Day 4
Another early morning, another solid breakfast in the mess tent. We finally have everyone back on board and fully over the mysterious sickness. This makes finishing the house go really quickly and I start going over all the rooms with a hammer taking the remaining nails out of the walls. Some of the girls have started spraying the finished rooms down with bleach and the rest of the people are cleaning up the remaining debris in the back of the house. We actually finish around 12:00 and decide to take the rest of the day off to go explore New Orleans. This idea was batted around the previous night by some of us and we figured today would be the best day to do it.
So we piled into the two cars. And with "It's Raining Men" blaring, we bravely head forth into the unknown. Our first stop was to find the 9th ward. For those who don't know, this was the area that was hardest hit by the flood. It's a lower income community that has basically been decimated by the 12 foot wall of water that came through it. Most of the residents have moved to surrounding cities and states by now. Our first look at the area was from the bridge over the river where we could see a series of at least a dozen cranes all lined up against the bank rebuilding the levees. Once we found our way into the ninth ward we drove up to where we assumed the levves would be and saw about 400 feet of nothing. There were foundations in place and a couple scattered cars wrapped around tree trunks, but other than that it was just an overgrown expanse. I'm not sure if they cleared out all the homes that had been there, or if they had just been pushed back by the water. (Probably the former, but there was a hell of a lot of water). It was daunting to see such a large space that used to be a very populated neighborhood. after walking around a bit and taking pictures of t he lack of anything, we hopped back in the car and went driving around a couple blocks further away from the levees. This is where most of the impressive devastation lies. Houses were pushed off their foundations up to 20 feet. Some rested on there fence. Many rested on top of cars that had been parked near them. It was very reminiscent of an automotive Wizard Of oz what with half a car sticking out of the bottom of a house. There were flattened housed, cracked houses, and overturned houses. Boats were strewn everywhere, in the street, under houses, next to the highway on the way to our first house. Most were just Boston Whalers or 20 foot speed boats but it was still strange to see them in so many places where they obviously didn't belong. There were boarded up churches and crushed playgrounds. This is really just one of those places that can't be described. I have lots of pictures of the area if your curious. One of the most striking things was the lack of people anywhere. Aside for work crews like ourselves and the occasional tourist, there was no one there. Sure all the houses were destroyed but FEMA trailers were still existant at least one or two to a block. But for the hour or so that we puttered around the 9th ward, it was essentially deserted, which may be expected, but it's still weird.
Next stop was down town New Orleans, we wanted to see the famed Delancy and Bourbon streets. We never stoped and walked around but we drove aroudn enough to find them and it was pretty nice. There were tons of touristy shops with open fronts, sporting tons of cheesey T-shirts like "katrina is a bitch". THey also seemed to be the main supplier of mardi gras beads, which is strange to think about. I'd never wondered where the beads came from, I just thought they were issued by the government on Monday and then on fat Tuesday, everyone got together and threw them at eachother. Apparantly you buy them at one of these shops. Anyway, everything was really colorful and cheery. I can definitly see the appeal of the city as it has it's own culture unique to anywhere else. And Bourbon street was eye-opening to sy the least. Apparantly it's not a main street, it just happens to be where all the sex shops are, all of which advertise graphically on their front window. I could imagine what was going through Pastor Blair's head. Luckily I was in the other car making jokes with Heather and susan.
Finally we head back to our church and hit the showers before any of the other two groups get back from their work sites. More cards and general laziness until dinner time, which was hamburgers. Susan and i devised an elaborate plan for us to get the most possible food without going back for seconds. It's too complex to disclose here but it did involve levers, pulleys, and a flock of carrier pidgeons. Devotions reached a ridiculous length that night. I commented to Heather on the ride home that it was our spring break, and we hadn't gotten drunk once. Now I'm not a big drinker. Don't much like getting drunk in the first place. But it's spring break, my senior year in college. And here I am in New Orleans not taking advantage of all it has to offer. She laughed at me and agreed that that should be remedied the following night. I couldn't tell if she was just making conversation or was really going to go out. But I was glad I wasn't the only one who felt this way. Once we reached our own church we watched the latest Harry Potter movie and fell asleep.
