Being as I’m in New Orleans, I am not nearly as hung-over today as I would have been had I spent the Saturday before St. Patrick’s Day in Chicago. I’m actually pretty functional today, so I thought that I would post another entry.
Last weekend, I went with a few friends to see a comedy show at the La Nuit Comedy Theater near my house. I have wanted to check out shows there for awhile and last Saturday night turned out to be as good a night as any. The comedy group “Comedy Sportz” has a weekly show on Saturday, so that’s what we went to. “Comedy Sportz” has groups all over the country, including one in Chicago, which I actually had never seen. The idea behind “Comedy Sportz” is that there are two teams with three improv actors on each team and a referee that acts as the M.C. for the show. The two teams play a variety of improv games in which they come up with songs, raps, and scenes on the fly. All of the people in the show were very talented and I was pretty amazed with how they feed off of each other and are able to produce such a funny show. These actors made it seem so easy but I’m sure that’s because they’ve had years of experience. The four of us who went had such a good time that we went to a free show there on Thursday night. Three different comedy groups (with all of the actors being around my age) performed and they were all extremely funny, especially the last two. The theater is fairly small (seats probably around 50 people), so in between each show, the actors would walk around and talk to the crowd. Hearing some of their stories and how they got into improve was very cool. A lot of them were currently taking improve and classes at the theater and were trying to convince us it would be something fun to try out. It’s definitely something to think about and would probably be fun. So maybe it’s something I’ll do before I leave. All four of us said it was something we’d consider. We all had a really great time at these shows and found it interesting to watch and study the actors in how they perform.
This week at work was very hectic. As I said in my last posting, March is a very busy month for us because of all the students who come down to New Orleans on alternate spring break trip. Since my foot has finally healed, I was back working on houses last week. I was the House Captain for a house in Hollygrove and was working with a fellow House Captain, Bridgette, who was acting as my support staff for the week. Bridgette is one of the two girls who started in March, so this was my first time working with her. We had a group of 18 students who came with Hillel from the University of Hillel. Out of the 18, 15 were girls. When the group first I arrived and I noticed this, I was happy that they were going to be painting the exterior of the house. Most of the girls painted, while the three guys (and one girl) built a fence on the homeowner’s property. Leroy, the homeowner, is in his mid 60s, is a veteran and has experience working in construction. When we arrived at his house on Monday, he was outside waiting for us and, shockingly, ready to work. He spent a good portion of the day talking to the volunteers and showing them what he wanted and the best ways to paint. At first, this was a big burden lifted off my shoulder. But by the end of the week it just became annoying because he was all over everything that everybody was doing. His heart was in the right place, but it became frustrating to everyone on the site. When he would leave for a few hours, everybody would joke that we needed to hurry up and finish before he got back or else he would find something else that he didn’t like. Leroy was a really nice guy and interacted well with the group, but we all just wanted him to let go a little bit. Working with so many 18-21 year old Jewish girls was quite hilarious. Some of their conversations were pretty ridiculous and Bridgette and I often times found ourselves looking at each other laughing. It was 80 degrees and sunny almost every day and it felt great to be back working on houses. I was feeling a bit burned out before injuring my foot, but the time in the office rejuvenated me a lot. Last week was the first week in awhile that I spent on site, and I had such a good time. It was 80 degrees and sunny everyday. So I was nice and burnt by the end of the week and worked up a good sweat everyday. Overall, I found it to be a very successful week, as we nearly completed the week’s work scope, and I had a lot of fun with my group. I was supposed to meet up with the group in the French Quarter on Saturday night, but as I’ll tell you in a bit, I didn’t make it.
Because my foot has healed, I have been able to begin working out and running again. After working outside all day and going to the gym a few times after work, I’m feeling better physically than I have in a few months. I’d like to think that I’m pretty motivated to workout right now and will find a good routine in going to the gym. I think my daily schedule will help me be more successful in regularly working out. It has always been a struggle for me, but because I get home at 4:45 every day and live 10 minutes away from the gym, I can be home having worked out by 6:30 or 7. In my old job, it was always a struggle to find time to workout and still have time for myself. But now I have the time.
So now that I’ve told you about everything else that has been going on over the past week, I’m sure y’all want to hear about my (Saturday before) St. Patrick’s Day. I knew going in that there was absolutely no way that it could compare to my St. Patrick’s Days of the previous two years. The parties that my apartment threw the last two years were pretty legendary. A feeling of nostalgia hit me yesterday when I realized that there was no party and all of my friends were going to be out drinking in Chicago. Despite all of this and the fact that it was raining when I woke up, I set out to have another memorable day. I went down to the intersection of Magazine Street and Louisiana Avenue with Patrick, Jon, and Jordan around 1:00. There are a lot of bars near that intersection and a parade was going to be passing through. We had a pretty good time drinking and hanging out waiting for the parade, which came around 3. After going through Mardi Gras, I am pretty paraded out, so this one was just alright. I had a good time and was pretty drunk by 5, when Jon, Patrick, Patrick’s girlfriend (Megan), and I went down to the French Quarter. We walked around there until around 8. It was pretty empty in the French Quarter and I realized that St. Patrick’s Day in New Orleans just isn’t the same as it is back home. I was drunk and tired by 8 but Jon and Megan wanted to stay out. So Pat and I went back to Megan’s car and napped for an hour. We were hoping that when we woke up, we’d be ready to go again, but we were both still exhausted. I tried to stay out as long as I could because my volunteers from the week told me they were going to be there around 11, but I just couldn’t do it. We stopped for burritos on the way home and I fell asleep around 10:30. I wanted to make it out again, but had been out too long and couldn’t do it. It was a good day, not incredible, but good. There’s always next year.
