So Jess and I have been here for a semester now. Living in New Orleans for four months has afforded us many memories and given us a few opportunities to either exclaim or utter "only in New Orleans" Here's a recap of some of my memories from the previous semester.
All in all it's been a good four months and we look forward to what's next. Leaving New Orleans for a bit in December will be good for us, it will give us a chance to see our family and friends and exprience God in some great new ways at the upcoming conference in Dallas. But what I'm looking forward to is being away from New Orleans and finding that I miss it and calling it "home".
The Quarter
As they call it here, the French Quarter is an enigmatic place. Refined and seedy, beautiful and disgusting, a tourist trap yet locals love it. It's an odd place in a very odd city. One of our first weekends here
we ventured to the quarter on our bicycles to discover what we hadn't yet...discovered. We found the French Market where they sell everything from $60 handmade Italian leather journals to dried alligator heads. Our favorite stand in the open-air market just north of Cafe DuMonde and Jackson Square was the New Orleans Candle Co. Their candles smelled like local places in New Orleans. One, named "laundromat" smelled like a laundromat. I'm grateful they didn't have "Sunday Morning in the Quarter" for that would have been a stench too foul to bear.
we ventured to the quarter on our bicycles to discover what we hadn't yet...discovered. We found the French Market where they sell everything from $60 handmade Italian leather journals to dried alligator heads. Our favorite stand in the open-air market just north of Cafe DuMonde and Jackson Square was the New Orleans Candle Co. Their candles smelled like local places in New Orleans. One, named "laundromat" smelled like a laundromat. I'm grateful they didn't have "Sunday Morning in the Quarter" for that would have been a stench too foul to bear.Other memories have been discovering City Park on our bikes. It was once a beautiful place full of life and 
bustling with events. Now it's like a confused teenager: bored with what it is now it is seeking to find itself "post-katrina". We had a picnic and explored the area around the Art Museum. We saw the Dueling Oaks where gentlemen once settled disputes the good ol' fashioned way - with a sword, we also saw what used to be a dance hall, an abandoned grandstand and a playground where children with unstoppable energy played despite the intense heat. We soon discovered the scuplture garden behind the museum and expl
ored its offereings. Jess and I were befuddled a good bit but enjoyed the art and the atmosphere. Dave even tried sharing with a gentleman in the garden but he was a bit unresponsive.
bustling with events. Now it's like a confused teenager: bored with what it is now it is seeking to find itself "post-katrina". We had a picnic and explored the area around the Art Museum. We saw the Dueling Oaks where gentlemen once settled disputes the good ol' fashioned way - with a sword, we also saw what used to be a dance hall, an abandoned grandstand and a playground where children with unstoppable energy played despite the intense heat. We soon discovered the scuplture garden behind the museum and expl
ored its offereings. Jess and I were befuddled a good bit but enjoyed the art and the atmosphere. Dave even tried sharing with a gentleman in the garden but he was a bit unresponsive.A third memory and the last for this post has been exploring the Garden District and seeing the enormous homes. We wondered which we would run into first, the rich and famous or the vampires Ann Rice wrote about it in her novels. We saw neither but we did see Rice's house as well as some other spectacular houses.
All in all it's been a good four months and we look forward to what's next. Leaving New Orleans for a bit in December will be good for us, it will give us a chance to see our family and friends and exprience God in some great new ways at the upcoming conference in Dallas. But what I'm looking forward to is being away from New Orleans and finding that I miss it and calling it "home".
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