Habitat For Humanity Construction Site in Lafayette, Louisiana.
As I write this post, my eyes are burning. Maybe my eyes are burning from the lingering mockery induced by the onions that Oliver and Dorothy cut up for the quesadillas they made tonight. (The quesadillas were delicious. I must say, this Habitat Squad is very good at throwing down in the kitchen). My eyes are also probably burning from weariness. Yo gurl is Tired, but even so, my lips have a subtle smile. There is a sort of satisfaction I feel right now. I’m happy to be here in Lafayette, Louisiana, and it’s almost an unreal experience thus far.
I woke up this morning. Around 7:30. Confession, I slept on the couch, woke up sluggish, and showered into livelihood. From then on, I had a song forming in my mind, which I recorded in my phone. I had some Oats & Honey Special K, and squad and I rolled out to our Habitat for Humanity Site to put in that good work. This is the second day of our build, so as opposed to yesterday, we basically got right to work where we left off yesterday. This included a lot of new things for me, namely working with the different saws, which was exciting. I cut wood, and then attached the wood to things with a needle gun…very technical stuff here. But seriously, it was an empowering experience in which I saw that all of these students, many unexperienced, still had the capacity to build. We are able to work together and focus on a common goal. Also, at lunch, Smita sang while I played the drum, and I ended up passing the drum to the Ohio State Crew to try it as well.
After today’s build, we went to the University of Louisiana–Lafayette Habitat for Humanity Meeting, which also felt unreal. We went to school, not our school. Their desks in the lecture halls are LEGENDARY. The slide up from the back of the chair as opposed to side, excluding the front row. We sat in on their meeting, something that’s regular for them, but we were visitors. And it’s always interesting to remember there are an infinite amount of things going on all the time, whether or not you perceive them. It’s trippy, but it’s exciting. At their meeting, the Columbia SHQWAAAD was invited to speak, and shout out to Oliver for taking the reigns and being incredibly energetic and defeating the beast that is public speaking, and Dorothy for holding it down as well with the info about the Collegiate Challenge. For the remainder of the meeting, their Habitat for Humanity branch had elections for their board, and the competition was fiiiierce, and the energy was great. After the meeting, one of the first questions was, “did yall try crawfish yet.” We told them we ate at Prejeans, and they laughed at our pronunciation! Haha, it’s more like, “preh – jaaah.” Then we headed back “home” (or our home…for the week), with some head bobbin’ tunes to lead the way.
When we got back, we were in chill mode. Many of us chilled, read, worked on the front porch. It was beautiful. The weather was breezy, and cool. The birds were incredibly loud.The porch swing had two butts on it. We looked like a photograph. Then, the quesadillas were served by the Chefs of the night, Dorothy and Oliver. The dinner table was filled with laughs, and planning for a movie we didn’t watch. There were bad jokes involved. Kim reenacting vines. Talk of Tumblr. Of males being intimidated by female intelligence. And Indians trying white people food. From dinner discussion, we drifted into quiet, and eventually sleep. These days are exhausting and fulfilling. I enjoy the company of those I’m surrounded by, and there is still more experience to come.
-Natachi Mez
Me and Ohio State Squad after installing windows