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Back with my ladies :)

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I present to you the biggest house in the country...The Biltmore Estate!

Before leaving to the airport to return home (I have had such a fun trip, but it is always a great feeling to get back home!), we went and toured the Biltmore Estate.  It is HUGE and so beautiful! I loved having the chance to tour it.

The biggest house in the country.

Marty, Nicholas, and I "being one with" the trees.

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Picnic in the park.

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We drove out and met my aunt and uncle at their new house today!  I loved catching up and seeing everyone :)

Lucy and Me

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Today we picked up Marty and Christopher from camp.  I was so excited to see them!

The giant astronaut at Space Camp!

Finally all together again :) (And with Mom, who is taking the picture)

Braves vs. Phillies

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I loved spending the day with my mom, my dad, and Nicholas! I have missed them so much and it was fun hanging out all day. Tomorrow I get to see Christopher and Marty when they get back from camp!

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Today was very bittersweet.  I am excited to return to the states and see my family, but I am very sad to have to leave all of the amazing people that I've met!  I have made such good friends and am going to miss them so much!  Thank you everyone for such a wonderful month!

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Today we cleaned, packed, and ferried over to Basse Terre where we are spending the night.

Goodbye Petite Anse.  I have learned so much, tried so many new things, met so many new people, and had so much fun!  I have loved spending the month here and am going to miss it!

All the girls (except for two).  Taken by Mary's polaroid camera.

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Worksites, yoga, visiting the vice-mayor, and fancy family dinner (we all dressed up and instead of eating buffet style, we ate family style - we wanted our last dinner all together to be special!)

Our bridge!

Classic town time!

Khanh and her new friend :)

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Today after a scavenger hunt through the town, a group of us hiked from Grande Anse to Petite Anse!

I finally touched a goat!

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After worksites today we took a fishing boat to an uninhabited island about 10 minutes away!  We had so much fun looking for hermit crabs, opening coconuts, and body surfing in the ocean!  Not to mention, the boat ride over was very exciting - we got airborne several times haha!

Andreea, Olivia, and Anna got so airborne that they fell off their seats!

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Today was our talent show!  Olivia and I did the Hokey Pokey (classy, right?), a couple girls rapped about our trip, a group sang songs translated into French, and many more different acts.  Needless to say, it was a great talent show!

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It rained all last night and all this morning, delaying our worksites until later today.  This morning while we waited for the rain to die out, we had time to rest, read, journal, or just catch up on anything we wanted to get done, which I thought was really nice.  The evening consisted of going into town, eating Floups, and talking to some of the children!

Olivia studying SAT words.

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Today we had our own Carnival!  A local band, Explosion, loaded up in the back of a truck and we walked behind them dancing and singing as locals joined in behind us until we were a huge crowd parading through the town!  It was such a fun night!

It is customary to cross dress at carnival haha! 

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After worksites we learned how to make calabash art.  The inside of a calabash fruit is toxic, but the outside hardens and pictures can be carved into it!  After the fruit carving we had pretty relaxed rest of the day.  We had town time, ate dinner, and spent time hanging out and singing all together.

About to carve the calabash!  (You can see some already carved ones in
the background)

Typical town time haha!

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Today we changed worksites again.  My group is now working on finishing building a stone bridge over a small stream at the pond.  It's hard work, but coming along really well!  Tonight was our second and last homestay dinner.  We went to dinner with the same host family and with the same group we were with last time.  It was a lot of fun and I loved getting to know the family even better!

Jeff, Me, and Goose - our awesome homestay group!

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Today was spent on our neighboring island, Terre-de-Haut.  We kayaked in clear kayaks (it was so cool to look below us through the kayak and see a whole other world!), went to the beach (it started pouring rain, which made swimming in the ocean that much more fun haha), and we spent time in the town!

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Happy Bastille Day!  We celebrated by sleeping in, eating pancakes, going to the beach, and going to Petite-Anse's party in the park!

Olivia and Me

Barbe a Papa or Daddy's beard is what we call cotton candy!

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At worksites today my group got to go work in a medicinal garden, using machetes to clear out the unwanted branches and bushes, which was pretty exciting haha.  A hip-hop teacher came from the main island and after learning basic hip-hop moves and techniques from him, we all had a dance off, which turned into quite the competition!

Trying to lure the goats...

Olivia right before our hip-hop lesson!

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This morning my group got to teach English again!  Today we taught them body parts by teaching the song "Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes."  The children loved it and had so much fun singing super fast, in funny voices, or leading it themselves.  In the afternoon we had fun learning the traditional Gwoka dance, snorkeling (I was amazed when I swam right through schools of hundreds of fish!), and having a bonfire!  I am loving it here in Guadeloupe!

Khanh and Alex at the Gwoka lesson

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Today was a pretty relaxed day.  At worksites my group planned our next English lesson for tomorrow.  After lunch we wrote and delivered Thank You cards for our homestay families.  The rest of the day we enjoyed all hanging out together.  Whether we were in the park, buying Floups, or all sitting around Rachel while she played the guitar and we sang along, we were having fun just being with each other.

Hanging out in the park.

Back at home base.

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At worksites today my group got to teach an English class to kids 6-8 years old then again to kids 9-10 years old.  They were all so cute and they loved learning!  We taught "I like," "I do not like," and "Do you like?"  It is so gratifying to see that they understand and know that I had a part in that.  This evening we were put in groups of two or three and went to homestay dinners.  At first I was so nervous to spend a whole evening with a local family because I was afraid that I wouldn't be able to understand what they were trying to say to me!  But I ended up having a blast!  The mom made it really easy and asked simple questions that I knew how to answer such as, "Do you have siblings?" "What do your parents do for a living?" and "What do you like to study in school?"  The family was very kind and welcoming, the food was delicious, and the conversation flowed easily!

The whole group right before homestays!  I was with Goose (3rd from the left on the top row) and
Jeff (the one in the front).  We all had a lot of fun together!

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Today was my last day working at the pavilion.  It was a slow process getting started, but now the next groups should be able to move quickly.  My internship group got to make coco (coco = coconut) sorbet, which we all loved!  This evening we went out to dinner to Chez Tido, a yummy pizza place, and all just loved being out at dinner together laughing and having fun!

Alex and Jeff with the not-yet-frozen coco sorbet. 

The group during an activity called 'Ti Semble. 

Natalie, Khanh, Olivia, Me, and Ryan at Chez Tido.

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Sleep in day!  Whoever thought the day would come when I would treasure sleeping in until 8:00??  Today we drove to the other side of the island and spent the day at the beach in Grande Anse.  A huge sailing race happened to be leaving from the beach we were at and it was really cool to see the boats all get ready and take off.  Later in the afternoon, we hiked from Grande Anse back to Petite Anse.  (That is how small this island is...we can hike across the whole thing in about 3 hours!)  I am starting to feel more and more at home here and I love continuing getting to know and becoming close with all the people I am living with and all the people in the community.

Loriya and I at the sailing race. 

Ryan, Me, and Olivia

The view from the hike of Terre-de-Haut.