Monday, March 20, 2006

day one

You want to know my first thought waking up at 6:45 this morning? It went something like this...I'm staring at the warehouse beams above my cot thinking "I'm in New Orleans. I'm IN New Orleans. I'm actually in NEW ORLEANS." It was crazy. Maybe it only makes sense if you know me and the way I talk. Anyways, the day started off with breakfast of biscuits and gravy and bacon. Next, orientation. Our Cal Poly group is about seventy-five students. Twice as many girls as guys. Over thirteen hundred students total staying in Light City just this week. We are in the Ninth Ward, which is next to St. Bernard Parish (closest to Lake Pontchartrain and hardest hit by the levee breaks). The staff also explained some of the other markings on houses. Lots of place are marked TFW. There are a couple of theories going around. One is that it stands for Toxic Flood Water which I don't believe. Toxicity cannot be localized to one house. Its water; everything just gets diluted. And how did they test for it? The other is Task Force Whiskey which I see that as more likely. These were the first guys sent by the government to begin searching houses. The weird part is, I don't understand why they would want it to be a secret with the cover toxic flood water story.
I met our team for the week. There are seven of us, three guys and four girls. One of the guys is the only one over 21 so he's our team leader and driver. Our set of wheels is this sweet minivan. The annoying thing is that the flashers turn on everytime a door opens. We had little get-to-know-you questions that none of us really answered. And read the "How to Properly Gut a House" instructions. Isn't that ironic? Properly and gut in the same sentence. Well, I thought it was funny. After the meeting we got assigned to Dennis' house. He had duplex that was already gutted out. We just had to knock down the ceiling. It was really fun kicking down the sheetrock. I like tearing down the big pieces. It makes clean up easier. Ugh, clean up is the worst part. And the insulation fiberglass is so itchy. Once the ceiling was done it was to the little tedious jobs. Like cleaning the bathtub that had managed to collect everything and pulling nails from all the studs. Yeah, the less glamorous type of work. Lunch was hot dogs(the week before us had hot dogs for six meals in a row-breakfast, lunch, and dinner), beans(which looked gross and I don't eat in the first place), and chocolate chip cookies(and I just realized I shouldn't have eaten any since I gave up chocolate for Lent). The weather wasn't too hot just humid.
When we got back to camp, rain was forecasted and they needed all the extra cots boxed up and covered. That madness was interesting. When we finished and headed inside, this guy ran out to tell everyone waiting in line for showers that there was a severe weather warning and to immediately go inside if the airhorns go off. YAY! Severe weather!
I just finished dinner which was amazing after a long day of work. Beef stew and stale biscuits never tasted so good. Trust me. I have had seven bottles of water so far. Next adventure is the showers.