So we piled into the two cars. And with "It's Raining Men" blaring, we bravely head forth into the unknown. Our first stop was to find the 9th ward. For those who don't know, this was the area that was hardest hit by the flood. It's a lower income community that has basically been decimated by the 12 foot wall of water that came through it. Most of the residents have moved to surrounding cities and states by now. Our first look at the area was from the bridge over the river where we could see a series of at least a dozen cranes all lined up against the bank rebuilding the levees. Once we found our way into the ninth ward we drove up to where we assumed the levves would be and saw about 400 feet of nothing. There were foundations in place and a couple scattered cars wrapped around tree trunks, but other than that it was just an overgrown expanse. I'm not sure if they cleared out all the homes that had been there, or if they had just been pushed back by the water. (Probably the former, but there was a hell of a lot of water). It was daunting to see such a large space that used to be a very populated neighborhood. after walking around a bit and taking pictures of t he lack of anything, we hopped back in the car and went driving around a couple blocks further away from the levees. This is where most of the impressive devastation lies. Houses were pushed off their foundations up to 20 feet. Some rested on there fence. Many rested on top of cars that had been parked near them. It was very reminiscent of an automotive Wizard Of oz what with half a car sticking out of the bottom of a house. There were flattened housed, cracked houses, and overturned houses. Boats were strewn everywhere, in the street, under houses, next to the highway on the way to our first house. Most were just Boston Whalers or 20 foot speed boats but it was still strange to see them in so many places where they obviously didn't belong. There were boarded up churches and crushed playgrounds. This is really just one of those places that can't be described. I have lots of pictures of the area if your curious. One of the most striking things was the lack of people anywhere. Aside for work crews like ourselves and the occasional tourist, there was no one there. Sure all the houses were destroyed but FEMA trailers were still existant at least one or two to a block. But for the hour or so that we puttered around the 9th ward, it was essentially deserted, which may be expected, but it's still weird.
Next stop was down town New Orleans, we wanted to see the famed Delancy and Bourbon streets. We never stoped and walked around but we drove aroudn enough to find them and it was pretty nice. There were tons of touristy shops with open fronts, sporting tons of cheesey T-shirts like "katrina is a bitch". THey also seemed to be the main supplier of mardi gras beads, which is strange to think about. I'd never wondered where the beads came from, I just thought they were issued by the government on Monday and then on fat Tuesday, everyone got together and threw them at eachother. Apparantly you buy them at one of these shops. Anyway, everything was really colorful and cheery. I can definitly see the appeal of the city as it has it's own culture unique to anywhere else. And Bourbon street was eye-opening to sy the least. Apparantly it's not a main street, it just happens to be where all the sex shops are, all of which advertise graphically on their front window. I could imagine what was going through Pastor Blair's head. Luckily I was in the other car making jokes with Heather and susan.
Finally we head back to our church and hit the showers before any of the other two groups get back from their work sites. More cards and general laziness until dinner time, which was hamburgers. Susan and i devised an elaborate plan for us to get the most possible food without going back for seconds. It's too complex to disclose here but it did involve levers, pulleys, and a flock of carrier pidgeons. Devotions reached a ridiculous length that night. I commented to Heather on the ride home that it was our spring break, and we hadn't gotten drunk once. Now I'm not a big drinker. Don't much like getting drunk in the first place. But it's spring break, my senior year in college. And here I am in New Orleans not taking advantage of all it has to offer. She laughed at me and agreed that that should be remedied the following night. I couldn't tell if she was just making conversation or was really going to go out. But I was glad I wasn't the only one who felt this way. Once we reached our own church we watched the latest Harry Potter movie and fell asleep.