Yesterday was momentous—we finessed our way into the BP headquarters in Huma and were greeted by well intentioned military folk in uniform who were sincerely sorry for the disorganization and lack of ‘projects’ for volunteers. This was after we sat through a mandatory 4 hour training where we received ‘certification” of our 252 response training.

This class was taught by Chris, who had both been on the beaches and working as an instructor since the disaster hit—about 70 days ago. I think that I will write a separate post on that one. I did notice a lot of rumors and misinformation. Jobs for the cleanup were surprisingly difficult to get. They had all been contracted out and a large percent of the lucky “able bodies” (AbleBody is one of the larger outfits contracting out for clean up)were kicked off for drug and alcohol use. Over 80% according to the numbers we heard.

James on the training: we sat, we took a test, we left. Falk Alfred is the contractor that has been put in charge of BP training. A squat man with a lot of experience and little patients for unimportant information does 3 trainings of 45 people every day. The class involves the poorest quality powerpoint we have ever seen—inconsistent capitalization, a lot of useless information and emphasis CYA (cover you ass) section 1. the hazards your will ‘probably’ not encounter section 2. some familiarity with the tools you will use section 3. outdated ‘stop the job’ video that criticized every oil company except for BP

The 20 question test was done as a group (true / false) and didn’t focus at all on the complexity of dangers of the process.

We then made a plan to head toward Galliano, one of the clean up sites. We opted not to go to Venice, which was reputed to be over saturated with people. On our way, we went to the heart of Jazzy New Orleans. The french quarter has a certain architectural charm and from what we could see after midnight was mostly populated by folks enjoying the Essence festival with Hurricanes in hand (the hurricane is a cocktail similar to jungle juice that is cheap and gets your drunk quickly).

We walked around an artistic and quirky area near Jacques-Imo’s where there were artists collaborating next door and cute cafes and bookstores that satisfied me far more than the commercial and barf covered area several blocks away. Thanks Sam for the great suggestion!

After a fantastic dinner and the complimentary dessert of creme brulle (that they give to all guests) we sought out Cafe Du Monde , the birthplace of the beignets. A hole-less donuts like treat covered in powder sugar. it was about 3 am by the time we finished eating and the heat and humidity felt relentless.