I must stop worrying about the fact that I am crap at languages and just get on and speak it! Most of the time I can formulate what I want to say in French, even not blush when I say it now, but I have to concentrate so hard on speaking that I can't then possibly understand what has been said in return. Correction. I probably could understand the response but I am just not listening becauase all my focus of attention has gone on speaking! However, I really want to encourage the children to speak French (and in Guadeloupe, all the boat kids are French) and so I have to overcome my own insecurities of speaking languages and show that it's OK to get it wrong. Mia and Lochy kept running back to me to say "how do I ask....?" whilst playing with kids on the beach today. It was soul destroying to see them speak and then get ignored by the other kids, but they kept at it, bless them and I suppose it will come with more exposure. I was watching a video posted on Ellen MacArthur's website about whether schools are killing creativity by Ken Robinson - and Mia asked me why I was laughing and what I was watching. When I explained that this man thinks we should pay as much attention to art/creative subjects as maths and English, she replied "finally, a grown up who agrees with us kids." Classic. Mind, she was drawing at the time.
We visited Steve and Julie Ferreira on their boat. It's always great to listen to others' experiences and compare set ups. I think Mark was quite tempted by their last trip through Panama to head North to Alaska rather than South to NZ, but he can't complain about the heat here - it's been overcast and rainy most of the day. We had a lovely lunch in Deshaies and the kids enjoyed a swim again. Tomorrow after school work we'll head over to the town again and explore a little more as it seems a shame to leave immediately and we could check in and out at the same time online at a cafe, which was the easiest customs check we have ever had. Vive la France!