End of day one

So here we are after Pingie fixed my computer, just a quick note about our day.

Orientation was very informative. Dave Harms, I think he said his name was, I am going without notes now, anyway, Dave gave us some sad statistics about the recovery process here. In a nut shell, it is slow. Very slow. I will get all the numbers and facts from my notes when I get back to our house at OHH and fill you in later.

At first glance driving through NOLA appears to be nearly normal. The traffic is heavier than it was last year, so that means people are coming back. But from what I remember Dave saying, it is only about 60 to 70 percent back.

Driving through the neighborhoods getting a closer look, one will find a home in good repair standing right next door to a home in shambles. There is grass, or moss, or whatever it is growing from the roofs of some homes. Not just growing, it is covering some of them making them look like a grass hut out of Hanzel and Grettel.

We arrived at our project house in the Gentilly Woods neighborhood. With the firs glance, I was saddend by the way the neighborhood appears. Empty houses, unkept yards line every street as far as I could see. But a closer look, I found the homes are being repaired. Slowly. Just as Dave had said. And were were a part of that today.

Some homes are complete in Gentilly. Not many, but a few. And people are living in them. right next door to our project house, in fact was a nice many, who let us use his electricity for our extension cords.

Our assignment is the flooring. This home had been gutted, by OHH. The painting is almost complete. Again, by OHH. Now we step in to finish the flooring. And soon, a family will be able to return.

My team doing the living room -- at least we think that is the living room -- was Anne, Gary, Carry and me.

I have never installed laminant flooring before, but after a training session with Ron, the four of us pounded out that living room in the afternoon. We finished.

What a good feeling it is to have completed an entire room. Granted, it is not very big, but we did it.

We are tired, but not too terribly tired that we may not try to see some other sights tonight. But, I have a whole new respect for guys (and women) who install flooring. My knees are VERY sore -- even tho I was wearing knee pads.

Before returning to the center for dinner, we drove through the lower ninth ward. The traffic has definately increased since last year. Again, it means the people are coming back.

But the homes are still not there. There are signs that it is recovering. We stopped to talk to some of the people who live in the ninth ward and lived through the flooding.

I will tell you about that later.

All for now, it is my turn for the shower. And every one here needs a shower! Just trust me on that one.

Peace.