Well, this will be my final Katimavik newsletter. I'm heading back home tomorrow! My first flight departs from Chisasibi on August 18 at 14:35 and arrives in Montreal at 18:35. Then I take an express bus to Gared’autocar de Montreal, where I travel with Coach Canada, departing from Montreal at 00:15, August 19, and arrive in Kingston at 3:25. Then I depart from Kingston at 3:45 and arrive in Toronto at 6:20. I then switch to Greyhound and leave Toronto at 7:00 and arrive in
Guelph at 8:15.
A lot of people are being sent home by bus, not just in my group but throughout the cluster. It's the first time they've done it to any of us. I think it's because now that we're done with the program, they don't care about us. Or, Grandma has offered that they aren't concerned with taking time out of the program, now that we're done.
In the last couple weeks, we managed to fit in some cool stuff. This will probably be my craziest post. Don't worry, though. You just go with the flow, and when the flow is sane, you get sane. When the going gets crazy... you get a little crazy. I'll be okay when I get back. Promise.
There's this Native ritual, where they all go into a small, tent-like structure with hot coals at the centre that they throw water on, called a "sweat". A group back on Prince Edward Island did it, and the girl I spoke to told me that of their eight members, only two made it to the end. She also told me that it's like "A taste of Hell". We came to this Cree village, and out Project Leader said that of her first
group of eleven, only two made it to the end, and she wasn't one of them. She said that it was like "A trip to Hell."
Well, we just did it. And guess what? Of our nine, seven made it to the end. And I'm one of them, baby!
Before going in, I talked to a man outside about why they do the sweats. See, there are four aspects of the human: the body, the mind, the emotional, and the spirit. You need to feed each aspect of the human to be healthy, and a sweat is food for the spirit.
While I was in there, and beginning to panic, his words came to me. I thought, "If I'm in pain, that's the body, so forget that. If I'm scared, that's the emotional, so forget that. If I worry I'm losing my mind, that's the mind, so forget that."
So, if you take away all those aspects, what do you have left?
You have your spirit. If you can find your spirit, which is being nourished, it will not be a painful experience for you.
It's pitch black in there. The people who go in all have the aspect of warriors about them. But in the sweat, all of your internal sufferiengs and miseries are brought to the surface and let out. Grown men weep in there all the time. And because of the darkness, it is completely anonymous.
They chant, they drum, and people scream and cry. Their emotional outlet is a contribution to the song. The person I sat next to for the first three rounds wept the loudest. We were all squashed together so tight, I felt his convulsions and his breath.
It's like, when you drink alcohol, you feel warm inside, but that's really because your core body heat is moving to your nerves as it leaves your body. It's the same way for your inner sufferings in the sweat. You feel them more acidically, but only because they're moving out, toward the more sensitive part of your being, as they leave you.
I felt great! I could see myself doing that kind of thing again!
I want to do the more intense version, where you fast for four days, and then have piercings ripped out of your shoulders, back, and nipples, while doing a sweat!
I also want to get in on the chanting, but I don't know Cree and I can't hit their pitches... When everyone got excited at one point, roaring and hooting like mad, I threw in a roar. I wasn't comfortable doing much more than that, though.
When we first went in there, our fire-master introduced himself by his spirit name "Too Hard Bear."
TOO HARD BEAR! Is that really the guy you want to lead you to Hell?
It was held on the site they do the Sun Dance every year, and they tried to summon the spirit of a 14-year-old girl who comitted suicide three years ago, but who's spirit never moved on, and tried to put her to rest.
Turns out, not only I, but two other people in the group felt really cold twice during the sweat. And some of the Natives saw the ghost of the girl... Maybe we sensed it's presence?
