So, I might be ok.

Back from the clinic, beaming because i got to have a wonderful catfish po-boy. Basically a sub with catfish, and cheese and dressings (lettuce, tomato ect.) YUM.

I had to go to a lab because the Dr. is concerned that the root of the issue is not only me, but the living conditions. Perhaps the bacteria is from the very sanitized bathrooms. I'll hear back in a few days.

Other than that i am feeling ok. I wish there was more I could do. I just keep seeing things every where that make me want to hug the whole city and fix it. I want the city to be 5 years old and to fix every problem in the world, all that is needed is a kiss and a hug. I guess this is my version of that hug.

New Orleans, i love you, and I will help fix you.

70 mosquito bites and a free clinic.

As of this morning, 7:50am on Monday(?) i have atleast 70 mosquito bites over my body, atleast that i can see and count. And they itch.

My new adventure for the day. I am heading to a free clinic with a group of boys from NY. There crew has gone from the gumbo gatos to the injury squad and they need to get a foot and nose looked at. I, the ever amazing sicky, have a re-occurring UTI that YES i went to the drs for before and I left and YES i took the medicine all the way through and YES it is back. So. I head out with them soon to get the checked out and we'll see what a free clinic is like.

Mike and I slept so well last night with our new fans. Its wonderful.

Highlights of yesterday that i forgot to add:

finding a magot city infront of our bathroom. They are coming out of the wall. We tried to kill them with the cleaner simple green, but alas they are mutant magots and merely kept crawling around. ew.

Our electricity went out. That was not so fun because all the fans went off and boy was it hott!!!!


Talk to you soon.

I showered.

It happened. I was hott and sweaty and decided to give in. I also fell out of the shower and hurt my butt cheek. Mike and I got a ride to Lowes and bought 2 fans, which make a huge difference in the room we just moved in to. We are now in a safer, more comfortable room, which is great.

After lunch (which Mike and I missed because we borrowed bikes and rode around. We found some really awesome houses which have been fixed up as well as a 2 blocks of Habitat Houses. they are painted these really bright and awesome colors.) Mike, myself and 3 other guys went to the house of Raymond and his wife to help them move their big stuff from their house to the house next door while their house is being fixed up. They were really sweet and gave us coke, water as well as a ton of booze. It was like hitting the jack pot for the boys who have been here for months and have no money. Kinda funny too because we had to smuggle it in. There is a zero tolerance on alcohol because we are in an elementary school.

Once that job was over, we headed over to the distribution center where we were picked up and brought to St. Bernards church. There is a massive collection there of clothing, furniture and pianos (google something like katrina fund pianos or something along those lines. they are soley for musicians who lost their pianos and their careers depend on it). We gathered a truck load of stuff and then headed to Rally's Burgers. I guess its like checkers or in and out, none of which i had been to before. It was REALLY good. While we were there, Mike and I helped push a car that had run out of gas. Quite and expirience.

Tomorrow is gutters day off, and technically Mike and I are gutters. We are hoping to buy some bikes at the bike shop and ride in to town. Maybe go see Amy, or maybe the aquarium. We'll see. Then HOPEFULLY we'll start gutting on Tuesday.

Its been a very interestng day. I am restless. I want to do more than just support the people of Common Ground. Although I recognize the importance, i want to get out there to people who NEED the help. Also, the more days i spend in the heat, the less i want to get into a Tyvek suit and gut. We'll see.

Also we were told today a rumor which truly upsets me. Many of the residents have said that right before the water came in there were 3 large explosion sounds in sucession. It has been known that in the 30's and the 50's the Army Corps of Engineers blew up the levees so that the water did not go toward the french quarter, but flowed in to lower grounds AND confessed to it. The rumor is such that the Army blew up the levees because they felt the 9th ward was disposible where the French Quarter was not. This makes me very upset and angry.

Wish List:
Calamine Lotion
More shorts - the jeans are not so great
AC- truly a selfish wish, but not a necessity
A car
confidence
the truth.
a better understanding of myself.

Do i really want to shower?

These are our showers. And as i said before, its hott. Yes, that is a hott with 2 t's because it is so bloody hot. But thankfully, i am getting used to it. Which also means the desire to shower is getting less and less and the dirty hippie in me is begining to reveal its ugly yet beautiful head. Its not that I don't want to be clean, its just that i keep sweating through everything that i don't want to waste more clothes. And also, the showers scare me.

I have been up since 6, ready to gut. That was only to find out that we would be put on the grounds team, meaning cleaning the lovelyness here. Oh did i say lovelyness, i meant to say we were cleaning the shit that someone left in the showers. Apparently this isn't an uncommon occurance, the incident can be blamed on the person known as "the shower shitter". GREAT. So now everything is clean. Mike and I are just waiting around. Later we will be helping someone move in.

