dual personality
So I have two jobs right now--well, three, but two of the three are teaching, so I don't count them. Substituting for all elementary grades is really weird. I did pre-K on Tuesday--wow. People always seem flabergasted when I say I teach high school, and that I like it, but I can't imagine how anyone could manage teaching 4-yr-olds all day every day. It's exhausting. You have to be involved with them every minute. I loved nap time! Not that I don't like 4-yr-olds--I love them, they're adorable; but teaching them is such a different experience. Tomorrow I'm teaching art to 5-8 graders and then covering afternoon Kindergarten. Wow. The other half of my teaching, the home school co-ops, is interesting, too. So far I've had two weeks of classes--I think they've gone all right. My sister is taking one class and sitting through the other (she didn't cover all the same literature when she took World Lit) and so far she hasn't said she hated it, so. . . .I feel like it's going well. The kids aren't afraid to answer my questions, they're really seeming to get into the literature and the ideas behind it. It's really exciting. I'm really enjoying myself.
Second job--I'm using my two days off to volunteer at The Healing Place Church. They have a couple of shelters at their campuses and they're running a volunteer crew through PRC Compassion. So, I go down there and do whatever is needed. Today I sorted clothes donations. That was interesting--but the people I worked with were really great. It was a really blessed time. This afternoon, a lady came out to help who is from Kenner. She and her husband are staying here with friends--they had 4 feet of water in their house and part of the attic collapsed. She just decided she couldn't sit around having a pity party any more, she had to get out and do something. She was truly wonderful. Everywhere I go there are so many evacuees. For those of you who only know about N.O. through movies and t.v. shows, forget everything you think. People from N.O. have a very distinct way of talking. Perhaps you've gotten a taste from news recent news reports, but they sound kind of like someone from Queens with a dash of Brooklyn and sometimes the slightest tinge of Cajun--but not much. It's wonderful. I love to hear it. It's so strange, though, to go into Wal-Mart and hear the person in line behind you with a Chalmette accent. It's like a situational irony of some kind. It's weird. But in a good way. In a way that reminds me of the vitality of the region and how much people still need.
So, my uncle's close friend, Jack, is a contractor in Mandeville. He was able to get into Jefferson and go to my grandmother's house and check everything out. She had about two feet of water in her house. It's like a punch in the stomach to think about everything that's lost. But at least her house is intact. And at least now we know. Jack took pictures for the insurance company and then ripped out all the flooring, the sheetrock 3 feet up, and the insulation and threw in all in the back yard. Then he threw the refrigerator and second freeezer in the yard with it. He left it in the yard for the insurance inspector just to be sure. It's such a relief to know he's done all that. We're hoping Dad's truck that was parked outside is undriveable, and that Maw-maw's homeowners insurance will cover it. I guess we'll see.
So that's what's going on here. Step-by-step things are moving toward hope. But there's so much. . .so much. I am so touched--we are all so touched--with all the help that's been/being sent from around the country. Not just money--police, firemen, doctors, volunteers, I know that people here--esp the New Orleanians--are truly overwhelmed by it all--and so thankful. I am always so astonished by how giving Americans are. I know it in my head, but seeing it in person is just amazing. I don't care how the main-stream-media likes to portray the bad things in this country--the criminals, the predators, the idiocy--Americans are wonderful people, with huge hearts. Huge hearts. Don't forget it.