So I’m starting to get a little freaked out now that France is coming sooner than later. I’m worried about money a little as I haven’t been paid by my job at all and I just recently received an e-mail from the girl I work under explaining that there is only one person that works for their HR and they have to do all the payments solely by themselves. It is very frustrating and I’m a bit angry about it but I think it will all work out in the end. I’ll be able to take the money from my car and use that until I actually get paid in (hopefully) November.

So I’ve been waiting for a response from the school for which I’ll be working and haven’t heard a thing. I’m told that they don’t start school until tomorrow and that the teachers don’t really come in early so I’d have to wait until this week. I’m getting down to the last few weeks and I’ve been urged by other assistants (those who have already done this program) to start looking for a place to stay for myself upon arrival in France.

I went ahead and booked a hostel for 4 nights when I arrived in Paris. The information is below:

Name: Auberge Internationale des Jeunes
Type: Hostel
Address: 10, rue Trousseau – Paris, France
Telephone No.: (+33) 01 47 00 62 00
Fax No.: (+33) 01 47 00 33 16
E-mail: paris@aijparis.com
Web Address: http://www.aijparis.com

It is going to cost around €94/$130 for the four nights which is kind of steep but it was the cheapest place I could find that didn’t have reviews where people claimed they were harassed and raped. This one girl who will be on my flight offered for me to stay at the hostel that she is staying at and she said it was “only €78/night”! I was like WHAT?!

I’m looking to purchase my train ticket for Bayonne and to reserve a room at Les Foyer des Jeunes Travailleurs de la Côte Basque which is like a “dorm” or “residence hall” for young workers.

I have a lot of things that I have to do as soon as I arrive in France but I need to plan out what I’ll be doing in Paris those first 4 days and then go from there. I really hope someone from my school contacts me! Blah! Please let money fall from the sky!

This post is stored in the category of Made in USA, Personal Post and was written by Derron Borders

Tags: Apartment Hunting, Auberge Internationale des Jeunes, Basque, Bayonne, Hostel, Les Foyer des Jeunes Travailleurs de la Côte Basque, Made in France, Paris

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So it has been a while since I last posted. I’ve been in kind of a funk lately. I haven’t update this blog and haven’t made any new Basque lessons or done any new French word of the day.

I haven’t been enthusiastic about France lately or enthusiastic about anything really. My job has not paid me nor have they given me any more work to do so I’ve kind of been doing nothing lately. I’ve been spending more money than I’d like to admit and don’t really have all that much to spend to begin with. This past weekend I went to my friends’ wedding, which was quite beautiful and touching. I then hung out with Joan my best friend from college at her new apartment. We went to a going away party for this girl going to Turkey, which was cool and hung out with my friend Tom.

My grandpa was moved down to Berger Hospital in Circleville on Friday but suffered from yet another heart attack on Sunday and moved back up to Mt. Carmel. They will keep him there and he him rehabilitated there to have the open heart surgery.

I booked my hostel in Paris today and last night I sent another e-mail to my school in France asking the same questions as before but revising some of the e-mail as I now have my plane ticket and stuff. I really need them to get back to me ASAP so that I can start planning other things. I need to get my butt in gear and start making a list of things I need.

I’m selling my car to my cousin before I leave and I’ll be getting rid of my cell number as I won’t be using it for a while. I’m going to check into see how much it would cost to save the number for me for the 9 months so that I don’t actually lose it. I need to take my car in and get the oil changed tomorrow as the tags run out on the 31st. It was sad taking off my bumper and window stickers out of my car and removing my buckeyes from my window. I’m sad to be losing that car. I really liked it! It has been through a lot with me!

This post is stored in the category of Made in USA, Personal Post and was written by Derron Borders

Tags: Basque, Berger Hospital, French, Grandpa, Hostel, Money, Mt. Carmel, Paris

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After a week of failed appointments to do the heart catheterization becauase there was too much fluid my grandpa’s body, they performed the procedure today. They found out that 95% of my papaw’s heart is blocked in three arteries. They will have to do a open heart triple bypass. We are unsure at this time when that will be but it really sucks because he is going to have to stay up at Mt. Carmel even longer than expected when last week they were talking about getting him home by yesterday.

This post is stored in the category of Made in USA, Personal Post and was written by Derron Borders

Tags: Catheterization, Grandpa, Heart Attack

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My grandpa has been doing a lot better. He has been stiff and very emotional. He cries and cries and there is nothing anyone can say or do to help him. He is really depressed and really wants to get out of the hospital and just go home. He is moving his left side a WHOLE lot better and can now turn his neck and head to the left now. He talks and shares with us stories about all the people he has met since being at Mt. Carmel. Tons of people go up an visit him and his pastor goes up every other day to spend time with him. The doctors have been wanting to do a heart catheterization but they haven’t been able to because of the bleeding from his catheter. I found out today that tomorrow they are doing the heart cath at 10:45am. My grandma and great uncle are going to go up while he has the procedure done. If everything goes as planned and they don’t find anything wrong, grandpa could be coming home to Circleville by the end of the week. He will be going to Berger Hospital for a while to be rehabilitated.

