New Orleans part 3 (Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday)

Monday, March 15

We had to get up for a meeting at 8:00 in the church’s sanctuary turned warehouse, and there we were assigned our house to work on. We learned that the organization that we were working with (LA United Methodist Disaster Relief) was likely to shut down by the end of the year. This saddened us, because they focus on the least, the last, and the lost. But we took heart in the fact that they had done so much already, something like $85 million worth of work (I think), and in that we were going to help them do more.

We loaded up our van with tools and found our way to the house. It had 3 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, a nice kitchen/dining room area, and a large living-room. It turned out that we were doing finishing work. We didn’t know what to do at first, because there was no supervisor to tell us what to do until about 9:30, and this supervisor came in, told us what to do, and then left. This was definitely different from my experiences with Habitat for Humanity! In Habitat there is always someone there who knows what they’re doing, someone to ask questions.

Andrea and I started working on what we would later call the Bathroom of Doom. Whoever put the walls in the house did a poor job. The walls were not straight, and the bathroom was not square. One wall was longer than the opposite, and the door was narrow, and the floor wasn’t straight either. But we made it work throughout the week.

We put in baseboard and quarter rail. I got to the level of professional with cutting 45 degree angles using a chop saw. I also scraped my backside on a pipe that was sticking out of the wall. It hurt. But I had a semi-warm shower so that was nice.

Tuesday, March 16

A new group came to stay with us, a group of retirees. They had money and would go out for supper instead of making food in the church’s kitchen. I don’t remember much about Tuesday’s activities other than in the evening, everyone else went to the French Quarter and I stayed back because I was A, tired, and B, needing some peace and quiet, and C, a little nervous about going to the French Quarter at night. It was a relaxing evening. I also got to talk to three middle-aged ladies for a while. It was pleasant to have adult conversation. Four of the girls on the trip just drove me bonkers because they were loud and juvenile (granted, they were freshmen/sophomores, but that’s no excuse) much of the time. At least they were having fun, right? I just didn’t associate with them much, and tried to keep my mouth shut when they grated on my nerves. The shower this night was cold.

Wednesday, March 17

Since it was St. Patrick’s Day, I wore green while we worked on the house and afterward. It turned out that Thursday was one of the girls’ birthday, and so two of the girls, one of the guys, and I sneakily made muffins while the other girls took her out to play tennis with the racquets that they bought on Tuesday night at Wal-Mart. They ended up not being able to play tennis anywhere, but they still stalled so we could get the muffins made.

This was the day we visited the Lower Ninth Ward. I took pictures but they don’t do the desolation justice. It was extremely saddening. However there is hope. Brad Pitt’s Pink Project has built about 10 homes that are super-energy-efficient and have solar panels and the like, and these houses look like they could actually last in a flood. The really sad part though, is the way there’s old, beat-up houses right by these new, high-tech houses. It’s jarring.

We got lost on the way to the Lower Ninth Ward, and it was strange because the area we ended up going through (which was near Tulane University) was so spruced up and the houses looked more expensive, better built, etcetera. And then we found our way to the Lower Ninth Ward. It was such a contrast.

I went to bed by 11 but apparently the other girls stayed up much later decorating the downstairs for the girl’s birthday surprise. It is hard to sleep when the light is on and you are light-sensitive. I had a warm shower though, so I didn’t get too grumpy.