Pickle and Mish: Souvenirs and Shifting Gears

We’re now four days into project and things are really starting to come together. Despite Missabay (the school in Mishkeegogamang) being shut down for the week due to a water issue, we’ve already had the chance to become involved in both Mish and Pickle Lake. We’ve had some beautiful sunny weather appropriately balanced out by torrential downpour and some light flurries. In our time here so far we have had the opportunity to meet with many wonderful and inspiring people. We have contacts within both Pickle and in Mish that we are partnering with in order to deliver new programs and also to help to further develop existing programs. We’ve begun to work with people on the local recreation council to help run sport events in the afternoon and evenings in Pickle Lake. As soon as the Missabay reopens we hope to offer an after school sports, crafts and whatever else program for the students living in Mishkeegogamang. Lindsey and Sandra have already put into works a leadership program for the high school students of Crolancia that will see students work together to take ownership of a project that they will eventually deliver to younger students within the community. Students have suggested projects such as a running program, a soccer league and a floor hockey club that they would help to develop for other students in both Pickle Lake and Mishkeegogamang. Sandra and Lindsey, who will henceforth be referred to as Team Pickle, have their first day of teaching tomorrow but I’ll let them tell you all about that later on! Heather and Nick have begun to work on a career/goal setting workshop for children and teenagers living in the Mishkeegogamang community. Also, we’re all really excited about the “boys nights” and “girls nights” that will be starting next week. We’re working to get students together from both the Pickle Lake and Mishkeegogamang communities for afternoons where we’ll integrate fun activities with life lessons.Following suit from last week, I’ll end this post with another list that’s fun for the whole family!Top Three Things We’ve Learnt About Pickle Lake So Far1)    According to a reliable source (a guy I met earlier today), snowfall has been reported to occur at least once in each of the 12 months at some point during the past several years.2)    Pickle Lake has the most outstanding memorabilia around. A couple of days ago, Lindsey (of Team Pickle) got a fleece. But wait, it get’s better. The sleeves….zip off. Yeah, they zip right off. The thing is totally a fleece AND a vest, I called it a Fleest ( I have my doubts that it will catch on). Also, today, Heather got given a Pickle Lake mug that has a cartoon pickle on it, lying in a chair holding a fishing rod. I mean, souvenirs just don’t get any better than this.3)    In this part of Ontario, the weather is liable to change at any given time. We’ve had some shorts and sandal days abrasively intermittent with snowfall, “not-in-Kansas-anymore” grade wind and pouring rain. That being said, we’ve loved every minute that we’ve spent in these two beautiful communities and would like to thank everyone who has welcomed us so genuinely..Thanks for stopping by!Pickle/Mish PE’s