"Shake What Your Mama Gave Ya" Soccer Shenanigans

      Hello again to our family, friends and fellow followers. We apologize to all our readers who have been anxiously waiting to hear about our exciting adventures here in northern Ontario. As you might have seen from our last post, we have been busy posing for pictures in the water bomber for our upcoming CD. Thank you Miles for graciously offering to escort us to the MNR base, and to the two very friendly pilots who took the time to show us the overwhelming number of avian gadgets.

     We owe Miles another thank you for so kindly driving us up the north road, even while well aware of our bad luck with flat tires. With some snoozers in the back of the truck after a long week of teaching, we finally made it to the furthest point in Ontario that one can get to by car. Third time is a charm! Along the way we stopped at Sterling Lake to scout out an abandoned community, which was definitely a unique experience to say the least. As our adventure came to an end and we pulled in to the Hoffman’s driveway, Michaela spoke too soon when she uttered the words “YAY, no flat tires!” Our car, sitting in the driveway, had one very sad looking tire. BUT we did not fret. All our experience with changing tires (or watching tires being changed), allowed our auto team to whip off the screw-punctured tire in record timing. We are acquiring more life skills than you would imagine.

     Kelsey and Jess - the dynamic duo, also known as the “Queen’s Girls,” have become increasingly closer after Kelsey gave Jess a hands-on  (or should we say “hands-up”) lesson that involved Kelsey’s fingers up Jess’s nose as they struggled to change Jess’s nose ring.  In the school, Kelsey and Jess have become successful puppeteers with an animated interpretive dance regarding sun safety. As for the older grades, discussion-based lessons seem to be the most effective, after realizing that their acting skills would earn them nothing but unimpressed silence. An exciting game of compliment freeze tag, where to unfreeze a peer you have to give them a friendly compliment, attracted the attention of all age groups. Before they knew it, almost the whole school had enthusiastically joined in as compliments were flying higher than their spirits for the completion of their class on self-esteem. This gave Jess the opportunity to compliment Kelsey on her “gentle competence when changing a nose ring.” The girls have been moving steadily through the curriculum and are coming to the sad realization that the amount of teaching material left is diminishing rapidly.

The duo with their awesome Crolancia students

     In Mish, Eric and Michaela have been taking full advantage of time spent outside of the classroom. Last week, the team split up for “Freaky Friday”. Eric’s athletic ability shone through on the soccer field, while Michaela attempted to untangle fishing line and reel in “the big ones” which surprising turned out to be tree trunks. Both, a little sun-kissed, returned home that day with smiles from ear to ear knowing that they had formed new friendships. It was also on this day that it truly sunk in how much they are going to miss this place when it comes time to leave. A PD day gave the two the opportunity to organize an afternoon of soccer. After driving around the reserve to round up kids, a full-blown soccer game was started, only to be put on hold by little voices shouting, “I’m thirsty… I’m hungry.” 30+ sweaty, hungry, and screaming kids would naturally make the average person nervous, BUT the two knew what they were getting themselves into. The prepared QHOers set up shop and handed-out juice, chips and granola bars out of the back of Eric’s car. Success! The Mish team has also been making strides in the classroom, as the students are enthusiastic about filling their personalized folders with health material. The pair successfully wrapped up the sexual health curriculum, which was taught to boys and girls separately, allowing for some great discussion and sex-specific information to be delivered in an open and safe environment.

Helping the students fish

Lining up for juice and snacks

     In the evenings, the two teams combine the last of their energy and come together to play soccer with the older students of Crolancia. At about 7:30pm, we meet and divide into teams, which always seem a little unfair- girls against boys! Well aware that this seems to be the easiest divide, the girls have been practicing their soccer abilities, including their fancy footwork. Kelsey, who claims she “feels no pain,” dives, ducks and goes flying 5 feet in the air to get her foot on the ball. Jess- made of steal, has ninja-like skills in net- slapping, kicking and deflecting the bullet-like balls that head her way. In addition to scoring many goals, Michaela scores EVEN MORE friends by “shaking what her mama gave her” on the field while leaving behind her signature scent of bug repellent.  And then there is Eric who actually manages to stay on his two feet for the entire game. His fancy footwork rivals the most competitive of ballet dancers and his graceful speed rivals that of a gazelle. All in all, our daily soccer games have become a rewarding activity that we look forward to at the end of a long day. Thank you to all the students who come out!