I have another packed week coming up, so I’ll hopefully have another posting for you next Sunday, at which time the Illini will be headed to the Sweet 16. ILL-INI…
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Saturday, March 7, 2009
Giving the People What They Want
I know that since my last amazing post about Mardi Gras, you have been anxiously awaiting my next one. So, I’m coming to you with it a little bit faster than I usually do, because I have a lot going on, and I just want to. Just trying to give the people what they want (another posting that is). Anyways, here it goes…
Partied out. Worn out. Exhausted. That’s how I felt after Mardi Gras. It definitely took me a few days to recover from the madness that had ensued the previous week. I was luckily given the Wednesday after Fat Tuesday off in order to rest up a little bit before going back to work on Thursday. Except to get go grocery shopping, I didn’t leave my house at all that Wednesday. My body hurt and I barely had enough energy to drag myself out of the house. I didn’t do much last weekend because I really just didn’t feel like it. Ha. Most of my other friends didn’t go out either. On Saturday night, I did go to a BBQ at my friend Amanda’s house. An interesting mix of people from work was there. I anticipated only staying for a couple of hours but ended up hanging out there for a lot longer than that. It was nice to relax, have a good dinner, and talk with people from work that I don’t always get to spend a lot of time with.
This past week at work I spent most of my time either in the office or working on the service project that I have to do during my term of service. The people who are on the AmeriCorps National Grant (I explained the difference between AmeriCorps National and AmeriCorps State in a previous posting), which includes myself, are required to come up with a service project which is separate from our normal jobs. I am working with four other people on this project and we’ve been throwing around ideas for a project over the past few weeks. Since I have been stuck in the office because of my foot, I have had time to explore some options for our project. A couple of weeks ago, I met with the Volunteer Coordinator at the Andrew Wilson Charter School in the Broadmoor neighborhood because we were hoping to use the school for our project. After meeting with Ms. Janice (just an fyi, people in New Orleans often call other people Mr. or Ms. and their first name; so people that I meet from New Orleans often call me Mr. Adam; it’s just a way of showing respect to people down here), she told me that she was going to talk to the principal of the school and get back to me on possible ideas for a service project. I set up a meeting with myself, Ms. Janice, the Principal (Ms. Sheila Thomas), and Cat (one of the girls I’m working with on this project) for this past Wednesday. By the end of the meeting, we had agreed upon an idea. After Hurricane Katrina, the building the Andrew Wilson Charter School was originally in had to be repaired (and later added on to). So for the past two years, there school has been in another building. For the 2009-2010 school year, they are planning move back to their original building. Our service project, which is going to take place on Saturday, July 11, is going to be to recruit around 100 volunteers to help pack up the school they are in now, and move everything to the other building. We are also hoping to use those volunteers to perform some minor repairs in the building they are currently occupying. The school is very excited that we are helping them out and I think the event has a lot of potential. In addition to the service day, we are going to be running a book and school supply drive. We are hoping to collect as many books and supplies as possible between now and July 11 and also have a place to drop off books and supplies on the day of the event. If you have anything that you would like to donate to this school, whether it be a book or school supplies or $5 for the project, anything would be very much appreciated. The five of us have to recruit the volunteers, come up with all of the funding for the project, promote/advertise the event, and try and get media coverage of the event. If you have any more questions surrounding this project, or want to donate, or have suggestions/comments, please let me know. Any input is helpful. I’ll keep you updated on the status of the project as it continues to move forward. At first I wasn’t excited at all about having to do a project, but I think it’s going to be a challenge to pull off and could end up being a lot of fun.
This project took up a lot of my time this week (mainly the early part of the week). I went to the doctor on Thursday to get a check up on my foot and he said he thought it was all healed. He took another x-ray of it and said he’d call me if he saw something. I never heard from him, so it looks like I’m fine. I went back to normal work yesterday and had a good day. Our organization hosts over 700 volunteers during the month of March because of college spring break. We have 260 volunteers coming next week. So our job yesterday was to prepare for the upcoming week. It was pretty hectic because people were running all around our warehouse. But it felt good to be back. It was 80 degrees here yesterday and I enjoyed working up a nice beastly sweat. I have had all of this energy stored up from sitting in the office that I was ready to get going again yesterday. The doctor told me to ease back into things with my foot but that didn’t really happen yesterday. I have to be a little careful about pushing it too hard right away because I can’t afford to injure it again. But I definitely plan on starting to work out again soon and unleashing some of that stored up energy.
Now that Mardi Gras is over and the AmeriCorps year is over half over, our program has started to think about its direction for next year. Cambria, one of my supervisors, has been having little focus group meetings (of about 5-7 people) at her house to discuss the future of the organization and where the AmeriCorps members see themselves next year. The meetings are optional, but I decided to attend one on Thursday night. Just to give you a little background on our organization, last year there were only 14 AmeriCorps between the field and the office. This year there are around 40 people. The organization has been growing at a rapid pace over the last year and we are still working to figure out the most efficient way to run everything. Communication can be difficult when there are only a few people in charge and a large number of people reporting to those people. It was nice to have a chance to sit down and offer my suggestions on how things can run more smoothly for the remainder of my term of service and for future AmeriCorps groups. It seems like the organization is hoping that 7-10 of the current AmeriCorps stay on for another year. I thought that was going to mean, that the people that stayed on would be salaried employees of the organization (making a small salary, but still a salary). But I guess that the organization is hoping that 7-10 of the current AmeriCorps do another year of service, with the only added incentive being an extra $100 per month towards rent. I think that is expecting a lot from people to do another year of service and I know that I don’t really plan to volunteer for another year. However, in this struggling economy, more people might do it than I think. The five of us at the meeting never got into what we are planning to do for next year, because honestly, I don’t think anybody has any idea. The meeting turned out to be very helpful for everyone. Cambria got ideas from us on how we thought things could work more efficiently, and we got an understanding of the direction of the organization. She said that we’d be having more of these meetings in the future if we wanted to.
