Some people may struggle with some of the commodities but for us, everything is perfect.  

We have a great sense of purpose here and are keeping busy which is fulfilling. My biggest fear of not getting on with the couple we are sharing the house with is a non issue and I think we are all enjoying each others company and we have enough privacy if we need it.

So whats a couple of differences from New Zealand that I have seen in the last couple of days?

1. Yummy tiny bananas that you buy on the side of the road.


2.Gas top oven for baking.

Village Visits

D.C and our eldest son have been away for a few days in Dhaka. They have been having various meetings with people regarding IT. It's been rather exciting for them with opportunities of companies and people wanting to help. I can't give you the full details yet but only because I don't really know the facts. There's a guy also over from England that's a real mover and shaker, D.C had been in conversation with him before we arrived in Bangladesh. Yesterday they went to a village which was a 3.5hr drive away. I believe they are wanting the village to pilot free wifi with the end term goal of getting the e-learning platform available to remote villages so that education is available to all. Mobile phones are everywhere now which can be used as a great learning tool. BTW, the trip back to Dhaka took over 5 hrs for them due to traffic. I think they head back to Chandpur tomorrow.

This is morning tea on the way to the village..

Meanwhile, I've been here in Chandpur with our 3 other boys. We are back into homeschooling again. Fortunately internet access is great and although there is the odd power cut it's not too bad. The boys also manage to catch up with friends and play some online games with them. It's so much easier these days to move to a new country and keep in contact with family friends. It must have been very isolating and lonely years ago, hats off to those that did it pre internet, we have it easy.

I've also been asked if I could start auditing the accounts for the schools so I've had a couple of meetings regarding this and another meeting today. Things are much more paper based with excel spread sheets so I just need to sort out their process and then get stuck into it. I need to audit from 2011 to 2019 so I think that's going to keep me from being idle.

Swim time

Once the boys have finished school work they usually want to swim in the pond on our compound. I love seeing them have good old fashioned kids fun. They climb the tress and jump in. They don't care that the pond is green.  There is so much fish life in here that the water quality must be ok plus many others have swum here over the years. There are water snakes but we have been assured that they swim away from you and are not poisonous, we trust that the locals know best.

Catching a Tomtom (electric rickshaw)

Today was a first of a few things for me. I think the biggest achievement was catching a Tomtom (electric rickshaw) with my eldest son into town without assistance, giving directions in limited Bangla and even better, getting to where we wanted, Oh, and working out how much to pay the driver was relatively easy too. We were over charged a little but not by a huge amount so we let it go and decided to be generous.

The people here are very friendly, many want to know what country we are from and they enjoy trying out their English on us. Equally, we enjoy trying out our Bangla on them. Things have changed a lot since we were here 24 years ago. People used to stare a lot more. I think the rapid arrival of mobile phones and access to the world means people are more aware of other countries and cultures now so we are not so freaky looking.

I also went to the market today with our lovely cook. I thought she was just showing me where to go but I ended up buying fish and chicken. There's nothing quite like seeing a chicken running around and then on your plate for lunch. 

DC to Dkaka

Dc was off on an early start to Dhaka to have a meeting with someone from Microsoft. Microsoft want to offer some sort of assistance to the schools we are working in. Face to face meetings are important in this part of the world and building relationship and trust is vital. I'm not sure yet how many days he will be away but we are happy and settled back here in Chandpur.

The trip to Dhaka takes about 3 hours by boat I believe. The Launch (ferry boat as we would call it) departed at 6am from Chandpur. DC text me along the way with the description that it was 'pretty magical in a polluted sort of way,' and I know exactly what he means. He said it was quite a chill way to travel and I'm sure that it is compared to the roads.

Cyclone Bulbul

Some may have heard that Cyclone Bulbul was hitting Bangladesh. Although we had rain and quite intense wind, the cyclone did not hit us and we are safe and sound. We did lose power for most of the afternoon and evening but it's been restored this morning.

26 people lost their lives due to the cyclone and there has been a trail of destruction left in the costal regions. Our thoughts and prayer go out to those affected.

