royal blue and lemon trees: enchanté

i keep thinking about some genius way to begin this blog, but i cannot think of anything clever or witty, so i shall just begin and pretend that we are the oldest of friends and our conversation was never interrupted.

spring break was spent in new orleans with the campus y (the collegiate branch of the ymca). we stayed in the upper 9th ward, in what used to be the st. mary of the angels school. it is now home to an organization called common ground that was founded after katrina to organize grassroots relief efforts. the school has housed thousands of volunteers since the hurricane.

very little work and no remodeling had been done to the school since the hurricane, so plumbing and electrical were both faulty. we shared fewer than 10 toilets (w/shower curtain doors & toilet paper on a stake), 2 cold showers, & 2 warm (before 6pm) showers with the more than 300 volunteers staying there. bathrooms were gender-neutral & we slept together on the floor in the abandoned classrooms. no locks anywhere, no privacy.

for meals, we used and reused plastic utensils and a hodgepodge of colorful plastic and aluminum bowls and plates. split pea soup was served at every meal. one morning, breakfast consisted of hamburger buns and bananas. we washed our own dishes by rinsing them in a series of water & soap-filled aluminum tubs. the first always had bits of chicken or puddles of fat floating around in it, but by the last tub, the water was cleaner and so were our dishes (so we hoped). giant bottles of hand sanitizer were always within reach.

the place was run by hippies--very passionate for the cause, but not the most organized of people. nevertheless, we got our job assignments for the week through the organization. we spent our days gutting houses--knocking down drywall, pulling down ceilings, pulling up floorboards, etc. at night, we'd hang out or go downtown to the french quarter. bourbon street was incredible. lively, noisy, raucous. music blared. every bar and club had live bands playing--that was the coolest part. cafe du monde had amazing cafe au laits and beignets. the city was beautiful at night.

halfway through the week, we decided to move from common ground. some of the girls didn't feel comfortable there. there was no real security and basically anyone could come in from the street. there had been some incidents of sexual assault there in the last year, and i think the girls felt particularly vulnerable. we always traveled in at least twos, even inside the school, our home for the week. i think it was this that was the problem--even in our living accommodations, which should have been a sort of safe haven we could retreat to after a long day, we couldn't feel totally safe. the first day when we arrived, i think we were all in shock because of the living conditions, but by the middle of the week, the place had grown on many of us. the place had character. i think it's one of those experiences you have to go through as a college kid. anyhow, i'm glad we got to stay there, even if it was just for part of the week.

we ended up moving to a baptist community center in the garden district, a total 360 from common ground. there were bunk beds--boys & girls slept in separate rooms & had separate bathrooms. there were 5 hot showers for 20 or so people (15 people in my group). our campus y group made dinner together one night. i also got to play "guess who?" for the first time since elementary school.

we took a drive through the lower 9th, one of the worst hit areas. the streets were quiet. not many people were out. maybe it was because it was still morning--i don't know. some houses were just totally collapsed. we saw a chicken cross the road. why? i don't know that either.

the trip was wonderful, full of funny stories and inside jokes that only those of us who went on the trip will ever find funny. u-turns, dirty hippies, tetanus shots, stray cats, train cars. new orleans is such a fabulous city. it's beautiful and so alive. the people are so welcoming and open. i want to go back with good friends someday.

my plans for the summer are basically settled. i'll be in shanghai, interning for kodak's health group (like hospital imaging & stuff) on the business operations/supply chain side. unpaid, but housing, food, transportation, & plane tickets are all paid for. i still don't know when or how long i'll be there, but i plan to go to beijing to see grandparents & relatives afterwards. if something horrendous happens and it falls through, there's a finance internship with the washington post in d.c.

i am insanely excited for shanghai. i'm hoping to live on my own in an apartment. i want to explore the city and have adventures. i hope my chinese can prove itself worthy.

i have decided to go abroad to london next spring (jan - june 2008). my university's program there has us taking 2 classes @ the cass school of business & then doing a 15-week internship. the internships are often in banking & finance & can be really intense--up to 120 hours/week--but they're a great chance for growth. at the end of the semester, you write a 50-page research paper and present it to your employers and faculty. i hope i have time to squeeze in some traveling around europe on weekends. amazing.

i ordered a pair of rain boots online at the beginning of march but they still have not come, so i have been writing angry immature emails to target like the petulant child that i am. look how cute they are though--i have good reason to be impatient. besides, it's been raining all week. it's the april showers.

i also have a new spearmint plant that i got for free at the botanical gardens. its name is juniper (my roommate came up with the name & i think it's quite perfect.)