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After a brief good bye to Eric, Hope and I were off to New Orleans. We took Interstate 59 south for about 9 or 10 hours.
We arrived later that day and met up with Hope's other friend from City Year, Lyric. After meeting with Lyric, I understood why Hope and Eric loved her so much. After a few hours I think everyone who meets Lyric loves her. She is one of those rare people that just genuinely loves life and makes the people around her love it too.
We left in Lyric's car and she started giving Hope and I a mini tour of the East side of New Orleans. Our first stop was a gigantic tree that was over 600 years old. Its huge branches hung down to the ground and formed a bridge to the trunk. I climbed up and caught a quick breeze while swatting mosquitoes swarming my face. Heat and sweat are just part of the culture here. Lyric informed us that we needed to try a snowball to cool us down. I learned snowballs are a New Orleans staple. They were almost insulted that I had never heard of one. Here is a description, incase any of you head down there and don't want to offend any locals. It is basically crushed ice and syrup of any flavor or combination of fruit flavors you can imagine. I asked for a strawberry snowball, as that seemed the best fit for my untrained palate. A pimply faced teenager behind the counter handed me this Chinese food container wrapped in a plastic bag. It was overflowing with snowball, dripping red syrup juice and cold ice down the sides. I sat outside and enjoyed every spoonful.
Lyric also showed us the French Quarter. It is located right outside the downtown area of the city and really embodies New Orleans culture. At any given time day or night, weekday or weekend, the Quarter is pulsing with life. Brass bands vibrate the ground as people dance to up-tempo New Orleans jazz and swing.There are an almost endless number of great bars and live music everywhere you go. People parade the streets alongside the French style architecture often holding an alcoholic beverage in a to go cup. Apparently, it is normal to take beers to go around here.I made a habit of not finishing my beers just so I could to participate in this drinkers dream.
Food is also an important part of the culture down here. Over my stay in New Orleans I was told I had to try several dishes. I tried an italian muffalato (olive salad served on a huge piece of round bread), a catfish po'boy (a normal sub with a strange name, but really good), fried beignets (a fried donut covered in powdered sugar), seafood gumbo( a thick green spicy rue with rice and chunks of fresh seafood), and red beans and rice (uhhh, just read beans and rice). All of these menu items as I learned, are the essential eats in New Orleans. I was forced to try each one and was glad I did.
Later on in the trip I was given a tour of some of the damage done by Katrina. It was amazing to see how bad it really was fist hand, even years later. Katrina is still very fresh in the minds of the residents of New Orleans. You can overhear people talking about it on the streets in conversation all the time. Katrina is a bitter memory for everyone here because everyone lost something or someone. It almost was personified in the way they talked about this storm as if it were an evil relative. New Orleans to this day is frustrated with the blunders of the Federal Government and the way they mishandled the hurricane. I got the feeling that some people even feel entitled, as if Katrina happened to them. My friend Dan took me to see the worst affected areas. He moved to New Orleans as a volunteer right after the storm to assist in the relief effort.Habitat for Humanity taught him how to build houses and put him to work getting people a place to live.He told me that on every uninhabited house had to be spray-painted with numbers and acronyms on the boarded windows. They told relief workers the status of each home. Things like, how many people were there by the time they got there, how many pets, and if the gas was turned off. 9th street incurred the worst damage of the storm in New Orleans. This is located right along the river where the levy failed. Every house on the strip had to be torn down. There were some new homes there but it was obvious that much still needed to be done.It makes you really appreciate what you have and just how much you take for granted seeing all this wreckage.
This is a city that has its own unique character. You learn quickly that people in New Orleans are not really like people anywhere else. It feels like you are in a different country sometimes. Everyone here seems to feel obligated to leave visitors with a good impression of their beloved city. They have a pride for their hometown and want to show it off. I liked that part about the city a great deal. had an amazing time here and I already miss everyone I just met.Thanks to Lyric, my cousin Kristine, Warren, Leroy, Bonnie, Jacqueline, Corey, Mike, and Dan for being great hosts.I hope to make it back there again someday.But, it is time to move on.Hope and I are heading west across to Austin, Texas. That's all from me for now.Thanks for reading and keep a look out for another post soon.
Hassan
PS- Oh, by the way… the AC is finally fixed!!!I feel better about driving across Texas now.
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