Lame Deer, MT on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation

We made a small pit stop at the Battle of Little Big Run which was breath taking and we got told a really cool rendition of the story of what happened

This week was an amazing experience.  None of us knew what we were getting into and each of us had our own unique experience.  We arrived on the Reservation pretty early so we could get a blessing from a native.  It was a really cool thing and something I had nothing about.  Then there was a teepee raising demonstration.  It was fun to see that those are actually used.  There were even some guys who got to live in a teepee for the week.  My roommate was Lorena from Mexico and we lived with a Mennonite pastor and his wife, Scott and Suzette on the church grounds on the Reservation.  Our bedroom was a little unconventional.  We lived in a hurricane, tornado, bomb-proof dome.  But it was more like a really safe studio apartment; we had a fridge, bathroom, windows and a bed for each of us.  It was right off the main house.  Scott is from PA and moved out here to preach and Suzette is a Native who moved back recently from Seattle.

Our little home! We would describe it to our castmates as "Patrick's rock" from Spongebob

Tuesday I went to Lame Deer Middle School to do anti-bullying workshops for the students.  It was a very different environment than I have ever experienced.  Something we learned after the workshop was that it is very rude to point at someone.  We didn't know that, so at the beginning we played a game that had to do all with pointing, so that made things kind of awkward.  But the class was overall good.  I had lunch with some of the girls from my class and it was a lot of fun to just talk to them.  That afternoon we did a group discussion as a cast on gun control.  It was a great conversation I thought and I was super excited about it because it is such a hot topic that my family is involved in because the boys like to hunt.  I expected there to be some heated discussions and conflict, but it really was just a great conversation! Lorena and I take a shuttle every morning because the reservation is HUGE and it's meant to help with the gas.  I sat in the front seat so I talked to the driver more.  His name is Michael and he is super nice.  He’s really easy to talk to and I’ve been asking him questions about life on the res and himself.  He is 5 years sober from drugs and alcohol and has totally changed his life around.  He’s been more into the old culture than he used to be which also means that he knows a lot about it that he’s willing to share and I am more than interested to ask.  For dinner the head Pastor of the church grounds we are living on and his wife came over.  They didn't host because they are leaving later in the week.  But it was so great talking to them because they have lived on the res for almost 40 years, so they might as well be natives and they had a lot of knowledge and stories to share but Lorena did our fair share of talking as well and it was a great way for me to learn more about her and her culture.

Wednesday was SA.  We were at a local nursing home for our classroom, so not the best learning environment.  I didn't feel too motivated, but during lunch we ate with the residents and Katelyn (SD) and I just happened to sit down next to a deaf man, so we got to spend lunch signing with him.  It was so easy to tell how excited he was that we could talk with him and we were both just as excited to get to practice our ASL and to interact with him just as much as we would with the hearing residents.

That evening the PRs organized a traditional drum circle which was really cool, and there was a fire and host families brought food for a potluck and we got to learn some traditional dances as well which was really funny to watch.  We then got to see some natives do a traditional dance and it was moving and very powerful.  That whole evening I experienced a whole new culture right inside my home country.

Thursday we had a mini show all the way back in Billings.  So 40 of us took a 2 hr bus ride at 5:45 in the morning to get to the local United Way building where we would be performing.  We were the entertainment for all of their volunteers for their day of Caring which was a way of them to thank all of their volunteers.  There were some 800 people in the audience.  It was such a cool experience and we could tell how much they all loved it.  It was also my first Backing Track Show (BTS) which was really exciting! 

Friday we had 2 more mini shows but this time with the full cast.  Saturday was the show day, but the show was in the afternoon so we could spend the evening with our host families because we would have to leave early Sunday morning.  Scott and Suzette showed us all around the grounds.  They had this cute little history room talking about the history of the church all the way back to the beginning of the reservation which was really cool to see.  Right now that have some native elder women who still speak N Cheyenne translating the bible and the prayers and such so that the service can be conducted in that language.  Suzette does beadwork and she gave Lorena both these really cute Caribbeaners that she put bead work around.  

I learned so much this week and this was the type of week I was expecting on the road; living in a new culture and experiencing it and soaking it all up!