November 6th

Today I feel like I accomplished more. I started working on the wolf unit and went to the gym afterschool to talk with Jennifer, the rec leader, about doing some activities there. She was very nice and I hope we can get things up on their feet and meet some of the kids families. I want my wild meat! The kids were a lot better today. Tomorrow I hope to fiddle and am looking forward to the movie and cupcakes together.

Today I went walking with Zaida while she cross country skiied down by the Jean Marie River. She told me her grandfather died in a snowmobiling accident down on the river bank last year. She kept saying that she could see him up in the trees looking down and protecting her like a monkey. She told me that there are lots of ghosts in Jean Marie and the Dene believe that the spirits of their relatives protect them. She tried to teach me how to cross country ski to no avail, she is a very sweet girl.

The kids do not know their geography- the thought that toronto was in the U.S. They also didn't know what a hairdresser was. The picture below is a photo shop that one of the 7 year olds did of Natasha, the oldest girl.

November 4th

It was my first day at school the kids in themselves are so bittersweet, o kind and yet so undereducated. The day went really fast because they keep it moving. They took me on a walking tour of Jean Marie and showed me their houses and their brothers and uncles, grandmothers, aunties, step mother' house........... The puppies are so cute! There is a big pack of them that belong to the janitor's daughter, I would really like to have one. I made my first cooking effort and my face, eyes and hands are all burning like hell from the chilies I bought. I didn't think that dried chilies were so potent!

Obamas first presedential speech was AMAZING! I have to say, I believed everything he said and was quite overtaken emotionally.

Friday November 7

Friday! We baked cupcakes and unsuccessfully watched a movie. The kids put cake all over the floor were very restless. Afterchool I was feeling very defeated but I decided to go the the gym to talk to Jennifer the rec coordinator anyway, for company if not for substance. It was pretty disorganized, kids literally doing everything everywhere, and a funny little canteen that one of the older students seems to run quite successfully. I set up the school's karaoke machine for them and drank dr. pepper and tried to talk to jennifer while keeping one of the kids from smashing in their tv with a bat and a basketball. Jennifer is very soft spoken and it seems like anything could pretty much fly with her in the beggining but I am sure I will be doing the majority of the real work when it comes down to the day. She doesn't seem to really hold any authority with the kids. We are planning to have a karaoke friday night and have some arts and crafts days and movie nights. Hopefully some traditional crafts and beading! This is the beggininng of a pretty quiet weekend with terry in fort simpson..... lots of time to work on my wolf unit!

November 5th

Today was my second day at Louie Norwegian . We went cross country skiing and the weather was simply gorgeous. The snow is piles 3 metres high around the buildings and is a fine powder. The sunshine was so bright and the trees are so short that looking out along the river you would think there was nothing beyond ice but small islands with similar small communities going skiing at lunch. I am starting work on the projects I hope to have the kids do about the human body, wolves and a culture unit on hunting a trapping. Quite a broad range of subjects I have been assigned too haha. It's exciting. The kids are pretty enthusiastic and are lots of fun to be around, someone is always bothering someone else and you can't blame anyone because they are all too clever and cute.

I finally recovered from the chile pepper burns after being distracted by Obama's win and putting a few too many dried chilies into my bean medley soup. That was a stinger! It burned all through the night and I of course forgot in the morning and set my eyes a flame while putting in my contacts. The principal must think I am trying to kill him. Although it wouldn't be the first time someone has made that threat according to his stories about some of the other reserves he has taught in. There seems to be a really future for me in the north as a social worker if I so desire.