Day Two

Jenny -
New Orleans is the most confusing city ever. Let me explain: After the Louisiana purchase, the city was divided into two parts: The French Quarter and the America Quarter. Both are separated by the “common ground” of Canal street. Okay, so back to modern day: you drive down Canal Street and the street names are different on each side. Also, the change as you move further down, meaning that just because you are on St.Peter Street now, and going straight, doesn’t mean that it won’t change to something else quickly without your constant. That made FINDING the tour very hard. But, alas, we did (after having to move our time to 2:30 instead of 1- but no worries) The tour was long, but so important to see for the group. I mean, how can we expect to get up every morning and be motivated to work if we don’t fully understand why we are here? I can tell you after taking a three hour loop around the city - we know why we are here. I guess the question now is, Where is everyone else? Every town, every parish, as they call them here, needs rebuilt. House after house- empty. It blows my mind.
Earlier we went to the lower ninth ward and got out and walked around. It was emotional. The silence was unbelievable. I mean, I was standing there , in the middle of an intersection of a town and there was no sound. Katrina has rendered a town completely silent. Can you image that? House after house- empty. Some collapsed on themselves. Some with signs begging the city not to knock them down. We split up and kind of just took it all in individually- I think it is something that you have to process completely on your own. It makes you think, of course, of how things change at an instant and that the things that matter most in this world are not tangible, not materialistic.
Construction day tomorrow, and I can’t wait. I think today really made us understand how important our presence is here.

Drew-
Day two was a tiring one. We went to the lower ninth ward and man was that intense. It was really crazy seeing all the destruction. The place was like a ghost town. After getting lost around the city, for what it seemed like ages, we took a tour of pretty much all N’Orleans. Our tour guide was one of the coolest dudes I have meet down here. We took another trip to the Ninth Ward, seen botanical gardens, as well as all the other destruction. The water levels after Katrina we some 12 odd feet, and they stood still for over 3 weeks without receding, that was one of the many things we learned on the tour. The most empowering thing we learned on the tour and actually seen was the number of deceased people that were drug out of the houses. Just driving around seeing all the red x’s (its too complicated to explain what the x’s mean and how to describe them) didn’t really do it for me until I seen a number beside that x. One building in particular having 6 people that were found dead. Man that really touched me.
Later on that night I meet some more cool ass people. One guy who talked to the group before Steve talked to me for hours about snakes and spiders. Haha it was funny, after he finished telling me about the critters he whooped my ass at pool. Despite all the chaos and frustration of maneuvering downtown the day was great. N’Orleans is going to be awesome. I cant wait to start building.

Nick -
I got a lot of unknown info out of the tour. At first I didn’t want to go because it was three hours long, and that just doesn’t sound too appealing to me. I learned that the levees didn’t break, it was actually the flood walls. I also learned that the media didn’t give the whole story, go figure. Apparently so spots didn’t have anything but rain. No damage caused by flooding. Seeing the actual city was pretty cool too. They have a huge market. I wish Pittsburgh was half as badass as here. I hope we have a good bonding day of building tomorrow, and I hope we meet someone cool people.

Dale-
We first went to the lower night ward and got out and walked around. It was weird to see an area that use to be filled with homes and families, to now seeing empty lots and run down unoccupied homes. After an hour we all got a better sense of what we were here for.
I was excited to finally get a feel of the New Orleans French quarter while waiting shortly for our bus tour. (Can’t wait to go back) The tour gave me a lot of information knowing that most of the three hour tour we would have been in or underwater. Our tour guide was very informative.

Brandy-
Hmm, well its day two and its our first real day in New Orleans, now how can I even begin to talk about today. 6am is way to early to get up for breakfast. The lower ninth ward is like a ghost town. You should always carry water with you. NOLA streets are confusing and change names in the middle of them. Every other area suffered and is still suffering as badly as the lower ninth ward. They are slowly rebuilding. Its great knowing we are helping the people of NOLA out by being here. Sometimes all you can do is laugh.
Tomorrow is our first work day. Its exciting and scary all at the same time.

Natasha-
Never in my life have I felt so emotionally connected to something I didn’t understand. Something that was not caused by a war I am fighting against or the preservation of mother earth which is in our hands. This was a natural disaster with very little warning. After walking through the neighborhoods that have been abandoned with the houses gutted and belongings left behind I can see it in my mind. The panic, the despair, the heartless force behind the storm that killed so many and left the rest with nothing, Where would be have been at that moment of conscious fright if we were here?
What would we be doing?
Who would we be looking for?
Where would we go?
What would we say and feel?
Who would we love then more than ever?
We will never know.

Jessi:
Wow day two! Its crazy I am actually here! Today we went on a tour to see the Katrina damages. Unfortunately for me I got a migraine and tried to sleep a bit on the bus ride. I tuned in while I was laying down and one thing that stuck out was a story about a man who was in his attic with his 3 grand-children and his wife. His wife died of a heart attach during the storm and his youngest lost her grip and they never found her. To think of this in your own family setting brought tears to my eyes. I can not imagine the devastation and the heart ache these people went through. It really hits home when you add the what if scenario. Like what if it was my family in that attic or if it was my home that was completely washed out to see and all I had left was a slab of cement on the ground?