Author: sadieolsen

So my expectation of this trip was way different than the actual reality of what happened. I think I wasn’t expecting to make as many friendships and close relationships with the mentors. I think I was expecting this to be more education based, and I wasn’t expecting to truly enjoy myself this much. I learned more than just what was taught in the classrooms and from the teachers and mentors. I learned a lot about myself, and a lot about the person I want to strive to be. I learned how to be closer to people and I learned new perspectives. I learned so much that I can’t even explain. I’d like to thank everyone that gave me this opportunity.

But anyways, today was decent. I liked all the free time cause I got to hang out alone and think and listen to music. And then at the end of the day when we did the bird dancing with Kim Marcus, I met Audrey and Gemma and they were so cute. They danced with me and it improved my mood so much. Those were the high points of my day. And that’s basically it. So yeah, I hope to come back next year.

I really enjoyed the trip to Wishtoyo, it made a really big impact on my emotions and my perspectives. I felt like I was in a really bad mood before I came but as soon as I got there, it felt okay to be want to be alone, and it also felt okay to be with other people which made my mood improved so much. I feel like I learned a lot about myself on the trip. I really loved the way that we grew closer as a group and I loved the comfort I felt there. The hike that we took was amazing, even though it was really hot; the trees were different than home and that was something that I loved to observe. It was my first time experiencing the woman’s ceremony, and I took a lot from it. Hearing everyone’s words and prayers were so empowering and inspiring and it was just an amazing experience.

My biggest take-away from the experience was that I need to find strength, passion, love, and myself to be a better person and that’s something I will constantly work on for as long as I need to. I felt a lot better on Limuw Island than anywhere else because there I wasn’t worried about my phone, I wasn’t worried about my personal  issues…. I wasn’t worried about anything other than the moment I was in. I felt so amazing. I learned a lot but I can’t put it into words, sorry. bye.

Hi, 

So I’m only going to write about the parts of my day that really stood out to me cause I’m tired. But anyways, today when we did the martial arts, we raced and i think that was my favorite part of the morning even though I lost. It just felt really good to run again. 

I really liked the sheep brain dissection because I like neuroscience and medical things so i liked to see the pineal gland and how different things inside the brain looked. I feel like i learned a decent amount of things from that activity. 

The talk that we had today about gender roles made me feel kind of conflicted because i get that it isn’t fair to generalize what females are meant to do and be like and what males are meant to do and be like but i also think that it’s just part of the equal balance thing. There are some things that males are more skilled at and there are some thing that females are more skilled at just because of body stucture and all the other factors that may affect how people do things. And i think that if someone is outside of these roles, it’s not bad, but they’re seen as individualizing themselves. Which is, to other people, seen as a bad thing. So you cant be in the roles or outside of the roles without being judged. 

But yeah,  i broke my phone so i’m doing this the day after. See ya 

Hi,

This morning when we did the martial arts, we played the four different games and we got in groups and when we played against partners and then the winner went further up and played the winners of other groups. I liked the arm wrestling and the chicken fight game. Then we went to breakfast and then to the writing class which I always enjoy but today we had a guest speaker and she showed us these three videos.

The first one was showing how the natives were like aliens and I never really thought of it like that; of how it seemed like natives were speaking some kind of jibberish and how unsettling and scary it must have been for settlers. So it brought in some new perspectives for me. Just because natives seemed scary to them didn’t justify anything that they did or anything. It just made me think a lot. The second video was good, I liked how it showed how children were so different when they weren’t being watched over by a teacher. The third one was my favorite because it showed that people who were abused try to get help through courts but they sometimes have to go to an outside source or they just have to live with what happened to them. Then we looked up scholarships and I found two that i was thinking of applying for but i’m not sure yet.

The Shakespeare talk that we had with Albert Wachtel was amazing. I loved when he read the poems to us and then he elaborated. My two favorite pieces were the first one he read about love and how the person he loved was more beautiful than nature and better than everything. My second favorite piece he read was the one where he pretty much bashed the one he loved the whole poem and told about all their imperfections. And then in the last two lines, he pretty much said it didn’t matter because he still loved them. I also loved how Albert didn’t just stay on one topic, he moved around as the conversation went on.

