I'll eat you up, I love you so!

So this week has been pretty chillax.  We don’t have any groups coming in so we’ve been having some training slash bonding time as staff.  Yesterday was the big volleyball tournament.  We split up into four teams and came up with team names.  My team was The Wild Things!  We all wore green shirts and facepaint and funny monkey hats—complete with tails and ears.  The Miriam Center kids were our mascots, and they had signs and shakers to cheer us on.  Pretty much, we were the best team ever.  Even though we only got third place.  Whatevs.  It was fun.  I have battle scars to prove it.  (UPDATE: WE GOT THE MOST SPIRITED AWARD!)  Today we went to the beach at Anse a Foleur.  It was awesome just to be able to chill and have fun with the interns.

For those of you wondering, I have been talking to Ifozya every morning and have been loving getting to know her.  Yesterday she invited me to visit her at her house on Sunday.  I'm going with my translator friend and another intern, so we can see her house and meet her sister.  I can't believe I'm leaving in two weeks... I'm going to miss my new friend.  :(

Honestly, that’s all I have to say, so I guess I’ll post some more pictures.  They seemed to be a hit last time…

 Joseph, from the Miriam Center

 This is a family we brought groceries to.

Ifozya's little girl

The teenage girls doing my hair...

They still haven't figured out that unless you put the hairtie at the end

of the braid rather than the beginning, it won't stay... 

TOMS Shoes! 

It's Laundry Day!

Old men playing cards...

Does this scene look familiar to you? 

Painting with the Miriam Center kids!

I think more paint got on me than the paper plates... 

The Wild Things! 

Yeah, we do. 

Epic monkey hat and sunglasses. 

Peek over the side of the sailboat at Anse a Foleur.

(PS Playing pirates on that boat reminded me of playing

pirates on the old bunk beds... I miss you, Nikita!)

And now for today's episode of:

Weird Injuries You Can Only Get In Haiti

hosted by Melissa Hernandez

Bruised butt AKA “Tap Tap Butt” (cause: riding in trucks on bumpy roads)*

Egg yolk in your ears (cause: egg fights)*

Sea urchins in your feet (cause: not wearing shoes at Tortuga)

Giant blisters (cause: too much sun)

Little rocks stuck in your hand like a splinter (cause: diving on gravel during volleyball)*

Burning hands (cause: getting hand sanitizer and/or salt water in your cuts)*

Burns on your feet (cause: walking barefoot outside)

Rips on your hands (cause: swinging on the ropes from a giant sailboat)

Mud in your eyes (cause: mudball fights)*

Rubbed raw knucles (cause: hand washing laundry... I wish I were kidding.)*

*Injuries that I have experienced personally throughout the summer.

Creole Lesson: St. Louis se lakay.

                        St. Louis is home.

Mwen renmen ou,

Melissa

PS Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who was in on The Great Package Surprise.  I had no idea it was coming, and it absolutely made my summer.  Thank you guys so much for thinking of me and praying for me this summer.  I read every single letter and card and sticky tacked the pictures up in my locker.  (A special thanks for the sunglasses and Band-Aids, both of which came in handy for the volleyball tournament.)