     Yesterday, we hosted possibly the most chaotic “Friday Fun Night” recorded in history. The younger kids sadly had exceedingly more energy than four university students on a Friday night as bean-bags were being shot-putted across the gymnasium, birdies were zooming around heads, and kids were challenging each other to duels using combat-like weapons, which weirdly resembled oversized Q-tips. The finale of our performance in breaking up the chaos was simultaneously accompanied by an epic curtain close graciously provided by one mischievous student who had discovered the pulley.

      In other news, we have been steadily eating our way through our stocks, which leaves us making creative adjustments to our diet. While Jess discovered that Nutella tastes good on absolutely everything, including oatmeal, Kelsey proudly declared herself a “hametarian,” eating oatmeal with breakfast, lunch, and dinner while avoiding the ham luncheon meats. Meanwhile, Eric has boycotted all ceramic dishware by choosing to eat from the metal pots in which his meals are made. Michaela, always combining the most interesting foods, including craisins and hummus, has also decided to spice up her life by adding Montreal Steak Spice to all canned goods. The foursome have been counting down the days to their big road trip to Dryden, where they will enjoy some fresh fruits and veggies. They will also buy the remainder of the supplies needed for the exciting upcoming events that they have been actively planning. Stay tuned to hear about our busy upcoming weeks!

    

           Mish you, 

                  Pickle People

One last thing: Jess got a little too excited when she and Kelsey learned that one of our new Crolancia friends is Shania Twain's niece. Jessica's face continued to redden as she held back the urge to scream out "Can I meet her?!" It was certainly a highlight of her day.

A tour of the water bomber... or our next CD cover?

Do you enjoy hangliding? Michaela, are you flexible?

As we write this, we are sitting baking in the sun, enjoying the 20 plus weather that Pickle Lake has been dealing out this week. Jessica has already acquired slightly redder skin, but nothing a little Aloe can’t heal. We’ve all jumped into our second week of teaching rejuvenated from last week’s teaching successes and our eventful weekend!  Friday night we hosted our first Friday Fun Night for the kids at the community hall. While Jessica and Kelsey manned the painting station (Jessica slightly teary eyed at the wonderful “surprise” birthday cards the kids made her), Michaela got busy playing with K'inex, and Eric had his heart stolen by his adorable four year old ping pong partner.

On Saturday, we celebrated Jessica’s birthday with a trip up to see an old abandoned residential school. Brent, one of the teachers at Missabay, generously offered to drive us. Leaving Pickle Lake, we set off on our journey onto the North Road, a gravel road which leads another 3 hours north to the school. After stopping for a quick photo-op, we drove for about two minutes before hearing an unfortunate loud popping sound: a flat tire. As Brent and Eric worked on putting on the spare, the girls worked hard on finding the heat pockets around the truck to avoid the cold wind. They also took notes, in case they ever needed to know how to change a tire. After a quick detour to Central Pat to replace the spare with a larger, sturdier spare, we were back on the road, jamming out to top 40 tunes and munching on homemade bannock. About an hour in, we stopped to say hello to a few camping friends, and thank goodness we did. Just as we were getting back into the car, we came to the sad realization that our trip would have to come to an early end. Yep, our second spare tire was steadily leaking air. Deciding to make the best of the situation, we stopped a couple more times on the way back and took in some breathtaking Northern sights. That night, after baking some yummy cupcakes, we took a walk down to the beach and watched the sunset over the lake, realizing more and more just how beautiful it is up here.

Back at home, we keep ourselves amused with the everyday quirks of living with four other people and two dogs. While Kelsey is busy teaching Michaela lessons in her sleep, Eric and Jessica are having their own little bed war, with Eric stealing all the covers and Jessica counteracting by sleeping in the middle of the bed. Having just finished watching all of the seasons of How I Met Your Mother to date, Jessica is now unable to resist constantly quoting the show and relating each daily event to it. Meanwhile, Michaela has become Duncan, Sandra’s golden lab’s new favourite attraction, as he insists on staring at her lovingly while she sits in the living room and sleeping on top of her during the night. We are also getting used to numerous visitors pressing their noses against our front window as we sit down to eat dinner, asking us to come outside and play. Who can resist a game of hide and seek when the kids are so cute?

At school, we are starting to see the positive results of our lessons, through toothbrushes brought to school, the younger ones sneezing into their elbows, and some older students opening up to us both personally and through the question box. We have had our fair share of interesting question box responses, including the two in the title. Michaela is still not sure how to answer that one.