Sickness

It was like something out of a comedy movie with not enough loos to contain the amount of vomiting and diarrhoea. One running outside to vomit as another headed upstairs in search of a loo since two were in use downstairs. Ok, so maybe I'm making it sound a little more comical that it was but in all honesty the Emmy award goes to DC for choosing to come down with it a little later and being the cleaner of vomit on rugs and in beds for the night.

It was inevitable that at some stage we would be hit by sickness as our bodies adjust to new surroundings in a new country, new water, new food, new bacteria. Let's pray that's out of the way now and we can get on with things with a slightly toughened resistance. 

Off to Chandpur and a birthday

Heading to where we would be living for the next year was exciting but equally exciting for our then 7 year old was that he was turning 8 and getting a birthday road trip.

Our no.3 daughter video called for present opening time and watched master 8 open his somewhat limited presents. He was thrilled with what he got even though we had to go last minute shopping the night before. He spotted a huge lollipop which was actually a container shaped like a lollipop filled with many small lollipops. Daughter no2 had sent a present over for him of a ball on elastic. He used it all day and was very happy and content.

After lugging suitcases down some flights of stairs we all squeezed into a people mover and headed off to Chandpur. Bangladesh is very lush with green vegetation and this is something very different from where we were in India. Driving is always a little hair raising but the Bangladeshi people are excellent defensive drivers. The roads were a little windy and narrow in places and the birthday boy felt a little queasy. All in all it was a pretty good trip. The lady we are staying with says she always prays before every road trip in Bangladesh as every road trip is an adventure filled with near misses.

When we arrived and drove through the gates of the mission compound, I was staggered by the beauty. The place is a little oasis of trees and ponds. On the compound is the house we are now living in which I believe is about 150yrs old. There are also several other homes that various staff members live in and a boys home that has 50 resident boys. We had stayed at a house 24 years ago across the pond but we can't work out which one it was now as there a few more now than when we were here last time.

Here's a shot of our house. We are staying in the lower level and the couple we are sharing with on the top level but we share a kitchen and laundry.

Our boys were thrilled to find out that they can swim in the pond. The colour is not appealing but apparently it's safe to swim in. Son no.2 was out swimming that afternoon.

A lovely lunch was put on for us and a carrot cake for son no.4 birthday...

Ok so it wasn't really a carrot cake but at least he got some candles to blow out.

A day at school

On our second day in Dhaka we all went to the school DC will be helping out in. Bangladeshi kids are so beautiful. After a brief assembly and singing of the national anthem DC went to work with our eldest Son to sort out some computer stuff. Our  two young boys were given a corner of toys and puzzles and our second eldest and myself found ourselves doing book repairs for the library.

I managed to make a fool of myself very quickly. Morning tea came around and all the children were having snacks. Some noticed that we didn't have any food and began offering us food. A man then came to offer some fresh cut fruit. I took a piece, dropped it, tried to save it but ended up hitting the entire container and knocking it all onto the floor, Oh the shame!!! Everyone was really good about it and had a good laugh.

The teachers I observed were doing a great job and the kids were so excited about learning.

Our eldest son ended up reading to one class room..

Touch down

So here we are breathing the air of Dahka, Bangladesh, hearing the car horns tooting and the call to prayer (which happens to be directly outside our bedroom window.) DC and I woke up on our first morning to the call of prayer and gave each other a happy, contented, 'we are here' kind of acknowledgement. Everything feels so familiar even though we are in a different country from India, the smells and sounds are the same and there is something comforting in that.

In our first 12 hours of being here we have been served a special Bangladeshi breakfast followed by a business meeting where we were all invited. We were taken to a very flash cafe that had opened a week ago by the Aunty of the lady conducting the meeting. I was not expecting our first outing to be to such a flash place and for us to be served quite such outstanding western food. The lady we met with was a beautiful muslim lady. She wants to serve God by showing love to those less fortunate, just as we do, by helping in education. It was really interesting talking about our different faiths and how it is our faith that makes us want to do what we are doing.

After the meeting we arrived home very full and found a special lunch had been prepared for us. This meant we had to find more space in our stomachs. To be honest though, the lunch was such delicious Bangladeshi food that it was not hard to squeeze in a bit more.

DC has now gone to the school here in Dhaka with our eldest boy to do an audit of their ICT setup. I think He is thriving on being able to help in his area of expertise.

