Day 7

Wow. All I can say is wow. This week went by so fast. Today was another day at the broadmoor house doing some more painting. It looks so much better than when we started. There is definitely some work that still needs to be done, but we are finished for the week. Its amazing that it felt like such a short week and yet so long at the same time. I swear it only feels like days since I was last here. After coming home from work, we got to shower and relax for quite some time, before jambalaya for dinner. Our next adventure was heading out to Rock-n-bowl for a night of dancing and bowling. Olivia, Dean and I dressed up in all sorts of fun bright colors and put on mardi gras beads (we kinda looked like idiots, but it was fun). Our own little group favorite, Amanda Shaw, a country/zydeco singer, NOLA version of Taylor Swift was there and it was a lot of fun. She was the star and reason behind the imax we saw, hurricane on the bayou. We danced and partied (especially Me, Dean, and Olivia) until about midnight. I am ready to crawl into bed and pass out. I will miss this group, as we had a lot of fun. I will have to make sure to keep in touch with everyone. Until the next adventure, this is Ben signing out
Good night
Ben
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Day 6

Hey ya'll,
Another fun day in the crescent city. We got a lot more done on the house we've been working on, and it looks great. After a long sunny day of work, we went to smoothie king for some good fruity satisfaction. Next, we got home, showered, and hightailed it to Magazine St. for some shopping and walking around. We had a great time. Following that, we went to "the fly" which is a section of Audubon park on the Mississippi. We ate pizza and crawfish for dinner. I still don't like crawfish, although I want to. Next, we went and threw a football around for a little while. For some reason, I'm just exhausted, so I am going to have to cut tonight's post short. Tomorrow is the last full day of the rustic trip, and my it has gone by quick. For the night, I'm out.
Ben
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Day 5

Hey everyone,
End of day 5 here in beautiful New Orleans. This morning, we got up as usual, and then went to work on the houses in the Broadmoor neighborhood again. We went back to the same house and got some more scraping and painting done. We are almost completely done with the place and it looks great on the outside. We don't work on the inside, but I think it's in good condition. The idea behind fixing up the outside is that if the visible part of the house looks good, than crime in the area will go down, because it isn't already looking run-down. The colors are not typical of the neighborhood, as most houses are bright colors, or at least a color of some sort. The new colors on our house are grays, blacks, and white trim. It's kind of boring, although it looks really classy. I don't remember if I wrote about smoothie king yesterday, but it's so good, that it would be worth talking about again. It is a place that makes all sorts of smoothies, fruity and otherwise that are healthy for you (kind of) and you can add in enhancers like energy, protein, muscle builder, stress relief, and more. They are just so delicious. After work, we returned home to wind down, shower and relax. Once the other group got back, we all went to see an imax movie about the hurricane. It's still a big deal here and obviously something that is in people's heads. I really love it here, and don't want to leave yet. I have decided I want to come back for another week this summer and work almost solely with habitat, building homes, instead of all the different organizations. It would be really cool to come down with the whole family, and maybe even some cousins etc, to make it a big thing as a family. After the imax, we came back to the house and started a fire in the grill to make hamburgers, and then for dessert, smores. Later, we played cards, watched some comedy, and are now about to go to bed. It has been a long day, so I'm out for the night.
Until next time
Ben
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Day 4

