Day 10, Let's Begin Again?!?!?!?

Heyyy!!!! Its Meegan and Aspen here, we are going to tell you all about today (and maybe the talent show first if you’re good!)

The talent show was hilarious! Are favorite one was the leaders. “I’m number seven no I am” “I sat down now I got to go to the bathroom” “I want a pin!!” “Are we there yet” “blahhhh” “Why did she throw up??” “Why are they asking questions” “PARTY PARTY!!” “Hey look there’s a Macy’s” “Want to go shopping” That was our leaders mocking us about us on the bus last night at the talent show!

Now today we woke up and had pancakes, sausages, and fruit. We had to pack up our suitcases and cleaned our Tipi’s. After that we walked all the way up the long drive-way to Lucian’s bus and loaded on. We had a long drive to Drumheller Valley to the Miner’s camp. We had lunch; home made chili and sweet iced tea. We also had orange jello with bananas and grapes.

After that we went to the Coal Mine Musuem. We rode a mini train and scared the pants off our tour guide! Thanks to Darius, our tour guide went into a “haunted” tool shack. After that, we went to the dreaded, the feared, and the Longley awaited trip to Coulee School House! We had dinner there; chicken legs, beef “tongue”[roast beef], salad, rolls, cucumbers, carrots and lemonade.

Now, I must tell you about our little plans to misbehave for Mrs. Morrison! We had heard some rumors that she quite despised finger nail polish, jewelry, writing on your self, giggling, smart mouths, and dirt, sooooo we decided to paint our finger nails, draw on my hands, wore tons of jewelry, and I giggled a lot! I got screamed at for drawing on my self and wearing jewelry. We were quite surprised to find out that she was only acting!  Just to scare the other class, I decided to put my nose on the chalkboard as a punishment! I laughed so hard when I heard them gasping and calling my name in horror and fear as of what she might do to them! After that we played on the playground, and then me and Keely went inside to meet Hannah. Well, all I have to say is, WOW! We went into a room and saw a coat and helmet shaking, and we heard foot steps and knocking. I screamed a little and we ran out of the room. We went to another room and saw forks, curtains, clothes, and a tricycle shaking. We went back to the room and we investigated a little more, and found out that the rooms that we were in was, and still is haunted and that is why every thing was shaking. We got so excited when we found out that little fact! 

After that, we went to the badlands, and saw the HooDoos. HooDoos are basically sand stone shapes created by wind erosion that just happen to slightly resemble mushrooms. The stories behind the HooDoos; bad children who did not respect their parents and were always very bad, would get over taken by an evil spirit and be turned into a HooDoo. Their heads would be completely solid, but they could feel their own legs, arms and waist being disintegrating, so they had time to think about what they did and what they should have done. The same goes for all of the bad parents who abused, mistreated, and abandoned their children. 

When we arrived at the badlands, we were struck with “terrible” news. The Texas and Alabama delegation had beat our time record with 15.4 seconds, and they had one less person. As you could imagine, we were furious about this! So……Lucian pulled over, talked to us about always believing in our selves, and right then and there, we got out, ran into a field, lined up numerically, ready to show them up! Geneva got out her iPhone, and Josh got out his, and we began the competition! We recorded the whole thing, until Lucian called us and we had to start over. We actually didn’t make it. Yeah. I know. JUST KIDDING. Yup, we did it, we beat their time, with 15.2 seconds! We were ecstatic! We went back to the camp, and had a bonfire with the things we were most thankful for. 

That’s the end our day, and every day, we get sadder and sadder at the thought of leaving all of our new friends, and this beautiful place we have become to love. ~Meegan Smith and Aspen Schupbach

A Few More, More of My Favorite Things!

Marc’s favorite thing about Canada was the tree-go zip-line. It was fun climbing the huge ropes, and feeling like I’m falling through the  cracks. My favorite campus was UVic. It was unique, and different from the others. Lastly, my favorite city was Vancouver. It was very scenic. Those were marc’s favorites of Canada.

One of Joe’s favorite things was The Painted Reflections Tipi Camp. I really like that because we got to learn all about the BlackFoot style and got to paint rocks and learn how to build a Tipi. Another one of my favorite things was Tree-Go (Where the zip lines and low ropes course are) Camp because we had to go through this really long obstacle course but it was about 10-15 feet up. We where harnessed in but it was still really fun. We also got to go on a couple of zip-lines. My favorite place to sleep so far is was where we are now ( A miners camp) I like this place because I have awesome roommates. Be back soon.     Joe J

One of Mitchells favorite things was ziplining at Monkito it was awesome I think I might want to do it again.

One of Tommy's favorite things were ziplining  which was so much fun and also the glacier was really fun and the water was so good and it was so cool riding in the bus that took us there. 

