Well I have finally arrived here at Shamattawa and am quite happy to see many of the familiar faces from last year. It seems like everyone is surprised to see me back as they all commented: Oh you are back? I am definitely going to take it as a compliment, they were genuinely happy to see me, and I was delighted to see them.
Wednesday after work I ventured out with two other teachers for a hike and some fishing. We walked East along the river(which I will mention its name on my next blog) for about 45 minutes through thick bushes. There were two kinds of berries, the common red berries, and some high bush cranberries. None of us were sure of the high bush cranberries, so I decided to pick some and show it the locals and see whether it is ok to consume. As for the fishing; only Maryann caught two Northern Pikes, Rayan and I, the two supposedly seasoned fishermen caught nothing! I took the berries to the store and asked a couple of elders and they ate the berries and told me its ok to eat them now! I wasnt convinced, so showed them to a local colleague at school, and they confirmed its an edible berry called sour berries. So I guess I will be going back and picking those more regularly, that is if i can find others who would go with me in the bear infested trails!
After the hike I stopped by to buy some eggs and milk when I noticed a dog is staring at me. I looked closely and recognized Cookie. Neither her nor i could quite believe our eyes. I called her name and she jumped right at me. She lay on the ground on her back motionlessly while I patted her.
On Thursday I decided to go for a long walk on the main dirt road in town which goes along Northwest direction ending at a fishing spot called the Whiskey Point. Cookie followed me. We walked about halfway out when I found some blueberries and low bush cranberries. They are quite small but very delicious. I guess all good things come in small packages! On our way back we were startled by a very large black bear crossing the road 50 meters in front of us. I immediately turned around and hushed Cookie asking her to follow me. We were both extremely nervous as we almost walked backwards looking at the bear to see if it would follow us, it didnt and just stopped in the middle of the road staring at us moving away. Luckily for us two trucks appeared from the other side. One of them was an RCMP truck. they noticed the bear and stopped the truck sounding their siren and horn to scare the bear off. We waited about 5 minutes and continued our way back. We saw the bear come out of the woods about 150 meters from the last place and crossed the road behind us. We then went to a fishing spot very close to town and I managed to catch a Northern Pike, my first real meal!
Friday was a low key day as we finished reorganizing the classrooms and devising a comprehensive schedule for the high school. It was raining and dark after work, and I decided to stay inside finishing the clean up of the apartment. I did manage to take some photos but am not sure how to post them up here. I'll do that as soon as I master the art of blogging!
Cheers for now.
11:53pm Friday September 9 2011
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