We had a Shaking Tent Ceremony, where you summon the spirits of the ancestors, and learn all kinds of cool stuff. It's powerful, too. There's a small, one-person-sized tent at the centre of a giant teepee, and an elder goes in there and acts as a medium for the spirits. They warned us not to go inside the spirit tent, because if
you do, THE SPIRITS CAN KILL YOU! There was some negative interference, and it beat the tar out of the elder inside. It might be because the ceremony was botched and it upset the spirits and also, apparently there were Northern Lights something fierce, which is considered dangerous around here. The elder had to fight off the evil presence while answering our questions. I... don't think we got real answers. I think he needed to give us answers, but he wasn't really picking up on anything because of the interference.
Because I refuse to believe that my spirit name is "Fox-Man"! I am not going to introduce myself to the spirits as "Fox-Man"!
We met this guy who's lived out in the woods for eleven years, has an epic beard, and raises wolves. He looked at my beard, shouted "MY BROTHER!" and hugged me. He taught us how to harvest mushrooms. At the end of the day he gave me a magic staff. He'll shelter and feed anyone for a month, and if you want, you don't have to do anything. It can be like a vacation, or it can be like a work experience. And he offered to help me get a job in Chisasibi if I stayed.
You guys came THIS close to losing me to Epic Beard Man. I love that guy so much, I baked him a loaf of bread and volunteered to wash his dishes. My PL convinced me that I should get my life in order and wait until I have something confirmed for my future and have some leeway time. Apparently, he's got connections with all the truckers across Canada, and will provide free transportation via truckers to get to
his place.
In Katimavik, I have played one video game, read three books, and watched 39 movies! Maybe not something to brag about...
Tuesday, August 17, 2010
Wednesday, August 4, 2010
Arriving in Chisasibi
Before I start things off, I want to give you guys a look at my beard. Here's a video of Cole from my group doing an interpretive dance representing the life of a butterfly while we were camping at Quetico Park with the Alberton Katimavik group. I'm in the background (the one with a beard): http://www.youtube.com/user/arxyn17#p/a/u/0/XgHcQiTI0pU
Also, I want to point out my newfound Katima-fame. If you Google-search "Katimavik Thunder Bay" the fourth hit is my original blog, and if you Google image-search "Katimavik competencies" the first hit is a picture of me! To a lesser extent, I plugged Pierre's pet rabbit Whisky's video on my Katimavik blog, and his view count doubled. It went from 14 to 28. That's not bad.
Anyway, our PL gave us a real good send-off from Thunder Bay. She got us all to select nine beads from a bead store called Jangles, one representing each member of the group, with an explanation for why we chose them, and string them onto a bracelet. I wore my bracelet every day until we were doing a dreamcatcher-making workshop in Chisasibi, and our new PL suggested we use them to decorate our dreamcatcher. I thought it seemed like a good idea, because I'll probably only wear a Katima-bracelet outside of Katimavik for a couple weeks, but I'll probably use a dreamcatcher for years. I lost Pierre's bead, and Clay's wouldn't fit, so I wound up with no dreamcatcher, and no bracelet, and now I'm scared that all of the things I learned from Pierre will disappear from my mind because I lost his sacred bead! NO! I learned so much from him!
She also gave us each a little gift package. A rock from Mt. McKay, an animal representing us, and a note with an explanation as to why. I got the rooster, because of my affinity with birds, because birds are capable of picking up on things that other creatures aren't, like I can, and because it is a symbol of my growing initiative. She has a toy goat which she carries everywhere. I'm doing the same with my rooster.
I have to plug this song in memory of my T-Bay PL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBmlyfWd5GQ
(I really hope that's the right video, since I can't watch them myself on this slow computer)
Our group decided to all do seperate Final Presentations, because we couldn't find one we all wanted to do. I did a presentation on my hat. I made a poster of all the pins I got in T-Bay and told the story behind each.
I completed my hat in T-Bay, too. Filled the entire rim with pins. I first finished it when we were camping at Quetico, and a girl from Alberton gave me a Drumheller, Alberta pin, but I managed to reorganize them so that I could fit more on. There's absolutely no more space, now. The finishing pin turned out to be a Chisasibi, Cree Nation pin which I got for volunteering at a cultural camping trip called Mamouidow.
