Day one...

Hey everyone!  This is Lily Schafer.
New Orleans is awesome!  Today we ate breakfast at the famous cafe du mond in the French Quarter.  We ate the famous New Orleans beignets, which are basically pastries covered in mountains of powdered sugar. They were SO good!!!
Afterwards, we walked up to the river (which was gorgeous), and then went on a bus tour of the areas affected by the storm (hurricane Katrina).  We went to the lower 9th ward, which was one of the poorest areas of the city which was virtually wiped out by Katrina, the Industrial canal, which burst from the pressure of the storm and flooded everything, and the houses that the mission trip worked on in 2007 and 2008.  Eight years later, there are buildings that are still covered in debris and boarded up.  It was really shocking to see buildings still in that state of decay and destruction.  Whole areas remain empty, the only thing left standing was the foundations of the homes, overgrown with grass and moss.  It was really eyeopening, showing us that there was still so much work to be done to get New Orleans back on its feet.  We climbed one of the dikes that collapsed in the storm, and just seeing it and just how long it spanned and just how much damage its collapse had.
After the tour (lead by Lee/Dad), we went to go get lunch, but the restaurant wouldn't let kids in, so we carried pizza back to Tulane and ate there.  We then played games and hung out.  We are about to leave to go to the church for our first event with Rhino.  I'm really excited!  The other group just showed up as I type.  First full day was great!  I'm excited to get to work tomorrow morning (wake up at 5 woo hoo) and continue to have a great time with the group.  See you guys later!
Love, Lily