Busy day of work, surprise guests for dinner and Cuba paper submitted
Wednesday, July 27 2016
A shorter walk this am, as I had stayed up late trying to put a wrap on the Cuba paper assignment. The dogs made lazy circles as I walked down the road. Heading off to work sites, the team seemed tired and somewhat overwhelmed, a common mid week issue. Arriving at the first site, Head Start, the initial look revealed less work with fewer tools than we had anticipated. The chaperone, Rebecca, being very flexible, assured me that all would be well, and we went on to the next 3 sites. With everyone finally dropped off for work, I circled back to each site to take photos and see how the work was progressing. At the sites, the teams were well engaged, making relationship with local folks, and feeling pleased with their progress.
A trip to the Pastor's home(twice), with a visit with the new ducklings, rescued by the Pastors wife, the requisite grocery run (only 2 visits to the store today), rounding back to pick everyone up, and we were headed back to Heart Butte with an unanticipated, but refreshing stop at the swimming hole down the road.
Arrival back at Heart Butte left us with precious little time to make dinner(the one night we don't have a cook). The chicken took forever , it seemed, but we had help from many hands to get food prepared for the 25 of us. Just as the chicken was in its final stages, the Pastor, with wife, and 3 friends in tow, showed up for dinner! This is when deep breathing comes in very handy. After some quick calculations, and putting out some leftovers, I crossed my fingers in hopes of enough food. After all, a Jewish mother's nightmare is running out of food.....you guessed it, plenty of leftover chicken for lunch tomorrow.
After dinner, the local Christian clergy were supposed to join us for their version of a healing ceremony. For some mysterious reason, they didn't show, which left Pastor Hill to do the service on his own. This turned out to be its own blessing, as he did a lovely job combining his Christian and Navajo traditions and liturgy, and including the kids and adults in the process. Afterwards the kids were off for their evening bonfire and s'mores.
Finally with some quiet and time to myself, I spent two hours finishing up the Cuba case study that I have been working on. It has been quite engrossing and I have learned alot, but it has been surreal to be working on a Cuba paper while being on the Blackfeet reservation in Montana.
Tomorrow brings another day of work, the arrival of the next team leader, and an early evening horseback ride and BBQ. We are done with ceremonies for now,
With love from Heart Butte,
Barbara
Wednesday, July 27 2016
A shorter walk this am, as I had stayed up late trying to put a wrap on the Cuba paper assignment. The dogs made lazy circles as I walked down the road. Heading off to work sites, the team seemed tired and somewhat overwhelmed, a common mid week issue. Arriving at the first site, Head Start, the initial look revealed less work with fewer tools than we had anticipated. The chaperone, Rebecca, being very flexible, assured me that all would be well, and we went on to the next 3 sites. With everyone finally dropped off for work, I circled back to each site to take photos and see how the work was progressing. At the sites, the teams were well engaged, making relationship with local folks, and feeling pleased with their progress.
A trip to the Pastor's home(twice), with a visit with the new ducklings, rescued by the Pastors wife, the requisite grocery run (only 2 visits to the store today), rounding back to pick everyone up, and we were headed back to Heart Butte with an unanticipated, but refreshing stop at the swimming hole down the road.
Arrival back at Heart Butte left us with precious little time to make dinner(the one night we don't have a cook). The chicken took forever , it seemed, but we had help from many hands to get food prepared for the 25 of us. Just as the chicken was in its final stages, the Pastor, with wife, and 3 friends in tow, showed up for dinner! This is when deep breathing comes in very handy. After some quick calculations, and putting out some leftovers, I crossed my fingers in hopes of enough food. After all, a Jewish mother's nightmare is running out of food.....you guessed it, plenty of leftover chicken for lunch tomorrow.
After dinner, the local Christian clergy were supposed to join us for their version of a healing ceremony. For some mysterious reason, they didn't show, which left Pastor Hill to do the service on his own. This turned out to be its own blessing, as he did a lovely job combining his Christian and Navajo traditions and liturgy, and including the kids and adults in the process. Afterwards the kids were off for their evening bonfire and s'mores.
Finally with some quiet and time to myself, I spent two hours finishing up the Cuba case study that I have been working on. It has been quite engrossing and I have learned alot, but it has been surreal to be working on a Cuba paper while being on the Blackfeet reservation in Montana.
Tomorrow brings another day of work, the arrival of the next team leader, and an early evening horseback ride and BBQ. We are done with ceremonies for now,
With love from Heart Butte,
Barbara
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