Mish Week 5: Wall Tents, Community Events & Time Well Spent
Team Mish back again with another update coming to you live from the top end of the 51st parallel. Once again, this post is packed with a week’s worth of action so hold on tight. This whole blog-writing thing has actually proved to be a great opportunity to sit down and reflect on the happenings, tomfoolery and monkey business in which we are immersed each week. So, if you have any monkey business of your own and a couple spare minutes, give it a shot and share your ideas with the world! If that seems a bit daunting at least leave us a little comment down below. Ask us a question or let us know your thoughts and give the readers a break from my frivolous musings.Anyways, back to the matter at hand and that is the QHO Mishkeegogamang project. This past week we went on a three-day camping
trip with the Junior Canadian Rangers, hosted our second Girls Night, our second Boys-To-Man-A-Thon, caught some fish, helped the Pickle PE’s with their Spring Fling event and taught 18 lessons at Missabay.The Junior Canadian Ranger Program offers youth in remote and isolated Northern communities in Canada an opportunity to learn traditional culture and lifestyles, life skills and Ranger skills through meaningful outdoor activities. We have been fortunate enough to be involved as volunteers with this program during our time here in Pickle Lake and accompanied the Jr. Rangers on their camping trip last weekend. All of the Jr. Rangers attend either Crolancia Public School or Missabay Community School so this was the perfect opportunity for us to get to know some of our students better. Throughout the weekend, the kids worked on canoeing, fishing, marksmanship & orienteering skills and were instructed in the arts of campfire and wall tent building. We had such a great time helping out and learning with the kids and would like to thank the members of the Ranger program for including us.On Monday night we hosted our second Girls Night. This time around we brought the grade 5-8 girls from Missabay to hang out with girls from Crolancia. The night involved some icebreaker games, a big photo scavenger hunt, as well as a pancake & smoothie dinner. This year on project, we have continued to provide events that integrate both the Pickle Lake and Mishkeegogamang communities. Members from each of the communities have expressed that this is something both lacking and desired and we’re pumped about how the events have been going so far. We had a great time and we hope the girls did too.
With equal parts excitement and trepidation, this past Thursday, we hosted Boys-To-Manathon 2.0, this time at Missabay Community School. Twenty-five very eager, grade 2-6 boys from the Mishkeegogamang community joined us for the evening, which consisted of log throwing, grunting, arm-wrestling and tower building competitions as well as an ‘amazing race’, dinner and awards ceremonies. Unfortunately we had to cancel the fire building and swimming events due to the rain but the guys still had a great time. We handed out awards for MVP, most manly, superman, gave-it-all-he’s-got, sportsmanship and most spirit. The evening went really smoothly thanks to a tremendous amount of help from teacher volunteers and Tommy the bus driver.In the classroom we finished our physical safety unit with the little guys and have moved on to discussing healthy relationships & self-esteem. With the older students we began to talk about substance abuse, smoking and alcohol as well as puberty with those students enduring this special time. Each day we are seeing more and more participation in the classroom which we’re stoked about and I have to be honest, this whole teaching business has grown on us a little bit. It’s a cool feeling to see a student truly grasp a concept or get fired up about an in-class activity. Although we only have four days left in the classroom, by the end of this week we will have successfully completed the curriculum that we had set out for each age group.
Alright I’m almost done, honest. I just thought I should mention a couple more things that we’re excited about over here on the Mish project. First of all, we’re quite pleased to announce that our fishing luck has taken a turn for the better. This past week we went fishing with the Jr. Rangers and were able to meekly contribute to the large pile of fish that quickly accumulated. Time well spent. Mike, one of the Rangers, fried up some of the walleye, pike and white fish that was caught, right there at the lake. What a beautiful experience. Finally, this coming Wednesday will mark the last Mish project QHO event for 2013. Along with the Pickle project, we are co-hosting a Pickle vs. Mish soccer game at Missabay Community School. We’ll be sure to let you know how it turns out!Also, it snowed today…It’s June 2ndWarm Regards and Dubious Thank Yous.Nick & HeatherAnd now for our frequently mischievous and rarely humorous, list of the week!Top Six Funniest Moments With Kids1) Nose Blowing Talent - During our self-esteem lessons, we tasked the younger students to compile a list of things of their classmate’s desirable attributes. After reviewing their work we found out that Charlie was “good at blowing his nose” 
2) MJ & Kin- For our first few weeks teaching at Missabay, we were questionably referred to as Michael Jackson and his daughter by one of the grade five students. I’m not sure, nor will I likely ever be sure, why or how this misconception originated.3) Stepping Stool Brother- While hanging at the local playground one day, we witnessed something truly special. One of the younger students was unable to climb onto the tire swing due to his undeveloped stature. Without hesitation, his four-year-old brother got down on all fours to act as a human footstool for his older sibling.4) Remember When I Mentioned Untarnished Honesty?- One fine day, all four of us Pickle/Mish PE’s were gathered at Missabay. One of our more bold young students quickly glanced at the three female PE’s and then proclaimed to Heather and Lindsay that “Sandra is the nicest looking out of all of you”.5) Sneaky Getaways- Each time that we have needed to leave the park after school it has proven to become a little trickier. On multiple occasions we’ve had kids climb into the van or block our escape. Naturally, we’ve resorted to bribery.6) The Question Box- One of our favorite submission thus far read, “ Why are you guys so tall wow do you guys grow a lot or what and Nick is funny but really you guys are funny’
