Il fait bon vivre

It's wonderful to be back in Lafayette, Louisiana! It's unfortunate not being with my team, but it is a wonderful thing to be a bit selfish and do a project, or be in a place, that I completely want. :)

It has been a very eventful week and a half. I suppose being here before has empowered me to try new things and be more involved in the community, since I'm a bit familiar with it to begin with.

Firstly, the first two and a half days were dedicated to finishing-touch-up-work for the three homes Water 4 and I were working on when we originally came here in November. My shuffle team was split up to do lots of little individual tasks. I painted doors, helped install washing machines and dryers, and finish the counter tops.

On the Saturday after returning to Lafayette the three houses had their dedications and my new team, Water 3, was able to partake in the celebration. I'm not going to lie. I cried--a lot. It was a beautiful thing. It was closure for me, knowing that my work in the beginning would be finished and appreciated.

After the dedication we worked on the houses on our street that were put on hold in their construction in order to build the three houses within their funding deadline, March 30.
On Sunday most of Water 3 and a good group of University of Louisiana AmeriCorps members went to Lake Fausse Pointe State Park to do some trail building and maintenance work (ISP). The drive there was an adventure! We missed a turn without a GPS for good while and ventured on back roads through small towns. It was a treat to see the different communities around Lafayette. When we got there we were divided into two groups, trail building and maintenance. I volunteered to clean the bathrooms, which actually entailed spraying the exterior wood of the building with a pressurized water hose. It was satisfying work, solitary, and a bit wet and a bit more cold, but results were obvious. :)

Tuesday, five of my teammates and myself went to a swing dancing lesson hosted by a group of university students. We are all excited to apply our newly learned skills at Randol's on Sunday! Hopefully there will be more boys, because of the six of us, only one was a boy. :/

PT has been a joy! The weather is so lovely these days. We also discovered Girard Park, which we frequent often. I'm still terrible at Ultimate Frisbee, but am getting better at running. What's also great is that Borden's Ice Cream is on the way home from the park... mmmm praline pecan.... mmmmm.

That was the week minus the grandest highlight... Mr. Dale! He was with a group of State Farm volunteers that came out to help Habitat for Humanity. He is the sweetest man! He danced to the radio, taught me phrases in Cajun French (That I regretably cannot remember--I'm so sad), recommended a dance hall, and described me as a "real Cajun girl with olive skin and dark hair."

A happy day. A happy week. Il fait bon vivre!

~Leia