We’d like to end this blog post by just saying how proud we are of Michaela for her exciting offer, and for coming that much closer to figuring out her future. Congrats Michaela!

Mish you,

Pickle People

P.S. After writing this blog, we left for our women’s aerobics class only to be greeted by smoke billowing out of the forest just beyond the school and water bomber planes circling overhead. After our class, we raced back home, grabbed Eric, and like the tourists we are ran down to grab some awesome pictures of the planes filling up in the lake and swooping low over our heads. Thankfully, the three forest fires were put out and all is well. Just another eventful day in Pickle Lake, Ontario.

"Guys, I think we need to calibrate the scale." Or maybe we should start to heed the advice of our own nutrition kits...

We are pleased to update that our foursome will be helping out with and planning numerous events within the community, including a guardian/student Sunday walking club, Friday Fun nights at the Community Hall, a Crolancia and Missabay girls’ night, an interschool sport’s day and much more to come.    

As per usual, Michaela tossed her luxurious leopard print snuggie aside to greet day 7 with enthusiasm as she and Eric headed to Mish early that morning. However, little did she know that she and Eric would be serving food all day for a very important land claims law suit event in Mish. So as history was being made, Eric was manning the turkey stuffing station and Michaela was spilling ham juice all over herself in the cook room. Their adventures don’t stop there, for the  duo has done a great job in planning a family walk through the Baby Centre in Mish and are working on having health-related messages translated to Ojibway on the local radio.

In the meantime, Jess and Kelsey attempted to win over the high school students with a heated game of floor hockey for a physical education unit, which was incredibly fun. They have also become regular attendees at various exciting events offered by the school, including the weekly karate club, outdoors club, breakfast club and sports club when not involved in a befuddling game of “Kittens,” which seems suspiciously like tag, with the minor addition of ever-changing and extremely cryptic rules. 

Our Pickle pair then concluded their school day by being escorted home by numerous wonderful children from the school while our Mish match was simultaneously followed by a pack of dogs licking ham juice off of Michaela’s legs.  Jess, Kelsey and Michaela then ended their evening by joining Tanya and several other women from the community for their weekly heart-exploding cardio workouts by Jillian Michaels.

The "Kittens."

Other noteworthy occurrences include a 2 hour adventure at the reserve, where Eric spent the full two hours rolling over rocks looking for gold, while Michaela spent the full two hours rolling her eyes at this. Luckily the two of them were not joined by too many bugs while trudging through the swamp. However, the next day, Michaela, Jess and Kelsey did the dance of the mosquitoes at the park while the children smiled at each other knowingly because that would certainly not be the worst of it. However, in all fairness, the mosquitoes are more like birds here.

In other news, our group decided that it isn’t very cool that we go to bed before 10, so Michaela (or Mic I should say, after Mickey Mouse, who one student suggested Michaela’s hairline looks like) has taken it upon herself to become the “Sleep Police,” shaming us into a tense countdown at 9:48, where we wait with bated breath for the clock to strike 10 and it is appropriate to sleep.

Lastly, we’d like to give a shout out to Tanya, whose home-made cookies not only caused Kelsey to pretty much scramble on all fours to the kitchen after the word “cookies” was uttered, but also left us feeling grateful for her generosity. Thank you Tanya! 

Mish you,

Pickle People

Happy Mother’s Day, from Pickle Lake, Ontario!

Firstly, we want to wish all our Moms a Happy Mother’s Day! Without you all, us four would quite literally not exist. Thank you for your love and support, allowing each of us to follow our passions, as we continue on this experience we call QHO. We love you all and miss you dearly.

Friday began like any other day. Both dynamic duos headed to their schools, eager to finish off the first week on a high note. Michaela and Eric assisted the grade 2 class in planting trees in milk cartons, an initiative the school, Missabay, was taking on. Fridays at Missabay include “Freaky Friday” where the afternoon is filled with games in the gym or fun activities throughout the school. Eric, being the phys eddie, began teaching Frisbee in the gym and joined in on floor hockey. Michaela, being Michaela, practiced her jump shot in basketball and had a blast doing it. She then found her strength at the Bingo station, where Michaela took charge as the head bingo caller.

Jess and Kelsey played with bugs. They spent their day with the SK to Grade 2s, placing larvae in jars with larvae food in an effort to learn important concepts in fundamental biology. They ended their week on a high note as they met and got to know the older kids at Crolancia, and found their strength excelling in numerous games of tag during recess.

...and that concluded our first week in the schools.