One of A.J.’s  favorite thing was the tipi camp we danced, sang, and ate of couse. I would like to go back one day.

One of Matthew’s favorite part of the trip was the glacier part that we went on. I got some glacier water from the glacier. I learned what the little holes in the bottom of the stream were; the holes were holes melted in the ice from pollution that sank to the bottom of the stream called  kiosis.

One of Cat’s favorite things about our People to People trip is the opportunity to learn and experience new cultures as well as geography and the country’s history! I have also very much enjoyed making and spending time with MANY new friends and leaders! I  am so thankful for all I have done and everyone I have met!

One of Keely’s favorite things about this trip is meeting all the awesome new people and seeing whales. :)

One of zach’s favorite things was going to the best dinosaur museum I have ever been to.

One of Joshua’s favorite things on our People to People trip would have to be the when we went to The Painted Reflections Tipi Camp. We got to actually sleep in a Blackfoot Style Tipi. Sleeping on the grass and hearing the stories of the one of the Blackfoot elders actually made me feel like one of their tribe members. The part that really was the topping on the Native Canadian cake was when we had the buffalo stew. The buffalo was really good and the traditional bread with it made it even better. In conclusion my favorite part of  the trip was when we went to the Painted Reflections Tipi Camp.  

           

            One of Nia’s favorite things was staying in the cabins because it felt like I was actually felt like I was one of the minors..

One of Hannah O’s favorite things about this People to People trip was all the amazing places and sites we got to see. Also I am so happy that I got to meet so many new friends that I will be sure to keep in touch with.

One of Aspen S’s things about this trip so far was jumping into the glacier water.

UMM….I WAS TOLD TO DO ONE OF THESE SO UHH HERE GOES-ONE OF DMONEYS {DARIUS LEDBETTER} FAVORITE PARTS OF THIS TRIP WAS SCARING THE JUICES OUT OF PEOPLE IN HAUNTED ROOMS, MAKIN FRIENDS AND HAVING FUN! MOM ARE U HAPPY I FINALLY MADE ONE OF THESE THINGS(;

One of Aarons favorite thing is getting to go on this trip and thanks to all my family members.

One of Charlie’s favorite things was going zip-lining, it was very fun. 

I think I did one of these already but Brendan’s favorite thing is the whole program itself and all the new friends that I made and friends in Canada eh! But since I’m now a Canadian and an American I am going to live with Randy at the tipi camp No passport for Canada and the USA eh!!

One of Meegan’s favorite things was meeting all my new friends! My favorite activity was the tipi camp. Especially the talent show around the campfire, when the leaders went up for their skit. Their skit was about us on the bus. “I’m seven no I am” “there’s a Macy’s want to go shopping” “I want a pin” “I sat down now I got to go to the bathroom” “BLAHHH!!” “Why did she just throw up?” That was our leaders mocking us, so now we mock our leaders mocking us on the bus. And I LOVEEEEEEE my new bestest friend, Aspen :D. and Nia too!

Ms Ann’s favorite thing is watching the Delegates get excited over seeing the many beautiful sites.  It is hard to believe that we have seen and experienced so much in twelve days.  From – obstacle skill course, (Leaders - Bundy jumping), whale watching, climbing a glacier, drinking glacier water, “Polar Bear” swim, gondola ride to the top of Sulphur Mountain, viewed magnificent mountains, slept in Tipi’s on the prairie and 100  year old coal miners cabins.  This has been a fantastic People to People Student Ambassador –Canadian Trip. 

Day 9, We're all Fine

By Estelle, Rachel, Keely and Curtis

  

  Yesterday, we started out by going to the Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump where we learned how the Blackfoot People got their buffalo.  The museum had lots of pieces of information to view and read about.  We also watched a movie that showed how much effort was needed to pull off fooling the buffalos to jump to their death.  After the inside we were able to walk out to the actual jump site and see here where the buffalos jumped!  Then we headed back to Painted Rock Tipi Camp where we did crafts by painting rocks and making key chains. We saw some very interesting rock designs. We also learned how to set up our own tipi (It was really easy). Then we went up into the round house to here an elder tell us about their heritage and her traditional stories. It started to pour rain on top of the roundhouse roof.  It was really loud and started to make puddles on the tarp roof.  After the rain stopped we settled with a campfire and the leaders roasted s’mores for us, and then all the delegates put on a talent show with funny skits, good dancing, and awesome singing! Lastly for the night we said goodnight to our friends and our dog, D-O-G, for the last time.

Day 8, This is Great!

By: Anna Bocock & Zack Davis

     Today we woke up super  early, ate breakfast (not bad) and got on the road on our way to the TIPI CAMP!!!! While we were on our way we saw a giant rock that was split in TWO, its name was the Ocatoke! The time needed to get to the Tipi Camp was 2 whole hours! We finally got there at about 1 o’ clock and had to wait an hour before we could eat lunch. Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Indiana’s group was there (they are all one group and only have 46 ambassadors) and they met us we met them then they got to eat before us.         

