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

 

Winter living, Summer dreaming

I can't express how right it feels for me to be in New Orleans. The sights of steam boats and barges floating diligently down the bayou, the smell of cedar wood in old houses, the sound of drills and hammers and WWOZ jazz on the radio, the feel of the cool breeze on a perfectly warm New Orleans winter day...I feel completely filled here. My life in New Orleans feels like a refreshing deep breath after many years of more complicated living in Charlottesville. For the most part, my life here is simple, happy, and refreshing.

But...there's always another chapter after this one. So of course, with my restless heart, I've been thinking about my next chapter. New dreams, new ideas, new goals for my life. I love NOLA and you can tell by the way I never update my blog that I am busy doing things that I think are amazing and fun. Blame it on the engineer in me, but I can't help but think ahead. And I know I'm only 24 but it's almost like I have this fear that I won't get the most out of life. So, I've gone ahead and opened the next chapter in my life: Detroit!

My friend Jen and I will be spending the summer together in Detroit. She'll be researching public health at a clinic in the inner city, and I'll be doing something I'm not sure yet...! But, I am hoping to get involved in prisoner rehabilitation and urban farming. My goal for the summer is so serve my little heart out, and get to know the city I have been dreaming about for years. It's funny how I followed my dream to NOLA after many years and now I am following my dream to Detroit. I live a very blessed life!

As far as life updates go: I moved Uptown to Magazine Street. Now I can get a bike and use it for transport, I can walk to Whole Foods just like in Charlottesville, I can garden in a raised bed and grill out on a patio, and I live with a really sweet coworker and a really crafty pastry chef. Could it get better?

I am posting some pictures of my life over the past few weeks rather than typing out all the cool, exciting things I've done (and there have been a-plenty of cool, exciting things!).Highlights? My Dad getting married (no pics yet!), my best friend getting engaged, and exotic animal races at the NOLA Fairgrounds. My life is so bougie. Oh yea Mardi Gras happened too but who cares about that after Beyonce's halftime show.

My view of my boys from the box suite

Homemade vegan donuts

Mardi Gras craziness

Engagement PUNCH!

French Quarter Fest fireworks on the Big Muddy

Electricians huddling around heater during cold winter weeks

Getting to work at 6 in New Orleans East has it's benefits

Annual Crawfish Boil

Need I even say it? BEYONCE

Horse races at fairgrounds!

Santa in Philly on Xmas eve

Bonfire on the bayou

Long Island diner, thank you Lord

First Crawfish boil of the season with coworkers and friends!

Sunset on the River. Notice the tightrope walkers

NOLA style shot-fun gingerbread house

St. Patty's Day cabbage catching!

St. Patty's in NOLA - kind of a big deal

Family :)

Food in Da Parish it literally can't get better

New Orleans for the Holidays

I am loving every moment of New Orleans! I have done so much in the past few weeks so rather than write it all out I'll just post pictures. 

Last weekend was the Po Boy festival in Uptown. There were sooo many people there so after waiting in line for 45min for a 3" Po Boy I was ready to call it a day. The Po Boy was from Zea and it basically changed my world. Asian sesame fried oyster Po Boy. Oysters are now officially my favorite food here. 

Servin' up the deliciousness at Po Boy Fest

The random guy did a terrible job taking our picture

Raw Oysters after work!

So we got off work early on Friday and decided to go out to lunch at Parkway, a famous Po Boy shop in Bayou St. John. We took our Po Boys to go and sat on the canal. I got the Thanksgiving Po Boy: 8" hoagie with turkey, stuffing, and cranberries. Whoa. I devoured that deliciousness! I meant to take a picture of it before I ate it but I was so hungry I just inhaled it. I didn't mean to eat the whole thing because as a recovering vegan I didn't want stomach issues after eating a large amount of turkey for the first time in 15 years, but I literally couldn't put it down. That's when I knew I was more "recovering" than "vegan".

View from my tree perch in City Park

Urban Outfitters for Black Friday!!

Some friends and I went to City Park Friday after Thanksgiving for Celebration in the Oaks - a festival of lights. It was absolutely lovely! They had Christmas lights up in all the beautiful trees, we got to walk through the botanical gardens and see some sculptures in the sculpture gardens, but the best part was the cajun version of the Night Before Christmas, read aloud with lights to depict. 

As far as work goes, it's been awesome! I am getting closer to my team and learning and getting experience every day. This a picture of one of my favorite days at work so far. Sarah and I were sent a house to pull up a temporary pole used for temporary electrical service, but the pole was 20' and after 30min of struggling we realized we could never pull it out ourselves. So we got some 12AWG wire out of the van, tied one end to the top of the pole and I took the other end. Sarah took the saws-all and we lumberjacked it. Here's the aftermath. 

OK, now on to the holidays! Traditional New Orleans Thanksgiving dinner: WOW!! It was so different from my family's normal Thanksgiving but it was so incredible! One of the families in my church was loving enough to invite me over for dinner. All the food was home made! Turkey, carrot souffle  home made rolls, seafood gumbo with rice and potato salad (potato salad in gumbo is kinda weird to me but apparently it's normal at least for Thanksgiving), and then the best part: oyster dressing. Oysters, ground pork, chicken liver, and stuffing. Whew, changed my life. I think I might need to be in New Orleans for every Thanksgiving from now on!

After dinner at the family's I went with to an Americorp person's house for my second Thanksgiving. They had a lot of good food, and the Turkey was a garbage can turkey (cooked in a garbage can?). 

So basically I've eaten more nonvegan than vegan the past few days and guess what? My stomach is intact with no apparent damage. I'm a pro at recovering.