Louisiana 101

We started work this week at the Thensted Center, a place that helps the poor in the area (specifically children and the elderly) through counseling, an after-school program, a thrift store, and the Summer Enrichment program we'll be helping to put on. The program starts tomorrow, but we've been working this week to plan activities for the kids and decorate the classroom. The ladies we work with said the room has looked the same for the past few years, so we're hoping the kids will be really excited about its new look (we'll post a picture tomorrow!)
During the next seven weeks, we'll have to get to work around 7 (!) and we'll leave around 3. The kids get there between 7:30 and 8 and we play outside with them for an hour or so. After that, we serve them breakfast and then we'll see a few groups of kids in our classroom before we serve lunch. We'll probably have the kids we haven't seen yet in the afternoon before a 2:45 dismissal.
In our classroom, we've decided to structure our activities around the theme "Around the World." We figured it would be a good way to bring together science experiments, art projects, foreign language study, outside games, and even cooking and dance into one theme. Turns out it was probably a great idea--when we told Sister Betty about our idea, she told us a story about a volunteer who had come from India to help out at the Thensted Center. When she told the kids that she had traveled all the way from India, one of the boys said, "Oh, did you drive here?" Hopefully this will get them excited about different cultures and expand their knowledge of the world around them!
The people down here, even if few still speak French, are like the French in a lot of ways. Like the French, these people definitely know how to cook! On our first night with Mandy (our "Mom" for the summer) we tried "boudin," which is a sausage made with rice and spices. Sounds gross, but you're supposed to squeeze it out of the casing to eat it--you can squeeze it onto a piece of bread and eat it like a sandwich, or just eat it plain. Jonelle wasn't aware that the casing isn't really supposed to be eaten...but Mandy assured us that having eaten the casing won't kill her :) The sausage was awesome, and we tried sweet potato pie for dessert: equally awesome! We're having a crawfish boil tonight at Susan's, and we're so excited to try this cajun specialty.
We've also learned that the legal system here in Louisiana is still more like the French system. Apparently, if you get a speeding ticket here and you know someone in the court system they can help you get rid of the ticket, no consequences! We also heard of a service provided by an attorney in which you can buy your way out of community service hours. They also seem to have a different definition of drinking and driving--our friends were telling us about these Drive-Thru daiquiri places where you can essentially get any mixed drink in a styrofoam cup with duct tape around where the top goes on. As long as the cup is sealed with tape and the straw is out of the cup, it isn't considered an open container!
As far as the French language goes, some people we've met have had friends who went to French immersion school. The state tried to phase out the language but is now realizing its cultural importance and working to keep it around. Most of the roads in Lafayette are French names, like Rue d'Evangeline and General Mouton Ave. Stores also have French names--the donut place is called Meche's, and the local grocery stores are Janise's and Champagne's. It's also assumed that names follow french pronunciation--on our first night, we were confused when Susan was talking about someone named Richard; she said, "It's spelled like ree-shard but it's pronounced rich-urd." In the same way, David is Daa-veed, Hebert (as a last name) is ayy-bear, etc.
We have to head out, but we'll send an update tomorrow about how we liked the crawfish boil and our first day at work!