  

      We ate lunch then started doing some Blackfoot traditional games there were two games that we did one was called the hand games this game is pretty complicated but once you do it, it is not as complicated. The second game was really tiring but it was fun this game is called the scream game in this game you everyone lines up then one at a time everyone runs but at the same time they have to scream there heads off and here is the trick you have to do it in one breath the person who makes it the farthest with one breath wins! The last thing we did that was relatively close to a game was we learned three new dances the rabbit dane, the owl dance and the snake dance.

        Later in the night we ate a delicious dinner of buffalo stew (the vegetarians had a different kind of stew!) Then we went to the round building and whatched some people dance then when we had been practicing earlier that day the lady picked one of the three dances for each clan, the clans names are The Gopher Clan, The Buffalo Clan, and The Prarrie  Chicken Clan. The Gopher Clan did the Rabbit Dance the Buffalo Clan did the Owl Dance and the Prarrie Chicken Clan did the Snake Dance. When we finished with the dancing we did a craft fair and by the time we were done it was raining outside.

        Soon it stopped raining and we hung around camp waiting for our sleeping bags. When we got our sleeping bags we took them into our tipis and went to bed this day was AWESOME!!!!

Day 7, Brrrrrrrrrrr

                                                       Day 7: Glaciers

            Today is day seven of our Western Canadian Wonders People to People trip! This morning we ate pancakes, bacon and fruit for breakfast at our hotel, the Y Banff Lodge, in Alberta. To start off our day, we drove two and a half hours to the Columbian Icefield. On the drive to the Icefield, we watched Toy Story 3. Also, on our way there, we saw a grizzly bear on the side of the road. It wasn’t the best view though. The bear was mostly behind a bush. From what we saw, the bear had a hump with a brown coat with faint grey highlights. It was still really cool to see though! It was one of the most scenic drives ever! Everywhere you looked there where glistening snow capped mountains.

             Once we reached the Columbian Icefield, we took a tour bus up past the moraines of the glacier. We then learned that the real glacier was really on the other side over the horizon. We then transferred to an Ice Explorer and took an icy path to a turnaround were we stopped and filled our water bottles with some of the purest glacier water in the world! It was so fresh! We then took photos and made our way back to the tour bus, which then took us to the main lodge, then ate a delicious, yet quick lunch.

            Our next stop was to a glacier lake called Peyto Lake, which was a tropical turquoise color because of rock flour made by the glacier’s erosion of rocks and mountains. Our next stop was one of the coldest ever. We got out at Bow Lake and ran into the 35 degree water! At first, once you were in the water, your legs and body would burn. Then it would ease to a numb. Once you were out, the numb slowly went away. It was very fun though! Even thought it was freezing! We went to lake Louise and took pictures. It started to rain, and Geneva joked around and said,” Our tour bus is being towed away because it didn’t pass security inspection by the district police and wait  2 to 3 hours.”   But don’t worry she was just teasing and we reloaded the coach and headed back to the Y for dinner.

            By Pryce and Cat

 Jump!

 Group Michigan Cheer after jumping in a Glacier Lake!

 On Your Mark, Get Set, COLD!

 The beautiful Blue comes from the Rock Flour!

 Ahhh sooo Pretty!

 Filling our water bottles!

 Group Photo on a GLACIER!

Day 6, Drivin' Thru the Sticks + A Few (more) of our Favorite Things

Day 6: Traveling to Banff, Alberta

Today we went to breakfast at a farm/market where we stuffed ourselves with pancakes fruit and bacon. Then we started heading East to Banff, Alberta. We got a lot of beautiful pictures of the mountains, which surrounded us all through the travel day.

Our first stop was next to the train tracks to see the golden spike. The golden spike lies at the point where the where the eastern tracks and the western tracks meet up. The spike was originally real gold but they replaced it with one made of fake gold because they thought someone would steel it. After a few pictures and a bathroom break we were on the road again. 

From there we drove to a national park and stopped to subway sandwiches! Next, we drove to the wolf reserve! When we got there, we heard all about what the reserve does and what is happening to wolves in the wild. We also learned about bears and bear dogs. Then we learned all of the wolves’ names and we got to howl with them! It was so much fun.

Once we got to the Y, we went on a ride up the gondola. Those who were afraid of heights did not have as much fun, but the view was great. We had dinner at the top of the mountain and got tons of pictures! The way down was just as great, so over all it was an awesome day!!!!!!!!!!!

By Hannah O and Kali

1.  Annika’s favorite thing was getting to know everybody and going on the ferry from Vancouver to Vancouver Island. I liked the ferry because it was a very scenic way to go.