Back tracking now.... We left NZ a couple of days ago to some sad farewells but also great excitement. We went to Sydney first where we spent some time with our eldest daughter and showed the boys some sites of Sydney.

We then had a night and day in Singapore which was wonderful and has helped us slowly get our body clocks closer to Bangladesh time. There was a water park attached to our hotel which was a real treat for us all.

Now we are staying with the couple that we will be living with in Chandpur. They have been wonderful to us and all my fears of wondering if we will get along with them have been vanishing. Here's a few shots of the apartment.

Last but not least, I have talked to my parents and one of our daughters today and it makes us feel so much closer to hear each others voices. Our daughter was really enjoying hearing the sounds in the background and the call to prayer. She's going to love coming here for a visit. I hope to talk to more family tomorrow.

Church send off last Sunday.

Last Sunday MCBC gave a us a lovely send off. We had a short question and answer time followed by them praying for us all. It was a really special time. I love how down to earth and real everyone is at MCBC. They really love people for who they are and are capable of doing things outside of the box. We really appreciate the support they have shown us and are also very grateful for the financial gift they have just told us they will be giving. It was very unexpected but we are extremely thankful. We love you guys at MCBC, let's go make a difference in this world together.

Thanks also to family and friends that came along, it means a lot to have your encouragement and support.

David sent this family photo to be used during the service...

" We're on a gangster family mission"

Packed and ready to go next Wednesday!!

The painting of walls is all done, the cupboards and drawers are cleared, our bags are packed and we are ready to go!!!

We are spending this long weekend over on Waiheke Island For DC's sisters 60th birthday. It's a nice way to end our time in NZ with his family all coming up from the South Island too. We are looking forward to a wee breather from cleaning and painting. Our youngest two boys will spend a couple of nights with my parents during this time and the older two boys are staying at home with a couple of friends coming over for a final time together.

Once home on Tuesday we will do a final cleaning of bedding at the laundromat, clean the bathrooms and vaccume the floors. We are then going to stay at a place out near the airport so we don't have such an early start and also so we can leave the house clean and tidy the day before departure.

Ropeholders

As a kid we used to have this thing at church called Ropeholders. It was run once a month for the kids during church time and I loved it. (probably because I didn't have to sit through church to be perfectly honest) During this time we would learn about various missionaries around the world, pray for them  and be taught  a little about the culture of the country they were in and occasionally someone would come with food from that country to try. I found it really intriguing but the place I was most interested in was Bangladesh. I always wanted to go there from when I was young.

Fast forward to me being married almost a year and an opportunity to go with a team to Bangladesh and India came up. DC and I both jumped at the chance. Only six of us from the team went to Bangladesh and some of the missionaries that I learned about as a child were still there. Also, the people we will be sharing a house with were there too and we had a meal at their place 24 years ago. I can't say that I fell in love with Bangladesh at that time as when we joined the team in India, our love for India was planted.  DC and I spent 2 months travelling India once the team left.

A couple of weeks before we left for Bangladesh I found out I was expecting our first child but we didn't tell anyone (apart from one friend). We eventually told Bill and Kath McGregor who were the pastors of Northcote Baptist at at the time, they had come to Bangladesh too. Their son was DC's best man at our wedding and is also a director in our company. It is through the McGregor's continued connection to Bangladesh that the request for our company to help out in Bangladesh was made.

Back to Rope Holders, I had talked about Ropeholders with Alistair Hall (pastor from MCBC, Manukau City Baptist Church) when he came to chat to us about the possibility of heading to Bangladesh. He remembered going to Ropeholders as a child too. The following day I was looking for an old nursing badge and came across my old Ropeholders badge. I didn't even know I had kept it and had never noticed it in all the years since I was a kid. It was in my little box of keepsakes all these years only to be discovered a few weeks ago. Interesting timing, Mmmm.

Our house and packing up.

Here's another fantastic piece of the puzzle that has fallen into place.

A couple of days after we first heard about the Bangladesh opportunity we got a call from a friend of ours who was in the country overnight. He was keen to catch up for dinner if possible that night. So off we went for what we thought was just a regular catch up but it turned into so much more than we could have imagined.

