Wednesday.

Hey party people. Today was one of the best days so far, because we started our day out at an elementary school called KIPP, which I think is some kind of special program here in NOLA. It was definitely different than I expected, mostly because the entire school was oriented towards getting these kids into college. The grade levels were five through eight, but they referred to the students as freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and seniors. Every kid I talked to was CRAZY smart, and they all wanted to tell me as much as they could about their lives, and asked a lot of questions about Minnesota. I read with a fifth grader named Sha'Breann. She read a book like a bullet train, just rattling off words, and every once in a while she would stop and realize what she had just read, and giggle. She asked me all sorts of random questions, like if I ever got my nails done, and if I had ever been on a rollercoaster. The second girl I read with, Shanay, was at a second grade reading level. She was not very confident, but she was extremely good at sounding out words. When she saw the word 'decontamination', she wanted to give up, but I asked her to sound it out, and suddenly she knew exactly what it was. After a few minutes of reading, she decided she just wanted to talk. Her family is moving to Michigan next year, so she wanted to hear all about snow and the activities that go along with it. By the end of our conversation, she had invited me to Easter dinner at her family's house; sadly we will be flying back home the day before Easter.

Our second experience of the day was at the main office of a Vietnamese organization called Mary Queen of Vietnam, which is affiliated with the Catholic Church. I feel bad, because I was so exhausted that I fell asleep on the drive over, and then was really out of it for our talk with the people there. However, it was definitely a refreshing visit. We've been hearing about and witnessing so much suffering lately that it was nice to hear a survival story, and learn about all the sustainable living projects MQVN is working on. They walked us through their greenhouse full of veggies and their fish room. They take the waste from the fish tanks, funnel it into the greenhouse, where the plants suck up the nutrients and clean out the water, and then cycle it back into the fish tanks. A REALLY cool setup.

Our last activity for the day, after a delicious dinner provided by United Saints, was an open mic hosted by a Hamline alum named Tony Wilson at his cafe, SpecialTea. We enjoyed the coffee and the company, but most of all, every poet/musician that performed was phenomenal. One of our own, Seth, got up there and did his thing, and received a resounding stamp of approval from the NOLA poets. He was passionate and fantastic, and everyone in the room was extremely impressed.

Now we're chilling in the apartment, some of us went out exploring, but the rest of us are chatting and having dance parties and showering and getting ready for another beautiful day full of building stuff. Catch ya on the flippity flop~!

Selene