The Falls, Bison and Halloween

Life continues to roll on here in Hay River. I have really enjoyed watching the seasons change. We have had some snow falls and it's hard to explain how excited I was when I woke up one morning last week to everything being covered in white. I beamed into school however not everyone was excited as me, not sure why. I love the feeling of snow falling on me and love waking up to everything being white however two lessons I have learned are- 1. fresh snow turns to ice and is very slippery and 2. you can't see when you try and ride your bike when it's snowing. So far I am LOVING the snow... the cover of white makes everything even more beautiful!


Hay River

 

Before the snow and the chilly temperatures we had the opportunity of visiting the nearby Alexandra Falls and Louise Falls further up river. They are beautiful falls and unlike many falls in the Rockies there were no fences or gates and we could admire them up close.



On October 11th it was Thanksgiving and we were invited to thanksgiving dinner at a teacher's house on the Sunday. It was a great relaxed day with lots of Turkey and good food, not to forget awesome pumpkin pie!. This is a holiday I think Australia should definitely adopt!!

Several weeks ago Elizabeth (my housemate and volunteer at the High School) had the opportunity to spend the day at the school on the Native Reserve in Hay River. It was a great experience to witness how the school ran and how the Dene culture was so stongly incorporated. The small school has a great atmosphere with the teachers being really friendly and passionate about what they do however it was noticable that many of the children experinced significnat learning challenges, many of which come from the cultural differences in parenting, the social problems may of the native people face and the cultural differences regarding structure and education. Throughout the day we assisted in several Slavy (the native language) classes and also gave a power point presentation to each class on where we were from. I made sure I included lots of pictures and I think the kids really enjoyed it.

Three weekends ago I helped out in accompaning students from the middle school and also the Fench School to a Volleyball tournament in Fort Smith (a small town 3 hours west). It was a great weekend with the kids playing really well in their games. There was also some time to expore and we checked out some beautiful rapids along the river. Both on the way there and way home there were several small heards of Bison on the road. Such big, unsusal looking creatures!

This past weekend was Halloween and I managed to scrape together a costume from the decorations at the school. I wore cobwebs and covered myself in toy spiders and called myself 'Spiderwoman'! We hit up a party and I was blown away at the effort some people put into their costumes, it was awesome. The kids also go all out and were all very cute as they knocked on our door tricker-treating.