My Spring Break...SUPER long.
Hey guys, so figured I would post about my Spring Break which was yeah, like 2 months ago by now but I like haven't talked to you guys about it or anything yet...SOOO, here goes:
We left Manchester airport Saturday morning, flew to Detroit and Memphis before finally hitting New Orleans. The first breathtaking experience we had was at the airport. We were waiting for our vans to pick us up, and many people saw that we were all wearing the same shirts. A woman stopped by the island we were standing on, got out of her car, asked if we were there for hurricane relief, and couldn't thank us enough. She hugged us all, and then prayed for all of us. It made me cry, and we hadn't even been there for an hour. After getting settled with our luggage, we started our drive to Bay Saint Louis where we stayed at the United Methodist Church, which is about an hour and a half from New Orleans. During our drive it became dark, and we noticed that there were blocks and blocks and blocks of homes that were somewhat dilapitated and had their windows blown out. The most noticeable part: there was not one single light on or one sight of any life currently living or ever living there. It was haunting, and I certainly won't forget that burning image.
Throughout the week we worked on numerous houses throughout surrounding cities of Bay St. Louis. The first house I worked on was in the bayou, and it was raised up on stilts about 10 feet off the ground. The water came up that high, and thensome, to the point that the first floor of the house was totally water damaged and was gutted down to the studs. We ended up pulling out some more plywood and insulation, which was caked with about 1/2 inch atleast of mold and mud. When we finished that, we spent time cleaning up the yard (or lack thereof, there was no grass, only piles and piles of caked mud). It was so sad to see everything that belongs in a house outside - little girl's dress up shoes, photographs, toys, shampoo...you name it it was out there. The saddest part - a family of a husband, wife and 2 kids- a 4 year old girl and a 3 week old newborn- lived there, and now they have nothing. He said he nearly went into debt to get that house, and he's basically starting from scratch. The only people who were in that neighborhood were ones cleaning up their homes and a few in tents or FEMA trailors, but other than that there was really no one. We worked on that house for 2 days.
The next house we worked on belonged to a somewhat older gentleman, maybe about older 50's early 60's. I can only describe it as he lived in a country club retirement community. All the homes in the neighborhood were built out of brick, so we didn't see any that were knocked to the ground. When he came to meet us to direct us to his house, we saw that he was driving a Jaguar and upon seeing this we didn't know how much he would've needed the help. However, in the end we realized that he psychologically needed the help more than physically. He said he was going to go crazy soon from living in a cramped FEMA trailor, and all of his family lives in surrounding states so he really has no one close. He kept saying that he prayed to God every night and God eventually sent him the most beautiful angels he's ever seen, and cried once we finished the job. After hearing this, we knew we were doing the right thing. We spent 2 1/2 days inside his hope painting every single room, including his 10 foot high living room ceilings. He was so greatful for the help he took our entire group out the last night we were there for an italian buffet.
Thursday was a very intense day for us. We headed to the lower 9th ward in New Orleans, which is near the worst hit from the hurricane since that's where the levee broke. When we got there, we were given a somewhat duplex house, it was a one floor structure with 2 different adressess side by side. The gentleman who was there to greet us we found out was actually a landlord trying to muck out his side. All of the interior furniture and such was gone, but we had to tear down the drywall and take out the carpet, insulation, and toilet and such. I believe the story goes is that the person who lived on that side previously was now in jail for killing someone in Texas The other side, however, had not been opened since the hurricane. It had a spray painted marking of "2D" on the side, which we found out later that 2 people drowned in that house. That was very sad to hear. You would never think that you could drown in your own home. We ended up finishing mucking out the house, the only thing we left was the refridgerator. We didn't have tape to tape it closed before we moved it, and we really didn't want to see what was in there after 7 months of not being cold. It was also really sad to hear that some people thought the government blew up the levee on purpose, to try and wipe out the poverty stricken area.
After mucking out this house we spent a nice relaxing evening in the French Quarter. It's soo nice down there, tons of little shops and such to buy tons of stuff. I totally bought a Mardi Gras mask and a couple snow globes, along with mardi gras beads (I HAD to). The people who we were with, Make a Difference, took all of us out to dinner at some seafood restaurant. It was sooo yummy! It was the first time I had ever seen a crawdad, or crawfish, and definitely the first time I ever tried one. They were also yummy but they were hard to get the hang of cracking them open and such.
As for the rest of the trip, we went to the beach in Gulf Port...which was all new sand that had been trucked in since everything had been eroded. I would consider the water unsafe to even touch down by the beach, since when you look into the horizon you see so much debris just sitting there. We went to Biloxi and saw the damaged shrimp boats and the only standing casino on the waterfront. There's some places you drive by and at first glance you would think it was a bunch of land with a ton of debris that had been blown onto it, but then you find out that there were blocks and blocks of homes there previously, which had ALL been wiped out. You see cement foundations with stairs leading to the front door, and the house is placed hundreds of yards away. There are boats and campers placed in trees. There are other homes that have been completely collapsed, and others that have everything that creates a house in a heap. Tons of homes spray painted with peoples' names and phone numbers for people to call if their home can be salvaged or before they knock it down. It's so eye-opening, and definitely makes you think twice about life.
