After many hours of airports, we finally made it! We had our first full day of work today and we were split up into groups to work at two separate houses in different neighborhoods.  Rachel and I ended up going with Greg to transport all the tools PNOLA borrowed for the Kaboom playground that they constructed last weekend.  Not only was it great to be able to see a lot of the different neighborhoods with someone there to explain everything to us, but it was so interesting to see how many non-profit organizations actually exist and collaborate.  Every place we went was full of new people from all over who were devoting their time to reconstructing New Orleans and helping its inhabitants get back on their feet again.  We made at least six trips from the playground site to three different tool distributers.  They distribution sites work like libraries, except they are full of tools instead of books!   They lend them out to organizations when they need them for projects and to individual families if they have the means to complete projects on their own. 

It was also really interesting to notice the differences in ecomonic statuses that was evidenced by the state of the homes in the different neighborhoods.  Some of the neighborhoods had only faint reminders of Katrina, while others seemed to have made little progress since the storm.  Driving down one street, Greg pointed out that five of the eight homes were vacant.  Many still had the spray paint on the sides of the houses or brown streaks that showed the previous water level.  It was a little eerie to see such reminders.  On one of our trips, Greg took us to see Brad Pitt’s “Make It Right” houses (but unfortunately Brad Pitt was no where to be found! :P) which seem to be giving some families in the Ninth Ward another chance while creating very unique looking houses at the same time.  All in all, it was a very eventful, eye-opening day.  I’m really looking forward to the rest our of time here!