On the worksite...

Though I'm learning a lot here, one of the things I might be learning is that I'm much better at writing and talking than building things, and that might just have to be ok. Luckily, Habitat is happy to accept any help they get and haven't been ready to throw me off the worksite yet.

I spent the day working with Michelle, Steph, and Sandy building a set of stairs for one of the three houses we're working on (we're working at three houses on Clouet street, a few blocks from the core Musician's Village). Sometimes, it feels very disorganized- perhaps a by-product of having so many volunteers from so many different places that can only stay there for a week or a month at a time. Trying to do things on a tight budget to make the houses as cheap as possible for the homeowners also means that the materials aren't always first class, and today the drill and won't didn't quite feel like cooperating with me- I stripped screws so badly we had to cut the tops off rather than reverse them out.

However, we still managed to finish the edges (we can't plank it yet until we get some more materials), and it's pretty amazing to see a finished product. I know how to build a staircase now, even if I am better at explaining the process than actually using the tools (Michelle can handle that from now on).

Tomorrow, we might get rained out. I'd much rather get a lot more work done than spend a day sitting around camp when we have so little time here, but my shoulders are aching from a combination of a sunburn, sleeping on a cot, and using muscles I'm not used to using, so maybe some downtime and a chance to do some different jobs around camp is a really good idea.

Our group has been so postively received here. I always feel much more patriotic once I'm outside of Canada, though I haven't travelled much. The Habitat staffers we're working with are constantly commenting on how much they love working with us, with our enthusiasm and ability to work so well with each other. They say they love working with Canadians, as we're always an amazing group to work with. We're giving away pins and other Canadian paraphenalia, which people are always so excited to receive. I love that we have such a reputation, and that ability to help bring smiles to people's faces.

Day 1 on the site...

The Musicians Village

Things I Learned Today...

-it's still dark at 5:30am. This makes it hard to wake up.
-Sleeping on an air mattress also makes it difficult to get up.
-New Orleans is awfully hot in February.
-Buses sometimes get stuck in the mud, and then you get to ride in the bright pink Habitat bus.

Whee!

-When you work with insulation, you get to wear a mask like the Grey's Anatomy surgeons.

Steph's pretty much the coolest person I know.

-How to insulate the wrong way
-How to insulate the right way.
-When 300 people are attempting to shower, the water gets cold. (And sometimes there are newts in the shower! I saw one!)

Today was fulfilling. I was mostly painting, and then just insulating, but it still feels good to do something useful, especially when you take a walk around the area and see how much there is to be done.

Tonight, we hit up Bourbon Street for some eating, shopping, and sightseeing fun before getting up before dawn tomorrow morning again. Hopefully, we'll get to take a tour of the area we're working in tomorrow- while we've seen some pretty unbelievable things from the road, it's different seeing it all up close.

We found this while on a walk, down the street from where we're working.
Sometimes, pictures just speak for themselves.