My dad and i drove the 13ish hours from Va to NOLA on Sunday the 6th and Monday the 7th. The drive was pretty uneventful. We stopped in Birmingham on Monday because the only impression my Dad and I have of the city is from the Freedom Riders, and we wanted to get the full story. The city was reallly boring and empty! We could see the old town with old abandoned factories and the new town with new buildings where everyone was working probably. They had a little park with a Freedom Walk where they had statues and memoirs documenting the heavy discrimination in Birmingham but we were accosted by people asking for money so we left.
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| My dad and my drive down! |
When we arrived in the city we obvoiusly went right to the Royal House were Aryn and I went during Jazzfest. We got crawfish etouffee, chicken and sausage gumbo, and shrimp - very tastey! My Dad was here for about a week and we explored the city and he helped me take care of some business (buying a car and all that entails, groceries, clothes, directions). It's awesome having an awesome Dad! It was fun exploring with him but I am happy now I feel like I can make NOLA my town with my traditions and rituals and friends and hot spots. I feel impatient for roots and relationships to grow here but I need to learn how to enjoy this in between time where I am on my own.
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| The view from East Bank (near Cafe Du Monde in French Quarter) across the Mississippi River to Algiers, where I live |
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| The view from East Bank of the Central Business District |
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| Swamp Adventures!! |
Work with St. Bernard Project started on Monday, and it was mostly boring orientation stuff but we got to learn a lot about Katrina, disaster relief, contractor fraud, the levee system, home owners, St Bernard Project, flood damage, and everything in between. I could write at length (and I mean, length!) about everything I am learning. I feel like every piece of info I get just fills a part of my heart that was yearning for years to be here in NOLA doing this exact work and living and learning these exact things. It is so fulfilling and so awesome I can't really explain it which is why I would write at length about it! Wed we gutted a house in Plaquemines Parish Southeast of Orleans Parish (where the city of New Orleans is) which got flooded not during Katrina but during Isaac after the government redid the levee system in 2006. Isaac hit in late August and we gutted in mid October so you can imagine the stench and the mold that permeated everything in the house that hadn't been touched since the hurricane. On Thursday we put up insulation in another house in Orleans Parish and on Friday we framed out some windows in yet another house in Orleans Parish. I was nervous how I would do with manual labor after having a desk job for 2 years but I am loving it! No food coma after lunch!
Besides all that, I have a few immediate and random observations and thoughts:
1. The trees are sooo beautiful here. It's like they were engineered to provide the most beautiful canopy and refreshing shade. The stretch over the streets so it's a very old and rustic feel in the middle of a bustling city.
2. The ants here don't play. I accidently stepped on a pile of ants outside my house and got about 10 bites on my foot. 30min later it's still stinging, a week and a half later they are swollen and itching. I learned my lesson - don't confuse dirt with ants.
3. I'm probably the rudest person in NOLA. I don't let you cross the street if I'm driving, I don't stop and wave you on in a parking lot, and I probably won't smile at you if we're crossing paths. Sorry deep South, you gotta let me warm up a little bit.
4. So far my impression of the drivers is that they are appropriately aggressive. I feel at home. My Philly driver within can finally express itself.but I can change lanes way easier.
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| Yummy stuffed eggplant that tasted like Thanksgiving at a small restaurant in Lefitte, a city just outside NO |
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| My small small kitchen that I still managed to bake chai spiced muffins in |
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| Seafood stuffed pastry from a stand at New Orleans Seafood Festival. It was so heavy I couldn't finish it! |