Friday night we were treated to a lovely dinner at the Hoffman’s, munching on moose burgers (that were acquired legally) fresh off the barbeque. We now agree that moose meat is better than beef. Lucie invited a few members of the community (OPP, EMS, teachers, etc) so that we would have a few more familiar faces around the community. After some tea and delicious desserts, we chatted well into the night, sharing stories and building friendships. Michaela, riding a sugar high, decided to share her life story. In case you were wondering, Michaela went to a Mennonite High School. But as 10:00 pm rolled around, the “late” night had to come to an end, and smitten with wonderful hospitality, we returned home with extra desserts (cakes and pies) and new acquaintances.

After a long but amazing first week, we headed to bed, looking forward to Saturday where we could sleep in and finally relax.....

NOT.

Saturday was a FULL day of picklin’ around in Pickle Lake (I’ll never be that cheesy again). We started off heading to the Community Centre, where we were happy to be volun-told that we would be serving at the Mother’s Day Breakfast. So with Kelsey on french toast, Michaela on eggs, Jess on potatoes and bacon, and Eric on sausage, off we went. As per usual, we were able to meet even more members of the Pickle Lake community, which we began to understand was not all that numerous.

Returning home after eating a full breakfast (thank you, Roy), our host Sandra offered to take us along on her weekend walk with her two dogs, Duncan and Charlie. So we hopped in the car and followed Sandra, ending up at an old canoe outfitter. An hour in the wilderness along the rough trails really allowed us to take in just how North we are and how clean the air really is. We also got to burn off the desserts we’d been pigging out on.

For dinner, we tackled a lasagna like a team, adding our own Northern flavour to the classic recipe by Mrs. Wychopen. The night seemed low key but the social bug bit again when our host assured us “you haven’t seen Pickle Lake until you go to a Pickle Lake bonfire.” We spent our Saturday evening outdoors, enjoying the warm fire and charming company, catching a ride back to our house with an acquaintance we had made earlier in the week.

Sunday we slept in. Pretty simple statement: it was glorious. We snoozed happily through the morning more comfortable than a pig in a blanket. We then eagerly began piecing together lesson plans for the upcoming week. One more item on the agenda remained: Mother’s Day Tea. So off we went to the Community Centre (again) to eat fruit and drink tea, while celebrating this glorious day with other mothers, all the while thinking of our own. We helped clean up, scored another plate of desserts, and relaxed the rest of the day.

In the evening we grabbed two Frisbees and walked to Crolancia, picking up neighbourhood kids along the way. The QHOer’s spend the afternoon teaching how to throw a Frisbee, giving piggy backs, playing chain tag, laughing hysterically, and realizing how out of shape we were (that’s the desserts talking).

All in all we are doing well. A successful day leaves us tired beyond function at around 9:00 pm and we struggle through till 9:45, at which point we are ready for bed. We are also beginning to understand that we may have to ration food. After only a week in, we have eaten quite a bit of our reserves. So either we start to ration, or start cutting off Kelsey from eating every living moment of the day. Seriously. No joke. She’s snacking as I type this...

Tomorrow the Mish/Pickle foursome head to their schools to begin their health related lessons. Will our Northern travellers unite and prevail against all evil to save the day? Stay tuned to find out!

Signing Off from Pickle Lake.

Mish You,

Pickle People

“Wear warm clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty and rubber boots. I’ll pick you up at 7:30 and I’ll explain later.”

After a candlelit move-in, we woke up to our first morning in Pickle Lake, which was bright and sunny. Our foursome split in half as Eric and Michaela went off to Mish, and Kelsey and Jess headed off to Crolancia. Both groups were met with warm greetings from the teachers and various community members. The excitement from the younger children was heart-warming as Jess and Kelsey became covered with baby koala bear children that were absolutely wonderful and a whole new level of energetic.  The excitement ensued that evening after a brief and painful jog, where it was clear that our muscles had slightly wasted away after being crammed into the car for 7 hours; Michaela’s position of choice had been a painful fetal position with various teaching supplies strewn across her lap, Jessica’s was with her legs straight up in the air, birthing several backpacks, and Kelsey’s legs were misplaced somewhere among the boxes of tea. After a lengthy set of stretches, we had the pleasure of meeting Miles, who was kind enough to introduce us to his family and friends as well as show us the weather station and other hot spots in the town. The night was then completed with a chick flick that was even greater than our sick, sick addiction to dried mangos.

