It's been pretty uneventful at work - we've made friends with our site supervisor, Will, and have done a lot of exterior painting and things like that. Today we began prepping the interior of half of the house. The house is divided into two sides (which is really common in New Orleans), and one family lives in each side - one half belongs to a mother, and the other belongs to her daughter - and one side has been done by contractors so the families can move out of their FEMA trailers finally, after six years!
Tomorrow we will probably begin painting the interior with Marshmallow paint (the paint's name is Marshmallow).
Yesterday we also met another volunteer group from Florida, who told us the 88 degree weather is cool for them! We, obviously, were fanning ourselves and applying more sunscreen as they told us this.
One of the contractors, Mario, has been telling us a lot about New Orleans, before, during, and after Katrina. We learned about the Cajun people, and that many New Orleanians never leave the city, because their families are so rooted here. This made it even more difficult for Katrina survivors, because they had to leave the destroyed home behind that had belonged to their parents, grandparents, their parents, their parents, and their parents before them.
On a happier note, Mario also called his son, a food critic, who told us to go to Mulate's for dinner, since we wanted authentic creole food. We literally got a little bit of everything from alligator to crawfish to gumbo to jambalaya to frog legs! Even the vegetarians in the group ate meat last night because it was so delicious! We all danced to the cajun music and had a great time.
We've discovered a new coffeehouse down the street from where we are staying, and it is pretty...unique. It is a combination of art and voodoo. I don't think it gets more like New Orleans than that!
All for now,
Love and Jambalaya,
The PNOLA Team
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