It's not easy feeling green.

There is nothing worse than getting sick far away from home. This week, I've been battling a mixture of possible food poisoning/an allergic reaction/a not-so-24-hour flu and to be honest, it's been terrible. I've been pretty comatose lying in my bed doing nothing but surfing the web, wishing someone would skype me and watching batman movies. Hopefully my stomach decides to keep the soup inside it so I can go to school tomorrow! 

Over the weekend, a close friend here turned 21. We went out, celebrated and danced the night away. The next morning, a little worse for the wear, I stumbled over to my host parents for a typical French meal (imagine the cheese box being opened right in front of you) . At the time, I was feeling alright, not great but was thinking at it was only the after effects of the night before. My host dad and I sped off (at the speed of light) and whirled through the streets in the car in order to arrive to Bingo in time. We spent the day helping put on a bingo with the Rotary club for charity (one of my jobs was to stamp the bingo tickets). I was feeling a bit carsick and not the best. Thankfully, I was able to wait until arriving at the bingo hall to spill my cookies. Unfortunately though, I couldn't wait until the safety of the bathroom. Instead, I threw up my lunch (and my dignity) on some mulch right after telling my host dad that I was carsick. Due to a mixture of an allergic reaction to some vanilla from the night before and the art of being sick, I had red spots all over my face that looked like I had been punched in the eye. I spent all day stealing off to be sick in the restroom and then returning to put on a happy face for the bingo but, inside, I was miserable. 

Unfortunately, it didn't go away the next day and here I am, 4 days later, still wishing that my mom was here and that I could eat things that will stay in my stomach.

Since then, I've been laying low and have been hibernating in my room. I have wonderful friends who have taken me to the dr, came over and made me soup and ran out to the only grocery store in Nancy for some ginger ale so I could nurse the familiar drink that my dad would run out and get me if I were at home. I will hopefully make it to school tomorrow morning with less adventure than when I tried to go yesterday (I almost threw up in the crossing guard on the walk home...). In the meantime, I'm going to stay in my bed and dream away the hours until my stomach is my friend again.

High five, sentences and Ninja

Today, I played hopscotch with some girls at recess (not really helping the sprained ankle that I sustained after I marched a bit too hard) and then led some 8 year olds in their first game of Ninja while their teacher was in a meeting with the principal and they couldn't go into class yet. Moments like these where I have the opportunity to interact with students in English and just mess around with them in a  language that isn't their own native tongue makes me smile. They really learn more when they're having fun and smiling and they don't even realize it!  They are so much fun and make going to work seem like playtime instead of work.

Today was such a great day and it's only half done! There is no better feeling than the moment after the boy that you are tutoring joins the rest of the class and completes his work correctly. I am so proud of him! After 3 weeks of reading help, he sounded out the word "watch" by himself and proceeded to write it down in a sentence (They watch tv.) using proper grammar, a capital letter at the beginning and a "dot" at the end. While this doesn't sound like much, it was enough to have the teacher and I high fiving everyone around the room. The entire class was excited and the boy couldn't stop beaming. This moment is one that inspires me and motivates me to continue everyday trying to make a difference in someone's life.

I've found that high fives are one of the best motivators. My roommate is obsessed with them and gives everyone random high fives all of the time. I find that everytime you high five someone, it leaves everyone feeling wonderful inside. It's almost impossible to high five and not smile. The students love them and it really helps to get them to do better work. I urge you to go out and high five someone who needs it (hint: everyone needs and deserves a good high five every now and then). I know that I am going to try to incorporate them into my daily life  and use them to keep my friends spirits up!

Christmas in France with my Best Friend

This holiday season, I was blessed with the most wonderful gift that I could have never imagined; my sister. KJ arrived on the 22^nd of December after a few slip ups in travelling that included being rerouted through an extra country and a lost bag. I was fortunate enough that she was able to stay through the 8^th of January. While this sounds quite a long vacation, it flew by and I feel as though I blinked and it was over.

We kept on the move nonstop. We saw the Christmas markets of Metz and Strasbourg, drank a beer in Germany, gallivanted around Paris and had a wonderful time. We spent Christmas with my host parents and host family and it was such a beautiful moment. I am such a lucky girl to be able to claim that I have family here that treats me like one of their own. We also had a few dinner parties with other French friends of mine. I tried to give KJ as many chances I could to have her practice her French and to meet the people who love me here. Then, we travelled to Paris and rang in the New Year's at the Eiffel Tower drinking Champagne. We filled every possible moment with a new adventure creating memories that will always be cherished.

