So catching up first and then some comments on the end of the season for the Freshmen football team.
I was on the school website this week and all my boys made the school media accounts. Kalle and Tito were on instagram (I need to download the pictures of them in their science class) and Aidan made the front page as part of his Religion class. Aidan is the young man in red in the middle top of the page, looking at the teacher. So cool.
this is a couple of weeks ago at the end of the game for the Freshmen. They had 2 more games to go and they lost the last 3 games.
Aidan is number 40, about mid picture (he has white and black shoes and black compression socks/pants on).
Beautiful sunrise this week
Pablo and I playing at lunch- one of the last nice days. He is looking so grey on his muzzle.
the following morning, I was one of the 3 parents providing breakfast for the freshmen team. They had a good breakfast before the game. What you can not see is that it is pouring rain, very windy and the temperature was dropping. It was a hard game to sit through because of the weather. The boys lost that game. It was interesting to see that our team (the visiting team) had more fans (parents and family) in the stands then the home team. The home team had 2 sets of parents in the stand- we almost filled the stands on our side of the field. Aidan came home from the game, took a bath to warm up and basically crashed for the rest of the day.
Sunday, Kalle and Tito went to the AFS pumpkin carving party for 3 hours. They had a good time.
More from the pumpkin carving party
Last night was the last freshman football game for the season. It was raining again. At least this time, the rain was coming straight down as there was no wind and the temperatures were warmer than the game on Saturday. The boys lost this one 28-26, if they had one more play, they could have tied the game and the game would have ended in a tie (they don't do overtime for the freshmen). Aidan is behind the light post. He was in for one play- kicking an extra point. That is his role, he is the kicker for extra points. He wants to continue to play, so he is working with a coach starting next month just on kicking skills.
this is me all bundled up at the game. I learned my lesson on Saturday. I still ended up damp, but not soaked thru.
I am happy not to sit in rain again. I just have to make it through the end of the varsity season. The last regular season game is this Friday and then we are in to the playoff season. If we win tomorrow night, we win the league. Games in the playoff season go through the first week of December- it could be SUPER COLD by the end of the season.
The boys playing in the rain.
How are the exchange students doing?
One is doing fine- he just goes with the flow. He likes to have 4 full meals a day and really does not want healthy food- but he gets it anyway. He does not want to carry cash around (but he is going to because I am tired of him saying he will pay me back and then I have to ask for money days later). I noticed this morning that his pants are a bit tight on him. We'll see if swim team pulls some of the weight off him as he now starts 6 day a week practices with 2 of those days also including weight lifting in the morning (so weight lifting in the morning and then swim practice in the evening). He is going to be one tired young man. The swim season starts the last day of November.
The other one- well he does not like school and is trying to change schools. He is not hearing that the public school refused to accept him and the other student prior to them even knowing they were coming to our house (the school has to accept them before we can contact them as a host family). He reached out to the school without going through AFS or his liaison. He is not telling the team the whole story- he is not joining activities and he talks to someone in his home country (family, friends or teachers) almost every day and he sits after school working on an online course rather than joining activities at school. He will not hear me when I tell him or ask him what is he going to do if he gets told no again about changing schools. He just keeps saying that he wants to try a new school. I am over this behavior.
I have a call with AFS today and if they have some how managed to convince the school to take him after the school said no initially, I will never host or volunteer with AFS again. First because again, a teenage is dictating to the adults what he will and will not do. Second, because it will damage AFS in the eyes of his current school, and 3rd because I will have to get him to another school at the same time I am supposed to be getting the other 2 to school (the schools are in opposite directions) and I will have to pick them up at the same time. I think everyone thinks that because I work from home, I can just drop everything and go run around picking up kids for hours each day.
If he switches schools, I don't know how I am going to be able to make it through the year- he could be so successful at the school if he would let go of the dream exchange year he has and accept the year that is shaping up. There are 7 months left- really on 6 months of school days- everyone knows his name when they see him (the other kids at school), if he would just join some clubs/sports, he would have a social life and be one of the most successful AFS students in terms of school and friends. he does not get that I have been down this path with 2 other AFS students and I know what really helps kids to settle into school. He thinks he knows everything and what he wants is what he expects to get.
He is a good overall and I enjoy having him in the house.
