Grouchy Old Person's NEW Perspective

I moved into an insane apartment building on St. Chuck, right ahead of MG. When I say the building is crazy- I mean that. This building is not at all okay- it's haunted AF, and falling down from the inside, out.

On top of all the rot and funky wiring, water, electricity and all that there that makes it nuts... the rent is supercheap and the only background check ya gotta pass is a criminal history- they don't check your bank/credit... as long as you haven't been to jail without clearing your record, you're IN! So it's a bit of a transient place. The shortcomings in terms of the reliability of the day-to-day stuff and the occasional crazy neighbor (doing loud crazy neighbor stuff) generally runs people right back on out of here.

But my right-next-door neighbor in this multiplex is a nurse who works double shifts every night. And that lady's mama came to NOLA from Ethiopia, specifically to see the Mardi Gras. She's probably in her 50s or 60s... hard to tell. And she speaks almost no Americano. But she has MORE OF the zest for life than ANYONE I've known in all my years here. And she has a tremendous sense of humor and will not be knocked down.

So I've been spending all my free minutes with her- teaching her how to say "Hey, Mister!" and explaining the concept of GET-IN-WHERE-YOU-FIT-IN!

Do any of y'all speak any Ethiopian languages? Hers is Amharic. We've been communicating mostly by pantomime, pointing, and written text on the phone (she can read English, but doesn't have the vocabulary to really express herself.)

She is really sweet and kind and I want to make the rest of her stay here as nice as I can. Any input here will be very appreciated.