I told myself when I first came to New Orleans that I wouldn’t begin to think about what I was going to do next until after Mardi Gras. Well, with end of Mardi Gras and this meeting on the future of the organization, I have begun to ponder my options. As of right now, I don’t know whether or not I’m ready to come back to Chicago. I always see myself ending up in Chicago, whether that is in a year or five years, who knows. Right now, I feel like I’m still pretty young and don’t have much responsibility in front of me. So this is the time in my life when I can take a couple of chances and see what’s out there. I have started reading a couple of books that I hope will help me find a focus and figure out where I want to go and where I want to take my career (in whatever field that may be). Deciding to volunteer with AmeriCorps and come to New Orleans took a lot of soul searching and consulting with friends and family. And I’m sure, whatever is next for me will require the same. I created this blog for my friends and family, the people that I am close with and know me best. So in saying that, to the people that know me pretty well, if you have any suggestions or ideas for me on what to do after my term of service is up, things you think I may like doing or suit me well, anything, please let me know. This is going to be another difficult decision for me and any input I can get from others would be much appreciated.
I hope you enjoyed this post and I will continue to try and write them more often. I enjoy writing them and I know that the people like reading them. Talk to y’all later.
Partied out. Worn out. Exhausted. That’s how I felt after Mardi Gras. It definitely took me a few days to recover from the madness that had ensued the previous week. I was luckily given the Wednesday after Fat Tuesday off in order to rest up a little bit before going back to work on Thursday. Except to get go grocery shopping, I didn’t leave my house at all that Wednesday. My body hurt and I barely had enough energy to drag myself out of the house. I didn’t do much last weekend because I really just didn’t feel like it. Ha. Most of my other friends didn’t go out either. On Saturday night, I did go to a BBQ at my friend Amanda’s house. An interesting mix of people from work was there. I anticipated only staying for a couple of hours but ended up hanging out there for a lot longer than that. It was nice to relax, have a good dinner, and talk with people from work that I don’t always get to spend a lot of time with.
This past week at work I spent most of my time either in the office or working on the service project that I have to do during my term of service. The people who are on the AmeriCorps National Grant (I explained the difference between AmeriCorps National and AmeriCorps State in a previous posting), which includes myself, are required to come up with a service project which is separate from our normal jobs. I am working with four other people on this project and we’ve been throwing around ideas for a project over the past few weeks. Since I have been stuck in the office because of my foot, I have had time to explore some options for our project. A couple of weeks ago, I met with the Volunteer Coordinator at the Andrew Wilson Charter School in the Broadmoor neighborhood because we were hoping to use the school for our project. After meeting with Ms. Janice (just an fyi, people in New Orleans often call other people Mr. or Ms. and their first name; so people that I meet from New Orleans often call me Mr. Adam; it’s just a way of showing respect to people down here), she told me that she was going to talk to the principal of the school and get back to me on possible ideas for a service project. I set up a meeting with myself, Ms. Janice, the Principal (Ms. Sheila Thomas), and Cat (one of the girls I’m working with on this project) for this past Wednesday. By the end of the meeting, we had agreed upon an idea. After Hurricane Katrina, the building the Andrew Wilson Charter School was originally in had to be repaired (and later added on to). So for the past two years, there school has been in another building. For the 2009-2010 school year, they are planning move back to their original building. Our service project, which is going to take place on Saturday, July 11, is going to be to recruit around 100 volunteers to help pack up the school they are in now, and move everything to the other building. We are also hoping to use those volunteers to perform some minor repairs in the building they are currently occupying. The school is very excited that we are helping them out and I think the event has a lot of potential. In addition to the service day, we are going to be running a book and school supply drive. We are hoping to collect as many books and supplies as possible between now and July 11 and also have a place to drop off books and supplies on the day of the event. If you have anything that you would like to donate to this school, whether it be a book or school supplies or $5 for the project, anything would be very much appreciated. The five of us have to recruit the volunteers, come up with all of the funding for the project, promote/advertise the event, and try and get media coverage of the event. If you have any more questions surrounding this project, or want to donate, or have suggestions/comments, please let me know. Any input is helpful. I’ll keep you updated on the status of the project as it continues to move forward. At first I wasn’t excited at all about having to do a project, but I think it’s going to be a challenge to pull off and could end up being a lot of fun.
This project took up a lot of my time this week (mainly the early part of the week). I went to the doctor on Thursday to get a check up on my foot and he said he thought it was all healed. He took another x-ray of it and said he’d call me if he saw something. I never heard from him, so it looks like I’m fine. I went back to normal work yesterday and had a good day. Our organization hosts over 700 volunteers during the month of March because of college spring break. We have 260 volunteers coming next week. So our job yesterday was to prepare for the upcoming week. It was pretty hectic because people were running all around our warehouse. But it felt good to be back. It was 80 degrees here yesterday and I enjoyed working up a nice beastly sweat. I have had all of this energy stored up from sitting in the office that I was ready to get going again yesterday. The doctor told me to ease back into things with my foot but that didn’t really happen yesterday. I have to be a little careful about pushing it too hard right away because I can’t afford to injure it again. But I definitely plan on starting to work out again soon and unleashing some of that stored up energy.
