Unexpectedly, I went on a hike up Sleeping Beauty trail wearing Cindy’s sandals, and having suffered from ankle pain only days before. Miraculously, my ankle was healed though, and there wasn’t too much snow at the top, so all was well. I was impressed by the steepness of the climb, the tallness of the trees, the blanket of moss covering the forest floor, and the denseness of vegetation.

I felt tired for several days after that, and started drinking coffee (which I never do) that was provided at the daycare.

The week was a mixture of daycare work and observations at Queen Charlotte Secondary. Both Sue at the daycare and staff at the high school agreed that I should take the opportunity to see how things run in the secondary realm on Haida Gwaii, so I visited QCSS on Tuesday, and in the morning on Thursday. I observed the Haida Language class, spoke with the school resident artist named Robert for a length of time, checked out the art class, lead an outdoor gym class, and helped out in the music class, which was muddled and anomalous. Music consisted of students wandering in and out of the stage area, some plucking away at guitars in the hallway, and others practicing singing pop songs in a group. I tried to guide students playing with the guitars in an activity where we pinpoint chords in their favourite songs, but nothing much came of it. It would have been interesting to spend more time with the group though – perhaps we could have found some way to bring more structure into the class.

I played my last game of adult dodgeball, and sadly, things began to feel as though they were wrapping up. They gave me some lovely parting gifts at the daycare, and I said goodbye and ‘thank you’ to everyone there. I realized while working at the daycare that I would definitely want to work with that age group again. I decided that I would like to apply for a teaching position on Haida Gwaii – and that I would definitely consider daycare work as well. It was a really positive atmosphere, and I miss the kids already!

All made up nice and pretty by the kids.

This week started off quite differently, as I headed northward up the island through Tlell, Port Clements and Masset. Angus Wilson showed us teacher candidates the schools, sights and sounds of the area. I was amazed to see the change in landscape from south to north – pine and spruce to bog, to sand dunes, and then to wave-battered shores.

One of my favourite student art pieces.

Tuesday’s weather remained fabulous, so at the daycare, we spent almost the entire day outside, walking down to the oceanfront of Skidegate, and then playing in the yard before parents came to pick the little ones up. Despite the good weather, each day less and less children came to the daycare – whooping cough making its way across the island, causing everyone to stay home and start on antibiotics. By Thursday, only 4 kids remained. By Friday, the daycare was temporarily closed.

Learning Haida by playing Dii Gway.

Mid-week was the time for learning Haida language. In the afternoon on Wednesday, us teacher candidates made our way down to the Skidegate Haida Immersion Program to meet the elders, the hand full of fluent Haida language speakers left in the world (perhaps about 40), who meet daily to speak, learn and consolidate the language. Anyone is welcome to sit in on this class or meeting – the intention is to build up the Haida language and to pass it on to a new generation of speakers. I felt an ‘aha’ moment in hearing one of the elders say that coexistent language learning in Canada should be comprised of students learning any given First Nations language of an area as well as English, rather than trying to forcibly make French and English the national languages. I thought this idea was brilliant.

I had a chance to kayak this week, as well as take part in the drop-in dodgeball at the high school in Queen Charlotte. At the first mention of adult dodgeball I laughed, but it was truly enjoyable. My ankle has been haywire since I first arrived in Haida Gwaii, but despite the pain the game was fun. It finished at 10 pm, and I wasn’t sure that I could get home to Skidegate. Hitch-hiking back and forth from my place to the centre of most activities in Charlotte has been mostly reliable, but sometimes sketchy. Time of day is most important – and at that point no one was heading to Skidegate, so luckily a very generous student drove me home. Next week I don’t want to end up in the same situation, so I will plan to remain in Charlotte overnight.