This post is stored in the category of Made in USA, Personal Post and was written by Derron Borders

Tags: Add new tag, Berger Hospital, Catheteriztion, Grandpa, Heart Attack, Mt. Carmel

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I really enjoy the Olympics and always have ever since I really paid attention to them in 1996. I know there is a lot of conflict surrounding this year’s Olympics but I believe that by having them and NOT boycotting them we are able to open communications lines with multiple countries (not just China) that have some Human Rights issues…I’m excited they are here!!

This post is stored in the category of Contains Video(s), Made in USA, Personal Post and was written by Derron Borders

Tags: Beijing, China, Human Rights, Olympics, Olympics 2008

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After the episode with my grandpa happened on Friday I went home and waited for my parents to get home from Mt. Carmel West. I packed and got ready and then went to bed. I got up at 10:30 on Saturday, got ready and left for Columbus. I had to pick up my friend Tommy and take him to his bartender safety class that started at 1:00pm because we were going to leave for Chicago as soon as he was done! I dropped him off at his class and then headed over to the hospital and spent time with mom, dad, grandma, my uncle Dennis and my cousin Josh. I got to see grandpa before I left. He didn’t look well. At quarter till 5 I left to go pick up Tommy. He didn’t get out of his class until 5:30 and then we were on our way. We stopped in Springfield to get gas and we ate at Bob Evan’s. Our waitress was overly nice and a bit annoying and it really annoyed Tom. After that we were on our way to Chi-town! Originally I was going to go with my friend Ellen but she bailed out on me! Tommy’s friend Jordan was having a a birthday party and she told him it would be cool to stay with her. After 6 hours we finally arrived in Chicago at 11:30 our time, 10:30 their time. We got directions to the bar they were at and found a parking spot and joined them at some lounge that had the word ‘cat’ in it somewhere but I totally forget what it was called. We had a few drinks (I had two beers if you were wondering because I was driving and was way below .08). Tommy ordered a Mai Tai but the bar had a special drink called a Mai Kai and that is what they gave him and everyone asked him what he was drinking and he told the story like 20 times. He then got a seabreeze and his friends thought it would be funny to drop two 5-hour-energy drinks into his drink. This sucked for Tommy as he already had a hard time sleeping at night. We finally left the bar and made it back to Tommy’s friend’s apartment. It was very nice. Tommy and I shared the living room with five other people and his friend and her b/f slept in her room. They had air mattresses for us all and they even had sheets and everything! It was soo nice! Tommy didn’t sleep a wink but he told me he had sleeping issues anyway. The apartment was in a really nice area and I parked for free on the street. The next morning we got up and walked like 20 blocks to this brunch place called “M. Henry”. It seemed like a very organic/vegetarian type place and I got a spinach and goat cheese omelet with some really good potatoes! We left there around 1 and then walked back to Jordan’s apartment, said our goodbyes and headed further south towards the downtown to go to my friend Katie’s apartment to stay.

We had some trouble finding a parking spot on the side of the street and ended up having to get gas as I was almost empty. I ended up parking in a hospital parking lot for $30.00/24hrs. It was great to see Katie! She lives with her brother in a really nice apartment only 3 miles north of downtown. We hung out and caught up and looked at Belgian pictures and videos and reminisced about years past! It was really fun. I think Tommy was a little bored as Katie had run a marathon earlier that morning and didn’t really feel like doing anything but lazing about! She talked about how she was having her birthday celebration on Friday night and how she hated how ugly the table where her TV sat was. Her and Tommy discussed some remedies and then she talked about moving the furniture around. We ended up walking to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and buying a TV stand and some table cloth to cover the old ugly one so her apartment looked nice and presentable for her birthday.

After we rearranged Katie’s living room we decided we should all go to bed. I slept on the couch and Tommy slept on cushions on the floor. I set my alarm fro 7:15 am as we needed to leave by 8:00am to catch a bus for downtown to be at the consulate for my appointment at 9:00am. When we woke up it was thundering loudly and then it just started pouring so we decided to drive down to the city and park when we go there. We parked in the millennium apartments parking garage. I thought I’d pay $18.00 for two hours since we got there at 8:00 something and we’d be out of there before 10:00am. Tommy walked to take Katie back her key she loaned us and I went ahead to 205 North Michigan Avenue to the 37th floor where the French Consulate is located.

When I got up there it was closed and there were people sitting there waiting for it to open. I was the third in line which didn’t matter as they called us by name anyway. A lot of people started to arrive after me and the hallway filled up. Tommy, after being lost for a little bit, finally made it up to the 37th floor to join me. When the door opened we all shuffled in and sat down in a small room lightly decorated with maps of France and Paris and with a huge cloth artwork hanging on the wall. I was the first to be called to the little window. I gave her all the documents that I was suppose to have and she told me to come back after 1pm. I was shocked a little but then again I kind of expected it as I was told that one would have to wait a little while before getting their visa!