Tossing her luxurious leopard print snuggie aside, Michaela greeted day 2 with enthusiasm as she and Eric headed to Mish early this morning. Little did they know that they would be spending the day teaching the Ontario English curriculum to a class while Michaela stood “so tall and skinny” in her “fake moccasins” in front of the door to prevent any students from leaving. At the end of the day, they had many great interactions with more of the teachers as well as the Chief and community nurse. Coming home with more knowledge of specific community issues and with an excited attitude about the upcoming community Diabetes walk, Michaela returned to her snuggie and Eric returned to make dinner (such a good husband). As for our Pickle People, Jess and Kelsey spent the afternoon pushing swings,  pulling sweaters over heads, pasting tissue paper on jars at craft time and pacing the forest with a group of 8 children and Ms. McKillop for the Outdoors Club. They were then fortunate enough to be escorted home by a group of 6 lovely children on their bikes.

After about 20 minutes of relaxation, an exciting phone call from Miles Hoffman came in, where he instructed: “Wear warm clothes that you don’t mind getting dirty and rubber boots.  I’ll pick you up at 7:30 and I’ll explain later.” And when 7:30 rolled around, much to our delight, we were taken to a river located just south of Mish where we caught fish with our bare, falcon-like hands. Thank you Miles for taking the time to share such a rare opportunity with us (one that occurs only about 3 days/year during the spawning season)!

Mish you,

Pickle People

 

You Know You're Lost When You Reach The American Border

     After a day of shopping, two days of driving, and many stories to tell already, we’ve finally arrived in Pickle Lake, Ontario! The day before leaving, Michaela and Jessica attempted to buy 7 weeks of food from Costco and Price Chopper, resulting in two overflowing grocery carts and many funny looks. They also bought all of our teaching supplies, and after loading all of bags into Jessica’s front hall, we all wondered how everything was going to fit in Eric’s car.

A tight squeeze

     The next morning, we woke up at the crack of dawn and somehow, with a lot of determination and some squished bread, we managed to pack up the car. We were finally on the road! For the trip up to Thunder Bay, Jessica and Kelsey rode in Kelsey’s car, rocking out to 500 Miles, and Michaela and Eric rode in Eric’s car, belting out the classics from Much Music 2000. As we got more and more north, we drove through more frequent snow squalls, rainstorms, and the beautiful scenery of the cliffs, forests and lakes of Northern Ontario. Stopping only for gas, bathroom breaks (one in which Michaela almost peed in Eric’s car), and a quick lunch, we arrived in Terrace Bay (two and a half hours away from Thunder Bay) around 8 pm. Sitting down for a nice meal, in which Eric’s “personal pizza” turned out to take up the entire table, we decided to get a motel room and avoid the danger of hitting a moose by night driving. This was the plan, until we realized that our two very full cars were receiving unwanted attention from several relatively unfriendly looking motel residents. Jessica and Kelsey had the awkward conversation of returning the motel key 15 minutes after we’d just bought it, and we were soon on the road again.

     Jessica and Michaela were the designated animal watchers as we warily drove through the dark in the middle of nowhere, expecting a moose to jump onto the road at any moment. Though Michaela and Eric saw 6 deer and one wolf, we arrived at Jessica’s uncle’s house in Thunder Bay, exhausted but thrilled to have made it. The next morning, after a delicious breakfast at The Hoito with some of Jessica’s family, a grocery run for frozen goods, and some repacking of Eric’s car to squish Jessica and Kelsey into the back, we set off for the last leg of our journey. We thought we were going in the right direction, until we hit the Minnesota border. A quick turnaround, some dry heaving by Kelsey from the pungent smell of manure, and a few dirt roads later we were back on the highway heading in the right direction. We were told by Jessica’s uncle that you weren’t a true Northerner until you’d hit an animal: check (rest in peace little muskrat). It was a beautiful day for driving, and we even saw a couple moose! Our excitement grew when we passed the Mishkeegogamang First Nations sign, and again as we drove into Pickle Lake. We met up with our host, Sandra, at North Star Air and drove back to her home, our residence for the next seven weeks. After a very excited greeting and plenty of kisses from her two labs, Duncan and Charlie, we unpacked the car by lantern and flashlight, as the power was out.

     We watched part of a movie, and then, exhausted from the long journey, we all fell asleep in our ridiculously comfy beds. We are so excited to go out today and start meeting people in the communities, as well as get to know Sandra better as she seems like a fascinating woman by all of the certificates and badges on her walls.

Mish you,

Pickle People

Unloaded at our new house