weekend updates

what a lovely weekend!

SATURDAY
- morning grocery shopping
- afternoon p90x yoga
- hammock loungin' on property w/ Carol (an undergrad from UVA who works on the cascade project and lives in Ward) and knotted friendship bracelets.
- ultimate frisbee
- casino! I didn't win a ton of money, but since it was my birthday week, and now that I'm a Superior member, I got $15 promotional dollars to play with. I could only use it on certain machines that were less likely to win, but I still left with $10 in my pocket! but I had also given my apartment mate Katie $1 to play on the machine next to me, and she ended up spinning a bonus round which lead to her getting 3 mermaids in a row which lead to her winning $50!!! we were hysterically yelling as the credits kept goin' up and rockets (on screen) were shooting in the air. She gave me the $1 I had given her back :)

SUNDAY
I joined the undergrads who are here for a 6cr class on their field trip to an Ojibwe village, a re-creation of the historical reservations. Nick Hawkings and his wife created the village 19 years ago and it has been visited by many scholars and referenced for museums like the National Museum of the American Indian. It's been cool to be so engrossed in so much native culture, apparently four of the undergrads are 1/4 -- 1/2 native and they were all very open discussing their cultures. I've never been so exposed to hearing about so much native culture.

After we got back, I did go to hang out at the Taj by myself for the first time, which was nice, but not overwhelmingly awesome. We played pool with our feet and watched a fairly strange HBO show titled "Game of Thrones." I'm glad we don't have a tv in our apartment.

MONDAY
Joined the undergrad class again for their field trip to the Great Lakes Indian Fish & Wildlife Comission office in Odanah, WI. This agency works with the 11 native tribes to protect and enforce the treaty rights granted to natives when they gave their land during the 1800s. I learned a lot about how the tribes work in relationship with the government, and how it is the native's right, not privilege, granted to hunt and fish. but even though they have that right, it is not an unlimited free for all to hunt & fish. To ensure ecosystem survival, there are still limits as to just how much anyone is allowed to take from the lakes/forests, and the GLIFWC communicates and regulates between the 11 tribes to ensure that over-fishing/hunting won't destroy a population. Pretty interesting stuff. It makes me want to take the Native American culture course offered at Virginia Tech.