Cajun crazies

Day 70: Working 10 hour days is much harder than I anticipated. I’ve been going to sleep very early, and still feeling exhausted after 8 hours of sleep. This has definitely taken a toll on my grad school preparations and life in general outside of the AmeriCorps. I’m excited to see how next around affects me, with working 5 days a week and having 2 days off.

We have been doing some really great work with Habitat. I am learning a TON of new skills along with the ins and outs of building a house from scratch. It is really interesting how each task can be done several different ways, and that in many cases precision is not always necessary. The Habitat staff has allowed us to work on our own and take the time to master a task. Although last weekend was pretty hectic, it was nice to work one-on-one with Habitat this week in order to learn more about construction.

I have attached some pictures so that you all can see the progress we have made on the houses. It’s amazing to think that just last week we were working on a concrete slab.

I am really excited to be in New Orleans and work with Rebuilding Together. We will probably be working on several different houses doing repairs in various areas of their homes. It will be fun to get to do several different tasks and possibly learn some new skills. I’m also really excited to spend an extended amount of time in New Orleans. There are so many things I have wanted to see and do while I am there, but never got the chance to. I have spent much of my time in the French Quarter, so I hope I get to spend time outside of there and in other parts of the city.

Yesterday we worked the Festivals Acadiens et Croeles. It was so fun! We sold Coca-Cola products at various stands at the festival. The one that I worked at, you could see the stage from. It was nice to hear the music and see many couples dancing in true Cajun fashion. We worked about 12 hours, so we were pretty tired at the end of the day. I ate so many yummy things! Cajun sausage, baked potato stuffed with crawfish etouffe, peach cobbler, homemade potato chips, seafood bouillon balls, and funnel cake! SO GREAT! It was just awesome to finally get a taste of the Cajun culture and be around all of the crazy drunks.

We only have 2 more days working with Habitat and then we head back to Vicksburg. Next entry will probably be from there.