I think the saddest part is the stories people have told. They burn into my mind as if I was there. People have to pay money (we heard $3500) to have their house knocked to the ground after they have been told they don't have a choice to leave it standing. People are paying mortgages on homes they no longer have. Others cannot get FEMA trailors unless you have sewage, water, and electricity. One of the homes we were working on was to rebuild an entire roof...and that production was almost put to a hault when they were told they couldn't build because they didn't have a permit. There was a mother and a daughter (roughly 65 and 40 in age, respectively), who lived in that home with the rebuilt roof. They told their story in that they boarded up all the doors and windows and were going to wait the hurricane out in their home. Before they knew it the water kept rising, and they were swimming in their home with only 8 inches of breathing room inbetween the water and the ceiling. The daughter remembered that only one window was not boarded up, and she kicked it out. She swam out, and found out that her mother did not follow her, so she went back in to get her. When she went back in her mother's lips were blue, but they both got out and ended up sitting on their roof for 5 hours to be rescued or wait it out.
So then, this leads to our trip home. Saturday night I went to bed and had a gutwrenching feeling that something was wrong, and I couldn't sleep because my stomach was in knots. We got to the airport Sunday morning at 4:30am for a 6am flight...only to find out it had been cancelled since Thursday and they could not get in contact with us. We were going to stay the night and fly out Monday, but we ended up getting a 2pm flight which would go from New Orleans to Dallas to Boston. We ended up sitting at the gate for 2 1/2 hours before we had to get off, since they had engine starter problems. We couldn't stay in New Orleans because they didn't have any hotels, so we took a 10pm flight to Dallas, and stayed overnight at a hotel provided by the airline.
When we landed at midnight, we sat on the runway for another hour because they didn't have a gate for us to pull into. While waiting to get a hotel given to us by the airline, we could not leave the terminal to claim our luggage because if we did we wouldn't be able to get back in. We didn't want to leave in case we didn't get a hotel because we wouldn't have had a place to go. So, since we didn't get our luggage in time, they put it in holding until 4am the next morning. At this point we said that we would forget it and just have it checked onto our flight the next day. We crashed at the hotel at 3am, woke up the next morning, caught our flight to LaGuardia and then finally landed in Manchester at 7:20 Monday night. When we went to claim our luggage...we realized it hadn't traveled with us. We figured it was checked on the Boston flight with our original plans. So, we went to claim our luggage, and it was finally shipped to the college.
We left Manchester airport Saturday morning, flew to Detroit and Memphis before finally hitting New Orleans. The first breathtaking experience we had was at the airport. We were waiting for our vans to pick us up, and many people saw that we were all wearing the same shirts. A woman stopped by the island we were standing on, got out of her car, asked if we were there for hurricane relief, and couldn't thank us enough. She hugged us all, and then prayed for all of us. It made me cry, and we hadn't even been there for an hour. After getting settled with our luggage, we started our drive to Bay Saint Louis where we stayed at the United Methodist Church, which is about an hour and a half from New Orleans. During our drive it became dark, and we noticed that there were blocks and blocks and blocks of homes that were somewhat dilapitated and had their windows blown out. The most noticeable part: there was not one single light on or one sight of any life currently living or ever living there. It was haunting, and I certainly won't forget that burning image.
Throughout the week we worked on numerous houses throughout surrounding cities of Bay St. Louis. The first house I worked on was in the bayou, and it was raised up on stilts about 10 feet off the ground. The water came up that high, and thensome, to the point that the first floor of the house was totally water damaged and was gutted down to the studs. We ended up pulling out some more plywood and insulation, which was caked with about 1/2 inch atleast of mold and mud. When we finished that, we spent time cleaning up the yard (or lack thereof, there was no grass, only piles and piles of caked mud). It was so sad to see everything that belongs in a house outside - little girl's dress up shoes, photographs, toys, shampoo...you name it it was out there. The saddest part - a family of a husband, wife and 2 kids- a 4 year old girl and a 3 week old newborn- lived there, and now they have nothing. He said he nearly went into debt to get that house, and he's basically starting from scratch. The only people who were in that neighborhood were ones cleaning up their homes and a few in tents or FEMA trailors, but other than that there was really no one. We worked on that house for 2 days.
The next house we worked on belonged to a somewhat older gentleman, maybe about older 50's early 60's. I can only describe it as he lived in a country club retirement community. All the homes in the neighborhood were built out of brick, so we didn't see any that were knocked to the ground. When he came to meet us to direct us to his house, we saw that he was driving a Jaguar and upon seeing this we didn't know how much he would've needed the help. However, in the end we realized that he psychologically needed the help more than physically. He said he was going to go crazy soon from living in a cramped FEMA trailor, and all of his family lives in surrounding states so he really has no one close. He kept saying that he prayed to God every night and God eventually sent him the most beautiful angels he's ever seen, and cried once we finished the job. After hearing this, we knew we were doing the right thing. We spent 2 1/2 days inside his hope painting every single room, including his 10 foot high living room ceilings. He was so greatful for the help he took our entire group out the last night we were there for an italian buffet.
