marathoner452: (St. Charles Streetcar)

Start off with a drive up Esplanade to Carrollton to Canal and have lunch at Mandina's.  Then walk all the way around City Park on a crystal clear day that just doesn't happen too often in New Orleans, just warm enough and hardly any humidity.  The New Orleans Museum of Art is right there and it's free to Louisiana residents, so check that out for awhile.  Then hit Rouse's for file powder and head back down Carrollton to Basil Leaf for a delicious Thai dinner, during which you watch the streetcar rattle by and after which you walk the rest of the way up Carrollton to the Riverbend levee.  Walk along the levee for awhile, with the river on one side and the city on the other and stars shining bright overhead, only to get cut off from the rest of the city by the train.  Finally, end up at Creole Creamery for dessert of chocolate chicory ice cream in a waffle cone.  Waffle cones taste like fortune cookies.

Thanks[info]ekaterinn.  I needed that.  We both needed to not be teachers for a day.

marathoner452: (Default)
I have free parking for my car in the school parking lot, just blocks from Endymion.  I can fit 5 in my car including me.

Only in New Orleans...could you finance the 8th grade spring trip to DC by selling parking for Mardi Gras.  At our faculty meeting this afternoon when we were discussing logistics I could only think that they'd never be able to have this conversation in Chicago.  And that is yet another reason why I don't think I could ever leave.
marathoner452: (fluffy nola)
...the in-house substitute teacher cheering me up over lunch just by listening and telling me that I'm doing a lot better than I think I am.

...teaching equivalent fractions to a 6th grader.   (Who despite being almost 14 performs on a 2nd grade level in reading, writing, and math.  Thank you New Orleans public school system.)

...sunset over the Mississippi while taking Stitch for a walk, and counting 125 train cars at the corner Mazant and Chartres.

...a long overdue after-hours haircut, on the recommendation of my 4th-6th grade fashion consultants.

...cafe au lait with soymilk and Ekaterina until the coffeeshop closed at 10 pm.

...the Louisiana Music Factory, which will get another chunk of my paycheck this weekend as I shop for Christmas presents and continue to flesh out my music collection.

This is a problem, I'm getting entirely too attached to New Orleans.  How could I ever leave?  Where could I go?
marathoner452: (fluffy nola)
1.  Walk over to campus center during with classmate in pouring rain so she can get an ice-cold drink.  Shoes and socks soaked.
2.  Last day of the first session of TGNO.  Spoke with the program director after class and apparently Jefferson Parish isn't hiring any elementary special ed. teachers.  That's fine, I want to teach in New Orleans anyway.  Also, there are apparently a couple of job openings in charter schools in New Orleans, with more to come.  Yay.
3.  Ran 3 miles on treadmill at UNO gym.
4.  En route home I decide to stop at "ghetto Winn-Dixie" for cookie- and blueberry muffin-making supplies and wine for household enjoyment.
5.  Turning onto Gentilly Road my brakes fail suddenly and even with pressing the pedal all the way to the floor I coast out into the middle of the intersection.  Two cars just barely manage to avoid hitting me.  I pull into the Winn-Dixie parking lot.
6.  I call AAA for a tow the second time in a year ([profile] ctlavery will remember the other time when the muffler fell off my car in southern MD and I spent 2 extra days at her house), and look forward to having a teaching job and being able to afford a new car.
7.  AAA shows up, drives me to Auto Zone for a new cap for the brake fluid, they don't have it and that's not the problem anyway, buy brake fluid and tow guy adds it, brake fluid leaks out the back of the car, car towed to tow guy's favorite shop in Kenner (I mean, Pitstop Automotive in a scary part of town, where he'll say he towed me to to save me money, $3 a mile after 3 miles with AAA).
8.  Call lovely roommate from Auto Zone on Gentilly to top off her already lovely day.  Promise her wine in exchange for picking me up in Kenner.
9.  Owner of car repair shop shows me a calendar of various members of his family.
10.  Lovely roommate picks me up out in Kenner, car should be ready by tomorrow.
11.  I change the wet socks I have been wearing for 8 hours.
12.  Cookies are baked and muffins are baked and wine is consumed.  Not such a bad day after all, if you don't count your life flashing before your eyes.

I named my car the Yellow Submarine this week while listening to The Beatles, because my car is green and that makes sense just like everything else in New Orleans.

But then again, only in New Orleans would the AAA guy who comes to tow your car take such good care of you.
marathoner452: (Jackson Square)
Only in New Orleans do you park your bike near Jackson Square and come back to a pink balloon flower in the bike basket.

The brass band playing outside the Cabildo while I browsed through learning more Louisiana history was pretty special too.  Particularly when they played "Happy Birthday" for a little girl who couldn't have been older than 4.
marathoner452: (rebirth)
Nola Rising Paint Party

"It's all spring-y and green so I'm going to paint 'Rebirth' on there." -me

Yet another reason why I love living in New Orleans.
marathoner452: (Default)
How do you flip pictures 90* so they're not lying on their side?

www.makeitrightnola.org

On that note, my flight leaves at 7:25 tomorrow morning so I'm off to bed.  I'll be back New Orleans, I promise!
marathoner452: (your party)
This is why I live in New Orleans, for afternoon thunderstorms and lazy days and going down to the Quarter to see the Bingo Show at One Eyed Jack's on a Saturday night. Because I'm still an idealist who believes she can change the world by teaching a few kids to learn how to read.

This video makes me want to ride my bike down to the Quarter, but I know I should make up for my laziness this weekend by getting some schoolwork done. Life's complicated.

marathoner452: (Default)
Only in New Orleans can you shop at a grocery store called the Mardi Gras Zone and buy ice cream called "Chocolate City."  The package says:  "A politician's faux-pas inspired this deliciously satirical chocolate ice cream with white chocolate chips." 

I'm the white chocolate and we're all a little nuts.

I'm heading off to Emergency Communities in a little while to serve dinner.  Hopefully I won't get stuck waiting for the St. Claude drawbridge.
marathoner452: (lacing up shoes)
After all, how many places can you pay to run in Tyvek?  Chalk this one up to "only in New Orleans."

http://mgscorps.org/blog.php

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marathoner452

May 2010

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