New Orleans, LA Part 1

Hello from sunny NOLA!

Today is Tuesday the 18th and we arrived here Saturday the 15th - it already seems like an eternity! We have done so many things and accomplished so much!

I'll give a brief overview of the what part of what we've done and then I'll spend a little time reflecting.

Saturday - Picnic at Audubon Park with members of First Street United Methodist (we have 10 Hamline students there) then we were dropped off at the site we are staying at. There are 20 students here. We settled in and a few people went out to the French Quarter.

Sunday - Woke up early! Went to the French Quarter for a Historical Cemetery Tour. We saw the grave of the reputed Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau along with learning a lot of history from Ernie - our guide. Then we drove to the upper ninth ward and got out and wandered in the neighborhood, talked to residents, etc. Then we drove to the lower ninth ward and did the same except there were no residents - I'll get into this more in the reflection part of this piece later. We then changed clothes and went on a swamp tour in which we learned a lot about alligators and had a chance to hold an alligator named Fifi - I'm sure I'll post a picture at some point! It was a very long day but we returned and made ourselves an amazing dinner and had some time to talk. In the evening several people went to Cafe du'Monde for Beignets

Monday - We were oriented in the morning by UMCORE (United Methodist Committee On Relief Efforts) this is who my group and Alicia's group are staying and working with for the week. Then we finally got our assignment which was painting an iron fence that went around Ms. Louise's house. We also got to do some gardening but that doesn't happen till later. Monday evening myself and the other leaders staying here went to dinner.

Today (Tuesday) - We went back to Ms. Louise's house and finished the painting and scraping and made several beautiful flower beds for her.

Check back later for my thoughts on all of these exciting endeavors!