Day 8-07.07.11

nota bene: I did not take any pictures today, but I had some from other days that would fit
morning:
-breakfast
-beach clean up

the horrible view we had to look at when we were on beach clean up

-worked with Sylvan and Mathieu (2 little boys who wanted to help out-they were a HUGE help)
-after 1 hour of working, my ankle swelled from the bug bites, so I had to stop working
  took a Benadryl
  as I was lying on the picnic bench, I hung out with Mr. Bananas even though someone tried to hit him
  with a coconut

this is what I was forced to look at when in my "Benadryl haze"

afternoon:
-I napped due to having taken Benadryl
-lunch...mango smoothies, yum!
-did a lot of dishes including one greasy black pot
-went to Anse-a-Dos
  long walk
  dove off the dock, it felt great on my bug bites
  ripped my leg open on the barnacles
  played set in the cabana

our calendar of the month!

-huge storm hit
-showered and little Andrew walked into the bathroom :p
-had bonding
  Bounty bar
  orange Sunkist
  hung out on Sophia's bed
-napped
evening:
-dinner
-Vince told me that les Petits thought that I spoke French very well....best part of my day:)
-Pierette let us eat apples with peanut butter
-another Benadryl induced nap
-bilan
  people said that they appreciate me
  did an activity called Jehorah's (?) Window
  it was a great activity to open up to people, although I was still a little bit out of it
-Benadryl and bed...late wake up tomorrow!

**the activity we did had four parts:
1.  what I know about myself and everyone knows about me
2.  what I don't know about myself, but someone else does~feedback
3.  what I keep hidden
4.  what no one, even myself, knows about me (the mysterious)

Day 7-07.06.11

It's been a week!!!
morning:
-Rebecca woke me up to ask if I would be home base for Matt, which I agreed for
-performed morning home base duties (getting breakfast out and ready, little cleaning jobs, etc.)
-part of breakfast was mango brains!!! (just halves of mangoes sliced)
-we had a meeting in which we were informed that one of our group members was being sent home
-cleaned EVERYTHING!
-went to the post office and got a postcard for Madame (the post office is the only building we get to go to that has air conditioning!!!)
-hung out around home base
-helped the carpentry team build picnic tables
afternoon:
-set up for lunch (getting dish buckets ready, help prepare the food, get out serving utensils)
-ate
-cleaned up (dishes, sweep, etc.)
-went to la place to make bokits, but wound up making them with Brigitte at home base in the kitchen, yummy!

Cam, Pierette, and Brigitte

The balls of dough that would soon be bokits

one bokit in the pan that is cooked, and another bokit in the process of frying

completed bokits

Cam with a bokit full of goodness

Me eating one of about four bokits that I ate that night

-Pierrette (our chef) fed me a bite of coco sorbet...my first taste, and it was super sweet and cold and delicious
evening:
-dinner; set up and clean up with Naomi
-I did not eat anything for dinner, but iced bug bites instead
-played frogger with staff and a couple of kids
-had a great conversation with Rebecca for awhile
-helped Naomi latch her window
-went to bed
-IT RAINED...A LOT

Day 6-07.05.11

morning:
-breakfast
-waited a long time to get a taxi to our work site for the day

-beach clean up with Lindsay
  super hard
  LOTS of seaweed to pick up
  beautiful views

 
  learned the game "stuff, stuff, stuff"
     like rock, paper, scissors but you make up the final word and verbally spar to see whose is better
-group
  Aidan
  Lucy
  Dylan
  Jeff

-doggie...Mr. Bananas showed up=super cute!

-a boat from Dominica got stranded with a crew of 3-5 guys, and we helped bail them out (with Laurent's permission...of course!)

-lots of snack breaks
-Magnum bars

-returned to home base
afternoon:
-many dishes
   colombo (curry) dish to clean....oh man, that one is challenging
-bilan in the sun by the water at the Grand Ravine
   *one of the most amazingly beautiful spots on the island

  activity: the person we admire most=Julie T.
-prepare for dinner homestay/get ready

-thought we were going to physical manual labor, but wound up not
-went to town with Lucy and Molly-had an orange soda!
evening:
-homestay at les Petits with Ora & Dylan

-they had an amazing view as well
les Petits
 Chantal
 Bernard-fisherman
 Angeline
 a younger boy
 Wilson (was not there then)

-we had LOTS of food:
  snacks/chips
  fruit
  Fanta

  veggies (carrots, tomatos, etc.)
  sardines

  chicken

  rice

  fruit cocktail
***the first time I held a conversation/spoke French for 2-3 hours
-we met Sylvie from le boulangerie
-saw one of the huge centipede/millipede things (never figured out which was which)
-bed! (but no fan, sadly)

Day 5-07.04.11 (The Fourth of July Edition)

morning:
-sign up for groups
-breakfast
-dishes
-plan for kids camp
-I was SUNBURNT
-trek off to kids camp!!!
  we walked there and put up signs along the way
  kids there:
    Axel
    Angelou
    Emilie
    Norea
    Leila
    Julianne
    Enid
    Laurelie
  *fantastic experience

-Oliver and I did outdoor games
  colors, hopscotch with numbers, frisbee, soccer
-indoors: list making, coloring, etc.
afternoon:
-lunch, yum, yum, yum
-partenaires du langue
  an opportunity for us to converse with local kids so that we could work on French, and they could  
  work on English
-I was in a group with Geriche
-laster at home base I played bocci ball with Geriche and Andi
-went into town with Molly
  **had an orange Sunkist (much better, more natural there) and my first Bounty Bar=amazing
evening:
-dinner (4th of July-esque feast)
-dishes
-la fete with the community
  cookies
  games with younger kids
    frisbee, ball roll
-cute 2 year old there who monopolized all of our attention
-huge centipede
-sang some songs with Enid and Laurelie
-Ora sang the National Anthem
-talked with some boys about music, watched some music videos on their phones
-kids loved my watch for some reason...maybe because it lights up?
-learned a bit of Creole:
   cazla=house
   cao fait=ca va
-aloe, and bed!
 