Now that Mardi Gras is over and the AmeriCorps year is over half over, our program has started to think about its direction for next year. Cambria, one of my supervisors, has been having little focus group meetings (of about 5-7 people) at her house to discuss the future of the organization and where the AmeriCorps members see themselves next year. The meetings are optional, but I decided to attend one on Thursday night. Just to give you a little background on our organization, last year there were only 14 AmeriCorps between the field and the office. This year there are around 40 people. The organization has been growing at a rapid pace over the last year and we are still working to figure out the most efficient way to run everything. Communication can be difficult when there are only a few people in charge and a large number of people reporting to those people. It was nice to have a chance to sit down and offer my suggestions on how things can run more smoothly for the remainder of my term of service and for future AmeriCorps groups. It seems like the organization is hoping that 7-10 of the current AmeriCorps stay on for another year. I thought that was going to mean, that the people that stayed on would be salaried employees of the organization (making a small salary, but still a salary). But I guess that the organization is hoping that 7-10 of the current AmeriCorps do another year of service, with the only added incentive being an extra $100 per month towards rent. I think that is expecting a lot from people to do another year of service and I know that I don’t really plan to volunteer for another year. However, in this struggling economy, more people might do it than I think. The five of us at the meeting never got into what we are planning to do for next year, because honestly, I don’t think anybody has any idea. The meeting turned out to be very helpful for everyone. Cambria got ideas from us on how we thought things could work more efficiently, and we got an understanding of the direction of the organization. She said that we’d be having more of these meetings in the future if we wanted to.
I told myself when I first came to New Orleans that I wouldn’t begin to think about what I was going to do next until after Mardi Gras. Well, with end of Mardi Gras and this meeting on the future of the organization, I have begun to ponder my options. As of right now, I don’t know whether or not I’m ready to come back to Chicago. I always see myself ending up in Chicago, whether that is in a year or five years, who knows. Right now, I feel like I’m still pretty young and don’t have much responsibility in front of me. So this is the time in my life when I can take a couple of chances and see what’s out there. I have started reading a couple of books that I hope will help me find a focus and figure out where I want to go and where I want to take my career (in whatever field that may be). Deciding to volunteer with AmeriCorps and come to New Orleans took a lot of soul searching and consulting with friends and family. And I’m sure, whatever is next for me will require the same. I created this blog for my friends and family, the people that I am close with and know me best. So in saying that, to the people that know me pretty well, if you have any suggestions or ideas for me on what to do after my term of service is up, things you think I may like doing or suit me well, anything, please let me know. This is going to be another difficult decision for me and any input I can get from others would be much appreciated.
I hope you enjoyed this post and I will continue to try and write them more often. I enjoy writing them and I know that the people like reading them. Talk to y’all later.
Friday, February 27, 2009
More Mardi Gras Videos
Soul Rebels at Le Bon Temps Roulet (late Thursday night, early Friday morning)
This is a video from Friday night at Mardi Gras. FYI, I would have caught those beads at the end if I wasn't holding my camera.
Rebirth Brass Band playing at Lundi Gras along the river. Very good show and everyone seemed to be having a good time.
Krewe of Zulu, Tuesday morning in Treme.
My friends and I on Bourbon Street in the afternoon on Fat Tuesday.
This is by far the best video. From Friday night watching the parades. This video is reated at least BZ-13.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Party Gras 2009
I am happy to say that I have physically survived my first New Orleans Mardi Gras experience, although maybe just barely. Mentally and emotionally I may never recover. The first major parade of Mardi Gras week started on Thursday night with the Krewe of Muses, which has a reputation for being one of the best parades of the Carnival season. One of my goals for Mardi Gras was to watch the parades in different spots all over the city. I was able to watch Krewe du Vieux (the very first parade of Mardi Gras which I talked about during my last post) in the Marigny and the Krewe of Oshun and Pygmalion in one part of Uptown. My friends and I went to a new spot in Uptown along the parade route on St. Charles (we watched it from St. Charles and Third Street). There were two parades that proceeded Muses, which run one right after another. I honestly didn’t think catching beads would be so much fun, but I had a great time and cleaned up. I didn’t get any great throws (items that people on the floats throw to the crowd) but was happy with the number of beads I caught. I wasn’t overly impressed with Muses but had a good time hanging out with my friends. The parade ended around 10 p.m. and shortly after that I got the call from Ben and Evan that they had gotten into town.
I barely had enough gas in my car to get to the airport but I got there with just enough and picked up Ben and Evan. I showed them around my house and then we decided that even though it was late, that they were only in New Orleans for a short time and that we should go out. I took them to a place called Le Bon Temps Roulet, in which the Soul Rebels Brass Band that plays there every Thursday night. I have mentioned seeing the Soul Rebels in a previous post (sometime back in October I think). The three of us had a good time and I think Evan and Ben really enjoyed the show. It was a pretty mellow first night but I knew it was going to be a long next few days so I wanted to pace myself.
