El Show

Hi everyone!

It is Tuesday evening at about 9 PM, and we are writing to you after a very full day of Spanish and camp. :) Today we had a pretty easy day in terms of camp - we only were with the girls for about an hour and a half in the morning, during which we went with them to Tropicoco, which is the restaurant where we will be performing. There is a nice stage there (and the restaurant is super nice), so the girls are very excited about it. Just being onstage really animated their performances and brought the show to life. Anna and I just looked at each other at one point during the show and smiled, both knowing that the show would come together in the best way possible. The girls were especially fascinated with the curtain and kept peeking their heads out during the scenes they weren't in. It was funny but obviously distracting. I did feel bad telling them to not peek during scenes, though. It looks kind of cool. Who knows? Maybe we could work it in ... :) In any case, we ran the show two times - the first time the girls just performed for me, Anna and Jessica , and they did a pretty good job. However, the second time they ran the show, the whole dance group was there as well, and I was worried about how the girls would perform. They rose to the occasion beautifully, however. They performed even better with the "audience" than they did without much of an audience. Anna and I are super pleased with the show. It is random at times, but at other times moving. Their energy and commitment are superb. And what's more is that we see them taking ownership of everything in the show. They are proud of themselves and their show. It was all over their faces after their performance for the dance group. :) So the show is looking great! We can't wait to rehearse a bit more and then perform!!!

For the rest of the morning, the girls had academics, and then after lunch we went with them to the pool. We had fun, as usual, in the pool, splashing around and playing games. We even got to speak with Valentina and Emmanuela in French, which was pretty awesome. I am kind of hoping that those two will keep letting us practice our French with them. We will see. :) But even more exciting than alternating between speaking English, Spanish AND French :) was this afternoon. The girls from Callejon had invited Anna and I to come to La Loma (which is basically in Callejon - it has all of these natural caves and swimming holes) and hang out right after camp. So we went to Callejon with them and first walked around, seeing all of their houses and trying these yummy cherries (at least I think that's what they were!). Then we walked up to La Loma, which was beautiful but super mosquito-ey. Apparently the backs of my legs look like they have some kind of rash on them, but it is all just tiny little red bug bites. Hahahaha. Anyways, we walked up with 5 of the girls in our group and hiked up to see this beautiful view of Cabarete, and then hiked back down to this cool swimming hole. Anyways, we spent 5 hours total in Callejon today, hanging out, swimming, walking around and chatting with about half of our group (the ones that live in Callejon). We had such fun. And yesterday we went to La Cienaga (where the other half of the girls in our group live) and hung out with them and went to this beautiful golf course and had a little picnic. Again, super fun. We are loving every minute we get to spend hanging out with these girls. It is very chill - we just kind of follow them around and chat. Time goes by so quickly! The only reason we left Callejon when we did today was because it was 7 PM and it was going to get dark soon - and we had to get back to Extreme still! :)

All is well here, as you can see (well, as you can read). :) There are rumors that we may get some kind of hurricane in the DR (not in this part - but we might get the dregs of it here), which would take the form of tropical rainstorm and lots of wind, basically. That may come tomorrow, which could mess up the river field trip planned. We will see what happens. In any case, we are done with normal camp days - tomorrow is the field trip if the weather cooperates, and then Thursday the girls come to camp around 2 to prep for the 3:00 show. So we are almost done! Tomorrow is pretty much the last day. Obviously we both have mixed feelings about that. Mainly we are sad that we won't get to work with our girls anymore. Our group has had it's ups and downs, of course, but each and every girl in the group has brought something special to the table, and we love all of them. It is definitely going to be tough saying goodbye to all of them.

Our advice for the day is to swim whenever you get the chance (because down in the DR, swimming is a total thrill) and eat awesome fruits that grow on trees or that people hand you in the streets - it is always fun to be surprised and to hear the girls laugh when you ask how you are supposed to eat this. :) Basically, surprise yourself by trying something new. :)

Love,

Kelly and Anna