Wonderful story about bed time. Befoe bed, I was told about the spiders that are in the ungutted houses. The can be sizes of fists and are poisonous. I went to sleep before most others, i was exhausted. When Mike came in, i stirred and noticed something crawl into my towel which was folded on the bookcase. I obviously had a fit and Mike saved the day by removing my imaginary spider. Mike came back and said it was all taken care of. Today whle sweeping, i found a 4 inch cockroach in front of our room and that indeed was the culprit of the evening before. I can do cockroaches, i can not handle the idea of fist sized poisionous spiders.


WONDERFUL.

First day...

WELCOME TO NEW ORLEANS.
Its 92.3 degrees inside the distribution center. Its way more that that outside.

Mike and I arrived to NOLA after an exciting 24-hours filled with moving and shopping and lacking sleep. We created a bit of a stir, well ok, i created a bit of a stir... My name was spelled wrong on the ticket. It said "Suzi" not "Susan" and so i was then tagged for a search and all that fun crap. I was tired and grumpy and being pulled aside was no what i was looking for at 5:30am. Once we arrived we came straight to common ground and got signed in. We were told to watch all our stuff and lock up any major belongings that we could not part with. Where would we lock them up you ask?

Where we are staying is St. Mary's of the Angels elementary school on congress street. Its been cleaned up to where it habitable to an extent (the asbestos on the stage is being covered by a plastic tarp with the writing "asbestos=bad do not remove").
Everyone is sleeping in classrooms which either have a few beds, cots or the floor.

Lunch is cooked outside in a large makeshift kitchen and its pretty tasty. Today was corn on the cob, dirty rice, chicken and beans, salad, potato salad and kiwi. Water is sparse and also potentially dangerous. We can only drink the water from the blue hose. There are 2 bathrooms which have a total of about 5 working toilets, none of which have doors. The rest are just porcelin holders for shit. litterally. The sinks are ok to wash your hands, but not your face or to brush your teeth with. There are also port-a-potties which have been gleefully basking in the sun all day. Nice and ripe!

In our classroom there is a message on the chalk board which reads: "Sorry for the school, but the shelter was a blessing. We had to bring over 200 people here with no help from any coast guard boats. People died and are still in there house, we had to leave them. We asked the coastguard for help and got NONE. Thanks to Micky, McKinley, Eric, Phil, Tyrone, Karl B, Cory, TJ, Roy, Ray Ray, Richard, Cedrick, Jeff D. Jeff, Ben, Big Greg, Rick, 10th Ward Al, Lance, Boogie Anthony. We saved the whole project. They left us here to die. God, Sons, Spirit Ghosts." Thats kinda hard to read as well as hard to be sleeping under. We both have cots which is nice and hopefully they'll stick around.

Mike and i have a corner to ourselves where we hope to keep our stuff, but its going to be probable that we will lose some stuff to looters. For example : today while working in the distribution center, organizing clothes, my sunglasses happened to wander off. Luckily for me, I was being taught a lesson by "Skunk", as he had grabbed them and said becareful what you leave around.

Tonight is a fundraiser some where that we hope to attend. Its going to be based on car. We decided not to rent one because of cost, but in retrospect, it may have been easier to have. Whatever. This is all just a shot in the dark. It is most likely that we won't go, only because we are both exhausted and have to get up early for the begining of our work schedule.

Tomorrow we hope to start our work in the lower 9th Ward. There will be alot of gutting work to be done. We're told that its going to be miserable so prepare for the heat. As for showers they are outside, so, its a quickie. We're hoping that Russel and Amy might let us have a real shower every so often :)

Things are weird here. Good parts, things are happening. I can see changes from March, which is great. The people here are strange, and unfortunately have not a lot of respect for other peoples belongings. We have been told again, so many times, "one thing to remember, don't leave your stuff around".

I am hoping that after our orientation on Monday, we'll get to know some more folks and feel more comfortable. We had a community meeting tonight where we introduced ourselves. I think with people knowing we're new, they might be kinder. I am hoping to adjust to the heat and be able to sleep tonight.

Wish List:
fan for room (we do have electricity so, wanna send us a fan?)
clean and endless supply of water
friendly and trust worthy people
bigger lockers
a rental car
a clearer understanding of what i am doing here
stregth and patience to perservere through tough times (including very hot days)

it was suggested that while i am here to leave my address. Realizing of course, mail is not garunteed to be delievered.

2225 North Congress St New Orleans, LA 70117