Tommy and I walked around Millennium Park for about an hour. We stopped and looked at the infamous bean and then made our way back up into the city where we found ourselves underground and somehow got back above ground. My feet were hurting as I hadn’t clipped my toenails and I was wearing shoes that made my toes dig into each other. It wasn’t pretty. We ended up going up and sitting at a fountain waiting for the infamous Giordano’s Pizzeria to open up. Tommy went and look at a book store and finally at 11 we went into Girodano’s and ate. It took about an hour to get our food and then eat (this is normal as it takes the pizza a while to make and cook). We made our way back over to the consulate (which was right across the street) and I went up and asked if my passport was ready but the lady told me not until after 1pm. About 10 minutes later (around 12:30pm) a man called me up and gave me my visa! So the six hours up, the rain, the exhaustion, and the trip back produced a tiny little piece of paper that was stuck inside my passport (on the opposite side from my Belgian visa) so that I could live in France for 9 months.

This post is stored in the category of Made in USA, Personal Post and was written by Derron Borders

Tags: Chicago, Consulate of France, Giordano's Pizza, Katie, Millennium Park, Passport, Tommy, Visa

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Since I’m going to Chicago and it is a long drive I asked my grandpa if I could borrow his car and he said sure that it was no problem. My mom, dad and I went to pizza hut for dinner tonight and after I went out to my grandparents’ house to pick up the car. When I arrived my grandpa was out next to the Impala. I went ahead and pulled my car into the garage. I went out and my grandpa told me that everything was fine and told me where the registration and insurance cards were. He looked really tired and pale and he was sweat profusely and he opened up the passenger side and sat down for a minute. He was breathing a little weird and I asked him if he was ok. He told me he hadn’t been feeling well during the week. I told him that we should maybe go inside but he told me he wanted to pump up a tire first. I pulled the car up and he pumped up the tire and we then went into the house where he sat down in a la-z-boy chair. He was sweating and breathing abnormally. My grandma asked him if he was ok and asked if he needed to be taken to the hospital but he being stubborn refused. She called our Dr., Dr. Jenkins and the lady that answered told her to call 911. Grandpa complained that the ambulance was too expensive but grandma called them anyway. Grandpa started to get nauseated and got up and went to the bathroom and threw up. He came back and sat down and it was obvious that he was in trouble and having a hard time breathing.

The ambulance came and put him on oxygen and it wasn’t really helping any. The one medic got as much info as she could from grandma and they took him away. Grandma and I followed. I called dad before we left and told him that they were taking him to the hospital and to meet us there. Grandpa had wanted us to call his pastor and grandma forgot so we called Beverly Sours on the way to the hospital to have her call Pastor Williams to let him know my grandpa was going to the hospital. Grandma didn’t have the pastor’s number saved in her cell phone.

When we arrived at the hospital that had already taken him back and grandma and I went and registered him. Mom and dad arrived and we sat and waited. We were moved from the main lounge to a private consultation room. The doctor finally arrived about an hour and a half later and told us that my grandpa had suffered a heart attack. He wasn’t sure how sever it was and he thinks there may be some damage done to his heart. He contacted Mt. Carmel West to get him a room up there to see a heart specialist. They were going to life flight him but because of “supposed” thunderstorms (that never did come btw) he had to be sent up in an ambulance. They were going to have an intensive care unit be sent down but that would have taken too long. Since I’m leaving for Chicago tomorrow (actually later today) dad wanted me to just go out to grandpa and grandma’s house and make sure everything was locked up and then go home and go to bed. Mom, dad and grandma went up to Mt. Carmel West.

I ended up going to Stephanie’s to tell them what happened. We tried to contact our cousin but she never answered her phone. I just talked to dad and he said the heart specialist would be in first thing in the morning. They were heading home. My great aunt and uncle had come up from Cincinnati already and they will stay with my grandma tonight.

This is really hard to deal with especially for my grandma. I’m getting extremely emotional right now typing this. It is a horrible thing how the mind plays the “what if” game on us. I’m not prepared to lose my grandpa and I hate to think what Brady would say if his papa passed away. Please pray for my grandpa and my family as we go through this. I really love my grandparents and I’d be devastated if I lost any of them. It makes me have second thoughts about my future and about my going abroad and being so far away from my family but I know that my grandpa would tell me to go and what is in my heart and not to worry about him. I love you grandpa. I really think that everything will be ok. I will post more information when I get it.

This post is stored in the category of Made in USA, Personal Post and was written by Derron Borders

Tags: Berger Hosptial, Brady, Chicago, Dr. Jenkins, Grandma, Grandpa, Heart Attack, Mt. Carmel West, Pizza Hut, Stephanie

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