Monday 7/19

Today was my first day on a Native American Reservation. As we entered the Yakima Reserve I didn’t realize we have already entered. Im glad it isn’t too hot here. When we first pulled up we were greeted by a little boy named Caleb. Along with Latte, Whitey, Killer, Sugar, and the other name I don’t remember. She is 19 years old! That’s really old for a dog. They were sweet. Latter even let us pick her up and we put her in a baby rocker. We even put on hot pink shades on her and gave her flip flops. Oh yeah, and a soda can of pink lemonade. She must have enjoyed her self since she didn’t move from the spot for over ten minutes. Latte was a really cute Weiner dog . The family who lived there were really welcoming of us coming into their home. The grandparent’s names were Ray and Linda. They both helped me take four layers of tiles in their kitchen out. Along with the help we had great conversations that made me know them better. I found that Linda’s Dad has the same beliefs in life as my grandpa. We discussed our similarities and found that she used to live in the Seattle area when she was a teenager. Linda inspired me when she spoke about her son. Im not sure about his name but he was killed in a car wreck right infront of the house. He left behind his wife with an unborn child. He is now two months old. It was almost been a year without him in the family. Linda taught me that you can’t dwell on those you love once you loose them. I didn’t feel like I did much work. I spend the day mainly outside picking up garbage and talking to the other kids such as Dwight, Erin, and Alyssa. I even got them to help me pick up garbage. The dogs liked to get in the way though. It was strange to have five dogs surrounding you and following you. Even though I sweated through two shirts just taking out the tiles I felt as though I could work harder. We will see what happens tomorrow then. Maybe by then I can blog more. Yet, I don’t even know the site we are posting this to. Hahaha. Oh well. Now I feel like I am talking to myself. I hope to come back to the site tomorrow and get another warm greeting to help us kick start our afternoon together. There’s so much dust out here. When I showered the water came out brown from all the dust/dirt sticking to my sunscreen. There was a fire yesterday. The smoke cloud blocked the sun and the whole cloud and the surrounding sky turned orange. It was a very pretty sight. A regular camera would never catch the sight. Though I wish we did. We don’t really get much sleep here with all the work we do. Wake up call is at six thirty but lights out isn’t until eleven. Im sure most of us would love to sleep in  We get a lot of bonding and free time though. More than I thought. Most of us sleep during this time. But the other half are outside enjoying the sun  It is strange not seeing a single cloud in the sky. In a distance there is some white form Mt. Adams. I think I now have the longest blog. Opps I hope no one minds. Doesn’t seems like anyone else wants to blog. I wish I had a picture I could post tonight. Maybe tomorrow I can. I have a shout out to my parents. Please enjoy having our guest over. I will try my best to find time to call you. Say hi to Ngoai for me!  Also a shout out to my friends reading this; Thank you for supporting me on going on this trip. To the others who are reading this ridiculous blog of mine. I thank you all for reading and supporting our team on our service trip. I hope you have a nice week.

Beaucoup Merci!
Sammi N.