Mom & Dad's Visit
Mom and dad came down the weekend before dad's birthday to see the new apartment and life here in Fort Worth. They were pleasantly surprised by the apartment and community I'm in. We had a really good visit, including a visit w/ some of their friends that live here as well.
They got in late on Friday night so we ordered a pizza from my favorite local joint - Mellow Mushroom. We also made a quick trip to the store to get some food for breakfast. Mom and dad noticed that my fridge was rather warm, which I had also noticed since I moved in. The food I keep in the fridge will ruin within just a few days, I had been very confused about it all, but hadn't though too seriously about it. When the food still wasn't getting cold on Saturday, they bought a thermometer to see just how cold it was getting. A typical fridge should be 40 - 55 degrees. Mine was well over 60!! All this time, I was eating food that could have made me very very sick. The discovery sure answered a lot of questions for me! Luckily I was able to get the fridge fixed very quickly the following week.
Sunday night we celebrated dad's birthday by going to Texas de Brazil, a Brazilian style steakhouse in downtown Fort Worth. I went there a few months ago for a friend's birthday and it was GREAT! You basically have 2 options to order from - the salad bar, which can easily fill you up. Or the salad bar w/ the meat. After a quick orientation from a server, you are provided w/ a 2 sided round disc, one side green, the other red. When you are hungry for amazing, fine meats, turn the card to green. When you have had enough or need a break, flip it to red. Servers carry dozens of slow roasted meats on skews throughout the restaurant, hunting for the green discs, to cut a slice onto your plate. It is excellent! And very overwhelming. It's pretty impossible to walk away still hungry!!
Here are a couple pictures from the visit:
It was a great visit! Thanks for coming mom and dad!!
New Orleans
In honor of anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, an organization called the St. Bernard Project was hosting a 24 Hour Build in New Orleans. They would work 24 hours straight, utilizing volunteers in 3 shifts, to help build and work on houses for residents of St. Bernard Parish who were still waiting to move back home from the devastation 4 years earlier. A group of AmeriCorps members, past and present, advertised the event and encouraged folks to sign up. Along with other AmeriCorps alums, a couple friends and I signed up to go!
After Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on August 29th, 2005, my duties as a 2 week in AmeriCorps member w/ the Red Cross bolted me to the front lines in Dallas w/ hundreds of other volunteers as we sheltered over 25,000 evacuees for nearly 60 days at 2 shelters in downtown Dallas. It was a tough, long, emotional, inspiring, very hard experience, but one that helped to shape who I am today and for that I am very proud of my time spent involved w/ the Katrina and Hurricane Rita relief.
About 10 months after Katrina, I went w/ a group of AmeriCorps alums to provide service in Biloxi, MS., and it was a great trip. But I really hadn't seen the impact in New Orleans. So this trip was one that enabled me see NOLA for my own eyes, as well as provide a very small hand in the rebuilding effort in the community.
I've been to New Orleans 4 times, but none of those visits were quite like this one. Here are some pictures of the trip:
We left early on Friday (8/28) and got on the road.
Halfway through Louisiana - Alexandria
Baton Rouge!
We got to New Orleans about 6:30, checked into the hotel, rested about 10 minutes, then headed for downtown!
Canal Street
We had dinner at Bubba Gump's. It was pretty good, if you like seafood. Not a great selection otherwise.
A stroll down the River walk
Immigrant's Monument, River walk
Jackson Square
Walkin down Bourbon Street in the French Quarter
...what's that smell?? Oh, that's just vomit. Yeah - it was nasty.
Jazz music!!
Fun times in the French Quarter, other than the nasty streets. Saturday morning we got up early and headed into St. Bernard Parish to the office we would be serving with.
The actual house we were working on was just a few miles away in the community of Violet. When it comes to service, I've done quite a bit over the past several years in non profit. I've done some Habitat for Humanity projects which would be the most transferable service to this project. However, to our surprise, our assignment was - electrical wiring. Wiring!? I had never done that!
An AMAZING family of the 3 were our supervisors for the project, specifically their 10th grader, Mott. He was a pretty cool guy and great supervisor. The family had been living in Pennsylvania until 2007 when they decided to pack up and move to New Orleans and take on the amazing task of serving the residents by helping to rebuild.
Heck ya, I'm an electrician!!
After our service, we tried to make it to a moment of silence and celebration, but got lost on the way! We decided to drive around the Ninth Ward:
The Levee
One of the new, "green" homes built by Brad Pitt's Make It Right Foundation
It looks so peaceful. A canal of the Mississippi River on the left, the levee as the divider, the 9th Ward on the right
On Saturday evening, the city was holding a vigil in the banks of Lake Pontchartrain to honor those lost in Hurricane Katrina. There were several remembrance events happening, but we chose to participate in the vigil. It wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be, but it was overflowing with heart and spirit.
On the Levee of Lake Pontchartrain
Lake Pontchatrain
When the vigil ended, there was dancing in the streets!
My favorite picture from the whole trip
Following the Vigil, we headed back to the French Quarter for our last evening. With recommendation from the family we worked with, we went to Frenchman Boulevard, where we were told we could easily find some live music. The area wasn't bad at all, but we went a restaurant where the live music was hidden and the food was overpriced. We relaxed for about an hour, then headed back to the hotel and went to sleep by 10:30! After a very long day, we were exhausted.
Not quite ready to leave, but time to go home, we headed west on I-10 towards Texas. Here's one final picture as we left The Big Easy.
The Superdome
It was a wonderful trip!! Great to see NOLA alive and kickin! I was surprised at how much is still left to be done, but there is a spirit and pride the city has that will not be broken. I can't wait to return.
New Job!!
Yep - I've switched jobs, AGAIN. I started this week managing student volunteer programs in Tarrant County (Fort Worth, Arlington area). As you know, I moved to Fort Worth early in the summer and this new job is officed about 10 minutes from house. I'll be working back in the non profit field, which I feel is where I'm supposed to be. I'll be managing a program called Youth Volunteer Corps of North Texas, connecting young people to service opportunities in their community, and partnering with teachers and educators to integrate service learning activities into the classroom. After 3 days, I LOVE IT!
So I will try not to go so long without posting so that I don't have such a HUGE post. I hope everyone is doing well!
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