New Year Adjustments

Happy New Year! I know that I'm a little late in saying it, but fortunately, it's still 2012. I've stalled writing this entry for a while because of a faulty internet connection, but it seems to be working now, so here's what you missed the past few days -

I'm all settled in with the Dollé's, and I lucked out with another very nice family, even though moving day was difficult. I'm not much of a crier, but every time I thought about leaving the Delenne's or heard a song on the radio that brought back various memories of France, (pretty much every song) I teared up. Between the multiple and random outbursts at the dinner table, in the car, and on the sofa playing video games, I was an emotional wreck. By the time 5:30 rolled around, all my suitcases were in the car and I said goodbye to Nella and Montée de Tauleac. Anne, Charlotte, and Antoine accompanied me to my new family and I said goodbye to them after a cup of tea. It was not a pretty sight on my part. Between sobs, I was trying to convince my new host family that, "Oh it's not you; I'm really happy to move in with you!" Not my best first impression. My new host family was probably thinking "Dear Lord, what did we get ourselves into?"

Several days have passed with the Dollé's and things are running smoothly. Like every new encounter, there are plenty of awkward moments when you can't think of things to say, but they are a really good family and I think my next three months with them will be just dandy.

I spent New Year's Eve with Mathilde (my new host sister) and some of her friends. The only disappointing part of the evening was also ironically the moment everyone had been waiting for: midnight. Maybe I'm just used to lots of cheers and confetti and the big ball dropping in New York City (which by the way, seems to be getting smaller and smaller throughout the years), but nothing really happened in France. There was a small countdown on the t.v., but after that, nada. Anti-climatic is the only word I can think of to correctly express the start of the new year.

School started again today, and things are becoming routine-like again. One plus of living with the Dollé's is that school is a 3 minute walk from the house. I now get to wake up a half hour later than usual and come home for lunch. This location couldn't be more convenient; especially on thursdays when I've got 4 hours of no class in the middle of the day. I see some more movie watching in my future!

On my first night with the Dollé's, Bibiane (my new host mom) asked me if I had homework. That one took me by surprise. Homework; what's that again? Homework has been absolutely the last thing on my mind all year. Let's face it, I didn't even pick up the textbooks at the beginning of the year, and I still don't have them, but in my defense, this laziness isn't completely my fault. Anne asked the school for the books twice and I even did once on my own, but I never got them. Lack of textbooks has always been one of my many excuses for not doing my homework (along with the fact that I don't understand it and I already graduated, etc...) and it's been working out pretty well for me so far. Not sure how it's going to hold out for this family.

This afternoon, I saw the Delenne's for the first time since I moved. I went over to their house after school for a few hours. It was so good to see them, but it made me miss my second home and family so much! Anne told me that when I left, Antoine cried and cried all the way home and again in his bedroom that night. I truly see Antoine as my little brother, and I was just as happy as Antoine (if not more so) to spend the afternoon with him. At the end of the year, I fully intend on bringing him back home with me.

That's it for now folks! Hope you have a wonderful 2012, and I'll keep you all informed how mine is going.