Ben and Evan had reserved a hotel right near the French Quarter and on the parade route for Friday and Saturday night (which I stayed at as well). We headed down to the French Quarter early Friday afternoon and had a few hours to kill before being able to check into the hotel. Obviously that meant we had to go to Bourbon Street to see what was happening there. It wasn’t too crowded (yet) in the afternoon but there were people on balconies throwing beads to people on the street. The walk was fun and we got only a glimpse of what to come later in the weekend. After walking around a bit, we checked into the hotel and got ready for the night’s parades. I invited some friends (Pat, Jon, Jordan, their friends from college, Sean, and Sean, etc.) to come drink with us at the hotel but was unaware that it was a $20 charge for guests to get into the hotel. I felt bad that they weren’t able to come in and hang out. So instead of them coming in, we brought the party outside. We found a good spot on the parade route right near the French Quarter and set up shop there. Pat, Jon, and Jordan’s friends from Fordham were all really nice and outgoing and definitely helped make the weekend a lot of fun. I enjoyed hanging out with them and getting to know the type of people that my friends hung out with in college. People had been camping out all day to get there spots was a little crazy to me. I never could wrap my head around the idea that people spent hours and hours sitting around waiting for these parades. I enjoyed the parades but it seemed kind of ridiculous to stake out a spot for 8 hours. Anyways, we watched the parades go by which took about three hours. It was nice that Ben and Evan got a chance to hang out the friends that I have made down here and see a little bit more about what my life is about here.
After the parades were over, the group (around 11 or 12 of us) walked back down to Bourbon Street. At this point of the night, it was insanely packed. The streets were filled from sidewalk to sidewalk with people. Ben, Evan, and I got separated from my other friends for a little while, so we just kept walking down. Evan and I also kept losing Ben in the crowd. We would walk ten feet, turn around and realize he wasn’t behind us. Then we’d find him, walk another ten feet, and he’d be lost again. I know a lot of people have ideas about what Bourbon Street is like during Mardi Gras because of what is shown on TV. It’s not quite as wild as what you see on TV, but it’s definitely something that’s hard to explain unless you experience it for yourself. And for those of you wondering, yes, I did see a ton of boobs (of all shapes and sizes, ha). There weren’t too many girls willing to flash for beads, but there was enough for it to enjoyable. However, anytime a girl would flash, there would be a whole crowd of people around her taking pictures. It was so creepy, I can’t even tell you. A few times, there must have been 15 guys taking pictures of girls flashing. To me, it was a little much. Enjoy the boobs and move on. That was my motto. But I guess if these girls are showing their breasts in the middle of the street, those are the consequences. It was also funny that some of the women on the balconies would try to get men to flash their penises for beads. Luckily, I did not see any old man wiener, or any wiener for that matter, on Bourbon Street, but I’m sure there was a ton of them shown throughout the week. The three of us walked down Bourbon Street for a little while and then met back up with my friends at a bar just off Bourbon Street. Before going in, it was obvious Ben was having a little too much fun and wasn’t sure if he should go in. Evan took him back to the hotel room where I guess he puked his face off. But the big guy pulled it together, as much as he could, and came back out with Evan to meet me and a few of the others at Johnny White’s. The bar was pretty low key for the French Quarter. We spent a couple of hours there and decided to call it a night.
It took us awhile to get started on Saturday but Evan, Ben and I were able to get moving and went to lunch at Café Pontabla in the French Quarter. I don’t usually eat at restaurants too much, so it was nice to change things up. I wasn’t really in the mood for any creole cooking or cajun food but we did get a fried alligator appetizer and Ben had the creole combination which included jambalaya and gumbo. The big parade on Saturday was the Krewe of Endymion. It started in an area called Mid-City. Some people in the neighborhood camped out for two days to get their spot on the parade route. Needless to say, this parade is a big deal to the people of Mid-City. A normal commute from our hotel to Mid-City would have been five to ten minutes. Because of how packed the city was, it took us almost 45 minutes to finally park. We stopped at a party that a friend of mine from work was having for a few minutes, as well as met some other friends who were playing guitar and hanging out in the park. After that, we walked around for at least a good hour trying to find my friends and a good spot to watch the parade. We never ended up finding them and decided that we would be able to catch the parade back in the French Quarter. Almost all of the parades ran behind schedule and took forever to get all the way through. Ben, Evan, and I ended up back at our hotel in plenty of time to see the parade. Throughout the weekend, we often got frustrated with the walking situation. Because our hotel was right on a parade route, it was hard to cross the street at times. This was just one of many travel issues I had during the week.
We found a spot for the parade that was pretty close to the one from Friday night. I wasn’t overly impressed with this parade. It was pretty much like all of the others so I didn’t understand what everyone got so excited about. At one point during the parade, I was talking to Ben and Evan about how these parades could be better if they had musicians performing on the floats (or something of that nature). Within five minutes, Kid Rock and REO Speedwagon were each on floats that passed our area. About a quarter of the way through, we decided that we were a little “paraded out” and went back to the hotel room. My stomach really started bothering me so Evan and Ben went to the casino for a bit while I stayed at the hotel and rested up. I met up with them at the craps table where Evan had a nice run. Ben’s foot had started to hurt him but he toughed it out and hobbled along. While we were in the casino, it began to rain. We decided that we weren’t going to let a little rain spoil our night and headed back to Bourbon Street anyways. It was even more crowded than the night before, so we decided to go to one of my favorite bars in the French Quarter, Erin Rose. It is right off of Bourbon Street and is a friendly, little dive bar. We chatted with the bartender and every time I looked over at Ben, it looked like he was passing in and out of consciousness. I didn’t think he’d make it too much longer that night but once we got ready to leave, he was fine. The rest of the night was a blur and only those present are fortunate enough to get a full account of the events that took place. Read into that however you would like…
By Sunday morning, I was hungover, exhausted, and my stomach was still hurting. I was hoping to take Ben and Evan to see some of the houses that I have worked on but too many streets were closed and there was too much traffic to take them. So we ate lunch, hung out at my house for a bit, and they called it a trip. I think that they had a good time and we ended up doing a lot in the time that they were here. I drove them to the airport and came home to lie in bed. I knew that there were parades going on Sunday night, but I needed a night to recover if I was going to get through Monday and Tuesday.
