The first things you notice are the rooftops.
We've left the airport headed east toward our homebase for the week. From the highway, over the fences and vegetation, you can usually get at least a glimpse of the surrounding buildings. The further we drive from the airport, the more structures come into view. What strikes us the most is that of the buildings that have been repaired, all have new rooftops. The rest of the reconstruction can still be in progress, but the roof is done. Broken roof, broken building. It's as if by looking at the tops of the buildings from the highway you can get a sense of who's returned and who hasn't.
Another image: we pass Six Flags, which has been abandoned since Katrina. You can see the roller coasters and tall rides from the highway. It's not unusual to see closed amusement parks this time of year, but this place looks especially abandoned and out-of-place. It's unclear when - or if - the park will ever be opened again. Right now the infrastructure of workers, hotels, and restaurants isn't in place to justify its revival.
We get to our "base camp" about 4 in the afternoon. I've been up since 4 AM California time and am impressed I'm still standing. We're staying at Peace Lutheran Church in Slidell, LA. It's about 30-40 minutes from New Orleans. Our home for the week, dubbed in the project literature as Camp Hope, is actually a series of buildings. There's the church itself, which has a sanctuary and offices on the first floor and bunk rooms for the volunteers on the second. As I write this, I'm in the upstairs rec room, which consists of a large screen TV, sectional sofa and five computers. There's one kitchen downstairs and another in a larger adjacent building. The new stove hasn't been installed yet in the larger building, so we'll be cooking in one area and eating in the other.
There are also several trailers in the parking lot. The onsite volunteer coordinators, Jacob and Janna, are staying in one trailer and the church pastor is living in another. Mom and I are staying in a third trailer because the women's bunks are all in use for the week. It's a slight change of plans, but not a big deal. It's not quite camping, but not quite a dorm. If anything, it will make me even more appreciative of my own bed when I return. I'll give you more details after a night's sleep. We each have our own beds, but when we pull out the sofa bed it looks like we'll have very minimal space to move around. Close quarters, but fine for the week.
Our church's delegation consists of ten people including myself. Most people are from Williamsburg, but there's someone from Florida and someone else from Alexandria, VA. Both are friends of people in the delegation. It turns out that Harlan Schone, who's leading the delegation, went to grad school in Berkeley in the 50s and was one of the founders of the University Lutheran Chapel, the church I now attend. Once again, my theory of the number of degrees of separation among Lutherans has been supported. If there are six degrees of separation among random people, I argue that there are two or fewer degrees among Lutherans. Case in point: when I attended my sister's graduatation from St. Olaf College (Lutheran school in Northfield, MN), I ran into someone I knew from my undergrad church, from my cohort of Lutheran Volunteers, and from my then-current church in Ann Arbor, MI. Now I find out that Harlan Schone was integral to the founding of the church I now attend. Like I said ... two or fewer degrees!
We had a brief orientation tonight and will learn more about our tasks tomorrow. Tonight's orientation was about the rules and regulations of Camp Hope. Tomorrow we rise at 7 am (that's 5 am PST, mind you) and will go to New Orleans for orientation. We've heard speculation that we'll be sanding drywall and maybe installing tile. Bring it on! I've got my steel-toed workbooks at the ready ...
