Algonquin Mig-Wich

Today we were lucky enough to catch a talk given by this guy - Mitchell the Storyteller. I have to introduce him that way as anything more formal would be a disservice to him. He was the most down to earth, unassuming, casual, easy to be around guy that you've ever met. He didn't really tell a story, per se, he jumped around from topic to topic as he meandered over things he thought the kids should hear about. Raiden was surprised he wasn't orange and Kori didn't believe he was Native until he spoke words in Algonquin.

The other more interesting and novel part of the day was the trip to Prince of Wales P.S. When we arrived at the library, the librarian told us the children from the school couldn't walk to the library because of the heavy rain. (Apparently 2 classes of children cannot walk to the library in rubber boots and raincoats, but a good portion of their school mates can participate in an outdoor, all day soccer tourney, get hypothermia and walk home soaked to the skin, covered in mud...but I digress...) So Librarian Maureen invited us to attend as her guests. Off we trek to the school and wait inside the main doors where Raiden asks, "Is this just like what a real school looks like, Mom?" We proceeded, awestruck, to the grade six classroom where a class of grade 3 children joined us.

Raiden says schools aren't as noisy as he had expected. Kori thought there were too many boys. I had forgotten how cluttered and crowded classrooms were! Every available space was crammed full of something. There was no lack of visual stimulation, that's for sure. And, the ever-neurotic me did ask Raiden if he noticed the words above the blackboard. He did and he said he could read most of them. That helped with some of the mother-guilt.