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

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 books out loud to the kids. Everyone sang Luke happy birthday during lunch and despite his apparent embarrassment we know he enjoyed it. 


After spending time with the elementary schoolers, we headed over to the Makah Museum where our group was gifted an in depth tour of the museum. Some of my favorite things to learn about were the canoes and how they were made of sacred cedar and used for whale hunting, a vital part of the Makah tradition. 



Our whole group spent a half hour practicing something known as the "Bone Game." We did all of this in preparation for playing against the winners of the Makah Week Long Bone Game Tournament. Basically, they are pros at this game. Part of this game is singing and dancing. Mr. Hopson told us that in the past the previous eight graders have not felt very comfortable with this aspect of the game. I remember being told to loosen up so that we could thoroughly enjoy the game. However, we did not end up singing, nor dancing. Even though we were very prepared, and the people we were playing against made us feel very comfortable. Actually it was more low-key. This is something that the people of the Makah Nation have been playing for thousands of years, so it was super fun to learn about this part of their culture. Though it still took us a bit of time to warm up. 


Today was a blast for sure! Hope you enjoyed hearing about today's adventure and see you in the next blog! 
-Mina and Penelope :)

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