D-Week 1: Crashing the Party

I can't wait to get to know this city. So far, Jen and I have been staying outside Detroit with her very gracious Aunt and Uncle on a little island off the coast of Detroit (weird, right?) called Grosse Ile. Grosse Ile is a very small town that is a sharp contrast to the hustle and drama of the city. Grosse Ile is mostly filled with middle-aged parents and their yacht clubs, and seems very separated from Detroit in its mentality. I sense a lot of fear and caution of the city, which I'm realizing is the sentiment shared by most of the suburbs.

But Jen's family and their friends were a lot of fun! We ate Mac N Cheese and watch documentaries together. Jen and I have already had quite the adventure this past week:  crashing a wedding, breaking into a yacht club, creeping around an alpaca farm, invading a running club, and joining a geriatric breakfast. It's like Grosse Ile just goes on living their small-town, secluded life and we just stormed in and crashed the party.

But, I am anxious to get on my bike and go to work. I've been having trouble falling asleep since leaving NOLA and I think the reason is because I'm not as active here. Even though there have been tons of errands to run and places to see, it's not the same as working manual labor 40hrs/week. I'm so anxious to get a regular schedule and a regular place to live.

Jen and I have been driving into the city doing a bit of exploring, so I have a limited impression of Detroit so far: even though I come from NOLA where blight is a-plenty, it is a bit shocking to see so much widespread abandonment of houses, plots, and businesses alike. And unlike NOLA, some of these buildings have been abandoned for up to 50 years or more. There is a sense of embarrassment about the city, it's crime rate (which I'm sensing is much hyped), and it's city officials who are more concerned about their power trip than bettering the city. But, for all the craziness in Detroit, the people who are from here really love their city and haven't given up on it. It seems like there are deep-rooted racial tensions. People think before they speak, looking for "nice ways" of explaining the dynamic of the city without using race. People on Grosse Ile explained the history in Detroit relative to the race riots, and I'm curious to explore that sentiment more, especially from the point of view of people in the city.

Also on a random note, I kind of really love Kraft Mac N Cheese, but as good as my belly feels after I eat it, I can't express how dark my soul feels after I make it. When I was vegan, people would try to persuade me to "come to the dark side" and eat meat and dairy again. Now I finally understand how dark it is.

Neighborhood near where we live

Canada on fire, with the skeletal Michigan Central Station at right, abaondoned in 1988

Approaching city on a tour our friend was giving us

Outsource to Detroit!

Emblem for Fisher Building in New Center Detroit, I think the roof is literally made of gold, a sign of the extreme wealth of the era. Fisher Building was constructed in 1928 and has been occupied since then, a rarity in this city I think

Pictures can't really do Fisher Building interior justice. It's so ornate, walls made of marble, and it looks like the ceilings are hand painted but I could be wrong. Art Deco style but who knows what that even means. 

Jen is cute but the walls are cuter, or at least more impressive

A sign in a Whole Foods that is about to open in Corktown neighborhood, a sign of increasing gentrification, affluence, and development

Jen literally drinks decaf coffee and reads the NYT. I promise she is not 100yrs old

Slows BBQ, good Detroit food that does not compare to superior NOLA food, sorry D

A view of Lake Erie from the yacht club on Grosse Ile

Note the bride in the background. We were incognito so I don't think anyone noticed us crashing the party

Phone Calls and Weddings

My summer has begun! I packed a suitcase, grabbed a back pack, and boarded a plane to Pittsburgh. Kirstin got married (no big deal), so I had a busy week of last minute planning and "to-do" lists and pick-ups and deliveries (all while battling a sinus infection earlier in the week), had a wedding celebration, then packed my bags again and loaded a car to Detroit. We made it! 

During the process of Jen and I figuring out if/how we were getting to Detroit this summer, we would keep each other posted whenever "Detroit called". If I got a call from the nun I was in touch with, I'd call Jen up all exciting saying that Detroit had called me. When Jen heard she got her internship with a woman at University of Michigan, she called me up and exclaimed that Detroit had called her. So it seems that Detroit is calling us, first in a figurative sense, and now in a literal one.

After weeks of asking Detroit to "call us maybe?", we finally got a call last week and found a place to stay and a place for me to serve on a consistent basis. We will be staying at Hostel Detroit, which comes highly recommended from literally everyone we talk to in Detroit about housing. They asked us to manage their garden (um yes please) and take on some night management duties for very reduced rent for a private room. Thank you, God. Hostel Detroit is near Corktown, which is apparently a great area of the city right near Michigan Central Station. Wow. My heart literally can not keep still! I can not wait to explore!

I will be serving at the Capuchin Kitchen 7:30am - 1pm every day. The kitchen is tied with an urban farm and a bakery that is run by ex-convicts. Obviously, since I'm in love with prisoners and vegetables, I am super pumped. Another answered prayer.

I am so anxious to get into the city. Jen and I are not able to stay at Hostel Detroit until next Monday, so we are biding our time at her gracious Aunt and Uncle's house in Grosse Ile, an island right to the East of the city. It's adorable, and hearing their stories of Detroit and listening to what their friends do in the city makes it hard for me to sit still in my seat. After years of yearning to be here, I am so close. I am very curious what my initial impressions of this city will be, especially considering I came from New Orleans which is blighted and divided in it's own way. My expectation is major blight, blocks and blocks of abandoned plots, people hanging out on the corners lending to seriously precarious bike commutes, racial divides, young hipster artists taking over small sections at a time, big ideas and plans from young architects and entrepreneurs....we'll see how it all measures up.

Until then....Picture updates!!

Getting tough for the D

Road tripping

We made that canopy!!

 

 

Exchanging the vows

Building the canopy for the ceremony