Week 2

Helloooo!
So, I've now been in New Orleans for two weeks, and I thought some people might be wondering what I've been up to.
I'll start with last weekend: On Saturday, I decided to explore the city a bit. I went to Audubon park and admired the live oaks:

walked down Magazine street and spotted this guy snoozing in a jewelry shop window:

 Then I stopped by Heinz's shop to fix up the bike he offered to give me that he has had sitting around in there for the last 5 years or so. So now I have a bike!

Then on Sunday I woke up and checked out a Unitarian Church. It was alright, but not many people were there, and I left pretty much immediately after the service.

Something much more interesting was happening outside my house when I got home. There were all these people milling around, eating and drinking, and some food trucks parked along Broad Street. As I was buying a spicy sausage at one of these carts, something resembling a parade started approaching us from the South. There were two or three floats with not much on them, followed by a brass band and huge crowd of (primarily African American) people walk-dancing along behind. The parade stopped right along the section of road just outside my house and I went over to ask a couple what was going on. Chris and Kristi told me that it was called Second line, and it is a parade celebrating New Orleans Black heritage and culture, or something along those lines, that happens every Sunday between Mardi Gras and Jazz fest around different parts of the city. They walk a few miles every time and the main attraction is the band and the stepping group that dances along in front of them:

I have some videos that capture the atmosphere a little better, but I don't think I can easily upload them. It was really festive and we (Chris, Kristi and I) for almost a mile before peeling off and heading over to their house for dinner, where we had crabs that Chris had bought from some guy when he was fishing the other day:

They live just a few blocks away and also moved here recently, although they have been here long enough to know a lot more about the city than I do.

This week at work I finished my bowl, and you can see my explanation of the process, as well as plenty of pictures, on the Holzworks blog: http://blog.holzworks.com/p/blog-page_20.html. I also went with Heinz and Patrick to work on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, helping to install pocket door locks, a ceiling fan, a ceiling lamp, a window and trim, and a baseboard. It was all in all a very interesting week with them and I am enjoying the work and their company immensely.

And I am making friends slowly but surely, with the help of some friends who have connected me with other friends of theirs. Tuesday night I hung out with some friends of my friend Vanessa, Wednesday I went to a free concert in the park with my coworkers, (and ran into a friend visiting from Camden, who had no idea I was here!), and tonight I'm going out to dinner with some more friends of a friend who I have seen a couple of times already (Here I am with Greg last saturday when we went to get Beignets for dessert:

)
and then going to watch Patrick's band play at a bar downtown. Tomorrow is Super Sunday, which is another similar marching parade with people dressed up in Indian costumes. I'll take pictures for you.

That's it from the big easy for now, where it is currently 70 degrees, clear and sunny, with a slight breeze ruffling the leaves of the live oaks.
Stay warm up there ;)