Day 6: The Final Recap

This week has been so amazing. We’ve gotten to learn so many things about the Makah Culture. From Indigenous People’s day on Monday, and all the dances that we got to participate in, the elders we got to meet at the museum and around our toasty campfire, and you can’t forget the Bone Game. I personally have loved getting to learn about the rich culture of Neah Bay. Throughout this week that honestly has flown by, Isabella and I have collected some of our favorite highlights. We’d love to share them with you to wrap up this fun week.



First, we have Culture!


On October 12th, 2025, we celebrated Indigenous peoples day with Neah Bay Elementary/Highschool. We participated and learned the dances that were special to the Makah tribe. A couple of them were the Sun Dance, the Rabbit Bunny Dance (I don’t know if this is correct) and the California Social dance which the Makah learned from a tribe in California. We also got to hear some really cool stories about origins from a local elder named Steve. He told us about how Blue Jays and Deers came to be and why Cedar and Alder trees grow so big. Talking about Cedar trees, we also learned and weaved bracelets with Cedar strips and Raffia. 


Campfire stories with Makah elder Steve


Second, we have Food!


On this trip we ate so much great food! Some of our favorites were the salmon bake we had on Wednesday courtesy of Penlope and Mina. We had both teriyaki salmon and regular salmon and let’s just say, the salmon was DEVOURED :) We also had some delicious other meals such as the dino nuggets and mac’n’cheese courtesy of Luke and Tate, the lovely burritos by the sunset courtesy of Isaac and Isaiah, and we can’t forget to shout out ourselves with pasta. We also got to enjoy some semi-burnt semi-perfectly golden marshmallows by a warm fire. And lastly, we had a very gracious last night dinner of chicken strips and in Isla’s case a cheeseburger, with fries.



Third, we have Volunteering!


We volunteered for Neah Bay Elementary School. We worked with 4th graders by helping them write personal narratives. It was really cool to see them grow as writers over the past four days and I made so many 4th grade friends. 



And lastly we have some extra activities! 


Along with our volunteering at the elementary school, we went to the local museum, played the bone game, enjoyed volleyball on the beach and played baseball with a plastic bat and ball. We went to Cape Flattery and enjoyed the views of the ocean, whales, seals, eagles, and the refreshing wind. Before bedtime, we cherished the orangey sunsets and looked up at so many blinking stars.


-Keira G. & Isabella Z.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 1: Hey! A Sunny, Slay Day At Neah Bay!

Image
Today was a very long day of driving. As we arrived at school one by one, we were all delighted at each new face we saw. As soon as everyone had arrived, we packed all of our stuff into our bus, and hit the road. Our drive consisted of a 20 minute ferry ride, a quick stop at a local store, and lots of "are we there yet?"s. After roughly 6 hours in the bus, we all rushed out as soon as we laid our eyes on the cabins. Quickly a debate emerged about who got cabin 21. It is still a mystery, however, what was so desirable about cabin 21. After a quick yet exhilarating shadowboxing match, Luke emerged victorious and the boys gained the rights to cabin 21. Shortly after arriving, we saw a magnificent sunset and our photographers rushed to take photos. Our day ended with a delicious communal pasta meal. Finally, we all gathered in the community cabin to talk about the game-plan for tomorrow. We are all excited to meet our fourth-grade buddies at the school tomorrow! -Isaiah A. and ...
Read more

Day 2: Working with the Fourth Graders and Dancing with the Makah!

Image
Today, we woke up at the ripe time of 7:30. We had breakfast, which consisted of oatmeal, cereal, yogurt, and granola. Following the meal, we packed up our day-packs and hopped on the bus to go to Neah Bay Elementary. We met the fourth graders, and Yusuf, Max, and Tate shared their writing pieces that were based on food or identity. We continued to hang with these students for the next two hours, during lunch, recess, and English class. We also had the privilege to join this same school in their Indigenous Peoples' Day assembly where we got to experience the culture of the Makah people by watching many of their traditional dances, the first of which was a native whale hunting dance. People carried oars and mimicked rowing through the water. Our guide informed us that the drums, that set the beat, were to symbolize chasing the whale, and the warbling was to impersonate the whale. At one point, we were invited to dance with the Makah youth in a communal dance, which was nerve wrackin...
Read more

Day 3: The Bone Game is More Chill Than You Think

Image
Hello and greetings from the Makah GSL group! Today was a quite eventful day as we had a very tight and packed schedule. It was an early start for our cabin, as we woke up with the brilliant rays of sunshine illuminating our cozy cabin.  Right as the group was heading out to our bus, Penelope realized something horrible: her shoe was soaked. Obviously this wasn't ideal for her because they were her only pair of sneakers. But, all was well because aside from running around with fourth graders, we weren't going to be doing too much exercise, so she could just wear her slides. This week we are going with the flow, and this is a great example of that. Today the fourth graders specialty class was the Library! This brought up a lot of memories of my time as an elementary student because I too used to have the Library class. It was also nostalgic seeing our younger selves favorite books being read by my younger kids. (Fancy Nancy for me). A favorite part of that time was reading the b...
Read more