Day 6 - Three words....NYO, Farm, Bowling!

Hello All!

To say we had a big day today in an understatement.  The exhaustion level was pretty incredible by the time 10 pm rolled around.

We began the day by teaching NYO to the Wahpeton high school students taking the phy ed summer class.  We tried this the last time and it went really well so we decided to go for it again.

Alaskan High Kick

Toe Kick

 

Eskimo Stick Pull

 


This time it was a little different for the morning class because the teacher split up the girls and the boys BUT I do think they were more productive without the distraction of the other group (and by they I mean the boys).  Cassius also showed them a mini presentation with pictures to help describe the subsistence lifestyle.  Since it all goes back to the culture this was very helpful for everyone :D

Wrist Carry

The students did really well interacting and teaching the Wahpeton students how to go about all the events in NYO.  One of the teachers, Mr. Jones, actually beat our students in one foot!!!  Needless to say those two boys were shaking their heads and vowing to practice....tehehe.  The students were VERY impressed by the athleticism with the students of Wahpeton.  They couldn't believe how quickly they picked up some of the events, though some events (like the one arm reach and toe kick) were still pretty elusive in the mastery department.

Attempting seal hop

The students also shared their akutaq that they made the night before and it was pretty popular with the Wahp kids.  No one gagged when we told them what it was made out of...positive sign!

Auntie Debbie (also known as Deb Tobias) came by to watch the students teach NYO and she also joined us for lunch.  She has completely fallen in love with the students....can't blame her....I kinda like them too :)  She can't get one of our students to hug her and it's now her mission to get this student to hug her before we leave Wahpeton.  The student thinks Debbie is scary....so she's not having it.   The other students have taken to the ND hugging with stride and hug Debbie whenever they want.

Kneel Jump

The afternoon session had fewer students so it went a lot faster.  Our students were pretty sore by the end of the morning session, due to the fact they are a tad out of shape...not having done NYO for a few months now.  That being said...they weren't as mobile with the second group as they were with the first.  The Wahp students were again well behaved and really tried all of the events.

One Foot Kick

For those who don't know the events of NYO are: one foot, two foot, alaskan high kick, one arm reach, toe kick, kneel jump, seal hop, wrist carry, eskimo stick pull and indian stick pull.  We did not show the indian stick pull because I couldn't find the sticks in Kong, but all the other events the Wahp students were exposed to.  If you are curious, just youtube 'NYO' and you'll get a clear picture of how athletic you have to be to be able to pull off some of these events.

All good things have to end and after sharing more of their akutaq with the afternoon class we met up with Upii (Dad) and headed out to go see a farm for the first time!

The Prochnows were nice enough to let us invade their farm once again so the students could see cows and pigs for the first time.  It was quite an experience.  I have to say the students dealt with the smell WAY better than the last group. 

Seeing cows up close

  

Chris Prochnow and the owners took the students through barns, where they met a calf that was blind and a calf with a broken leg, he had a cast and everything!  They also got to see how they were fed.  They looked inside grain bins, rode tractors, and ate rhubarb....priceless faces with the rhubard.  



Next they met pigs...big and small.  A lot of them were brave and actually held the piglets.  Again, priceless faces when the piglets started to squeal.

Learning about soy beans

This was another priceless experience for them.  One of our students said she wanted to meet a pig since she was in second grade.  She was over the moon when she got to hold a piglet, it literally brought tears to my eyes.



Today was another day where the weather decided to shape up right when we needed it to.  It was rainy and cold all morning but right when we got to the farm it lightened up and gave us a solid hour of sunlight....before dimming down right as we were leaving. 

 

After saying our thank you's and goodbyes we headed to Upii's for dinner.  Dad and Judy were kind enough to host a dinner, so the students enjoyed a BBQ at Upiis.  They were very happy to have a little R & R after a long day of NYO and exploring the farm.  They even got to wash some of their clothes that did not escape the farm clean.

eating in 'his' boat

Everyone finished dinner and we headed out for our final event of the evening....BOWLING!!  Most of our students have never bowled in an actual bowling alley before and they LOVED it!  They are really good too!  A lot of our students got strikes, some had two strikes in a row!  Auntie Debbie came down to join us so the evening was complete.  We were split up in four teams and of course a competition ensued for most of the teams.  I was teamed with Cassius, Sigfurd, and Brian (only girl....figures) and we had a major battle for two games.  I came out victorious in one game and Brian the other.  Right now we're neck in neck with our battles. 

Team #1: Amber, Kevin, Danielle

Team #2: Jennifer, Angel and Bernie

Team #3: Kendall, Eva, Jaclyn and George

Sigfurd, Me, Brian, Cassius

We wanted to take the students out to the shooting range to see some trap shooting but the weather turned pretty quickly.  They saw the range but all the shooters had already left so that flopped but otherwise the day was awesome!

The students chilled at Upii's for a little longer, picked up their clean shirts, and we headed back to the Circle of Nations for our last night in Wahpeton.

Good Day!