The Anatomy Lab was crazy because i was thinking of either going into the field of pediatrics, medicine, or neuroscience so it was so interesting to me to look at the touchscreen and see the different levels of the body. It really felt insane seeing the lungs and the heart of the human because I thought that they would be more fragile but they were more sturdy and easy to handle and look at. I wish we weren’t so rushed to look but it was still really cool. And then in theater, I was in a way better mood so i participated and it was nice to hear Belmont’s story and to tell him mine. And that was my day, see ya. ._.

Hey,

Today felt better than yesterday. We did the martial arts in the morning, and we played the flower war which was actually really fun. Our team lost but I enjoyed myself. After breakfast we went to the writing class and worked on sensory details and stuff. I liked the worksheet that we did that asked different questions about us like “who is the most important person in your life?” and “Where is the coolest place you’ve traveled to?” Because after we built on the answers, it ended in a really detailed story or memory.

During lunch, I had to leave to go take a nap because my body felt sore and I had a headache again; I felt much better afterwards. When we listened to Joe Parker on Idle No More after lunch, I found it really interesting because I knew of the Idle No More thing but I didn’t fully understand what it was for or why it was going on. I just got a deeper understanding of what it was and it made me want to go to the rallies when I get home if I ever get invited. Also, listening to Saginaw Grant was a real honor. Just listening to him talk and shaking his hand and taking a picture with him made me feel really good. I liked what he said about not growing up so fast and realizing what was going on around you because that’s kind of similar to what I say. I say that people need to prioritize their happiness and focus on the now rather than the past or future.

An issue that I am passionate about is that I want people to tell the truth about what happened in boarding schools. I don’t want schools and elders to sugarcoat what happened. It matters… it affected our elders, our past generations, our current generation, and our future generation. I think that the more that we get the truth out there, the more willing people will be to help us regain what we lost, and help us recover as a community and I think this because when someone told me their truth of what happened to them, it completely changed my perspective on so many things. Boarding schools changed us completely and we need to do our best to fix what we lost and that begins with knowledge being passed down and restored rather than forgotten.

Hi again,

Today was an okay day for me. I felt really sick for the most part so that kind of sucked. I thought that the martial arts was really cool to watch but I couldn’t fully participate because of how sick I felt. I liked the basket making that we did because I really like working with my hands in a relaxed setting so that was my favorite part of the day.

I also really enjoyed the work with the worms and the video that came with it because I didn’t know that the c. elegans shared similar chemicals and nervous system as us humans, and I thought it was really interesting that we can learn so much from something that so many people don’t even know about.

When we visited the museum I was saying it was sad that we had to look at ourselves through a glass case and how it was scary because we are going extinct. The guy that was having everyone talk said that it was a misconception but I don’t think he really understood what I was saying. We as native people are losing out bloodlines because of reproduction with other races. Not that it’s bad or anything; it’s just something that’s happening. And another thing that I meant by going extinct is that we have native in our blood, but we don’t have it in out minds or our hearts… our culture isn’t sticking with people and continuing onto future generations and I feel scared because I don’t want us to die out and forget who we are.

The last video that Pamela Peters shared, which was her new poetry video, actually made me feel pretty emotional because I was thinking about how much we used to have and how much has changed since settlers came. I was thinking about all the hardships and all the pain that our ancestors have gone through and the video also made me very happy because I was seeing empowered women that are willing to embrace who they are. And I enjoyed our theater class with Rose more today than I did yesterday because I felt more comfortable and excited so that was another good part of my day. And yeah, bye again. 🙂

Hey,

My name is Sadie and I’m from Bellingham, Washington. And I live on the Lummi Reservation right by the ocean. I really enjoy reading, listening to music, being with my cousin and being a babysitter because I love kids. I see myself as a nature lover, a flower lover especially. I’ve been liking working out lately as a stress reliever which mostly involves taking runs around a lake with lots of trails so I can see what I love [nature]. I also love snowboarding and I play soccer when I can. I’m going into Ferndale High School as a freshman in the fall.

My short term goals are to get good grades and continue to prioritize my happiness. My long term goals is to become either a Pediatrician or a General Practitioner. And that’s pretty much it. Bye ._.