When we left, we stopped over in Montreal for six hours before taking another flight from a smaller airline to Chisasibi. Me, Clay, Pierre and Rachel missed the flight and our punishment was a free day in Montreal!
...Well, our real punishment was missing seeing eleven bears, which Devon, Cole and Marie got to see by chance on their first day.
Em got a special leave to go to her sister's wedding, so we all arrived in pieces. When I first found out that it was only Devon, Cole and Marie to get on our third flight, I felt like this was like elimination rounds, and only one person would actually make it to Chisasibi.
Anyway, the people in Chisasibi are really friendly. Unfortunately, I have not gotten to experience culture shock or racism. In Montreal, everyone spoke English, and in Chisasibi, everyone speaks English, too.
Around here, Katimavik are like celebrities. I remember our PL turned on the radio, and we heard the last Katimavik crew introduce themselves between songs. Everyone knows who we are.
In Summerside, we did less work than in Thunder Bay, but got more acknowledgement. In Chisasibi, we do less work than we did in Summerside, but get more acknowledgement.
Actually, there's a lot of similarities between Summerside and Chisasibi. People in Chisasibi prefer Pepsi to Coke, and say dinner instead of lunch, and supper instead of dinner, just like in Summerside!
But on the flip side of all the positivity, we've been here for less than two weeks, and there's already been:
-one murder
-two rapings
-one plane crash
-one suicide
That's significant for a community of 3000 people. Every time something like this happens, it rocks the community, because everyone knows each other, at least on an extended level.
Okay, so in Quebec there is this brand of beer called Griffon. It comes as a red ale and a blonde ale. Obviously, I want to try it, since it has my namesake, but we're in a dry community. That means that we aren't allowed to consume alcohol! But it's only a dry community for Katimavik, not for the village! (Did you know I'm in a Cree Aboriginal village in Quebec?) And if we're caught, we don't get a verbal warning, or a CTI, or even a Final Warning. We get kicked out! And the village is small enough that everything comes back to this PL!
Here are some reviews of Griffon beer:
http://www.united-nations-of-beer.com/griffon-rousse.html
http://www.united-nations-of-beer.com/griffon-extra-pale-ale.html
If it were just a Final Warning, I'd think, "They're not going to kick me out in the last month of the program, and I've made five months with a clean slate". But an automatic kick out in the last month of the program?! You HAVE to respect that!
When we first came to the new house, we were assigned a task. We each chose a random balloon, popped it, and found a slip of paper inside. The slip of paper had an animal on it, and whatever animal you drew, you would have to ask around the community to learn more about. I drew rabbit. This means that, between rooster and rabbit, I got the smallest animal of everyone in my group both times, which is funny because I'm the largest person.
I haven't learned a ton, and I've been asking around. I've learned that rabbit in Cree is wopsh, that their fur is used for blankets and children's coats, that these are warm in winter but cool in the other seasons, and that you can make good dumplings out of them.
I think the new house has an impractical setup. It has two common areas, but they're not large enough for everyone to chill in at once. It like, forces the group to divide. It's the first house I've felt myself hanging out in my room. I think that's the mark of a bad Katima-house. Our Summerside one had only one common area, but it was large, so everyone hung out in the same area, promoting unity. Thunder Bay had two large common areas, so people could or could not divide. I think it's better motivation if people are forced to be together through the bad times, but it's still better than a house that forces the group to divide.
It does, however, have a dishwashing machine, and we're actually ALLOWED TO USE IT! Thunder Bay had a television and dishwasher which we weren't allowed to use.
I feel like the group has gone full cycle. At Summerside we all acted like we did at home. In Thunder Bay, it seemed like we all demonstrated new aspects of positive personal development which we learned through Katimavik. In Chisasibi, we all act like we did at the beginning of the program! In the end, we didn't learn anything! I told this to Cole, and we both burst out laughing. I'm glad he laughed, because if he cried, I just might have as well.
