Hello everyone!
Sorry I have been so horrible at writing entries!!! The last few weeks of Kids Kabin and Common Ground were really really busy. The last day of sessions at Kids Kabin, July 14th, we had a BBQ in the courtyard instead of activities. I made a bean bag toss, Abby did spin art, Melissa did balloon animals and there was a ping pong table set up along with all the picnic food. At the end Will said that we were leaving and lot of the kids came up and gave us hugs and said they would miss us which was really cute :) One of the cutest girls even gave us all a box of chocolates and an nice card! Right after the Kids Kabin BBQ ended Melissa and I went across the street for the Common Ground Summer Party - more food, conversation and laughs! While we were there several of the Kids Kabin staff went in town and we met them there for a drink after the Common Ground party was over. The Kids Kabin staff gave each of us a cute notebook that the kids had all written notes in, some chocolate, euros for our travels and a Geordie Dictionary!!! They are so nice!! It was a nice last night out but didn't last too long since everyone wanted to get their specific buses or metro home and most stop running around 11:30pm. On Friday Melissa and I took the smoothie bike to St. Vincent's for their school fair. We got to see a few of the Kids Kabin kids one last time including the one who had given us the card and chocolate.
Then I joined Melissa and 3 of her friends from college on a trip to Brussels and Barcelona. The weather in Brussels wasn't the best with rain most of the days we were there but it was a nice leg of the journey. The weather in Barcelona was AMAZING!! We only spent one morning on the beach but I could have spent all 4 days there! It was perfect! The sights were great there as well with favorites including the Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell.
I have been back since Saturday and on Sunday I participated in the Great Tyne Row. It was the first time it has happened and it was not a race but a fun row from Newburn (a ward of Newcastle were the Tyne Rowing Club) is located to Tynemouth - about 25 km. It was a lovely sunny day for it and I rowed for about 2/3 of the journey and was cox for the other 1/3. On Saturday and Sunday an painter painted my room and Melissa's room because when the windows were replaced and replastered around them the plaster was a different color than the walls. The rooms look really nice and fresh but it is strange not having all the pink and purple flowers on the walls in my room - it looks so bare!! 
The past 2 days have been a frantic sorting, packing and cleaning ordeal! I also made it down to Tyne Rowing Club for one last row on the Tyne and had to go to Tynemouth to pick up the shirts I had accidently left there after the Great Tyne Row. This evening the sisters had us over for a pizza dinner and we ended up staying 3.5 hours because we were just talking and talking and talking! I have lots of things left to do in the morning when I get up and sadly several of the "for fun" things I wanted to do in the past month didn't happen :( The time just escaped me in the last month and lots of little things I wanted to do to further explore the area got pushed to the side! Such is life I guess!
As some of you know, I am not returning home just yet- instead I am traveling to Valensole, France to work on a small farm through the WWOOF program - world wide opportunities on organic farms. In exchange for working about 35 hrs a week I get a place to stay and food...so essentially voluntary work again. The family is a young couple with a 2 year old girl and they have vegetables, wheat, goats, other animals, fruit trees, etc. They make bread and cheese and sell that along with the vegetables at local markets. I will be there about a month and am excited to see what it will be like!
Sorry there aren't many pictures and I didn't expand much on the many things in this entry! I am in denail that I leave Newcastle in 16 hours!
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