2.  Miranda~ My favorite thing so far.. that’s really hard to choose.. I would have to say meeting all of the people, and the architecture of Vancouver and the mountains everywhere. Everything is really amazing.

3.  Curtis-My favorite thing was playing in the arcade on the ferry and buying a souvenir from the gift shop. I always like the ferry and the other things too.

4.  Estelle – My favorite thing was tree-go it was so fun to go zip lining, tight ropes and swinging logs!!! This whole trip has been amazing.

5.  Indira~  My favorite thing so far was seeing the wolves in the wolf reserve because wolves are on of my favorite animals! We also got to howl with them!! Seeing the wolves was amazingJ

6.  Maeko- My favorite thing is playing the morning song. The reason I like this is because this song is really catchy and relaxing.

7.  Jessica M~ If I have to choose something on this amazing, once-in-a-life time opportunity, it would have to be the TreeGo ropes course in the Douglas Fir Forest, or when student ambassadors get pins for doing good deeds!  I have four pins from People to People so far, one is the official pin, another is for good journal entries, and two of them are from doing good deeds.

8.  Joshua- Wow out of all the super incredible adventures we have had the honor of taking place in from the Parliament building to the Elizabethan tea, I have to pick one! Sure give me a harder challenge! Anyway, if I had to choose, I would have to pick the ventures into the TreeGo Adventure Park in Sidney on Northern Vancouver Island. While in the Monkiedo part of the camp, their was an obstacle coarse and what it consists of was tight-rope walking, zip-lining, unstable tables, and a plethora of other obstacles. What was really fun at the TreeGo Adventure Park was that we got the chance to roast hot dogs (my first to be exact.) Later at the park, we got to watch all the leaders jump off a bridge. It is not as bad as I had originally said; they were bungie jumping so they were perfectly fine. Except for Geneva’s headband, which currently resides in the depths of the Frasier River. So  in conclusion, my favorite People To People adventure was going to The TreeGo Adventure Camp in Sidney on Northern Vancouver Island.

9.  Hannah B.- Canada is the frosting to the cake, making it the best summer ever!  It’s so hard to think of the best thing I have done so far. From learning about the ancient totem poles bringing us back in time from when the Native Canadians were around to, soaring above the majestic views in Gondola. Probably my favorite thing to do was looking at the gorgeous Orcas also know as a Killer Whale, slowly rising above the ice cold waters of the ocean. People To People is a great program for experiencing amazing things such as listed above, hopefully for years to come kids like me and my other fellow student ambassadors can be evolved in these wonderful activities just as I was.

10.                Wynne - Canada is so awesome I have had so fun traveling with all my friends I have loved all the sweet activities but some of my favorites have to be, the Monkiedo course I loved the part with the swinging tunnels it actually feels like you are swinging in the trees and there was this swing that you rode to one of the poles I got a picture of me on it. The other one would have to be when we saw the Whales I got a chance to go up to the top of the boat and do the titanic pose and I got a gorgeous picture of the Orcas or Killer whales rising above the beautiful water of the ocean. I really hope that a ton of other lucky kids just like me get a chance to go on this amazing trip that I had the honor of going on.

11.                Hunter - my favorite thing we did so far  is either whale watching or the TreeGo course at Monkido. The  whale watching was fun  because I’ve never seen whales before and they’re cool. the course at Monkido was fun because I like zip lining and stuff like that

12.                Nia - My favorite thing we did so far was going whale watching because I love whales so much that I bought a whale necklace at the gift shop on the fairy. Also I liked going zip-lining Monkido because I got a chance to over come my fear of heights by doing it. Everything was fun so far but theses are just two of the ones I loved the most.

13.                Aaron - my favorite thing to do on this trip so far in the whale watching. Like get to see all the orcas in the large lake by the Pacific ocean. Then the other thing was zip lining and on the adventure we went though obstacles.

14.                Chloe’s favorite thing so far is TreeGo. My favorite thing so far is TreeGo because it was challenging in a good way.

15.                Meegan-My favorite thing so far is today with the glaciers, the lake, and the hot springs. It was really cold in the glaciers but it was beautiful! It was even colder in the lake but I don’t think I have ever screamed that loud because I was so cold! It was like 30 degree’s below zero in there!! We haven’t gone to hot springs but I think its going to be so much fun!! (I think it will feel a lot better than the lake because it’s hot.) FUN FUN!!!

 Gondola Ride Down

 Sustainable Ninja on a Summit!

 Fearless Leaders!

Dinning at the Top!!!

 Ahhhhh so beautiful!

 Going up!

 Almost time to howl with the wolves!

 Lunch with a picturesque view.

 Look SNOW!!

 29 BRAVE students who jogged through the woods on a nature hike!

Chaga Chaga Choo Choo!