Me on the job! Bangs temporarily eliminated due to outside work in the morning. It's been quite a week: Physically and emotionally exhausting, but well worth it. I'm really enjoying my new volunteers-in-the-morning, newsletter-in-the-afternoon schedule. The exercise (both mental and physical) is good for me. I sleep well at night.
On Thursday, my Colorado Springs volunteers and I headed to clear a resident's yard. When showing us where her property lines were and what grass she wanted cut, she mentioned as an afterthought that she would like it if we could level her back yard. It was clear why: her contractor had left the soil in huge, solidified mounds, making the entire backyard a series of hard, lumpy hills. We made quick work of the grass cutting and had about two-thirds of the yard leveled by the first day. The group was only going to be there for two hours the next day, so I hoped that with a little luck we could finish the rest. I arrived late to the site Friday due to our weekly staff meeting. I couldn't believe my eyes. The yard was leveled.
We spent the last hour clearing the back yard of debris and leveling it even more precisely. When the resident came out, she was stunned, saying that she had already thought it was beautiful the day before and that this was more than she had ever expected. She cried as she hugged each and every one of us. I was previously unaware that, due to physical limitations, she had been entirely unable to walk in her backyard in the state it was in before. Now she can. It's so easy to underestimate the impact that fifteen people with a couple of shovels can do, and yet. . .There it was.
The resident repeated the phrase, "you can't know" over and over. Finally she explained, "you can't know unless you've lived through it," she told me. "But those with heart will try to imagine. Those like you all." I can't even explain what that moment did to me.
That afternoon I went out with my coworkers Burke, Ken, Lubaina, and Jessica (all in the Architectural Design studio) to The Bywater Restaurant and had my first catfish of the trip. $5.95 for perfectly fried and seasoned catfish, fries, and 'slaw can't be beat.
The Colorado Springs volunteers were kind enough to invite me to a cookout they were having at the church they were staying at. It was a wonderful, warm event and reminded me bittersweetly (bitter because I miss them; sweet because they're awesome) of my own church and youth group. It was hard to say goodbye to such an incredible group of volunteers, but I feel certain that they'll all be returning to New Orleans some day, and that helps a lot. The title of this entry is something that one of the youth group leaders, Julie, told me as we reflected on our week. It's a simple, pure philosophy that I will certainly take with me.
Later that night I hung out with Morgan, Petra, Alex, and Megan at our friend Matt's, who goes to Xavier, place. It was a nice, relaxing end to the week.
I did squat for most of Saturday, and that needed to happen. That night Petra, Balint, and I had a picnic in Audubon Park (across from Tulane and Loyola universities) with our program leaders, Stephen and Yoni, and their respective girlfriends and dogs.
Yoni and Bunny, the dog from hell (in a good way). Later Balint, Petra, and I splashed (illegally?) around in the park's fountain and just walked around in the warm summer night. My favorite kind of weekend, really. I woke up covered in bugbites. Worth it.
Balint and Petra on the fountain's edge.