Hey ya'll,
The big easy is great as usual. Today, we went out to the
Barataria wetlands to work with the Barataria Terrebonne National Estuary Program (BTNEP). We did a lot of clearing on the paths and cutting back of vegetation. The amount of land lost due to natural causes, ie: humans damming up rivers, is astounding. One football field is lost every 38 min. Thinking on a larger scale, that's over 25 football fields of land lost every day. Thinking of the history of the environment and NOLA, the damming and levees have really hurt us overall. There was initally natural hurricane protection with all of the swamp land and other land. Now the Mississippi no longer overflows its sediment to create new land, or build upon present landsan hence why the land is "sinking". After that, we ate a late lunch and then came home. We relaxed, showered, and got ready for more of the afternoon. Most of the group went to Tulane for a tour(not me as I'm going next week). Meanwhile, Dean and I went on a mission to find a music store for guitar strings, a walgreens for allergy medicine, and a gym for him and Eric to work out at while here. No luck on the gym. It was quite the adventure, as we got lost on the way back. We got to see some of the very wealthy area of New Orleans. When I say wealthy, I mean huge mansions, Range Rovers, BMWs, Mercedes, Bentleys. Real money here. It is really crazy the separation between the upper and lower class here. Very evident in many aspects. It never ceases to amaze me at how different it is here from home, and just people's mentality, and way of life. I absolutely love it. Once we finally got home, we ate dinner quick and following the fastest shower I've ever taken, got in the van to head out to lake Ponchartrain, and just look out at the water. It was very pretty, although the smell wasn't great. Next, we ventured to Magazine St (my second time today with the music store and walgreens) for some ice cream. We went to la divina gelateria, or basically an awesome gelato place. I love this city and could easily see myself going to college here, and maybe living at some point. You never know.
I'm going to turn in for the night.
Check yo'self,
Ben
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Day 3

Hey. Today,we got up, had cereal for breakfast, and then went off to the Broadmoor neighborhood to work on our service project for the day. We worked on fixing up a house in two groups. Mine was Addison, Kate, Dean, Lauren and I. We did some painting as well as stripping of paint. Overall, it was a good day, and we got things done and had a lot of fun. We went to smoothie king after and had some really great smoothies. We came back to the house and watched more of the movie. It really is amazing to see things from the perspective of those who were affected during the storm and lost everything. Then, we went out and went back into the french quarter to preservation hall to listen to some jazz. All of these seasoned musicians playing their hearts out with classic tunes. Man, they have got some serious pipes(music term for powerful lungs). Now we're back home and about to sit down and watch more of the movie. That's all for now
Ben
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Day 2

So today was amazing. I was up at 6:30 with Lewis as well as Dean and Eric and we drove to city park to go for a nice run for about half an hour. It was gorgeous here even in the morning. It was already like 70 degrees at 7am. Next, we went to the French Quarter, where we had a while to roam around, shop, and explore. The guys went to brea'fast getting a buffet at the market cafe. I went there last year too and had alligator nuggets. I did get them again, and they were amazing. It is real alligator meat, in the form of chicken nuggets. As always, New Orleans is great. We then met up at cafe du monde for beignets, the best food ever. Its like fried dough, but better. They come with mounds of powdered sugar and are just heaven. After the cafe, we explored a little more, and then returned back to the house for some r&r. Before the evening activities, Lewis, Dean, Eric, and I went to smoothie king, which is like jamba juice. They make smoothies, and add in whatever you want. Then after returning home for more relaxation, we left for Tipitina's where we partook in a fais do do, Zydeco or Cajun dancing. It was amazing and crazy. Everyone was into it and everyone was dancing. It was truly a great time. We returned home again, just in time to eat dinner, pasta with add-ins. After dinner, we watched part 1 of 4 of the movie, "When the Levees Broke". It is a great documentary of Katrina conditions in NOLA. Now, I'm exhausted and need to go to bed before I pass out and drop the phone.
Until later,
Ya'll stay warm,

Ben
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Day 1

Hey ya'll. Day 1 back in the big easy was great. Sorry I didn't get a chance to write last night. Everyone was really tired. Anyway, day one went pretty well. After landing and getting our bags, Lewis and I met another girl names Ma from Dubai(she boards at Deerfield Academy), and 2 of our Rustic Pathways staff members. Eric from Ohio, and Dean from Australia. The rest of the group consists of Addison and Kate from California, Olivia from Connecticut, Alex from New Jersey, and Dan from Canada, as well as staff members Lauren (originally from MA but has been in NOLA for a year) and Heather from New Mexico. It looks like a pretty good group. We (Ma, Lewis and I) got to go rto the ninth ward where most of the worst destruction from Katrina was. We got right up to the levees. We learned about a guy called the gray ghost. He goes around the city painting over graffiti with a gray paint roller. He actually sued the british street artist banksy for doing graffiti. Its weird because technically he is doing it as well. Then we hung around the house for the night. That's it for day 1. More later
Ben
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry