Aug 5 - Train Day 2!
We woke up from an uncomfortable nights sleep only to find ourselves still trapped in the train. Although the reclining seats reclined, some of us had bitter feelings towards the sleeping arrangements. We all met for breakfast at the cafe car, and had the luxury of evenly spreading cream cheese across the bagels surface, with our newly found knives. Hot drinks were passed around, along with nervous glances concerning the upcoming test that night. To try and help calm the nerves, everyone studied the plant books that included plants with names like Arctoshaphylos Rubra, and Sphagnum Fuscum 🙄. We then divided up into two teams for a competive game of advanced charades otherwise known as salad bowl. people tuned into their creative selves, coming up with words such as “mini goat”, “absess”, and “Alex Mahn” to act out. The game quickly turned competive, with a final score of 40 to 42!!!
After the game was won, our previous game of assassins was restarted. We were pretty sure that Ezra was the assassin so a meeting was called. Ezra was voted out!! To my (Amelia’s) utter surprise, the assassin was actually Nathan!! Nathan won the game by tricking everyone. Soon after, we arrived at Thompson. everyone eagerly hopped off the train, breathing in the fresh air, and stretching our legs. Though we assumed that the train station would drop us off in the middle of town, we had to follow a long path to enter middle-of-nowhere-ville. Once we got into town, we split off for lunch. Some of us went to Popeyes while the rest went to a sketchy subway shop. After lunch was consumed, some of us went to explore a local thrift shop (Tessa and her group were left behind at the subway shop, but don’t worry Tessa’s parents, Tessa has been adopted by the senior girls). A single Tshirt was purchased at the thrift store using my (Amelia’s) Canadian cash. We all ate Dairy Queen, pizza was ordered for later, then we took the long trek back to the train. A new game of Assasins was started but then ended when Jonah was an obvious assassin.
Once we got on the train, the data from Thompson served as a valuable asset in data managing. We cleaned old data for future usage. As the evening came, we enjoyed a delecipus pizza dinner with our new adult leader (Ryan Brooks) who joined us and a new friend, Emily, from last years trip to churchill. After dinner, it was time. Time for the test. Everyone anxiously studied last minute while one by one, people were sent off to Julie’s chair of despair. Julie quizzed us on our plant knowledge using - much to our dismay - different pictures of the plants we had studied. I (Tessa) almost passed out in fear of failure while someone else wasn’t so lucky. Alex actually did pass out from sickness (he is okay, and I (Tessa) passed the test!). After the stress was over, we met two new friends, an old couple named Jim and Carolyn from Winnipeg. They had many questions for us about our research and Jim had his own experience collecting environmental data. We left the conversation with a new feeling of how important our work is. We watched the sunset through the windows then went to bed.
Deuces,
Amelia and Tessa
