#9: First Day in Lafayette

Louisiana-Bound! (2008) Part 9 of 40: First Day in Lafayette I awoke early, about 6 a.m. on Thursday and waited for others to awake. An hour later, after a shower and a complete change of clothes, I was feeling reasonably well. Melanie slept a little late. We didn't realize that Dan had two bathrooms and I was waiting for Nikki to shower and stuff. With all the commotion, I failed to get all the needed details. Finally as she left for work, I realized the bathroom was available for Melanie. Tom would be the last to wake up. But no big deal! We had lots of time. We may have met Yenter and Betty the first night, yes, I am sure of it. But regardless, they would always be around. Both of these people were SSPs and serving every opportunity they had. But back to the morning, Buddy Prioux and his deaf wife Brenda came by and picked us up. Buddy has Usher Syndrome along with his twin brother Harold and another brother named Patrick. The Prioux's were very friendly, but Brenda had more to talk about. Buddy was a bit laid back! Both Buddy and I would really get along well. Brenda drove us to the Affiliated Blind of Louisiana (ABL) and we waited for others to arrive. It was the training center for the blind and deafblind. Dan Arabie and Tom Peters arrived shortly after. Brenda had lots of things to share, like how she had to acquire a taste for crawfish. I told Brenda and Buddy about my brother catching a 20-pound lobster by diving in the ocean at Perch Rock and coming up with it in his hands. I am not sure how deep the water was at the time. Maybe not really deep. But it was a monster of a lobster. I also caught lobsters on a fishing line with a regular casting rod. To see one move under the water is quite amazing. Using its tail, it can propel itself backward at a good speed. Crawfish, miniature lobsters in appearance, probably behave like that. We met many people at the ABL training center. It is a very nice facility. They teach the blind homemaking skills such as cooking, laundry, bed-making, and everything else. Mostly I observed the deafblind people and staff members talking, signing, and explaining things, with sharing personal information high on the list. Melanie was excited to meet Philomena "Pi" Wolf. They met for the first time on the DB Alaskan Cruise of 2007. That lady loves to laugh. And her lifelong best friend Jessica Bell came from Mississippi to be her SSP. Both Pi and Jessica attended the Louisiana School for the Deaf in Baton Rouge. It was easy to see how much the two of them loved being together and, oh, how they loved laughing up a storm. They could get whole groups laughing, I am sure of it. It would be hard to meet nicer people. The rooms at ABL had high ceilings, which made for better air flow and comfort. Bruce Dunn was in charge of the SSP Pilot Project in Louisiana. There was a beautiful lunchroom with a large TV at one end. I did something wrong, almost going into the ladies' washroom by mistake. And Buddy looked at me and started to laugh. I said in fun, "I'm not the one who got out of the elevator on the wrong floor!" We both got a kick out of the little mishaps. I found, these deafblind friends were always in a good mood, and ready to laugh at themselves if necessary. And for all of us at times, it was necessary. We all seemed to make little blunders. It would prove to be a very busy first day. Once we exited the ABL building, talking resumed on the lawn outside. Melanie, Buddy and I eventually walked to the car. Brenda was still talking just around the corner. We decided to go after her just as she popped around the corner. DId you ever notice how difficult it is to stop two deafblind people from talking using tactile signing? The simple notion of breaking them up could start a war, lol. And how do you break up a deafblind hug. Dan and Tom are like two big bears when it comes to hugging. The best tactic is to surrender quickly, lol. You know you are loved when these two hug you. There is no body part, after their hugs, which you are not aware of. Brenda and Buddy dropped us off at the Vermillion Ville, an Acadian/Cajun/Creole Heritage & Folklife Park. We said our good-byes to the friendly Prioux's. Soon a bunch of us were walking towards Vermillion Ville Ticket and Gift Shop. Dan and others did the negotiating and the rest of us waited or browsed a bit. A few of the books were interesting, but it was time to go eat lunch. We would come back later to browse some more at the gift shop. We headed over to the restaurant next door, called La Cuisine de Maman. Our dinner was unusual. I tried to eat most of it. Definitely a strong Cajun-spiced meal, I would say! I think I had garlic turkey, with a lot of sauce. At least that was my best guess. The breaded food was okra, and a stuffing, dark brown in color, wasn't bad. (Melanie's telling me that that wasn't stuffing but mashed black-eyed peas!) Really! Ah, Pepsi or was it Coca Cola. It didn't matter, it was good. A dessert was also served, a type of bread pudding with rum. Melanie really liked it. The waitress kept filling my glass with Pepsi. I did not discourage that. And they had fine water too. It definitely wasn't from the swamp. It takes some getting used to, this Cajun food. Others talked at the table, while waiting for someone. It must have been the interpreter that they were expecting to arrive at 2:00 p.m. Before leaving the restaurant, we paid for our lunch. The price was reasonable as we had one of the offered specials. The two meals, including tips, were a total of about $25. Then Melanie and I went back to the gift shop to buy a book called, The Truth About the Cajuns. We waited for the interpreter, not knowing that he had already come to the gift shop to meet us, but when he saw no one, he left. It took several text messages to ask him to come back but he chose not to return. This meant that we were all on our own and that we'd have to make the best of our visit through the Acadian Village. Also, we were allowed in free because of the mix-up without an interpreter. We all split off into pairs or three-somes and wandered on our own, eager to explore and to have a great adventure going back in time. Written by Harvey A. Bond May 6, 2008

 

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