Ok so here is my compliment sandwich. I am loving New Orleans more and more. The people here are great, the food is amazing, and there is live music every where we go.
Our first night in the city is hard to explain. Im still not too sure how I feel about this city. In some ways it was great... I was glad not to be driving anymore (after 2 ten hour days of it), we meet some great locals, our housing is amazing, and we discovered the wonders of J. Gumbos. Through all of that though, it is easy to see the impact that Katrina left on this city even 5 years after the fact. There are still so many abandoned and dilapitated houses.
Having a project in the Big Easy is not as easy as you would think. For our second round Badger 6 is working with Habitat for Humanity at their warehouse and restore. I was thrilled to learn about our project because its freakin New Orleans! But the nature of our job is proving to be difficult for me. Up until this point we have spent our workdays outside in the sunshine and fresh air. Working in a warehouse down south is quite different from that. I sweat though my clothes about a half an hour into the work day. We do a lot of heavy lifting and Im learning that with this kind of a work a woman has to prove that she can do the job just as well (if not better) than a man. Im getting there though. Even though it is a bit harder to see the effect our project has on the city, we do know that we make a difference. Yesterday we went to a local market to get some lunch and a man bought our food saying "New Orleans thanks you." AmeriCorps has had a HUGE influence on the rebuild of the city and people know it. They know our uniforms, our government vans, and the work we have put into the city. Knowing that makes our jobs easier.
My team is doing a lot better now that its getting close to the end of the round. Our honeymoon stage came to an end about a week into the project. I have learned a few things from it though. The most important thing I learned was how to deal with tension in a small group of people I see 18 hours a day. Getting alone time in this program is hard so its important to know how to handle your emotions when tensions are high.
The weekends have been spent exploring the city and that has been great. I love the colors of the houses, the individuality of the people, and the cool of all the music everywhere.
One weekend I got to go on a swamp tour and that was pretty amazing. It was on a slow, covered boat so it was very relaxing. And we got to see SO many alligators! Most of them were on the smaller side; about 4 or 5 feet long. The last gator we saw though was 12 feet long! His name was Big Joe and our tour guide had made friends with him over the years. He got Big Joe to come up to the side of the boat and he leaned over and pulled the gator's tail onto the boat and I got to touch it. That was pretty awesome. In the picture below, Big Joe is in the front and a friend of his is swimming in the back.
On a recent Sunday we volunteered at the Bayou Boogaloo Festival and had a great day in the sunshine. There was awesome music and I tried my first taste of gator! It was pretty good :)
They also had a rubber ducky race. A lot of people entered. It was a little absurd.
So now I am back in Perry Point. I have written this a little at a time and am just now getting to post it. Sorry if the tenses dont match up or if you have a hard time following this. It was hard to get internet long enough to write what I was thinking. Summer break is in 4 days! I will be headed home, then to DE, and lastly to DC. I cant wait!
Harvesting spinach as big as Katherine's face