Holly Grove, New Orleans, LA: With less than a week left in the Community Service mini-term, I’m finally writing my first blog.  We’ve been through a lot.  We did some rebuilding work in New Orleans.  I worked at Ms. Frank and her son’s houses in the Holly Grove area.  Our team got to meet Ms. Frank, who expressed her gratitude for our work.  She’s a wonderful lady, and knowing I was helping her kept me going.  I also got to meet her son, and he showed us a photo of one of his daughters.  I wish we could have finished the house and seen them move in, but I’m glad we helped at all.  I feel really lucky to have been placed at that site because it was a cool block.  We quickly got to know people that we saw regularly and we built a rapport with the people at the corner store we frequented.  There were definitely people

French Quarter, New Orleans, LA: We visited Bourbon Street and had way too much fun.  We went to a bar, Famous Door, where a band played classic rock.  I requested “Midnight Rider” by Allman Brothers and was invited on stage.  I sang along and danced on stage.  We had so much fun we went back to the French Quarter for another night out.  This time, though, I went to Frenchmen Street.  We went to a bar called D.B.A (at least that’s what Kenny thinks it’s called).   There was a band there playing calypso.  The lead singer looked like a crooner or something – his light blond hair was slicked back; he wore a suit and shiny shoes; he had a metal guitar.  The whole scene was really cool.  I loved to see a trumpet and saxophone in a band.  Me and Nozomi danced (as usual) and it was great.

 New Orleans, LA: The director of PNOLA (the program through which we volunteered), Jim, is really cool.  I liked everyone else I met from PNOLA (Pheonix of New Orleans) was cool, especially Gabe, who mostly lead our site, and Rachel, who was friendly.  We stayed at Carrollton Methodist Church.  We had bunkbeds, which was fortunate because last year’s team did not.   We went to Rock’n’Bowl and there was a Zydeco band playing.  I danced.  We also went to the Audobon Aquarium.  It was all really fun!!

Houma, LA: We stayed in a United Methodist Church in Houma.  It was a very nice facility and I kept practicing my basketball shot on the indoor hoop.  I’m not very good.  We went to the movies and saw “Role Models” for $4.25 (!!!!!!!!)!!  It was an adult ticket at night!  We traveled every day to Dulac and on the rides to and from I napped, so I didn’t really look at Dulac houses on the way over.  I worked at the Dulac Community Center by helping them prepare for a Christmas party.  We moved clothes from one room into another.  It was then that I realized that the children’s center in the facility was completely flooded out.  I almost cried when I saw it and thought about the children who couldn’t go to the programs held in those facilities.  I thought about the community center I’ve been a part of for over a decade and imagined what I was looking at as the remains of my community center.  People have lost their homes, which is much more devastating, of course, but to some people, a community center feels even more like home than a house does.  I’m glad we got to help Ms. Frank get her house back, and I’m glad we’re helping the Dulac community center get back to business.

Jolly Inn, Houma, LA: We went to a bar/restaurant called the Jolly Inn and ate some Cajun food.  I enjoyed my fried catfish and the Louisiana brand hot sauce I put on some of my meal.  The best part of our trip there, though, was the Cajun/Zydeco band and learning the line dancing!  We learned the freeze (which is like the electric slide – but it’s line dancing), the the Cajun stomp, and the Darrel.  The woman who taught us the line dances has a free tutorial on her website: http://dancingdogs.triparish.net.  I played a little bit on some washboards.  It was a blast. 

One man, who wore an NFL championship ring and played on the Baltimore Colts in the ’60s (he later came into the bar dressed as Santa Claus and gave out candy canes, and even later was given a birthday cake that was shared with our entire group), thanked us for exposing ourselves to Cajun culture.  I thank him.   

Dulac, LA: We’ve moved into the dorms at the Dulac.  We painted a house and looked around to see rebuilding progress.  The woman whose house we were painted wanted her house to be dark blue.  It’s royal.  I hope she likes it anyway.  Our team was all girls and we had a bunch of fun.  I really love this group.  This experience has been much too impactful for me to articulate efficiently at all – let alone on a public forum.  I’ll keep writing.  🙂