I spent the better part of the next 24 hours at my house, barely leaving my room. It was much needed and by Monday afternoon, I was rearing to go again. I met Jordan, Pat, Jon, and their friends along the river near the French Quarter. We sat along the water and people-watched for awhile and enjoyed the nice day. There were a couple of stages set up nearby for Lundi Gras (Fat Monday), so we walked over and watched an hour of Rebirth Brass Band, who is pretty popular here in New Orleans (they play at a club every Tuesday night). Watching their performance outside near the river with all different kinds of people that had come from all over, I got my first real sense of how much Mardi Gras means to the city and the people of New Orleans. Everyone was singing, dancing, eating, drinking, and simply enjoying the experience. The band was very good and I had a great time watching and feeling what Mardi Gras was all about for the first time. A lot of people down here don’t have much and Mardi Gras is the one thing they have to look forward to every year. Once the show was over, we walked around for a bit, picked up groceries and went back Uptown. We caught about an hour of Sunday night’s parade, which was pretty much like the rest of them and then went back to barbeque. A little after midnight, I called it a night and anxiously awaited Fat Tuesday.
When I woke up early Tuesday morning, the day felt a lot like Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day at U of Illinois. My friends and I headed out a little after 8:30 a.m. and we decided to catch the city’s biggest parade, Krewe du Zulu, in a different spot than we had watched all of the other parades. To give a little bit of background, Zulu celebrated its 100th Anniversary this year. We decided to watch the parade in Treme, one of the neighborhoods I work in, which was at the end of the parade route. As we were looking for a spot to set up, I realized that we were the only white people that I could see. I didn’t mind it at all because I thought it would be fun to watch the parade with people who actually live in New Orleans and would really appreciate it. And I was right. I saw a lot of interesting things. One of the guys that was standing right next to me had his little son in one arm and a joint in the other. I saw a woman sitting in a stroller with her baby on her lap smoking also. Some of the parents got a little rougher with kids than I’m used to seeing. Anyways, the parade was absolutely amazing. The floats, costumes, and marching bands were all spectacular. This was the biggest parade of Carnival with almost 50 floats. This parade was also known for having the best throws. As the floats would come by, all of the people would rush up to catch whatever they could. It was amazing how much fun everyone was having, especially the kids. The people in this neighborhood don’t have a lot to get up for so they absolutely love Mardi Gras. Everyone was barbequing and sharing food with each other. To me, this was what Mardi Gras was all about. It was for these people. There was so much joy and energy and I could just tell how much this meant to them. I could not have been happier that we chose to watch the parade in Treme, with people who appreciate Mardi Gras. The whole experience definitely helped me put things in perspective in terms of how lucky I am to be in the situation that I’m in and how nice it felt to be a part of the whole experience. We had a great time watching the parade and got some good throws as well. The parade lasted over two hours and we hung out in our spot for awhile after the parade was over.
We then gathered our belongings (mainly beer) and strolled down to Bourbon Street where the people-watching was incredible. There were so many unbelievable costumes. People were dressed as anything and everything. It was hysterical. We would hang out on one block, drink and people-watch for an hour, and then move a few more down. Everybody was singing and dancing and having a great time. Pat’s friend Mike and I took a shot of whiskey and at that point, I had the perfect buzz. It was an absolutely perfect day out (I actually came away sunburned) and I felt so incredibly happy with where I was at. There is nowhere else I wanted to be at that moment. We walked around Bourbon Street for another couple of hours, ate some burritos, and went back to Pat, Jordan, and Jon’s house to continue the festivities. We had left before 9 a.m. and returned back just before 7 p.m.. We played beer pong and sat around the bonfire till close to 1 in the morning. Everyone was so completely wiped out from the day that we decided that our Fat Tuesday was over. Fat Tuesday was honestly one of the coolest days ever and a day I will never forget. I don’t know how many more Mardi Gras my mind and body could physically handle, but Mardi Gras 2009, especially Fat Tuesday, was absolutely incredible. I have waited for this since I moved down here and it definitely didn’t disappoint. I tried my best to explain everything and give you the best details that I could, but until you experience it for yourself, you will never truly know. I am so exhausted right now that it is going to take me a few days to recover. No partying for me this weekend. I am all partied and Mardi Grased out. I hope you enjoyed the post (I know it’s long) and if you want to hear more stories, just let me know. I’ll be putting up videos in the next couple of days. So from Mardi Gras 2009, goodbye and “Laissez Le Bon Temps Roulet.”
I barely had enough gas in my car to get to the airport but I got there with just enough and picked up Ben and Evan. I showed them around my house and then we decided that even though it was late, that they were only in New Orleans for a short time and that we should go out. I took them to a place called Le Bon Temps Roulet, in which the Soul Rebels Brass Band that plays there every Thursday night. I have mentioned seeing the Soul Rebels in a previous post (sometime back in October I think). The three of us had a good time and I think Evan and Ben really enjoyed the show. It was a pretty mellow first night but I knew it was going to be a long next few days so I wanted to pace myself.
