Now that we finished working with
Rebuilding Together, today was a lot slower and more relaxing than we are used
to. The day began with a 10am ride to Audubon Park (http://www.auduboninstitute.org/visit/audubon-park)
where we strolled around and took some pictures of the live oaks, weeping
willows, and Cyprus trees. In addition to the trees, some of the group members
enjoyed climbing in the trees as well as bird watching. Eventually, we found a
very old tree referred to as the Tree of Life where we sat down and ate our
lunches and had our second to last group meeting where we discussed our
definitions of home and community.
The discussion wrapped up with a comparison
of our trip and other alternate break service trips. We decided that the
freedom to explore New Orleans at the end of the day really helped the entire
group learn much more about the community than other groups we had met at the
hostel. Without realizing it, we learned a lot about the history of the city as
well as the effect that Hurricane Katrina had on the entire community of NOLA.
After
hanging out by the Tree of Life, our bus driver, Larry, showed us around the
Lake and the surrounding neighborhood called Lake View. On the shore of Lake
Pontchartrain (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Pontchartrain)
we were able to see the newly
reconstructed bridge that spans 24 miles across. Afterwards, he showed us the
largest of the 50 levee breaks from hurricane Katrina which has been rebuilt
and is now closely monitored by the Army Crop of Engineers.
We were also able
to see a visible but faint yellow line above door frames to show how high the
neighborhood had flooded. Much of the neighborhood consisted of empty lots. Close by was a local shop for so called “snow
balls”, which are comparable to slushies but with finer shaved ice similar to
snow. There was a variety of unique flavors to choose from, including Thin
Mint, Strawberry, Bubble Gum, Wedding Cake, Pink Princess, etc. A number of us
also ate “stuffed” snowballs that had ice cream in the middle. They were delicious
and a great way to enjoy a hot day!
Don't forget to check out our website. www.hillel.org.vt.edu
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