Sunday, March 29, 2009

B-B-B-Beth's Pix (slightly out of order...)


Team AWOL is ready to go to work! We have finished orientation and have loaded the paint, brushes, ladders and drop cloths. Yay Team!


Sean, Jamaica & Norm on Bourbon St. This is before Norm got his snazzy new hat!


The rest of the pictures are from the Volunteer House. It used to be a preschool for the People's UMC however, after the storm there were no attendees so it was turned into a volunteer house. It is definitely the cushiest of the volunteer accommodations. We met another team who was sleeping on the floor in their house. We were very fortunate to be staying where we did. Curfew was 11 pm but no one ventured out alone after dusk. The streets of New Orleans are not safe at night.


We had a really nice ice machine and we used it a lot! Andy is patiently scooping up individual ice cubes into his water bottle. Be sure and ask him how he got forks in his bed...


David's ready to see Bourbon Street and the French Quarter!



Sean and Allison are looking over the tourist information


Here is Towel Land. We all brought much more than we needed. We were instructed to bring sheets and towels and then found out it was all provided after we arrived.

Lots of donated shoes in the shower area. Anyone without proper footwear was welcomed to take a pair.


One of four showers in the building.

This is the dining room. We didn't use this room much as the larger team from Hamline needed the space for their meals. This was our first morning when we feasted on leftover airplane snacks.


Here's the kitchen where I spent most of my time. Pretty nice set-up here! The two dishwashers you see in the front of the picture are for stacking things on. The person on the left is Scott. He was a team leader for one of the Hamline College teams. Melanie is enjoying her coffee!


This is the inside part of Tool Alley and the only path into the kitchen. Friday morning this area was flooded due to the heavy rains.

This is the ladder storage and trash area. You will not see ANY recycling bins here!

This is "Tool Alley". This is one busy place on the first day when all the teams are trying to get their tools and head out to their sites.
Meghan behind the counter in the tool area

This is the TV room where we spent most of our free time. The lovely couch on the right was the most uncomfortable thing you could ever sit on. Each evening before the team arrived home, Kathy and I set the tables and tried to make the room welcoming and relaxing for the group. One night we made chocolate cream pies with Easter Peeps in the middle because we were "here for our peeps!"

This is "Guy Land". Fitted sheets were hung on the ends of the bunks to create privacy and block light.
Jamaica, Allison, Roxanne & Meghan's bunk area

This is where the girls lived. Karen is getting ready for our trip to the French Quarter. My bunk is to the right with the lovely hanging towel. Mel's bunk was left of Karen's. Karen's hair always looked nice-mine did not! For those of us who never went to preschool, we finally got to have our own cubbies.