Waskaganish - 3

Wachiya!

This past week has been busy, busy, busy! This is great because time has just been flying by. The weather has been stunning since last week - sunny and H-O-T! Some days there is a nice refreshing breeze blowing off the water, such as today. It's absolutely wonderful. Who knew that I would I could sweat so much under the northern sun? The only disadvantage to this hot weather is that the bugs are out - in full force. It's pretty bad.

Anyway, on to some updates. I believe I mentioned that we were on bear watch as of last week. There were 2 bears caught wandering around town. On the weekend, my roommate and I went for a long walk in the woods, and she saw one when we took a path towards the water. I couldn't see it, which is unfortunate, because I would have taken a picture, then backed away slowly and then ran for my life. It turned out that this bear was in the middle of eating because when we walked along the shoreline later on, we noticed a puddle of blood where the bear had been spotted. Walking in the woods has been a really fun experience. There is so much vegetation that I've never seen at home and the forest smells so fresh because of the abundance of spruce and fir trees. It's a smell that even the best air freshener can't reproduce. That night, we went for supper with some of the health care workers. It was a potluck of culinary delights brought here from the south. Jumbo shrimps, smoked salmon rolls, cheeses that are not cheddar or mozzarella, and pasta drizzled with a fresh-basil infused olive oil... it was delicious. We also may or may not have had wine... but seeing as the night ended with a Karaoke sing-a-long, courtesy of youtube, I'll let you figure that out for yourselves.

On Sunday, it was another beautiful day, and we managed to get a ride down to the rapids, which are about 24 km outside of town. They are incredible. I found a rock with some moss on it and just sat there, watching the water churn and froth as it tumbled downstream. There is no other noise but the sound of the water. My roommate and I ended the day with a 10 km run - with a long break in between at the pumping station. We decided to sit by the shore and dip our feet in the water, which is pretty darn cold. Of course, after spending a good half hour sweating under the sun, it felt great.

Since Monday, I have been hard at work with the project. I finally met with the Chief Monday morning and he gave me the okay to use my interview guide. And so, the last couple of days have been spent interviewing. I've done 3 so far, with 2 more scheduled for Friday and Saturday and a couple more next week. In between interviews, I have been wandering around town to meet people. There are a lot of people here doing various forms of research. I met two filmmakers who are working in a documentary about the effects of the hydro dams on the communities. Together with my community helper, we went on a boat ride Tuesday evening (hence my facebook status if you saw it - and yes, I had "I'm on a Boat" stuck in my head the whole time, I kid you not). We rode out to the end of Rupert Bay and made it into James Bay. We stopped at a little rock island out in the middle of the water and enjoyed the sunset before heading back to town. Once you're out on the water, the wind becomes pretty intense. In fact, it was a good 10 to 15 degrees colder out on the water than on the shore. Luckily, I dressed appropriately for it.

Yesterday I sat in on another Aboriginal Day planning meeting so that I could meet the Elders who came in for it and get them to participate in my study. Two of them very kindly obliged, and I learned a lesson in being prepared. You see, at lunch (we all went to the Lodge), they decided that they were interested in being interviewed. Right away. I didn't have any of my stuff, so I had to run (literally) back to the house to get all my materials and run back to the Lodge, where they were waiting to start. From now on, I'll have a copy of everything with me at all times - because you just never know.

After the interview, I was once again recruited to take photos of another cultural activity - this time for the building of a wigwam (I was told the proper name in Cree, but it's a long word and no one knows how to spell it). I ended the day with a fish (walleye and pike - yum!) and bannock dinner (and blueberry jam!) with the filmmakers and my community contact at the rapids. Oh, and a run because I hadn't been in 2 days.

I've spent most of day getting my poster ready for Aboriginal Day, since I'll be running a booth with information on the project. I have some other materials to finish and have printed tomorrow as well. Hopefully I'll get everything done on time! I'll have an assistant to help me at the booth on Sunday, as one of my friends from the project is coming up for the weekend. This is good timing because my roommate is leaving tomorrow (sadly, because I've had a great time with her) and then on Tuesday I get a new roommate - a medical student! (Actually, I almost got kicked out of my house because two of them are coming, but I managed to charm the transits lady into letting me stay here. Go me!)

And now we are back to the weekend. I'm off to find the community garden.

peace.