We arrived! After long hours of
flying and traveling from near and far, the group all met at the Great Falls
airport in the early afternoon Saturday. We are 20 strong for this week at the
Blackfeet Reservation. After some quick introductions and packing of the vans,
we were off for our drive to the reservation. Joe, our community volunteer,
provided lots of historical information dating back to Lewis and Clark and the
exploration of the “Big Sky Country.” As we got closer to Browning, the Rocky
Mountains emerged from the horizon and gave us our first glimpse of the
beautiful scenery that would be our backdrop for the week.
We had a brief tour of the
community college grounds and we all found our lodging. Everyone unpacked and
took a few minutes to decompress before loading back in the vans and heading to
the senior center for dinner. Maria prepared a great dinner and we all enjoyed
an opportunity to get to know each other a little bit better including why each
of us has chosen to come to the Blackfeet Reservation.
As a perfect conclusion to our
inaugural day, Bob Tailfeathers met with the group. Bob informally talked about
the sweat that will take place Monday night and what people could expect if
they chose to participate. Bob gave his personal perspective on why this sweat
was especially meaningful to him and his family. The highly spiritual
experience takes place at 175 degrees and all of us were honored to have the
invitation to participate. Bob also
talked about art and many of us were particularly interested to hear about how
he is one of only four quill artists on the reservation. We look forward to
seeing his art and jewelry on Monday when he joins us for dinner.
What a perfect and exhausting
day! I can’t wait to see what the week holds in store for us.
Entry submitted by: Jennifer - Rochester, New York
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