Final rotation battle for chairperson. This time, I matched off against Pierre. Like last time, it was real bloody. Both of us were betrayed by someone we were great friends with, and it came out a draw. I won on a coin flip. I felt bad. I wouldn't have competed against him, but I was nominated. I tried to give him the position, but he wouldn't take it. So I get chariperson, two terms in a row, and for the entire last half of the program.
We saw the Northern Lights. The local don't like them. They believe they're dangerous and they can kill you. There are ritual behaviours they act out in order to ward them off.
We went camping for a week with the Cree. Turned down bacon, ham, spare ribs, beans because they were bacon-baked, marshmallows because they have geletin, but ate tarmigan, caribou, goose, beaver and bear. I'm sorry, Katima-vegis!
There are seven people who turned vegetarian inside Katimavik, to my knowledge. In the two clusters I've been in, there were only a total of four original vegetarians. That's four to eleven!
The cluster vegetarians forgave me pretty quick, but the two in my group are kind of leary. I upset them pretty bad, but they're coming around...
Also, I want to point out my newfound Katima-fame. If you Google-search "Katimavik Thunder Bay" the fourth hit is my original blog, and if you Google image-search "Katimavik competencies" the first hit is a picture of me! To a lesser extent, I plugged Pierre's pet rabbit Whisky's video on my Katimavik blog, and his view count doubled. It went from 14 to 28. That's not bad.
Anyway, our PL gave us a real good send-off from Thunder Bay. She got us all to select nine beads from a bead store called Jangles, one representing each member of the group, with an explanation for why we chose them, and string them onto a bracelet. I wore my bracelet every day until we were doing a dreamcatcher-making workshop in Chisasibi, and our new PL suggested we use them to decorate our dreamcatcher. I thought it seemed like a good idea, because I'll probably only wear a Katima-bracelet outside of Katimavik for a couple weeks, but I'll probably use a dreamcatcher for years. I lost Pierre's bead, and Clay's wouldn't fit, so I wound up with no dreamcatcher, and no bracelet, and now I'm scared that all of the things I learned from Pierre will disappear from my mind because I lost his sacred bead! NO! I learned so much from him!
She also gave us each a little gift package. A rock from Mt. McKay, an animal representing us, and a note with an explanation as to why. I got the rooster, because of my affinity with birds, because birds are capable of picking up on things that other creatures aren't, like I can, and because it is a symbol of my growing initiative. She has a toy goat which she carries everywhere. I'm doing the same with my rooster.
I have to plug this song in memory of my T-Bay PL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBmlyfWd5GQ
(I really hope that's the right video, since I can't watch them myself on this slow computer)
Our group decided to all do seperate Final Presentations, because we couldn't find one we all wanted to do. I did a presentation on my hat. I made a poster of all the pins I got in T-Bay and told the story behind each.
I completed my hat in T-Bay, too. Filled the entire rim with pins. I first finished it when we were camping at Quetico, and a girl from Alberton gave me a Drumheller, Alberta pin, but I managed to reorganize them so that I could fit more on. There's absolutely no more space, now. The finishing pin turned out to be a Chisasibi, Cree Nation pin which I got for volunteering at a cultural camping trip called Mamouidow.
When we left, we stopped over in Montreal for six hours before taking another flight from a smaller airline to Chisasibi. Me, Clay, Pierre and Rachel missed the flight and our punishment was a free day in Montreal!
...Well, our real punishment was missing seeing eleven bears, which Devon, Cole and Marie got to see by chance on their first day.
Em got a special leave to go to her sister's wedding, so we all arrived in pieces. When I first found out that it was only Devon, Cole and Marie to get on our third flight, I felt like this was like elimination rounds, and only one person would actually make it to Chisasibi.
Anyway, the people in Chisasibi are really friendly. Unfortunately, I have not gotten to experience culture shock or racism. In Montreal, everyone spoke English, and in Chisasibi, everyone speaks English, too.
Around here, Katimavik are like celebrities. I remember our PL turned on the radio, and we heard the last Katimavik crew introduce themselves between songs. Everyone knows who we are.
