New Orleans - Day Two: Low-key local interaction

The next day the Rockafeller Fellows (whose organizations we were interning with for the week) had a barbeque to which we were invited. Getting there was kind of a mess since the directions sucked, but it was a lovely drive. Plannerspeak was flying all over the place in our Honda minivan - "This right-of-way is amazing", "check out those set backs," "What a mature treeline - what kind of trees are those?", "This scale is so pedestrian-friendly," "Is that Whole Foods an adaptive reuse?" "Eww what is with that building, it doesn't fit with the rest of the urban fabric at all," etc. etc. etc. It was hilarious. It was so nerdy. We were loving it.

We found Audubon Park finally and not that many people were there. A few blankets were set out. One guy introduced himself and the others kinda hung back. It was a bit awkward cuz we didn't know who was who - who we'd be working with or who was just a friend of someone else. We played football and soccer and mingled a little. It was all less structured than we'd expected. We'd arrived at 1 and most people didn't arrive til 3, the grilling didn't start til 4. By the end of the trip we would understand that New Orleanians lead a laid-back life. They don't start on time and they only end early if it's work. They chill. It's cool. By the end of the picnic we'd talked to a lot of people and it was a lot of fun. Someone brought three pounds of cooked crawfish which they taught us how to peel and eat right out of the shell.

Genevieve, Shayla, and Rachel enjoying themselves at the picnic

When we left the party was still going on, but we wanted to go out and explore more for the day. It was so sunny and pretty but still cool that I really wanted to go for a run. I left around 630pm from the hotel hoping to get back before dark - as everyone warned me. It was a really nice run. New Orleans has a few trolley lines which run down the boulevards in the middle of the street. Local people run or walk along the tracks. I did the same for a bit but the sun was in my eyes so I went back to the sidewalk. I had no idea how far I'd gone but I decided to head back b/c the sun was setting at an alarming rate. I got home around 7:20 and saw I'd gotten a few text messages - "Are you back safely yet?" I was. It was a long run. It felt amazing. (I just checked Gmaps Pedometer - http://www.gmap-pedometer.com/?r=1706018 - 6.5 miles - not bad.)

I was about to hop into the shower when James called to say that some people were heading to Mother's in five minutes.
"Could you wait ten minutes do you think?" I asked.
"No, I think they wanted to leave soon," James replied.
"Well, I'll meet you down there in five, and if I'm not there you can leave without me."
Fastest shower of my life. In and out, dried and dressed, hair washing included, down to the lobby in five minutes. I win.

We walked a few blocks to Mother's - a quite unique, cafeteria-style soul food joint, recommended to us by Kate Daniel (the city planning administrative assistant who organized this trip, and our lives in general and who also lived in Nola for a while.) Despite how greasy and gross it looked, it was pretty delish. I got red beans and rice which I doused in hot sauce - as is the custom in this city.

James and James at the Mother's counter
"Who the hell keeps snapping that flash off?" yelled an employee, at which point, I stopped taking pictures.

When we got back, the rest of the group wanted to go see a band play, which I was into, but they wanted to get food first, which I was not into, since it was already like 10 and we had to work early the next day.

So my friend James and I wandered around the Warehouse district and checked out the architecture and urban design there. I know, I know, it sounds super nerdy. And it was. But it was really enjoyable. I wish I'd taken more pictures. Double porches and spanish railings are definitely my favorite details of New Orleans architecture. In Urban Design class, my professor is always talking about "Critical Regionalism" which is new architecture that draws from local materials and arch styles to create something modern and progressive yet contextually appropriate. When he talks about it it sounds all well and good, but he rarely gives us any examples. Walking around an unfamiliar city definitely helped us to talk through what we thought were good and bad designs. This building was one of James' favs:
After walking around a decent bit, we called it an early night and headed back to the hotel. I slept well despite anticipation of our first day of work at Neighborhood Housing Services at 9 am.