Thursday and Friday of this week was cultural orientation for teachers.
The principal was away for the week, which meant it was just us girls at the school. On Thursday we had an Elder come spend the day with us. His name is Johnny. Johnny is man of laughter and joy. Johnny is pretty sure he is 77 years old. Within Dene culture, your age starts when you are baptized. In small communities they do not always have access to a priest right when a baby is born. When Johnny was born his parents made the journey to a neighboring town for his baptism. This journey took months and was on foot. Johnny was born in October and was baptized in February. He now celebrates his birthday in February. We had the opportunity to listen to Johnny’s story and to learn about traditional Dene medicines. He spoke in his native dialect, Slavey. His niece was able to translate for us. Early in the day I asked him if he would be willing to share about his experiences in residential school. He was more than willing and brought it up a few times throughout the day. His niece explained that there is rarely an opportunity for people in Colville to speak about their experiences. Talking about it brings healing. Johnny’s story is not mine to share, but is one that has impacted my view of residential schools and the generational trauma that has resulted. The Slavey teacher taught us how to make moose stew and bannock. I am learning the difference between different meats and the importance of proper preparations. Moose meat can smell quite bad, which impacts the taste. We were taught how to properly season the meat to mask the smell. Moose meat doesn't get much fresher than the stuff we use here in Colville. As we cut the meat up for the stew we also had to remove the moose hair that was still attached. It was a very unique experience. The soup was delicious! After our meal together we drove into the bush and made tea over a fire. As we drank our tea Johnny told us more stories. I was able to record a lot of his story as it was being translated. I hope to find a way to honor his story. The next morning we met at the school and the Slavey teacher taught us how to make beaver mittens. Jenn and I were VERY excited about this opportunity. Jenn chose to make her mittens out of rabbit fur and I choose to use the traditional beaver hide. I will show pictures of our mittens once we are finished …. Hand stitching fur is a long process. I look forward to learning more about the Dene culture. In the coming weeks I have many opportunities to experience new things. Community members are going to scout out the barren lands to see if the Caribou are migrating yet. If they find Caribou the families will pack up and go set up camp for a week. My students often speak of their time on the land and tell me how much fun it is. The men go hunt while the ladies cook and care for the children. At night they make a huge fire and play games. There is talk of us teachers visiting our students out in the barren lands. I truly love Colville Lake. I am learning and growing so much - both professionally and personally.
2 Comments
The water is pumped directly from the lake and stored in a tank in our laundry room. The tank is very dirty. Both Jenn and I have been sick as a result of water contamination. We now boil and filter all water.
There is no police in town. Police do rounds once every few months. There is also no medical care here. A man broke his neck a few weekends ago - he lay on the ground for half a day waiting for a helicopter. This is my third week with my students. I am so grateful for each of them. Our classroom is quickly becoming a little family. Each morning we start the day with breakfast and journals. I find that they are hungry, tired, and in need of a slower paced morning (which is also often the case with me...haha). As a school we are focusing on literacy. It is my goal to have every student in my room reading and writing before the end of the year. I am falling in love with Colville Lake. The culture is rich and the community is beautiful. Yet, within the beauty, there is unimaginable pain. Generational trauma and hurt from residential schools is ingrained in the stories of the people. No one is immune to pain. I am struggling to navigate where exactly my place is within the story of this community. I am surrounded by so much hurt and want my time here to be purposeful. Jenn and I have arrived in Colville Lake, NT and are happily settling into our new cabin. We have been pleasantly surprised every step of the way. We love the community, the school, and the cozy little cabin that we now get to call home.
