This wake up was probably the toughest. The lack of sleep and relatively tough work was starting to catch up with us all. I ended up testing the oatmeal they provided (quite sugary due in part to the milk and excessive brown sugar they probably used), but skipped out on the sausage, which looked like all the juice had been evaporated from the meat.
Work hard or hardly working. We definitely were working hard. It was the other house that seemed to take breaks. I again had the “I know what I am doing so don’t tell me what to do” attitude with Sam, Sean, and Dave. I think we even had to order them around to help us out a few times. Can you measure this, yes you, hold that measuring tape…
Father Mick and Mary Smoker surprised us with little po’boy samplers, chips, and drinks for lunch. I tested out the turkey, a couple bites of fried shrimp, but just took a handful of BBQ chips and had a yogurt back at Camp Hope. I think my dad could deal with the po’boys here. At least he would have the option for sandwiches every day. I know how he needs to have the routine of chips, meat sandwich and carrots daily.
After cleaning up, we headed over to the Music Box, a musical project that was created last August. A group of artists took apart a blighted house and used the materials (all the materials) to create little buildings that somehow produced music. For example, there was an organ that was taken apart and used as steps. So basically as you scaled the steps, each one would make a sound. Another little house called the “stethoscope house” had a stethoscope that would magnify the sound of your heartbeat. Neat right?
I think I enjoyed the little rocking chair under one of the houses, where I could just sit and close my eyes and listen to the sounds around me. Gershin, infamous for falling asleep anywhere did happen to pass out in another rocking chair upstairs. We almost left him, but last minute decided that would be quite harsh 🙂
We left for our last day at the Good Shepherd school and drove along Burgundy Street and could gaze out at all the gorgeous New Orleans homes. That afternoon, we arrived early to the school, so we spent some time in the coffee/tea shop across the street. The sky looked a little hazy and sure enough, when we walked in and started ordering various drinks (green tea for me), the skies opened up and the rain came down in buckets. Paul wanted to go outside for a little bit, crazy kid. I preferred to stay dry. When we did leave the coffee shop, the rain had slowed to a slight mist and it was still humid outside…the warm rain similar to Hawaii, not like Northern California’s chilly storms.
This was our last day with the kids and I just want to send a shout-out to my family. Thank you so much for being there to help me with academics, sports, and just life. So many of these kids don’t have any of the access to resources or opportunities that we do and it is times like this that make me realize how much we do have and how much we have to be thankful for.
For dinner, we were invited to an all-boy’s Jesuit high school, actually called Jesuit High School. We broke up into groups for a little reflection, had a small mass with Father Jack and Father Mick, then had dinner and heard a little bit about our host’s experience with Hurricane Katrina.
In my reflection group I had Allan, Dominic, Mary Smoker, and Becca. Allan and Mary both shared some really interesting points about college, after college and simply doing what you like and what you believe in. Allan had an interesting background that I have to note upon, just because he had some great points to consider. He was from Portland, his brothers went to SCU, but he went to Notre Dame. He started out in architecture then decided it wasn’t for him, wanted to go into micro-brewing and when that didn’t work, so he approached an advisor and wanted to be an emergency room doctor. He has spent a number of 3-month stints at the base of Mount Everest helping as a doctor. Well, that’s what he does today and has taken a number of “trips” to work at the base of Mount Everest for a few months at a time. He said that the actions we take and decisions we make throughout our life may not make sense at that particular time, but at some point, they will come together. Think about where you find yourself on the weekend or when you have down time? What sections of the paper do you start to read? (Running, farmer’s markets, food, photography, travel, nature…) Life takes you in different directions, but always for a reason. You may not understand that reason at that particular time, but follow what you believe in and find what makes you happy and life will turn out all right.
I liked the mass because it was short and to the point, didn’t drag on with excess songs. 🙂
Dinner was alright, not my favorite, but it was very generous of the Jesuit Alumni director to host us. We had crawfish pasta with a sort of linguini/fetticuini sauce, gumbo over rice, potato chips, and some grocery store desserts. I sampled it all, put a significant amount of “Creole” seasoning (which by the way you can purchase at Target or probably any other grocery store) on the gumbo and pasta, but was still hungry afterwards.
Listening to the Jesuit direct was interesting, but went on a little long. Knowing that the outside temperature had been so warm and I hadn’t needed a sweatshirt the past few nights, I attended dinner in a t-shirt and running shorts. Big mistake when that air-conditioning came on and seemed to be directed towards my table. It turns out his entire family lives or lived in New Orleans and they all had to evacuate for the storm. One of sons actually lost his entire house to the storm. The school also sustained a significant amount of damage and they had to close the school for a period of time. Just like at Loyola, these students had to start the year at other schools, but were welcomed by other Jesuit schools (even in Texas where a number of families relocated temporarily or permanently).
“The be-all and end-all of life should not be to get rich, but to enrich the world”
– Bertie Charles Forbes
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