Here's a bit of history regarding this friendship. Ben and his wife Vinu had always said that when ever we ended going to India, they would come with us and that is exactly what they did. They and their extended family were an amazing support for us while we were over there. They are originally from India but are NZ citizens these days. They sacrificed a lot to return to India and we have always felt incredibly indebted to them, we love them so much.
After we returned to NZ they ended up in Sydney.

Back to the dinner.  Ben announced that they are returning to NZ and hoped to look for a place near us. We then let him know our news that we would be leaving NZ for Bangladesh but would have a house available. The timing is just so unbelievable.

We worked out what we needed to cover our cost of mortgage, rates, insurance etc and offered them to rent at just the cost. It works out to be the amount you would pay for a 1 to 2 bedroom unit but they would get a 7 bedroom place. They would be welcome to sublet out a room or two if they want to earn some extra cash. They agreed and planned a visit soon after. During that visit Vinu got a job opportunity so she stayed on with us and didn't return to Sydney. She's the best house guest anyone can have and has been living with us for about 7 weeks.

It also means that our married daughter can stay in our flat on the property and move out only when they are ready to get their own home.

We also only need to pack our personal stuff as they will use our furnishing. Win win! We are doing a bit of cosmetic tidying and a some repairs on things that you live with yourself but wouldn't want anyone else to have to live with. It's keeping us busy but we are getting there.

So basically, they feel like we are helping them and we feel like they are helping us. I couldn't think of a better way of dealing with our house and I couldn't think of a more fitting couple for this to have happened with. 

But that's not all, how could this get any better you might ask?..... well, their son is going to move in with them and his current lease runs out on the day we move to Bangladesh. How cool is that for timing!

Visa's approved!!

We received our passports back today from Canberra and we have been issued with the visas we applied for. I'm feeling very relieved and grateful right now. This is a huge thing for us, God is pretty amazing.

Visa's

Visa's can always be a bit of an anxiety raiser but right now we are eagerly awaiting the arrival of  them by courier. The paper work is always mind stretching and you constantly question if you have filled in the forms correctly. I got all our documents signed by the Justice of the Peace just to be safe and we had some chats with the guys in Bangladesh to check we were doing things right.

We have been told that the visa type we are applying for could be a bit tricky to get. 

We sent our application along with our passports to Canberra just over a week ago. We then received a message from an Ex internal affairs officer in Bangladesh giving us the  phone number of the Bangladesh High Commissioner in Canberra so we could call her and make sure all was in order and to let her know to ring if there were any issues. DC rang her and she said all looked good and she couldn't see an issue so far. She was a very lovely lady. The next day an email was sent to say our visa's were issued and ready for pick up.

We now wait in anticipation to see if we were issued the visa's we applied for 🙏

Leaving Family

As much as I am excited to go there are also many factors that I have had to work through and not everyone is happy we are leaving.

The last 7 years have been tough for us as a family. It was hard being back in NZ at such short notice from India. We had to work through what had happened and the disappointment we felt and work out how to pick up and carry on. I'm not sure we did that particularly well but it's been a process that we've all journeyed through individually. We've had 5 family deaths, both my Grandmothers, my Father in law, my brother (age 48) and my cousin (age 46). My Father in law, cousin and brother all passed away within 3 months of each other.

We've also had family and extended family situations arise that we have had to work through and all this had an effect on us.

It was hard telling my parents about the opportunity to head to Bangladesh, it seems callous to be leaving them when my brother hasn't even been gone for 2 years. It's been a hard few years for them too. I know some people will be judging us for leaving them and wondering how I could do this to them, however, as much as  they would love us to be staying they are also being extremely supportive and are already planning a trip to see us.

It's hard leaving our three daughters, one is working in Australia, one is married and working/studying in Auckland and our third is studying in Wellington. It's strange not having them with us this time and it's hard for them not having a home base here in NZ. There have been some frank discussions about unresolved issues for some of them on their return from India. It's been about listening and learning from past experiences and has begun an honest discussion on how it was for them. It's so important that we listen to each other and voice our concerns. They have some great insights to learn from. Two of our daughters are already planning on coming over to visit next year. Although they have concerns they are also excited for us and perhaps a little jealous not to be coming too.

Of course it's hard leaving DC's family too but it's nice to know his Mum is well looked after by the rest of his siblings.