For Christmas, I took Kaley to Disneyland Paris. I surprised her and to be honest, it was the proudest I've ever felt. I'm a horrible secret keeper and it took everything I had in me to not spill the beans. I bought a Disney puzzle and sorted through it and wrote that we were going to Disney on a few of the pieces. Waiting until we finished the puzzle to tell her was hard but worth it! It was even more magical than I could have imagined it being. It was her first time to a Disney park and everything was perfect! We rode Space Mountain, Buzz Lightyear, Star Wars (I loved it, she hated it lol), Pirates, Dumbo, teacups, Indiana Jones, and so much more! I can't wait to go to another Disney park with my best friend!

One set of memories that I will always hold dear is the mess that was my food in Paris. Unable to order anything relatively edible, Kaley had to put up with me, various tears and some pretty disgustingly weird things sitting across from her on my plate. Three meals in a row were a failure for me. Lunch one day, I unknowingly ordered raw beef. Unable to find the steak on the plate, I promptly realized that the red stuff around it was the meat and not a garnish. Even though I like my meat on the rare side, the cow was basically still mooing on my plate. Then, at supper, I looked up expecting to find scallops on my plate and instead, was greeted with three HUGE shrimp with their heads, eyes and legs still attached. I've never felt so lost and hopeless in all my life. After tears sprang up at my eyes, Kaley, who had ordered a cheeseburger and was so happy, hastily grabbed my plate and proceeded to earn her sister of the year award (1 day into the New Year) by deheading my dinner. Lunch the next day provided me with a raw egg cracked onto the top of my pasta. Needless to say, Paris wasn't the culinary capital that I had imagined/hoped it would be.


Having someone in my life finally see, with their own eyes, the life that I live here was so wonderful. I only wish that she could have stayed longer. Getting back into the rhythm of life here without her was so difficult but, slowly, it's getting better. While I wish that I could be with her and the rest of my family that makes up my life in Ohio, I'm so happy to have the opportunity to feel a little heartbreak; it keeps me grounded in the moment and makes me appreciate everything that I am missing.

The Frape heard round the world

This week has been anything but boring. Last weekend, while logging onto Facebook from a friends phone, I forgot to logout. Let's  just say that I will be the last time I do that.  Before going into details, it's really important that I reiterate that I love my life in France. I have some of the greatest friends, a wonderful job that keeps me on my toes and the opportunity to live in a place that I love almost as much as Ohio. That being said, the majority of the people who care about me this week thought I was moving home from France.

To give you all some background, the Internet in my apartment basically is the most sketchy, unreliable thing that exists. In order to post this blog for example, I am forced to go into town and get Internet either at a McDonalds (or McDonalds like place) or a café. The only thing that works at The Bees (our apt) is Facebook (and it only kinda works). If I haven't responded to something that you have sent over the Internet, please don't feel as though I've been ignoring you or not valuing your friendship, the Internet just sucks that much.

On Monday, after having come home from a pretty hectic day of teaching (just kidding, I only worked 4 hours with a 3 hour lunch break in the middle of them lol. Be jealous), I was startled by a phone call from a dear Irish friend that I work with who alerted me that I had been "fraped." After a moment or two of confusion, I learned that a frape is when someone who isn't you posts something ridiculous on your Facebook. This is what i found when i opened my facebook (about an hour later since the internet ironically wasn't working).

"So after a lot of careful deliberation and many difficult days, I've decided that France is really not for me.'m flying back to my beloved Ohio next week.i can't cope with the bad Internet, thin walls, and lacklustre toilet flush Then the fact that one of my students farted today and blamed it on me is last straw. I am done."

In my case, apparently the frape wasn't ridiculous enough to be unbelievable because I have had over 28 private messages giving me words of encouragement for the tough decision I had to make, prayers from a church for safe travels, a sorority full of well wishes and excitement of my return, various concerns about my mental state of being and a group of assistant friends who shared hilarious laughter with me at every new stage this frape that caused quite the international scandal.

I am very lucky to have so many people in my life who wanted to support me and help me through what they thought was a difficult time but, I'm not sure how to interpret the sheer number of people who believed that I was moving home from France because of bad Internet connections, being able to be heard while going to the bathroom and being blamed for farting from a 7 year old. I would hope that from now on, my family and friends would have more confidence in me and faith that I could cope and flourish on my adventure away from home. I'm sorry that this mix up happened and confused everyone but remember, I'm still Jen and I am still the fun-loving, hopeful and grateful girl you all know!