The city that care forgot.

Well I just have to accept the fact that I'm not making this blogging thang as much of a priority as I once was. I feel like an apology is in order but even that seems like more effort than I feel like giving. It's just been so natural to ease into the...get ready for it...Big Easy, as if the city just opens its arms and welcomes any stranger off the street. New Orleans is amazing! I've been to big cities, and the lights and the sounds and the smells are all the same. But that's where it stops. New Orleans has this essence about it that I've never seen replicated: Neon lights lining small, gridded cobblestone streets, street performers and live jazz on every block, the iconic fleur de lis stamped on every car, window, and flag in site. What other city has their own logo that permeates such a massive majority of its peoples' lives? It's fantastic.

My job is also fantastic. I'm out in the sun all day, hammering nails, installing walls, putting up roofing, etc. etc. etc. all for the cause of helping a family get a home! It's such a great project. Especially in this location. New Orleans is still greatly feeling the horrible effects of Hurricane Katrina, even though it's been four years since it hit. The neighborhood we're working in is a perfect example: Interspersed between the occasional house that HAS actually been restored, there are hundreds and hundreds of houses that are falling apart at the seams. Windows are boarded up, warning messages are written in spray paint: "Don't you DARE enter, mother [you-know-what]," and some houses look like they were never even returned to after the storm. If you look closely, you can see the watermarks from where the waters flooded all the way to the roof of some houses. In short, there are massive amounts of work left to do down here. And it's easy to become saddened by the fact that even though we are definitely working our asses off to build SOMETHING beautiful amidst the disrepair, how much will one house actually contribute to improving the whole problem? But that's an illogical approach, I know. One house at a time is the only way to go you know? One family at a time. I just wish there was more government assistance I guess, but that's another story. :)

Anyway, I'll put up pictures from here and the work site to give more of a visual. We also just found out today that...yes..we'll be in Wichita Falls, Texas for our next spike!!! It was our absolute last choice, like literally dead last, but still in Texas so it'll be alright. :) We'll be...drumroll please...HELPING TO FILE TAXES IN RURAL TEXAS!!!! Haha so random. But whatever, I need to learn about taxes someday right? And we'll be helping out people who really need to get their lives together, so it should be promising.

Well how are things with all of you?? I want updates. Personal life for me is all over the place right now. I'm doing everything I can to stay focused on the task at hand here, but my heart and mind for the most part are residing in Iowa. My most positive of thoughts are going that way. Love you guys.

Katie

MOUSE IN MY ROOM!!!

In related news I JUST SAW A MOUSE SCURRY ACROSS MY ROOM!!! :) I'm not killing it. Or tattling on it.

So much for keeping this updated.

Well a lot has happened since the last time I posted, that's for sure! For sake of preventing readers from dying of boredom, I won't recount every detail of the last two weeks. Let's just continue on as if this break never happened.

So I have my permanent team!!! It's so great. Last Thursday all the Team Leaders gathered all of us Sun Beams (what I like to call the members of Sun Unit :)) on the soccer field and taped obscure words on our backs, then directed us to figure out how we were connected. They let us mosey around the field for like ten minutes, utterly bewildered by the seeming lack of order in our words, before our business-only Unit Leader gathered us around and requested that we return to our rooms, there had been an incident. Well as many people assumed, but as I was oblivious to, it was all an act. The soccer field was a distraction for all 55 of us Sun Beams so the TLs could run into our dorm and set up the REAL system for the team revealing: A campus-wide scavenger hunt! It was awesome. The clues led us around campus for an hour and slowly but surely our teams were revealed to us. And my team is great! I got the TL that I wanted, and am on a permanent team with people who are going to be a blast to spend the next nine months or so with. I am closer to a few more than others, which is nothing but encouraging because now I'll have three-day road trips to get to know them. :) And we were told our first project....We're going to New Orleans!!!!! This is going to be amazing. After spending a week doing Katrina relief work in 2007, I swore I'd go back someday to pick up where I left off...and now I get to! Our cargo van is all packed up and we're almost all ready to go. I can;t wait to get this show on the road.

Along with the work we do as a team, every member of our team each has to assume a team role or two throughout the course of the year. I'll be using my experience in the Coe Admissions Office to recruit new members for the NCCC! I'll be able to go to colleges and high schools and talk to people about the program, so clearly up my alley.

I think I'll leave it at that for now. Keep ya posted!
kt