After another early wake-up call this morning (sleeping past 6:45 is impossible) and a good breakfast (JJ made eggs again), we stopped off at a local coffee shop which we found on our epic walk last night. I got an iced coffee, but it was less than spectacular, but at least we can say we supported a local business. We got to the work site a little later than I would have liked, but we got right to work. Between the three of us we managed to put up another beam in the ceiling which is actually sturdy enough to attach sheet rock too (I hope), so go us! We also trimmed some of the insulation around the ceilings so that the two teams from the Hillel group could easily put up the sheet rock. Then we took a little trip to McDonald's so that we could pee (I don't do porta potties) and Emily could get some sweet tea.
We timed our pee break perfectly b/c when we came back, Ben was there to give us more jobs. I spray painted circles around the walls so that hopefully people would remember to cut around them when they finally get around to putting up the dry wall. Then we used the yellow expanding foam around the windows and worked on cutting down the shims (is that what they're called?) to size. We were having a hard time, but I found a wedge and we managed to get all of them cut down.
We didn't eat lunch with the others again today, but this time it was really b/c we weren't ready to eat when they breaked. They ate at 11:30, and I'm sorry, that is just entirely too early for lunch. So we worked for awhile longer and took a break a little after 12--much better.
After lunch Ben gave us a slew of projects b/c he said we breeze through things. JJ and I tore out some rotted drywall and old insulation and then the three of us reinsulated that wall. That was kind of a pain in the ass. I mean, we've gotten really good at insulation, but there were a lot of pipes, etc. to cute around, so that took awhile. Then we cut down sheet rock to size and put it up on the ceiling of the closets. The piece was small enough that we didn't need the lift. Emily and I could hold it up to the ceiling while Jonathan screwed. Hahaha! All in all, it was a good days work, so we stopped off at Smoothie King for a treat afterwards. (I checked with the other two, and they both agree that Smothie King is not a dessert b/c it's healthy and almost as filling as a meal.)
On the way home, we got off at the exit which has the home shaped like a castle and stopped for a closer look. It really is a mini castle with a tower! It's fantastic! However, it was built, along with several other houses and docks, on a very narrow strip of land surrounded on both sides by water, which, by the way, really appeared to be higher that us on the road. I have no idea how the water doesn't spill over, b/c I am being honest here, it looked higher thatn us. Weird.
After a break of showering and relaxing, we drove off the New Orleans and met Emily's friend Jesse for dinner. She lives in midcity near Canal Street and not too far from Bourban Street, etc. We went to a Spanish restaurant, which was very good, but we had to wait for a table and the food took awhile, so we didn't get out of there until after 9. They also wouldn't split up our check, which I always hate, b/c no matter what, someone always ends up paying way more than they should, but oh well. It was still fun.
As we drove to dinner, Jesse told us that in midcity, restoration of buildings really goes block by block. For instance, her block was in great shape, but just one block away, buildings were in horrible shape. And the sad thing is, people actually live in some of these very dilapitated houses. Emily told me about the scandal with the FEMA trailers and how some people never got trailers who were supposed to and that there is a huge lot of new trailers that neer got distributed. She also told us of the women whose house she worked on last year who gave birth to a son right b/f Katrina, so he had lived the first 2+ years of his life in a trailer and had developed asthma b/c of it. Apparently the trailers have huge amounts more of formeldahyde that the average house and in a much smaller space, so her son got sick from it. There was just so much political bullshit with Katrina that really hurt the people who had already suffered and lost so much. And they continue to suffer. It really is such a shame. Some areas look fine here, but in others, there is so much work to be done.
After dinner, we drove past Bourban Street, but we didn't get out. We also didn't stop for benyays at Cafe Du Monde b/c there wasn't much parking and it was already getting late. I didn't mind missing those b/c quite frankly, that's really not what this trip was about. I would like to come back sometime where I have a day (night) to spend in the downtown area and really experience it. But for now, we're here to work, and getting out for dinner was nice, but I wasn't about to cram a night's activities into a brief walk down the street. And, let's be honest, I gave up sweets and alcohol, so both Bourban St and binyays are kind of lost on me right now. Haha!
So we've had this thing the past few days that we look up stupid facts that come up in conversation throughout the day on Google at night. We've looked up Commonwealth (Virginia, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Kentucky are all commonwealths--that doesn't affect how they're run today, but it signifies that they originally wanted to specifically point out that they worked for the common good of the people...or something like that), merkins (really, it's much more fun if you look it up yourself. Go to the Wikipedia page), and today was bayou. Basically, we understand that it is extremely slow moving,, but apparently it is found in an abandoned chanel or something? I, not being great at visualizing things, am having a real hard time envisioning an abandoned chanel...does that mean a path to a river? Or are we talking about a human-made something that was abandoned? I mean, can I call a slow moving puddle on an abandoned sidewalk a bayou? Watch out, b/c I just might!
Ok, it's getting late here (well, let for me since I'm getting up at 6:45. Normally, this would be nothing...) and we have a long day tomorrow. We're packing up in the morning and working until lunchtime. Ben promised us that we'd get to play with cement tomorrow, filling in a hole in the floor! I love all the different jobs we're learning how to do! Then we're heading off home to L-ville! Yay! A 10 hour drive! :-D Haha! Then it's back to the grind of writing papers. Oh well. This was an amazing experience, and even though we worked hard these past few days, it's been a lot of fun and just the break I needed to re-energize me for the rest of the semester.
JJ is a beast with that staple hammer...well, that is until he got sick of it and he switched to the staple gun. He stuck it out longer than I did though! Hahaha! I very quickly switched to the staple gun. I don't have enough aim. Haha!