Day 4-07.03.11

morning:
-early mini-breakfast
-massive clean...during which I had the best mango-eating experience...ever
-amazing/crazy hike-walk to the beach at Grande-Anse

Lucy and Rose at the beginning of the walk

A terrific view of some unknown small islands 

and...again

the small islands along with beautiful indigenous trees called "flamboyant" trees

Rose and baby islands

La Place at Grande Anse

-swimming in the ocean at Grande-Anse
   ***I actually liked it!
   ***bodysurfing, wave-jumping, and just rolling around in general

ahh...the beach at Grande Anse

Moss=coconut cracking man

afternoon:
-lunch
   peanut noodles
   PB sandwich
-more swimming and rolling around
   swam to the bottom where we were
   wave jumped...or should I say, tried to wave jump
   got A LOT of sand in my bathing suit
-bus ride back to Petite Anse
   flat "pneu" (tire)
   had to walk the rest of the way (about 3/4 of the journey back), although it was very scenic; group:
     Jess
     Juliet
     Casey
     Hannah
-best shower I have ever had, even if it was only 2 minutes
-SUNBURN...even though I put SPF 60 on about every 5 minutes
evening:
-dinner outside
-dishes:)
-Andrew's b-day "party"

Andrew in the first birthday hat!

-bilan
   5x5 sharing time in which each person (of 5) got 5 minutes to talk about himself or herself; truly  
   awesome
   closing/peace fists
*1st workday tomorrow!!!

paradise....what a hard place to be...

Day 3-07.02.11

morning:
-breakfast
-carpentry project
   *first time using a circular saw!!! (with Vince assisting)
   *hammering station
   *painting station
   *measuring and marking station
 group:
   Rose
   Cam
   Aidan
   Michaela
   Erica
what we made:

Our group's is the one in the middle with the triangle

***had to present it in French***

afternoon:

-lunch

-dish crew

-beach orientation!!!

-walked to the pier/beach (Anse-a-Dos)

   saw this little girl and played soccer with her:

   

 the walk was pretty long, up a crazy steep hill, and very scenic

-the water was very salty at this rocky beach/pier area

-the view was terrific

-the barnacles getting out of the water gave us lots of scrapes and scars though

-I did flips off of the side of the dock....not that successful though...

 -tried to teach Naomi some synchro

-on the way back from the beach, we stopped off at a wedding...beautiful green and white theme

-went out exploring in town

  *girls bonded on the pirate ship

  *had some refreshing coca-cola!

-saw and fed goats on the way back

evening:

-yummy dinner....finally got to eat outside!!!---and in my crazy creek!

   *peanut noodles

   *cantaloupe

   *pineapple

 ~talked to some friends about college

-more dishes

-evening drama/improvisation session

   great impressions of Snookie, Elmo, and many others

-I finally found my lost bag of Benadryl and band-aids (there were Hello-Kitty and Spongebob band-aids in there, and they stick much better...I promise!)

-bonding with the girls in the shack

-chat with neighboring roommate 

-hypothetical dinner planning (it never happened, but fun to plan anyway)

   ~ramen coleslaw

   ~shish kabobs with meat and/or roasted veggies

   ~garlic mashed potatoes

   ~fruit in an interesting display

Day 2-07.01.11

Waking up to the roosters today was crazy.  From now on, this journal will primarily be in outline format with notes along with it:
morning:
-breakfast: yummy yogurt, bread, fruit
-clean up with Naomi and Ben
-orientation....long, and inside due to the rain, although we did get to sit in our crazy creeks...yay!
-med interview while everyone else went into town
-lunch: brie, ham, bread, BEST mango and pineapple I have ever had
-lunch clean up
afternoon:
-carpentry orientation with Vince, learned what types of tools we would be using
-shower---2 minutes...navy style!
-walked around town a little bit, and jumped rope with a little girl at "la place"
     ~called "les americaines"
-bathroom/toilet orientation with Rebecca so that I understand how the darn things worked
-scavenger hunt around town in the rain-people let us onto their porches
-saw/met Geriche, Andriche, and Chantal Petit for the first time
-Geriche asked me about my Ray-Bans
evening:
-dinner
-dinner clean up/dishes....a crazy time once again
-James and Aidan arrived, yay!
-first bilan, and because Melody Vice was playing, we had to move to the road to the Grande Ravine
-shared with Michaela
     ~high point and low point of the last year
-fists...peace tradition started
-Ora and I ran back to the bathroom

***Melody Vice played all day, and one of the guys there threw our frisbee onto the roof and he went to get it but wound up falling on the way down...pretty scary

Juliet, Rose, and Ora by the Service Technique (island maintenance) shed on home base

    The above ground cemetery by the church that we saw on our scavenger hike around town in the rain.