Concrete Life

London Ontario-----Fond Du Lac Saskatchewan what’s the difference? One is based around noise and media while the other is based off old traditions and peaceful days. As the sun rises in London the noise grows, as the sun sets in Fond du Lac the land grows more silent. I once asked how far North is North, well not far enough. I feel if I kept going north the more beautiful it would get and the more peaceful I would feel. I am honoured to be here with my youth family. Sherri my roommate has become a dear friend and sister. The other youth in our family include: Ahmed, Dan, Meghan, Sherri, Matt, Jared, Diana, Natalie, Taylor, Eddie, Marissa and I. We've grown so close over the past couple of days and are saddened by the thought of leaving this Northern beauty.

We've spent so much time with each other; meeting the Native people of Fond Du Lac it's been an absolute pleasure to learn their culture and traditions! We've had such a blast. I personally cannot believe that we leave the day after tomorrow. We still have so much to do here. For example, we all went sledding for the first time yesterday, what a treat! It was honestly the coolest thing, I definitely recommend it. The new friends we've made along the way in our journey up North, are incredible! They try so hard to be like people down "south" that they've lost a lot of their heritage and culture. On the other hand the elders of Fond du Lac are so awe inspiring that I would love to come up and teach here! What a pleasure and honour that would be for me! Other activities we've had the opportunity to do are de-scale fish, dry meat, hare snare, beading, make a poster, soccer, musical chairs and a dance. Tomorrow we might even get to snow shoe!  I am absolutely ecstatic! 
                                                                                                    -emma

A Few Words From Taylor

Today we went to a culture camp and some of us made a deer hide purse. We saw how they cook caribou head and Ms. Day and Mr. Steele ate the tongue, they said it was good, I'm not sure I believe them. Matt and I played soccer with the kids we have met at Fond du Lac. We all learned how they make dry meat and how to traditionally smoke the caribou. Mr. Steele and Matt went to see if we got anything in the traps that we had set yesterday which were set for rabbit, muskrat or martin. Later tonight we are going have a large community dinner at school and everyone will be pigging out on the delicious food that they are always preparing for our group. It is our last day here in Fond Du Lac and no one wants to go home!

Smokey

Gotta love that smoke!~

FISH

Those right there, that was made by us. Props to Banting kids for getting dirty!!

Cultural Camp

Kissin' the Jack (aka Northern Pike)

More Excitement at the Cultural Camp

An Elder showing us how to make fried bannock


The kids love Sherri


Diana learns how to gut and filet Northern Pike

A Message from Marissa

My thoughts on Fond du Lac are that it's such a great place to visit and from what the kids here tell me it's a great place to live. I like the fact that the kids here can drive ATV's freely and not be restricted. A couple of things I've learned during my time here include the different ways to prepare and cook fish.  One method I tried out today was to prepare the fish and put it between two pieces of tin foil and place it over the fire. I let it cook for about 20-30 minutes then removed it from the fire. Im looking forward to the activites that are planned tonight.