Working in NOLA Again

As most of you now know I am working in NOLA with Rebuilding Together for the second time. My team and I have been here since the last week in May. We spent the first week and a half working in Corinth, MS before coming down here. We are living in the Purple House (outside of house is purple) this time. I like it better than the green house for many different reasons. One is recently remodeled. The kitchen is beautiful, the nicest NCCC kitchen I have had. The rooms are bigger and there are two bathrooms with 4 showers! There are a couple of downsides to the house but that is bound to happen. There is no internet so you have to go to the green house down the street or use it in the launder mat like I am doing now. The house also has no common space like a living room or even a big enough kitchen table for all of us to sit at but oh well what can you do?

Another huge difference from first round is the heat! I have never lived in a place that gets so hot and its not even August yet! I think the coolest it has been since we have been here is 80 degrees. A couple of weeks ago there was a heat advisory with temperatures around 110. I didn't realize that a person could sweat this much or from every part of your body like the front of your legs. I feel as if I have lost tons of pounds through sweat.

So far I like to work I have been doing. I spent one week painting the exterior of a house more specifically the front porch. I spent two days painting the ceiling blue. The other two days were spent painting the trim and the siding. The rest of the time I have been here I have worked with Deconconstruction or Decon. The first couple of weeks I was with Decon was spent rearranging and organizing the salvage yard. I helped to build two lean-too sheds in the yard next two the salvage store. It was cool because I learned how to use several different types of tools. I became comfortable using different saws and a grinder. I used the grinder to cut medal sheeting for the roof of one of the sheds. The other shed I got to be on the roof putting up roofing. The view from on top was amazing!

As for things out side of work last weekend I did ISP as an usher for Avenue Q, the Broadway musical. The show was great! I loved being able to see a theater production because it is one of the things I have missed in this program. And it was free which made it all the better. A couple of weeks ago Pat turned 21 and the team went out to dinner. After we out to Frenchmen and Bourbon St. to celebrate. Both of which haven't changed all that much since I was here the first time. It was a lot of fun and a great way to celebrate a birthday. Its hard to believe that I will be turning 21 in less than a month!

Life here so far has been good.