Our bloggers today are Ryan Beutler and Colin Morgan with Ryan starting. . .
Imagine New Orleans in April; warm, sun is shining, and the birds are chirping...but not today. We woke up up knowing that the weather would be iffy, but also knew our spirits were as high as the plane we flew down on. Each day starts with what's known as Morning Watch, a time for us to read a story with a theme relating to what we do. This morning it was about a monkey who gets it's arm stuck in a trap, with the only way of freeing itself by releasing the rice it wants within the trap. Yet the monkey doesn't because it wants what is inside, and doesn't think about changing its thoughts. Much like the monkey, we to must cahnge our ways and our wants throughout this work week. We arrived at the work site bright and early at 7:45, the sky was overcast and it was drizzling out. Our worksite was on Eagle Street, and the house was in its first stages of construction. The ground was level and the only structures up so far were the cement pillars about 3-4 feet high of which the house would be built on top. This was so that the houses would be raised in the case of another flood.
Seeing that we would be doing manual labor, I was pretty excited because we truly were building homes. Not painting, or detailing, just building. At first out group split into two, prepping the lumber from the storage container and the other's putting termite barriers on the cement pillars. Boy oh boy, I never knew how much work it would actually be. We lifted things up and we put things down. Then we did it some more. But that's what the work is. It's not glamorous, but definiately necessary and moving wood that we'd use later on and for the rest of the week surely was improvement even though we couldn't really see it. Lunch came around on a truck and that was banging. Then we got back to work.
The afternoon consisted of cutting up collosal planks of wood which would become the sills to support the floor system. From start til the end of the day, it was pretty obvious how much more efiecient we got. Around two o'clock the skies looked threatening. A storm was quickly approaching and we knew our time was running out. Mike our worksite director sternly warned us to get our stuff ready in case the rain began to pour. And of course it did.
Sadly our work day was cut short, but on the "brightside" everyone got a much needed shower (i won't say any names in specific). Still we left with some boards put in place, the lumber we need for the next day ready, and the sense of accomplishment and excitement thet'll fuel us through the week.
And Colin. . .
We ended the day early - finished with one adventure and on to the next... as we walked through the hotel, 13 people drenched from head to toe - I couldn't help but notice the looks we got as we shuffled through the halls. As we cramed into the elevator with 12 of us, that's when it happened. Our elevator broke down - between floors. And we were trapped. The elevator number seven didn't prove to be kucky today. David picked up the emergency phone and we had to wait for our hero Willam the hotel technican to help us out. As we waited inside we were joking, getting scared, and having David yell at us all at the same time. We finally climbed out of the elevator while it was in between floors. Needless to say, we all felt lucky to be alive, or maybe it was just me.
What a crazy day. All of that in one day, that New Orleans for ya!
We made our way to the church here in town and had Jim's famous red beans and rice, delectable to say the least. On the way back to the hotel there was a beautiful sunset and so we made an impromtu stop and climbed the levee for a great view of the Mississippi. I've never seen such a beautiful river with a Louisiana sunset puting us in awe. All is well here in New Orleans!
Holy smokes! A baptism by water. Sounds like a crazy, scary, wonderful day.
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