Howdy ya'll. Sooooo...last thursday, two thursdays ago my crew of 10 drove down to Pass Christian to replace the crew that has been down here for the last month. I'm on the field team with 4 other members (the other members are doing databasing and administrative work). We had the bonfire shown in the picture the first weekend we were down here while the other team was still around - it was great - as has been the norm. my ipod and speakers have become an integral part of the entertainment and were well used at the fire. Since I've been down here the field team has been doing a lot of work on a resident's house, his name is Jon. We've been insulating and putting up b-board for him. He's a great, friendly man and we've also come to know his father Ames too- since he helps out when he can. In fact, Ames invited us over for gumbo on Monday which we graciously accepted - it was fantastic. I felt bad for the girls who went cause Ames and my roommate Dolan got to talking about hunting, fishing and roofing for more than an hour and their passionate conversation dominated the airwaves. We've also been constructing and putting in a playground for a nearby town called Long Beach. This has been very easy, enjoyable work. Today we moved boxes and random shit in this stinky house for a guy with a broken back - it wasn't great. He was a cooky old man who seemed to want to tell us about every single item in his house: where he got his different canes, and what his girlfriend made him...he gave me some art work consisting of beer cans and shotgun shells screwed to a 2 by 4 with a van gogh like guy painted in the background.
We had Thanksgiving day off so I went for a run on the beach, played some frisbee, looked for stingrays (didn't find any but Amy found 2) and then we went out for dinner. We went to the Grand Casino in Biloxi and had their $20 Thanksgiving day buffet which Americorps payed for. It was tremendous - a very gluttonous time for all of us. Afterwards we went to a bowling alley - and though I didn't bowl - I bought a pitcher and danced to the jukebox. Over this last weekend we went to New Orleans, we checked in to our hostel (only $15 for volunteers), picked up some pocket-size liquors and headed to Burbon st. There were a lot of people walking on both Canal and Burbon st. - hundreds - more than I expected- 10 white peoplr in a pack stood out but I felt safe the whole time. There were also a lot of cops out in small bands of 10-15 usually with two on clydesdales which strikes an intimidating picture. The first bar that drew us in, The Grand Opera ended up being a bar we would go back to throughout the trip. The have live music most of the time, and the night we stopped in they had a band doing covers of oldies songs. We went back there later in the evening to dance - the dj was playing some good hip hop. The rest of the night we just went from bar to bar picking up drinks, people watching. The dancing was the highlight for me. The next day we walked around the French Quarter: the market, saw street performers and street bands and went to art galleries and book stores. The French Quarter looks great since it was virtually untouched by the storm - we drove to some parts of the 9th Ward and you see a lot of abandoned buildings and water lines - it looks like someone took a dirty green paint brush and went down every block painting a line half-way up the houses. The bad, bad parts of New Orleans are blocked off.
Also Good Morning America was in Pass Christian last week, 200 ft. from our tent doing a segment on the city with a focus on a particular guy by the name of Jonathon Price who ran from L.A. to New York to Pass Christian raising money for the city. He raised over a $125,000 for the city.
Well, that's all I got time for right now, peace and love, Kevin
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