New Orleans - Day One

I apologize in advance for not having photos with this, but I didn't manage to rustle my digital camera out of my bag until this evening. Hopefully I will have a chance to take some tomorrow.

Arrived in New Orleans this afternoon, and was scheduled to meet up with the relief team just before 7pm. Weather was 90 degrees and muggy (of course) but it wasn't nearly as bad as I feared it would be. Granted, I haven't done a lick of work yet, so my opinion might be different tomorrow night, but that's where it stands at the moment.

The area around the airport seemed to be mostly in tact. The only indication I could see that Katrina had even been there were numerous billboards from a variety of different companies saying "We're back."

As we got on I-10 to go downtown, however, the scene was very different. I was at Ground Zero 3 months after September 11th, and it didn't look as bad as downtown New Orleans does almost a year later. The Superdome has a big sign that says the Saints will be coming back in the 2007 season, but the roof is still torn up, and chain link fencing surrounds most of it and everything else in the area.

We passed the infamous university hospital, and the hotels were people were sequestered...all still boarded up, and all very very eerie.

Our hotel is just around the corner from there. It's one of the few businesses open in the area, and I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say that it's possible that our group of 10 are the only folks staying here. It's a beautiful high-rise hotel, built in 1932 and was originally the Sears Roebuck building. We have been told that maid service will not be available every day, and possibly no more than once during the week that we are here. I personally don't mind, as I sit here with free internet in air conditioned comfort, as opposed to a cot in the elementary school where the majority of the relief workers are based.

Everyone walked down to the French Quarter for dinner, and had the quintessential (but alcohol free because we had students with us) New Orleans experience. We had dinner at a hotel on the corner of Bourbon street, on a 2nd floor balcony, with the music of several different jazz clubs playing. It was a hot muggy evening, but the music was great, the food was yummy, and capped a perfect day. :)

We're meeting in the morning to go out to St. Bernard Parish....into what has been termed as the hardest hit, and most impoverished areas. Our task (as I understand it at the moment) is to help folks move stuff out of their houses and salvage what we can, and re-build what we can. The relief group we're working with is providing meals and all the water we can drink during the day so that we stay safe. I have more tools and gear than I know what to do with, so I am very confident that I'll be covered in that regard.

Well, 5am central time is going to come very early, so I had better cut things off here. I'll keep you posted on everything else that's going on.