Monthly Report

January came and went at the speed of light. This month marked the damn of a new year and also that my time here in France is half way finished. These last five months that I have been here in France have been the best five months of my life. There have been some hard and difficult moments but all the good times that I have had have out weigted all the negative and difficult moments that I have experienced . This month I turned 17 which means I am getting older and I am ever so closer to opening that door in life that is called adult hood. In a years time I will be a few months from college which means all that I have learned here in France  and what my parents have though me will be put to the ultimate test. Till that time I will continue to be a 17 year old having a nonstop adventure here in France. 

With a new year under way I have changed host families again. This will be my third host family here in France. As with all families they each have there different rules and ways of doing things. So I have had to continue adapting to my new host family. My new host family is cool but I rarely see my host parents during the week because my host mom is a teacher that teaches kids that have mental problems and disorders so she has a weird schedule and my host dad is salesmen so he is constantly traveling to Lyon and other big cities here in France. With my host parent not being constantly being home I have had a bunch of free time on my hands. So I try to spend the time that I have by trying to do my school work which is really hard because its all Science related which means I have classes such as Biology, EarthSpace Science, Chimistry and Physiques  and that requires a lot of analysing which I really cant do because its too hard and my french isnt at a level that is  high enough to understand all the work. I also listen to lots of music on a daily basis, read a book that I actually bought with my own money, and finally just play Madden 2004 from time to time. 

Winter is well underway and I havent worn a pair of shorts to school in nearly three months. The temperatures have dropped well below freezing which means I wear  large amount of clothing to just keep warm. Its weird watching the weatherman on TV saying its going to snow and the temperatures are expected to be at –8 degrees Celcuis which is between 15 and 20 degrees Fahreheit. I am so use to watching the weatherman on TV and saying today, it’s going to be partly cloudily, small chance of rain and temperature in the mid 80’s to low 90’s. All this cold weather has caused me to be extremely sick for a couple of days. It all started when I went to visit my host mom’s parents for the day. I had on my undershirt, shirt, pull over, and my sweater, my jeans and all the other good stuff. You would figure there is no way possible you can get sick. Yeah right!!! That night I had a slightly sore throat so I told my host mom and see gave me some tablet that just might help me. I took the tablet and headed for bed. The next morning I woke up with an extremely sore throat but still went to school.. I have always been kind of dumb at times when it comes to making decisions of weather to stay or go to school when I am sick. I have always told myself if I can crawl out of bed on my own power then I am good enough to go to school. I should have never gone to school that day. By the time I got to school that day my extremely sore throat had triggered a fever, a headache the size of the Atlantic Ocean and a stomachache which is was my fault because I only had a cup of Grapefruit juice for breakfast. Those two hours of school, that day felt like two days because I was getting sicker and sicker with each passing minute. I lasted through my first class and then decided that there was no way I was going to make it through the day. I went to the clinic, they gave a couple of pills, I had instant relief, and I felt normal. That instant relief only lasted two hours and by lunchtime, I was feeling the same way I felt in the morning. I actually last through the day but at a harsh price. When I got home, my host mom saw how sick I was. She took my temperature and it was about a hundred degrees Fahreheit. I went to bed and tried to keep myself as warm as possible. A few hours later, my counselor arrived to check how I was doing and to take care of some things. The next day I went to the doctor, which was a good thing. I went to the doctor at around four o clock because he didn’t open till that time. The doctor prescribed me a crap load of medicines to take and he said you could stay home from school for up to two more days but I knew I was going to school that next day because I had a basketball game. Later that day when I got home, I took all the medicines that he had prescribed, ate some pumpkin soup, and went to bed. The next morning I was feeling extremely better went to school and I was able to play in the basketball game.     

I also had continued to traveled a little bit and seeing more and more of the French landscape. This month has been good in general with the exception that I was really sick for those few days.  My French is good now and I am happy with the progression that I have made so far. My goal is to be as fluent as possible that will be realized when I can translate everything that I hear in French into English and Spanish and vice versa. This month is over and February is a new month filled with new adventures waiting to uncover so world say tune to my journal and the next exciting report from yours truly Jorge Toro.

Outbound 2003-2004