Tuesday, July 17 - Crow RWC workshop - Day 2

Tuesday, we had six groups collecting words—four at Little Big Horn College and two at the Catholic Mission in Pryor, Montana, a bit over an hour away from the college. (This was the first day for us to work in two separate locations.) I was at the college, working with the four groups there, while Wil, The Language Conservancy leader, traveled to Pryor to launch and coordinate the work there.

At the college, we got off to what seemed like a bit of a slow start. Not all of the expected participants were present at the start of the day, so the composition of Monday’s groups couldn’t be maintained. Instead, we formed three word-collection groups, using the people who were present. That got the fun underway a bit after 9:15, but it gave our record-keeper, Raquel, a challenge, since folders that had been started on Monday were now in the hands of a different set of individuals. (It took us an extra hour at the end of the day, but she and I were able to get everything straightened out in the end.) A fourth word-collection group was formed once there were enough people to make it viable.

One of the word-collection groups seems to have caught on exceptionally well to the way we want the groups to work, and as a result they collected a 389 words on Tuesday, which may be more in a single day than any other group in any other workshop I’ve led. The other groups are making acceptable progress but seem to be moving a bit more slowly than is necessary if we are to get through all of the material in two weeks. In all, we collected 1,332 words on Tuesday, bringing our total for the first two days to 2,053.

The weather here has been warm and dry for the most part. It reminds me of Burkina Faso but 10-20 degrees cooler. Daytime highs have been in the low- to mid-90s, with relatively low humidity, so I’ve been comfortable in my African shirts. This causes my bedroom in the mobile home we’re living in to get very hot in the afternoon (because it faces west), and it holds that heat for the first part of the night, making it somewhat difficult to fall asleep some nights. About midnight, however, the temperature outside is in the 60s, and my room gets cool enough that I am grateful for the light blanket that was provided. (The air conditioning or heat in the trailer is either disconnected or non-functional for some other reason. We have only a swamp cooler running 24/7 in the hall at the middle of the trailer, and it has no impact whatsoever on the temperature in the bedroom where I’m sleeping.)

I am grateful for hot water for showers, a working fridge for storing milk and yogurt for breakfasts, the cot with a built-in air mattress that serves as my bed, and the provision of life-sustaining food at the important times of the day (sandwiches at lunch and grilled burgers, brats, or chicken in the evening).