The following is an email I sent a friend to distract her from her own personal stress. I had been walking around the French Quarter for about 4 hours. And I know - there are soooooo many of you who told me how fabulous this place is.....I bet you all didn't have to walk around alone. And every one of you are right - the architecture is GORGEOUS - the town reeks of history - there is a ton to see - but I am vaguely bored. I think I am meant to be with people and not alone. No, I can BE alone - but most of the tours and stuff I want to wait and do with BigGuy in the evening....so by day it is people watching and wandering - and being quiet. I am not good at quiet. The only people who will really talk to me are the street performers and they want me to pay them money because that is their job. I don't really have any money - we are swinging this whole trip through being frugal with grocery money that I skimmed off the top over the past few months and Dave's work reimbursing us for a good chunk of the trip. So shopping and paying street performers is not in my budget or really something I long to do anyway. After that the fun seems to include sitting in the heat alone....or in the hotel. Ack!! So I need a plan - but in the mean time reflecting on some of it is kinda funny.............this is to Becky (I did change some original curse words):
Okay so here is a Big Easy distraction.............every friggin person here is asking for money!! It is almost annoying to walk around. Yes the street entertainers are ENTERTAINING - however, then after you watch them they say - "don't forget to pay me for the show" and if you don't they call out to you and say..."hey cutie (because they are still trying to get your money) didn't you enjoy ole Steve's show?"......and if you keep walking you feel like a bitch....if you stop and confirm that you did then you have to pay up - and all I have still are $5's. I am not paying at every corner for the show that I hear.
Okay........so then I started feeling badly - thought "well I will stop at Cafe De Munde to get a beneigh and an iced coffee (because it is freakin' hot here! so hot the news said "stay in or you might die" - but I figure if nothing else the sauna effect might help me shed a few pounds and I have found that the heat actually makes me the oposite of hungry anyway). Okay - back at De Munde - you seat yourself and there were these really good street musicians set up playing facing the shop - a trumpet and a giant horn thing...ah can't remember what that instrument is called - tuba maybe?....anyway the trumpet player is also singing - very very good - gospely and praising. I sit down to order the iced coffee and 3 beneighs....cost of $8 I figure. I had change for the tip and would keep the 2 $1 bills and pick 2 worthy street performers to tip. Clear my conscious. Well the waitress is Vietnamese or Thai or something.....older woman. Asks me what I want - I ask if the ice coffee is with chickory (because I want to try chickory) she said "iced is small cup" - oh, she called the iced coffee iced - I can swing the lingo and she seemed in a HUGE hurry so quickly I said....."ahhh okay then I will have one iced and an order of beneigh". She doesn't say another word - yells in her language to some guy near by who I guess should have been waiting my table from the way she screeched at him and then motioned to another set of tables. It was something like, "Bing chi ma taka di la butt head"........so I wait wondering who will be bringing my food. Meanwhile the lovely singer is waving at me and singing and making eye contact. Perhaps he will be the first to receive one of the bills I will have left over? He is really great after all and I will finally have the change to do it. The waiter comes...one cup of ice WATER and 3 beneighs. Nice right? I almost told him he should screech at the other woman that she screwed up his tables order and short changed him on a sale. Total is $4.20. I give him my $10 - he gives me a $5 bill and some change. I let him keep the change. I now still have a bunch of $5 bills. Shit. The singer waves at me again.....is he worth $5? Ack...where is the back entrance to this open air patio anyway? I can't even look totally involved in a conversation with someone so I can play "distracted" as I leave. Shit.
My main question though.....why the fudge is a Vietnamese person waiting on me at the Cafe De Munde?
So then I spent the next 3 hours skulking around town taking pictures of street performers with my zoom lense and avoiding Muhammad Ali.
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