Thursday was a very intense day for us. We headed to the lower 9th ward in New Orleans, which is near the worst hit from the hurricane since that's where the levee broke. When we got there, we were given a somewhat duplex house, it was a one floor structure with 2 different adressess side by side. The gentleman who was there to greet us we found out was actually a landlord trying to muck out his side. All of the interior furniture and such was gone, but we had to tear down the drywall and take out the carpet, insulation, and toilet and such. I believe the story goes is that the person who lived on that side previously was now in jail for killing someone in Texas The other side, however, had not been opened since the hurricane. It had a spray painted marking of "2D" on the side, which we found out later that 2 people drowned in that house. That was very sad to hear. You would never think that you could drown in your own home. We ended up finishing mucking out the house, the only thing we left was the refridgerator. We didn't have tape to tape it closed before we moved it, and we really didn't want to see what was in there after 7 months of not being cold. It was also really sad to hear that some people thought the government blew up the levee on purpose, to try and wipe out the poverty stricken area.
After mucking out this house we spent a nice relaxing evening in the French Quarter. It's soo nice down there, tons of little shops and such to buy tons of stuff. I totally bought a Mardi Gras mask and a couple snow globes, along with mardi gras beads (I HAD to). The people who we were with, Make a Difference, took all of us out to dinner at some seafood restaurant. It was sooo yummy! It was the first time I had ever seen a crawdad, or crawfish, and definitely the first time I ever tried one. They were also yummy but they were hard to get the hang of cracking them open and such.
As for the rest of the trip, we went to the beach in Gulf Port...which was all new sand that had been trucked in since everything had been eroded. I would consider the water unsafe to even touch down by the beach, since when you look into the horizon you see so much debris just sitting there. We went to Biloxi and saw the damaged shrimp boats and the only standing casino on the waterfront. There's some places you drive by and at first glance you would think it was a bunch of land with a ton of debris that had been blown onto it, but then you find out that there were blocks and blocks of homes there previously, which had ALL been wiped out. You see cement foundations with stairs leading to the front door, and the house is placed hundreds of yards away. There are boats and campers placed in trees. There are other homes that have been completely collapsed, and others that have everything that creates a house in a heap. Tons of homes spray painted with peoples' names and phone numbers for people to call if their home can be salvaged or before they knock it down. It's so eye-opening, and definitely makes you think twice about life.
I think the saddest part is the stories people have told. They burn into my mind as if I was there. People have to pay money (we heard $3500) to have their house knocked to the ground after they have been told they don't have a choice to leave it standing. People are paying mortgages on homes they no longer have. Others cannot get FEMA trailors unless you have sewage, water, and electricity. One of the homes we were working on was to rebuild an entire roof...and that production was almost put to a hault when they were told they couldn't build because they didn't have a permit. There was a mother and a daughter (roughly 65 and 40 in age, respectively), who lived in that home with the rebuilt roof. They told their story in that they boarded up all the doors and windows and were going to wait the hurricane out in their home. Before they knew it the water kept rising, and they were swimming in their home with only 8 inches of breathing room inbetween the water and the ceiling. The daughter remembered that only one window was not boarded up, and she kicked it out. She swam out, and found out that her mother did not follow her, so she went back in to get her. When she went back in her mother's lips were blue, but they both got out and ended up sitting on their roof for 5 hours to be rescued or wait it out.
So then, this leads to our trip home. Saturday night I went to bed and had a gutwrenching feeling that something was wrong, and I couldn't sleep because my stomach was in knots. We got to the airport Sunday morning at 4:30am for a 6am flight...only to find out it had been cancelled since Thursday and they could not get in contact with us. We were going to stay the night and fly out Monday, but we ended up getting a 2pm flight which would go from New Orleans to Dallas to Boston. We ended up sitting at the gate for 2 1/2 hours before we had to get off, since they had engine starter problems. We couldn't stay in New Orleans because they didn't have any hotels, so we took a 10pm flight to Dallas, and stayed overnight at a hotel provided by the airline.
When we landed at midnight, we sat on the runway for another hour because they didn't have a gate for us to pull into. While waiting to get a hotel given to us by the airline, we could not leave the terminal to claim our luggage because if we did we wouldn't be able to get back in. We didn't want to leave in case we didn't get a hotel because we wouldn't have had a place to go. So, since we didn't get our luggage in time, they put it in holding until 4am the next morning. At this point we said that we would forget it and just have it checked onto our flight the next day. We crashed at the hotel at 3am, woke up the next morning, caught our flight to LaGuardia and then finally landed in Manchester at 7:20 Monday night. When we went to claim our luggage...we realized it hadn't traveled with us. We figured it was checked on the Boston flight with our original plans. So, we went to claim our luggage, and it was finally shipped to the college.