Ben and Evan had reserved a hotel right near the French Quarter and on the parade route for Friday and Saturday night (which I stayed at as well). We headed down to the French Quarter early Friday afternoon and had a few hours to kill before being able to check into the hotel. Obviously that meant we had to go to Bourbon Street to see what was happening there. It wasn’t too crowded (yet) in the afternoon but there were people on balconies throwing beads to people on the street. The walk was fun and we got only a glimpse of what to come later in the weekend. After walking around a bit, we checked into the hotel and got ready for the night’s parades. I invited some friends (Pat, Jon, Jordan, their friends from college, Sean, and Sean, etc.) to come drink with us at the hotel but was unaware that it was a $20 charge for guests to get into the hotel. I felt bad that they weren’t able to come in and hang out. So instead of them coming in, we brought the party outside. We found a good spot on the parade route right near the French Quarter and set up shop there. Pat, Jon, and Jordan’s friends from Fordham were all really nice and outgoing and definitely helped make the weekend a lot of fun. I enjoyed hanging out with them and getting to know the type of people that my friends hung out with in college. People had been camping out all day to get there spots was a little crazy to me. I never could wrap my head around the idea that people spent hours and hours sitting around waiting for these parades. I enjoyed the parades but it seemed kind of ridiculous to stake out a spot for 8 hours. Anyways, we watched the parades go by which took about three hours. It was nice that Ben and Evan got a chance to hang out the friends that I have made down here and see a little bit more about what my life is about here.
After the parades were over, the group (around 11 or 12 of us) walked back down to Bourbon Street. At this point of the night, it was insanely packed. The streets were filled from sidewalk to sidewalk with people. Ben, Evan, and I got separated from my other friends for a little while, so we just kept walking down. Evan and I also kept losing Ben in the crowd. We would walk ten feet, turn around and realize he wasn’t behind us. Then we’d find him, walk another ten feet, and he’d be lost again. I know a lot of people have ideas about what Bourbon Street is like during Mardi Gras because of what is shown on TV. It’s not quite as wild as what you see on TV, but it’s definitely something that’s hard to explain unless you experience it for yourself. And for those of you wondering, yes, I did see a ton of boobs (of all shapes and sizes, ha). There weren’t too many girls willing to flash for beads, but there was enough for it to enjoyable. However, anytime a girl would flash, there would be a whole crowd of people around her taking pictures. It was so creepy, I can’t even tell you. A few times, there must have been 15 guys taking pictures of girls flashing. To me, it was a little much. Enjoy the boobs and move on. That was my motto. But I guess if these girls are showing their breasts in the middle of the street, those are the consequences. It was also funny that some of the women on the balconies would try to get men to flash their penises for beads. Luckily, I did not see any old man wiener, or any wiener for that matter, on Bourbon Street, but I’m sure there was a ton of them shown throughout the week. The three of us walked down Bourbon Street for a little while and then met back up with my friends at a bar just off Bourbon Street. Before going in, it was obvious Ben was having a little too much fun and wasn’t sure if he should go in. Evan took him back to the hotel room where I guess he puked his face off. But the big guy pulled it together, as much as he could, and came back out with Evan to meet me and a few of the others at Johnny White’s. The bar was pretty low key for the French Quarter. We spent a couple of hours there and decided to call it a night.
It took us awhile to get started on Saturday but Evan, Ben and I were able to get moving and went to lunch at Café Pontabla in the French Quarter. I don’t usually eat at restaurants too much, so it was nice to change things up. I wasn’t really in the mood for any creole cooking or cajun food but we did get a fried alligator appetizer and Ben had the creole combination which included jambalaya and gumbo. The big parade on Saturday was the Krewe of Endymion. It started in an area called Mid-City. Some people in the neighborhood camped out for two days to get their spot on the parade route. Needless to say, this parade is a big deal to the people of Mid-City. A normal commute from our hotel to Mid-City would have been five to ten minutes. Because of how packed the city was, it took us almost 45 minutes to finally park. We stopped at a party that a friend of mine from work was having for a few minutes, as well as met some other friends who were playing guitar and hanging out in the park. After that, we walked around for at least a good hour trying to find my friends and a good spot to watch the parade. We never ended up finding them and decided that we would be able to catch the parade back in the French Quarter. Almost all of the parades ran behind schedule and took forever to get all the way through. Ben, Evan, and I ended up back at our hotel in plenty of time to see the parade. Throughout the weekend, we often got frustrated with the walking situation. Because our hotel was right on a parade route, it was hard to cross the street at times. This was just one of many travel issues I had during the week.
