Sneezing and reading

Ok, so it's summertime...why am I sick? Who gets a cold at this time of year? I understand all the sniffles in January, but June sneezes should be out of the question!

I woke up one morning last week with a sore throat and I knew exactly what was coming: 2 days of sneezing (this is the part I like), 2 days of stuffy nose (one overlapping the sneezing day) and then 2 weeks of coughing (with some nose blowing thrown in for good measure).

The coughing just started today.

I shouldn't complain - a cold is probably the least serious of all ailments, but it sure is annoying.

On an unrelated note, I'm reading a Papelucho Misionero, a Chilean children's book. I would say it's something a child in grade 4 would read. It's about a little boy who (I think) has a really vivid imagination. Either that or his life is crazy!

It's all in spanish and I understood 90% of the first chapter. The second chapter had a lot of vocab I was unfamiliar with so I only got about 50% of it, but the third got better. Here's what's happening so far with Papelucho:

• His friend found his "calling": to be a sailor. Consequently, Papelucho wanted to find his "calling."
• While Papelucho was laying (hiding?) under a sofa, grasping the legs, one broke off. Consequently, he thought he had found his "calling": to be a sofa leg.
• He prayed, asking God to give him another calling and felt that He would answer.
  
• Somehow there was a big fire and the firefighters called him a hero in the end. (This is the chapter I only got 50% of). Consequently, Papelucho thinks his "calling" is to be a firefighter.
• His parents just informed him that they're all moving to Africa. Papelucho is now getting ready by earning money to buy what he thinks he needs to bring with him (by dumping garbage cans in the street and offering to clean them for money, among other methods).
  

I'm reading this mostly to keep up my spanish, which I'm discovering is is quite poor. But I'm reading without using a dictionary. I figure if I make my ESL students guess meaning from context all the time, I should try to see how difficult or easy it really is. So far I haven't repented of my teaching methods, but then again, I'm only in chapter 3.