The first few days have been a bit of whirlwind. We arrived August 14th in the evening. That evening Martin took us on a tour of Colville and we went door to door meeting all the families and our future students. We were warmly welcomed by all we met. We then went and visited the community dump, which is a large hole in the ground at the edge of town. When that hole is full they then cover it with dirt and dig a new hole. We spent a lot of time cleaning and sorting our cabin. Teachers who have lived here in the past left a lot of things in all the cupboards. We thought it would be helpful to have an inventory of everything that is here and to throw away anything that has expired. My bins arrived yesterday and my luggage (that was left in Yellowknife on the 14th) arrived the day before that. I am so happy that we planned the way we did. We are both feeling fully prepared for the coming year. Something that has surprised both of us is the poor quality of water here. A regular water filter does not do the trick. Jenn learned that the hard way on day one. When we arrived she drank a good litre of water and subsequently spent the next few hours sick and vomiting. Our principal brought over his water filter, which has been a life saver. We have one of our own coming in the mail. Our cabin is one of the few buildings in Colville that has running water. Most of the homes have a large water bin that is filled each Saturday and they transport water into their homes with buckets. We also have a large water bin that is filled each week. The difference is our bin is connected to pipes. I am already learning to adapt my water consumption habits - it is all about conservation up here. The cabin is lake front. There is a long dock that connects to a path from our front door. People fish off the end of the dock. The views are breath taking. The Co-op is a 5 minute walk along the river. The prices there are quite high, but we are happy to know that anything we could possibly need is so close by. We have long hours of sunlight. Sunset is around midnight and sunrise is around 5am. People here adjust their sleep patterns around the sunlight. You can hear kids out playing at all hours of the night. Kids are always around. They try to peak in our windows and are always knocking on the door- one of the perks of living next door to the school. We have already adjusted to cabin life. It feels like we are camping. Each night we have had our principal and a district staff member over to play games and hangout. We have all become fast friends and are anticipating a great year. The guys went hunting this morning and we will be having duck for dinner! We have not sorted out our wifi yet, but once we do I will share pictures of this beautiful community! It is a different way of life up here. Slower. Peaceful. I love it. Have you ever tried to buy a parka in July? It may come as a surprise to you, but apparently most stores don't sell such items at this time of year. I have come to learn that July is not the best season to prepare yourself for -50C weather! These are some of the things I have bought this month: Snow pants Snow boots Parka Mittens Base Layers More base layers Fleece jackets Toques Balaclava Scarfs Wool More wool Heating pads Heated blankets Thank god for online shopping! My orders are slowly arriving and I am confident that I have enough clothing to keep me toasty warm! Which, consequently means that Crystal's prediction of me freezing to death within 2 hours will not become a reality. Have I mentioned the Rubbermaid bins? So many Rubbermaid bins. It seems that this is the best way to ship a years worth of everything to the middle of nowhere. I am currently buying everything I use in life in bulk. I am stocking up for a year of no access to shopping (apart from an extremely expensive little Co-op. $10 for a loaf of wonder bread! No thank you!). Life is a constant shopping spree, which is a bizarre feeling after a few years of being a poor student and feeling like I can't spend at all. It is rather freeing actually. Planning for various sicknesses. Cold medication, tummy medication, flu medication, vitamins... everything I can think of. Now, lets talk about FOOOD. How much food can two girls eat? 3 shopping carts at Costco should be a good start. Lots of soup and chili is in my future. Life is funny these days, but I wouldn't want it any other way! I am looking ahead at this coming year with fear, anxiety, anticipation, excitement, enthusiasm, and a sense of adventure! Five weeks from today I will be boarding a plane and beginning my journey to Colville Lake, Northwest Territories. Rewind to April 2018. I was finishing up my final teaching practicum through Simon Fraser University and had started to seriously consider my employment options moving forward. I wanted adventure, escape, and a fresh start. With a hefty student loan to pay off I began to explore the possibility of teaching in the Yukon. However, after much consideration I decided that I could not move to an isolated location UNLESS I had a friend who would join me. I tried to sell the idea on every teacher friend I had, but no one was convinced. Eventually I pulled the plug on moving North and started applying to jobs locally. I was hired on with the Surrey School District and took a position at Lena Shaw Elementary School. Side Note: Can I just say how much I LOVED working with the staff and students at Lena Shaw! O.k., back to my journey North... Fast forward a few weeks into my employment with Surrey Schools. My dear friend, Jenn, invited me to join her for a day at the beach. One nasty sunburn, and a conversation about my dream to teach up North, later and the two of us had completely changed the course of our coming years. By the following afternoon we had both settled on the Northwest Territories as our desired location to move. We reached out to a coordinator and expressed our desire to apply as a team. Most schools in Northern communities only employ a handful of teachers and the chances of a school hiring more than one teacher was slim. But Jenn and I are determined people. We do not shy away from a challenge and were very eager to share our enthusiasm for teaching with the North. The stars aligned and the perfect opportunity was made available. While scrolling through postings we came across Colville Lake School and both immediately fell in love! This posting checked all our boxes. Not only were they hiring two teachers, they were also hiring for our desired grade levels. With no hesitation, we applied. The next day we received a call and an interview was scheduled. We both interviewed on the following Tuesday and were offered the job that same night. And just like that. Everything changed. |
Adventures in the Arctic:
I invite you to journey with me as I embark on an adventure of a lifetime! Archives
June 2019
Categories |