In Summerside, we did less work than in Thunder Bay, but got more acknowledgement. In Chisasibi, we do less work than we did in Summerside, but get more acknowledgement.
Actually, there's a lot of similarities between Summerside and Chisasibi. People in Chisasibi prefer Pepsi to Coke, and say dinner instead of lunch, and supper instead of dinner, just like in Summerside!
But on the flip side of all the positivity, we've been here for less than two weeks, and there's already been:
-one murder
-two rapings
-one plane crash
-one suicide
That's significant for a community of 3000 people. Every time something like this happens, it rocks the community, because everyone knows each other, at least on an extended level.
Okay, so in Quebec there is this brand of beer called Griffon. It comes as a red ale and a blonde ale. Obviously, I want to try it, since it has my namesake, but we're in a dry community. That means that we aren't allowed to consume alcohol! But it's only a dry community for Katimavik, not for the village! (Did you know I'm in a Cree Aboriginal village in Quebec?) And if we're caught, we don't get a verbal warning, or a CTI, or even a Final Warning. We get kicked out! And the village is small enough that everything comes back to this PL!
Here are some reviews of Griffon beer:
http://www.united-nations-of-beer.com/griffon-rousse.html
http://www.united-nations-of-beer.com/griffon-extra-pale-ale.html
If it were just a Final Warning, I'd think, "They're not going to kick me out in the last month of the program, and I've made five months with a clean slate". But an automatic kick out in the last month of the program?! You HAVE to respect that!
When we first came to the new house, we were assigned a task. We each chose a random balloon, popped it, and found a slip of paper inside. The slip of paper had an animal on it, and whatever animal you drew, you would have to ask around the community to learn more about. I drew rabbit. This means that, between rooster and rabbit, I got the smallest animal of everyone in my group both times, which is funny because I'm the largest person.
I haven't learned a ton, and I've been asking around. I've learned that rabbit in Cree is wopsh, that their fur is used for blankets and children's coats, that these are warm in winter but cool in the other seasons, and that you can make good dumplings out of them.
I think the new house has an impractical setup. It has two common areas, but they're not large enough for everyone to chill in at once. It like, forces the group to divide. It's the first house I've felt myself hanging out in my room. I think that's the mark of a bad Katima-house. Our Summerside one had only one common area, but it was large, so everyone hung out in the same area, promoting unity. Thunder Bay had two large common areas, so people could or could not divide. I think it's better motivation if people are forced to be together through the bad times, but it's still better than a house that forces the group to divide.
It does, however, have a dishwashing machine, and we're actually ALLOWED TO USE IT! Thunder Bay had a television and dishwasher which we weren't allowed to use.
I feel like the group has gone full cycle. At Summerside we all acted like we did at home. In Thunder Bay, it seemed like we all demonstrated new aspects of positive personal development which we learned through Katimavik. In Chisasibi, we all act like we did at the beginning of the program! In the end, we didn't learn anything! I told this to Cole, and we both burst out laughing. I'm glad he laughed, because if he cried, I just might have as well.
Final rotation battle for chairperson. This time, I matched off against Pierre. Like last time, it was real bloody. Both of us were betrayed by someone we were great friends with, and it came out a draw. I won on a coin flip. I felt bad. I wouldn't have competed against him, but I was nominated. I tried to give him the position, but he wouldn't take it. So I get chariperson, two terms in a row, and for the entire last half of the program.
We saw the Northern Lights. The local don't like them. They believe they're dangerous and they can kill you. There are ritual behaviours they act out in order to ward them off.
We went camping for a week with the Cree. Turned down bacon, ham, spare ribs, beans because they were bacon-baked, marshmallows because they have geletin, but ate tarmigan, caribou, goose, beaver and bear. I'm sorry, Katima-vegis!
There are seven people who turned vegetarian inside Katimavik, to my knowledge. In the two clusters I've been in, there were only a total of four original vegetarians. That's four to eleven!
The cluster vegetarians forgave me pretty quick, but the two in my group are kind of leary. I upset them pretty bad, but they're coming around...
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