https://www.posetteforever.com/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1504&p=22402#p22402 ----------------------------------- Visitor Friday, 24 June 2005, 06:20 PM ----------------------------------- Accept the position and be youself! You will back home before that day is over, and won't have to worry about that place any more! ;-) Ok, sorry about the joke. I am not familiar with the customs of your country, so perhaps what I am about to say may not apply in your situation. Have your parents ever tried to get to know you? Not the person they would want you to be, but ther real you? Have they tried to discover what make you happy and see if they can help you excell in it? It seems to me that one thing that make you happy and that you enjoy is art. Rather then concentrating on language training, have they even considered an art school or part time work at an art studio? The sun! Old Sol does not like me either. I am prone to sun burns, very bad sun burns. So, I have been careful to avoid too much sun. A job as you describe this one would be a nightmare for me too. In my case, I started working as a loborer when I was a teenager. Actually, I was hired a few days before I was a teenager, and by first day of work was a day or so after I became one. It was not a big job, it was for a few hours on the weekends and then week days after school. It was not much of a job, mostly cleanup, repair, maintenance, and a little gardening. But the firm was within easy walking distance from my home and I was happy to be helping out with the family finances and helping to save for my future education. My mother never pushed me into work that I didn't like, rather I was the one pushing myself. I don't know your situation enough, so this may be inappropriate, but it sounds like it is time four you and the "committee" to sit sown together and to really talk as adults. No anger, no gloomy attitude, just talk about what you are, what you like and don't like and what sort of future you want to have. They don't need to worry about your gowing up, I feel that you already have. But that does not mean that you need to put aside the things that have brought you pleasure. And it does no mean fitting in with the crowd as it sounds like they think. It is taking responsibility for yourself, so if they to grow up, do it; and in by that talk the way that you can show them that you have. If they want you to be the "perfect teenager", look at your classmates and others you know who they would consider "perfect teenagers" and gather together information of the trouble that those teenagers have been involved in and the bad thingings that they have done, things that you have avoided. Present that informaiton at the talk and ask, "Would you prefer if I looked and acted like them and I was as promiscuious as U, or pregent like V, or a thief like W, or an adict like X, or have a criminal record for attempted muder like Y, or an addict like Z? Or would you prefer me to be be not so "perfect" like them and home safe and sound?" I know I would prefer a son or daughter who was a "little different" and who was safe, sound, and happy. Rather than one who looks and acts "perfect" and trys to fit in with the "perfect" crowd and so always in trouble and danger and is miserable. I hope that I have not over stepped my bounds here. Pangor