This might all sound like doom and gloom but I just want to be honest. Decisions are never easy.  Our decision to go might appear quick and without hesitation but all these factors have been on my mind. I am so extremely excited to have this amazing opportunity but if it wasn't such a clear God orchestrated opportunity, I'm not sure I would even be considering it.

Who are we working with?

We will be working alongside the NZ Baptist Mission team and Tranzsend. We are going as independents as we can get there quicker that way. I'm not sure if I can mention names so will need to ask permission before I mention anyone. The NZ couple we will be living with have been there for about 30 years.

We are also working with Bangladesh Vision who's goal is "Meaningful work, making an impact" We have our Volunteers contract with one of the Schools. If you want to read a bit about the schools we are involved with then have a look here. There's no point in me rehashing info when it's beautifully presented by their own website and says more than I could do it justice. It's well worth a look.

Photo cred: Carley Bird

MCBC The church I attend has also been very encouraging and is sending us with their blessing. We are very grateful for the encouragement and support they have shown us.

How are we funding this?

The position DC will have is voluntary, his official role is 'IT supervisor and Trainer.'

Both DC and I have always struggled with the model of raising support and asking people for money so this was something we were not keen on doing.

Our IT company is fully behind us and I will be able to keep doing the bookkeeping for our company and DC will also be able to do some admin stuff, proposals and keeping in touch with clients etc. It works out that we will both do 8 hrs a week which will pretty much cover our expenses in Bangladesh. We still have other expenses for kids that are not coming with us but things are falling into place.

We've also set up a https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/bangladesh-e-learning-it-in-education-project page for anyone that feels they want to contribute towards what we are doing. A few people expressed an interest in financially supporting us and our brother in laws company needed to get receipts for donations so this was the easiest option. So although we will never directly ask people to financially support us we are really grateful to those that feel they want to contribute.

God has provided our finances amazingly.

How did we decide to up and go within 10 weeks?

This is a two fold story of how we got to where we are today but let me start by saying that if you'd asked me 16 weeks ago if we had any plans to go to Bangladesh, it would have been a big NO. Not because we didn't have an interest in Bangladesh or it's people but it just wasn't on our radar.

It all started for me on Sunday the 9th June while I was at church. The emphasis for the month was self denial and one of the pastors played a wee clip of his time in India and Bangladesh. While I was watching I became overwhelmed with emotion and it was a confusing emotion (I'm not a big cryer but the tears were leaking). Was I home sick for India? Sad because of how things ended in India? Or was God stirring something? At the end of the clip a guy we had met 24 years earlier in Bangladesh basically asked for people to come and help out as they are desperate for assistance. I spoke to one of the  pastors and another lady that night telling them how I was feeling but that I was confused as I was feeling a prod to go to Bangladesh which seemed odd as my husband wasn't going to church (His faith was still strong but organised church was not his thing) I wasn't sure what his reaction would be.

Anyway, I arrived home and my hubby ( I will now refer to as DC) asked how church was. I think I replied that it was interesting and shared what had happened. His response floored me. Our IT company had been sent an email request a few months back from the same guy I had seen in the clip at church and he was asking if our company could help out with IT and an e-learning platform in the schools they are running. Nothing had really come of this as the reply sent by one of the other directors had not made it to him.

Long story short, We sent off some emails to various people and within a couple of days we were preparing to head to Bangladesh. 

I think the great thing is that we both really feel this is something God wants us to do and he's made it clear to both of us in differing ways. Mine has been in more of an emotional way while in church and DC in a very practical way while not in church. 

Back story

A small recap:

Our family consisting of Mum, Dad and 6 kids (which became 7) uprooted and shifted to Bangalore and then Kollegal India from 2010 to 2012. (You can view my previous blog "Stable nomads" if you are interested but you'll need to go right back to the beginning posts for the full story.) We unexpectedly found ourselves back in New Zealand with 5 days notice due to paper work issues with the NGO we were working with. Were we disappointed? Absolutely. Are we still disappointed? Perhaps disappointed with how the situation was handled and the fact we let down 60 girls in the girls home but this blog is about picking up and carrying on. It's about taking any situation and looking at the good in it. It's about learning from mistakes. It's about learning to trust others. It's about learning to trust God again.

Here's our story as we embark on a new journey to Bangladesh.