We found a spot for the parade that was pretty close to the one from Friday night. I wasn’t overly impressed with this parade. It was pretty much like all of the others so I didn’t understand what everyone got so excited about. At one point during the parade, I was talking to Ben and Evan about how these parades could be better if they had musicians performing on the floats (or something of that nature). Within five minutes, Kid Rock and REO Speedwagon were each on floats that passed our area. About a quarter of the way through, we decided that we were a little “paraded out” and went back to the hotel room. My stomach really started bothering me so Evan and Ben went to the casino for a bit while I stayed at the hotel and rested up. I met up with them at the craps table where Evan had a nice run. Ben’s foot had started to hurt him but he toughed it out and hobbled along. While we were in the casino, it began to rain. We decided that we weren’t going to let a little rain spoil our night and headed back to Bourbon Street anyways. It was even more crowded than the night before, so we decided to go to one of my favorite bars in the French Quarter, Erin Rose. It is right off of Bourbon Street and is a friendly, little dive bar. We chatted with the bartender and every time I looked over at Ben, it looked like he was passing in and out of consciousness. I didn’t think he’d make it too much longer that night but once we got ready to leave, he was fine. The rest of the night was a blur and only those present are fortunate enough to get a full account of the events that took place. Read into that however you would like…
By Sunday morning, I was hungover, exhausted, and my stomach was still hurting. I was hoping to take Ben and Evan to see some of the houses that I have worked on but too many streets were closed and there was too much traffic to take them. So we ate lunch, hung out at my house for a bit, and they called it a trip. I think that they had a good time and we ended up doing a lot in the time that they were here. I drove them to the airport and came home to lie in bed. I knew that there were parades going on Sunday night, but I needed a night to recover if I was going to get through Monday and Tuesday.
I spent the better part of the next 24 hours at my house, barely leaving my room. It was much needed and by Monday afternoon, I was rearing to go again. I met Jordan, Pat, Jon, and their friends along the river near the French Quarter. We sat along the water and people-watched for awhile and enjoyed the nice day. There were a couple of stages set up nearby for Lundi Gras (Fat Monday), so we walked over and watched an hour of Rebirth Brass Band, who is pretty popular here in New Orleans (they play at a club every Tuesday night). Watching their performance outside near the river with all different kinds of people that had come from all over, I got my first real sense of how much Mardi Gras means to the city and the people of New Orleans. Everyone was singing, dancing, eating, drinking, and simply enjoying the experience. The band was very good and I had a great time watching and feeling what Mardi Gras was all about for the first time. A lot of people down here don’t have much and Mardi Gras is the one thing they have to look forward to every year. Once the show was over, we walked around for a bit, picked up groceries and went back Uptown. We caught about an hour of Sunday night’s parade, which was pretty much like the rest of them and then went back to barbeque. A little after midnight, I called it a night and anxiously awaited Fat Tuesday.
When I woke up early Tuesday morning, the day felt a lot like Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day at U of Illinois. My friends and I headed out a little after 8:30 a.m. and we decided to catch the city’s biggest parade, Krewe du Zulu, in a different spot than we had watched all of the other parades. To give a little bit of background, Zulu celebrated its 100th Anniversary this year. We decided to watch the parade in Treme, one of the neighborhoods I work in, which was at the end of the parade route. As we were looking for a spot to set up, I realized that we were the only white people that I could see. I didn’t mind it at all because I thought it would be fun to watch the parade with people who actually live in New Orleans and would really appreciate it. And I was right. I saw a lot of interesting things. One of the guys that was standing right next to me had his little son in one arm and a joint in the other. I saw a woman sitting in a stroller with her baby on her lap smoking also. Some of the parents got a little rougher with kids than I’m used to seeing. Anyways, the parade was absolutely amazing. The floats, costumes, and marching bands were all spectacular. This was the biggest parade of Carnival with almost 50 floats. This parade was also known for having the best throws. As the floats would come by, all of the people would rush up to catch whatever they could. It was amazing how much fun everyone was having, especially the kids. The people in this neighborhood don’t have a lot to get up for so they absolutely love Mardi Gras. Everyone was barbequing and sharing food with each other. To me, this was what Mardi Gras was all about. It was for these people. There was so much joy and energy and I could just tell how much this meant to them. I could not have been happier that we chose to watch the parade in Treme, with people who appreciate Mardi Gras. The whole experience definitely helped me put things in perspective in terms of how lucky I am to be in the situation that I’m in and how nice it felt to be a part of the whole experience. We had a great time watching the parade and got some good throws as well. The parade lasted over two hours and we hung out in our spot for awhile after the parade was over.
We then gathered our belongings (mainly beer) and strolled down to Bourbon Street where the people-watching was incredible. There were so many unbelievable costumes. People were dressed as anything and everything. It was hysterical. We would hang out on one block, drink and people-watch for an hour, and then move a few more down. Everybody was singing and dancing and having a great time. Pat’s friend Mike and I took a shot of whiskey and at that point, I had the perfect buzz. It was an absolutely perfect day out (I actually came away sunburned) and I felt so incredibly happy with where I was at. There is nowhere else I wanted to be at that moment. We walked around Bourbon Street for another couple of hours, ate some burritos, and went back to Pat, Jordan, and Jon’s house to continue the festivities. We had left before 9 a.m. and returned back just before 7 p.m.. We played beer pong and sat around the bonfire till close to 1 in the morning. Everyone was so completely wiped out from the day that we decided that our Fat Tuesday was over. Fat Tuesday was honestly one of the coolest days ever and a day I will never forget. I don’t know how many more Mardi Gras my mind and body could physically handle, but Mardi Gras 2009, especially Fat Tuesday, was absolutely incredible. I have waited for this since I moved down here and it definitely didn’t disappoint. I tried my best to explain everything and give you the best details that I could, but until you experience it for yourself, you will never truly know. I am so exhausted right now that it is going to take me a few days to recover. No partying for me this weekend. I am all partied and Mardi Grased out. I hope you enjoyed the post (I know it’s long) and if you want to hear more stories, just let me know. I’ll be putting up videos in the next couple of days. So from Mardi Gras 2009, goodbye and “Laissez Le Bon Temps Roulet.”
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