Day 11 - Presentation, Market & Game Night!

Day 11 (December 11th, 2013) Today is my boyfriend’s 28th birthday – happy birthday, babe! I feel so bad for missing it, but he was very understanding. This trip has been amazing and I cannot believe we leave Castries tomorrow morning; only 2 more days on the island. This morning I sat outside on the veranda and starting reading Edges of Truth: The Mary Weaver Story – a true story about my friend’s mother, highly recommended – while the other ladies finished up their presentation. At 2, we headed to the Health Ministry. I went to the grocery store to buy Piton beer (locally brewed) while the ladies set up their PowerPoint. The ladies presented to Lisa and her staff: Mary Anna, Melva, Francillia, and Nisa. Their presentation was great! After the presentation, we took group photos and said our goodbyes. We exchanged emails and cell phone numbers. I’m started to get really sad about leaving; we’ve met some really amazing people here. I HAVE to come back and visit, soon! We left the Health Ministry and went to the market. We all had a few more souvenirs to buy. After the market, we stopped at Rodney Bay to pick up dinner. I got Burger King – this girl loves her beef. We took our meals home and all ate in our room. Ursula cooked a dish called tomato rice, a traditional Nigerian dish. I was so full from dinner, but I tried the rice dish anyway. It was so good! I love rice and I love tomatoes! We had rum and cokes with lime. We invited the owner’s daughters, Rianna & Kijahan, to play cards with us. While waiting for Kijahna to join us, Amelia played War with Rianna. Rianna kept shifting through her stack trying to find the high cards – such a little cheat, but so adorable! When Kijahna joined us, we played one round of Crazy 8 – Lekei won. Kijahna taught us how to play Donkey; it’s kind of like spoons. Everyone has 4 cards and you pass a card, taking the one passed or discarding another. The objective is to have all 4 cards of the same suit and then lay your cards down; the last one to lay their cards down gets a letter d-o-n-k-e-y. You get a ‘d’ if you lose once, and then keep adding a letter every time you lose. If you get all the letters – everyone gets to ride you like a donkey ha! This is definitely a school-aged game. We played for an hour at least. The girls were instructed to come to bed at 10, so we played one last game to determine the donkey. Dr. Hansen was the loser, so Rianna got to ride her! So fun! It was a great, great night and a good way to end our stay in Castries. Tomorrow morning, Cuthy is picking us up at 9 to take us back to Vieux Fort. It’s been a wonderful experience. The island is gorgeous and the people are so accommodating – I honestly don’t want to leave. I do miss my family, friends, and the bf! I hope I am able to come back, on vacation this time! Peace, love, Saint Lucia.