The Wolfpack Expands.

Another eventful couple days in Webequie! We've been meeting with various community members to figure out what topics will be most relevant for us to start teaching next week. After talking with Cliff, the nurse in charge at the nursing station, we realized that highlighting aspects of substance abuse and STI's will be quite relevant due to the needle exchange program that is set up in the community. We also met with a mental health worker named Emily, who gave us insight into the different support groups available in Webequie, as well as the importance of discussing anger and grief management, bullying and conflict resolution. It has been nice to speak to a wide array of individuals, with many varying perspectives on where our lessons will be most useful.

We talked with a few school staff, Mary, the principal, Matthew, the grade 5 teacher, and Norman, the alternate education teacher. Mom's fear not, our next door neighbour is a NAPS (Nishanawbe Aski Police Services) officer, Bryan, who makes us feel right at home in the hotel. He is happy to give us tips and answer all of our many many questions. He is starting to warm up to us and might even be enjoying our company during meals. He has also been kind enough to donate an entire box of bottled water, so we do not have to continue our intense water boiling regime.

In other news, the weather has been rather unexpected as it is currently 17 degrees and sunny. Ironically, we wake up to the sound of skidoos in the morning, going across the frozen lake.

Our accommodations are working out well, minus the fact that we cannot figure out the phone or internet. It also looks as if we are living with a man as the toilet seat must be raised in order to shut the bathroom door due to tight quarters. On the plus side, we are learning how to maneuver in very small spaces!

Looks like a lot, but rationing has already begun...

Our wolfpack is looking quite promising, although there was a slight quarrel this morning between 2 members of our little family. We think they have sorted out their issues though and using our conflict resolution lesson, we are looking forward to moving forward in a positive light. During the slight episode this morning, we befriended two young girls in the K-4 and K-5 class, who found our backpacks and rainboots quite amusing. Starting next week we will be meeting more kids in the school and hopefully they will be as easily entertained by our antics.

Stay classy,

Bryan's Besties. (we wish...)

Our 300lb Journey to Webequie.

We arrived at the airport with 4 large suitcases, a hockey bag, 3 secretly overweight carry-ons, 3 backpacks, and our smiling faces – ready to take on any strict service agents. Unfortunately, our smiling faces did not help and we spent half an hour, sweating and grunting, re-organizing all 11 bags to make weight requirements. Clothes, tuna, and protein powder were flying all over the airport while other travelers watched in horror. We had to sacrifice 3 cans of corn, as our first act of charity, offering it to an unsuspecting and appreciative bystander. The service agent eased up on the weight restrictions after realizing we were volunteering our time.

With our stress gone and our bags checked, Hilary and Sarah sat in their sweat as Meagan embraced hers with a classic mouth-open snooze for the plane ride – destination Thunder Bay. After another rearranging effort in Thunder Bay, we managed to get settled into our cozy 12-seater plane. We made a friend who is in the midst of doing several community wellbeing assessment reports for various Northern Ontario communities. We hope to stay in touch next year to overview his assessment package. Our intimate flying experience included touchdowns in Fort Hope, Lansdowne and lastly Webequie. Each take off was TURBO speed, so fast that the seats began to fall apart – Meagan sat in fear, Hilary enjoyed her first turbo-prop experience, and Sarah held strong. On the other hand, the pilot loved life and kept us entertained with his animated fire escape directions at every stop.

Upon arrival in Webequie, Jonas picked us up from the airport (drove on to the tarmark) and met us with a smile. He seemed un-phased by our obscene amount of luggage, and drove us to the hotel on the snowy roads. He told us we would be “living close to the grocery store”. Somewhat of an understatement, as we are living IN the hotel, located in the grocery store – Meagan’s dream come true. Upon arrival at the grocery store/hotel the entire community lost power and the hotel reception was closed. We sat in the lobby, in darkness, awaiting someone/anyone to let us in.

Finally settled into our hotel, we realized we had a kitchen (yay!), and proceeded to label all of our cherished possessions for the communal fridge, ie. the mass block of Costco cheese (2.3kg). We ventured out on a walk, got the lay of the land, although many people in the community are away this week for the goose hunt. We are currently in the process of trying to find someone to show us how to pluck feathers, as that seems to be the hobby of the week.

Woke up this morning, half cooked, over easy as we realized we had no way to release the heat from our room – limited ventilation L. We met Mary the principal, and Cliff, the nurse in charge, to help get a feel for the important issues in the community. We now have some great ideas for teaching in the school!

We decided to not let the carbohydrates win and went for a run – aka started our running club. We started off our running club with a few friends, trailing along behind. The numbers began to grow to a pack of 9. Unfortunately, this pack was drooling more than we were as they were hybrid wolves. We slowed our run down as we feared being mauled. Most had collars and were rather friendly. We are looking forward to expanding the species in our running club.

We are having limited internet, but cannot wait to reconnect with our blogging community.

Stay classy,

The Webequie Wolfpack.

Turkey & Cheese Anyone?!