Today i went to Delgado Community College to help some student leaders there pass out candy and tell people about their Bible study.
i met a lot of interesting characters.
i met this girl Ann, who is autistic and let me know it within the first few seconds of meeting her. Come to think of it, i met her one of the first days that i was down in New Orleans. She talked to Kathryn and i for a while and made it a point to let us know that she was both autistic and Jewish and therefore did not care for anything we were about, but she hung out and talked to us for a long time.
Today, Ann made sure i knew she read Star Wars books and that her favorite game is Pokemon and that she could easily spend hours playing it. She seemed very nice. Autism is something i know very little about, so i wasnt sure how to act around her, but i did my best. i have a lot to learn when it comes to being with people (i blame my major in computer engineering).
Before meeting Ann i was finishing up handing out candy with Thecla, our student leader at Delgado, and was able to witness a rap battle. Which Thecla said happens quite frequently at "Del-ghetto".
i'm assuming that most of my readers, living in suburban New York in general, have not witnessed a rap battle and may not know what that is. This was actually the first rap battle i've ever seen in real life, so it was a new experience for me too!
A rap battle is where two or more people will freestyle rap with each other, trading time. These usually involve lots of cussing, talk of money, and creative putdowns.
It was beautiful and an experience that left me wanting more, especially after the security told them that they would need to go outside if they were going to continue being that loud.
Awesome! Thecla better give me a call next time she sees something like that going on!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Thursday, October 18, 2007
New Pictures
i just put up a bunch of new pictures on my flickr account. Hopefully i'll keep adding more of the ones i have because i spent exorbitant amounts of money getting them developed to just let them sit around on my computer.
Things here in New Orleans have been pumping. This past week we had two groups come in. One was from the great city of Philly and the other from NC State. Philly always reminds me of when i made Philly cheesesteaks all summer long in Wildwood, NJ. Great memories. The Philly group mostly worked with other organizations here like Rebuilding Together and Habitat for Humanity. The NC State group worked more with homeowners we have relationships with. They painted for Bob, who has pictures of himself in a canoe tied to the roof of his house and did odd jobs for Sylvia, who loved us to death.
After working with Sylvia we all got to talk with her before we left and were able to circle up and pray for her and her son Sam. It was really a beautiful moment. i think that was the first time i've been able to pray together with a homeowner and that thought makes me sad. i hope we can do that more often and can continue to figure out how to have spiritually significant conversations while we work.
Things here in New Orleans have been pumping. This past week we had two groups come in. One was from the great city of Philly and the other from NC State. Philly always reminds me of when i made Philly cheesesteaks all summer long in Wildwood, NJ. Great memories. The Philly group mostly worked with other organizations here like Rebuilding Together and Habitat for Humanity. The NC State group worked more with homeowners we have relationships with. They painted for Bob, who has pictures of himself in a canoe tied to the roof of his house and did odd jobs for Sylvia, who loved us to death.
After working with Sylvia we all got to talk with her before we left and were able to circle up and pray for her and her son Sam. It was really a beautiful moment. i think that was the first time i've been able to pray together with a homeowner and that thought makes me sad. i hope we can do that more often and can continue to figure out how to have spiritually significant conversations while we work.
Tuesday, October 9, 2007
So much!
i havent posted in forever which is unfortunate because so much has happened in the past few weeks!
It's crazy to think about it and realize that due to my poor memory i've forgotten most of what my weeks have been composed of here.
Whatever...
Last Wednesday we tried to finish up gutting at a house a few streets down from us. The house had been trashed by the levees breaking. i think the house was three streets down from the levees that are nearby Paris street. The homeowner was telling us that she had neighbors that were cleaning up after Katrina with relatively nice weather over their heads and then were shocked by a rush of water from the levees. It reminds me how much damage was actually caused by the failure of the engineering systems, it wasnt just the bad storm by itself.
This house was an absolute nightmare to gut. The walls were made of plaster over drywall. i'm sure it creates a nice plaster effect on the house without plastering over slats like i see in some houses, but taking it down makes the whole thing not worth it. Where the walls met there was also a type of chicken wire in there with the plaster and drywall. Taking down sections of that was extremely difficult, time-consuming, and physically draining. Ken and i spent hours working on that stuff!
In other news, we're swamped this week. We have two groups coming around to do work. One is from NC State and the other is from the great city of Philadelphia. i've really only been to Philly a few times for track meets and once because i got lost in the city trying to drive through it, but i call it the great city because they invented the cheesesteak (my tongue is firmly in my cheek at the moment).
i'm excited because a friend of mine from my summer project in Acadia is coming down with NC State. Hannah will be the first person i have seen down here that has any connection to my life before New Orleans. It's strange to think that everyone i've met here is a new friend or acquaintance and that they have nearly no connection to my life before being here in any way.
hmmm...
Other than that, our campus team has their Fall Retreat this weekend, so two of our teammates will be there and not with us. We also have a neighborhood cleanup that we're running Saturday.
So phew! We have a lot to do.
Soon i should have some more pictures developed. Hopefully they're good ones. Expect to see those fairly soon on my flickr account.
It's crazy to think about it and realize that due to my poor memory i've forgotten most of what my weeks have been composed of here.
Whatever...
Last Wednesday we tried to finish up gutting at a house a few streets down from us. The house had been trashed by the levees breaking. i think the house was three streets down from the levees that are nearby Paris street. The homeowner was telling us that she had neighbors that were cleaning up after Katrina with relatively nice weather over their heads and then were shocked by a rush of water from the levees. It reminds me how much damage was actually caused by the failure of the engineering systems, it wasnt just the bad storm by itself.
This house was an absolute nightmare to gut. The walls were made of plaster over drywall. i'm sure it creates a nice plaster effect on the house without plastering over slats like i see in some houses, but taking it down makes the whole thing not worth it. Where the walls met there was also a type of chicken wire in there with the plaster and drywall. Taking down sections of that was extremely difficult, time-consuming, and physically draining. Ken and i spent hours working on that stuff!
In other news, we're swamped this week. We have two groups coming around to do work. One is from NC State and the other is from the great city of Philadelphia. i've really only been to Philly a few times for track meets and once because i got lost in the city trying to drive through it, but i call it the great city because they invented the cheesesteak (my tongue is firmly in my cheek at the moment).
i'm excited because a friend of mine from my summer project in Acadia is coming down with NC State. Hannah will be the first person i have seen down here that has any connection to my life before New Orleans. It's strange to think that everyone i've met here is a new friend or acquaintance and that they have nearly no connection to my life before being here in any way.
hmmm...
Other than that, our campus team has their Fall Retreat this weekend, so two of our teammates will be there and not with us. We also have a neighborhood cleanup that we're running Saturday.
So phew! We have a lot to do.
Soon i should have some more pictures developed. Hopefully they're good ones. Expect to see those fairly soon on my flickr account.
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