New Aiyansh Part 2

I'm back!

If you're wondering....it's Colleen here with part two of my travel diary. So without detracting further, here's the rest of my diary!

Wednesday, March 20th

We drove to Greenville and set up at the top of the stands where again we had a bird's eye view of the games. In Greenville we had 10-15 children who played basketball, activity hopscotch, dribbling challenges and taught us various skipping games.  The bandanas, eye black and tattoos were a big hit today day! Then mid-day Chris met us in Greenville and together we toured the museum where we learned about the Oolichan camps that were going on all down the river. All in all, today was a very eventful day!

Thursday, March 21st

We spent today in New Aiyansh hosting activities in the lobby.  Everyone had a chance to meet Ali and hear about how the tournament was going.  We had music and other activities going and had a good following of 10-15 kids.  The boys got right into the basketball challenge we had; doing trick shots, mini games and games of bump.  The girls loved skipping and activity hopscotch once again.  We even had a few teens jump in.  Ali also gave us a tour of their youth room and gym.  That evening Chris took the group out for a celebratory dinner at Don Diego's. It was a great end to the day!

Friday, March 22nd

We drove back out to New Aiyansh for the final day today and were able to set up in their new youth room.  Ring toss was the biggest hit with some youth playing for 30-45 minutes straight – determined to make all three shots.  Once again activity hopscotch was also a big hit.  At the end of the day we watched the boys division final as a group before heading home.  Haida Gwai took the tournament for the boys and the Kitimat for the girls.  We also stayed to watch the medal ceremonies – the trophies were amazing!  Five foot hand carved totem poles, done by a local carver, were encased within both first place trophies and were made for the teams to keep. Again, they were beautiful!

On a side note – Chris was supposed to fly out tonight, but we had to rescue him from the airport due to his flight being cancelled! We became The Rescuers! Haha! Tomorrow we will drive back home as a group!

Here's a glimpse in a couple of pictures:

So this was a glimpse at the week we had! It was an awesome experience, and I enjoyed it thoroughly the second time around as well! 

Take care!