Yup, another week has gone by without a posting. I don't know what is wrong with me. It's not like I don't have access to the internet or don't have the time...I just haven't felt motivated to write. I'll try to bring myself around, promise.
After our spring break, we started working again on Tuesday. We went to work on rebuilding a boxing gym in St. Bernard Parish. St. Bernard may sound familiar because this is one of the main spots that the levees broke and one of the hardest hit areas. This boxing gym is also a community recreation space and a pretty big deal to the neighborhood. We are working with Operation Blessing people who know construction stuff. Except for last Wednesday and Thursday, we've been there every day. I've painted, fitted insulation, used a chop saw, cleaned up tons of debris, and, my current project, helped build a deck. I'll post pictures of the gym on my photo site soon. (whenever I try to upload pictures while using the OB wireless internet, it always fails, so I need to go to the coffee shop down the street to put up pictures.)
Wednesday I did Ratbusters again with the City of New Orleans people. Instead of just baiting wires with rat poison, I went into the city and put the poison down storm drains. Kirk, the city employee I was assigned to, Katie and I rode around the French Quarter, the same area I had just explored during spring break. Thursday my team did Bugbusters. Since the hurricane, homes that were abandoned that had pools became giant breeding grounds for mosquitos. What Bugbusters does is release these fish called gambusia fish into the pools and the fish eat mosquito larve. I didn't actually do anything with the fish because all we did was go around to pools that already had fish in them at some point and recorded the current state of the pool. The neighborhood I went into had some really beautiful houses right on Lake Pontchartrain. Other than that, it was a pretty boring day.
Last weekend was the ultimate in not doing anything. Friday night there was a severe weather warning for our area, but nothing came of it. Just gray skies and some rain on Saturday. I watched the movie North Country and it was very good, although it was one of those movies that I don't think I could watch again. The sexual harassment was really hard to watch and I just wanted to scream at the men in the movie.
Saturday was very uneventful. I did finally see Happy Feet. I gotta be honest...I was disappointed. Yeah, there were some funny moments, but I think the movie was just dumb. Penguins are cute tho.
Sunday I went to church. This was the closest thing to my home church that I've been to so far. One thing that I almost threw a chair up to the front for was when the pastor was doing his sermon and talked about how guys may feel unappreciated going to work all day and women may feel unappreciated doing all the cooking and cleaning. Arrrrrg! Stinkin' southern sexist thinking! Now I know that the Momma would have gone up there and slapped that man silly.
Monday I stayed behind and cleaned the OB camp. Piece of cake since the other volunteer group that is here didn't know that only one of them stayed behind to help with cleaning so they did all the work before their 8:45 orientation meeting. Sweet deal for me! I did a couple of things that they missed and the rest of the day was a breeze.
I know that there is more to what is going on in my life than I am writing here, but sometimes I don't know what is interesting to read about and what is just ramblings about things that no one understands.
Today is one month from the day we leave Operation Blessing and head for Texas for transition week. That means one month and one week until I come home! I am very excited about seeing my people and being in a state that I understand the climate and ways of life. Please don't get me wrong...I love what I am doing and having the time of my life. Yes, sweating and doing manual labor for eight hours a day, five days a week is the time of my life. I know that I am making a difference in people's lives in the long run, even if I can't always see it and get discouraged now and then.
Tomorrow I am going to the Operation Blessing free medical clinic in New Orleans. I am the only one from my team going and I guess I'm going to be doing some filing and data inputting. I'm very excited to see the clinic and work there. The hospital system down here is still suffering and many doctors have moved their practices to other states. Operation Blessing provides free medical, dental and pharmacy services to anyone and everyone. Doctors, nurses, and anyone else in medical professions come down here to volunteer their time to the clinic, which I think is amazing considering the money they are giving up to do their jobs for free. I'll write about my experiences if not tomorrow, then very soon after. I've gotta get some sleep so I'll be fresh and bright in the morning (stop rolling your eyes...I'm talking to you Mom!)
No comments:
Post a Comment