Pleasant Surprises

Greetings from Rocky Lane.

We arrived last Tuesday after a largely uneventful drive up from Edmonton (We did see a mother bear with two cubs by the side of the road). It turned out there were some (pleasant) surprises in store for us.

Our home, the Firehall

Firstly our accommodation for the summer, we are living in an apartment which has recently been constructed in the firehall. This means we are attached to a large garage, yes with its very own fire truck. We have been told the fire truck is out of order, but it still has a lot of firefighting equipment attached to it. Sadly there is no pole in this firehall but that is really the only thing that is missing.

 

The Van

Secondly our transport. On arrival we were given the keys to massive 14 seater van. It is certainly not the most efficient vehicle around (and we have been told we will eventually have access to a different one) but it has made getting around up here a lot more manageable.

Thirdly is the people. We have spent a couple of days working at the community centre, which has allowed us to get to know some of the people who are coming and going. We have also been going for walks around the community to get our bearings. I have been teaching Nisha the intricate details of the “Country Wave”. Every person who drives past us while we are walking gives us a friendly wave (only sometimes accompanied by a confused look of “who are those people?”). We are also very grateful to the members of the community who have been working to renovate our accommodation.

Peace River at Fort Vermilion

Finally is the sky, for my kiwi readers, the sky here is simply much bigger than it is in New Zealand. The sky is also constantly changing, I think neither my descriptions, nor my photos can really do it justice, but suffice to say that when I am out and about I always have one eye on the sky. I also have plenty of time to appreciate it, as I am typing this it is 11.15pm and there is still enough light in the sky that I could happily walk around outside without a flashlight.

Fear not dear reader, we are also starting to get to work on the project that brought us up here. We are starting to get ideas of what the projects we will be working on in the community, and we are meeting with community elders for lunch (and Bingo) on Friday.

Training Complete

Bear Safety Training,

Gun Safety Training,

Sub-Zero Camping,

Throat Singing.

Apparently these are the skills required by an Engage North Fellow. For the last week and a half we have been preparing in Edmonton for just over three months living in northern communities. There are seven Engage North fellows this summer. Three are going to Pangnirtung in Nunavut, two are going to Dene Tha first Nation in Northern Alberta, and two of us are going to Rocky Lane in Beaver First Nation.

It was a real honour to be selected for the Engage North fellowship, and I have really enjoyed getting to know the other students in the program. There is a really diverse range of backgrounds including Nutrition, Engineering, Business, Law, Politics, Graphic Design, Geography, Psychology, English and Education.

The project Nisha and I are working with the community on is looking at possible uses for a block of land, and assessing the feasibility of those uses.

I am excited to have the chance to live at Rocky Lane and to be involved in the community there. Living in such a remote area I am also hoping to see a lot of wildlife which I will be listing in the menu to the right of this post.

Tomorrow morning we leave Edmonton to drive 9 hours north. I will regularly be updating my blog over the next few months, and will also provide links to the other fellow’s blogs as they get set up.