We sewed a few small pillows in the afternoon to be given to some of the children. The hard thing is that the interaction between the Lakota and us is limited. I was able to have some conversations with a couple of the ladies who work in the clothing part but for the most part we were each doing our own thing. Not uncommon—their culture is to be more reserved and not outgoing with us and I totally respect that. Hopefully by the end of the week we will have built up a little trust and rapport–we shall see. I am very aware that I need to respect them—I am the guest here!!!

We did have a great speaker tonight who is an amazing man. Steve told us alot about the traditions of the Lakota and the meanings of different things. He makes regalia for the pow wow competitions and while I understand just a fraction of what he is talking about he was engaging and it left me wanting to read more about all of it. He has restored many artifacts (a lot of the buckskin dresses, etc) for an exhibit at the Smithsonian entitled “Identity by Design” and he understands why different items were used during different time periods, etc. He was amazing and I was touched by his passion for preserving the traditions and the history of this amazing group of people. He brought examples of his own work and shared some amazing stories and quite honestly I could have listened to him all night!

We are having some great discussions and bonding as a group and I am grateful for the experiences that we are all having. I want to be busy the whole time but we have to operate on the schedule here and do what work we can when it is available–much depends upon when shipments come in for stocking in the store and when there is actually room to do some of this stuff. It is difficult for me to be patient sometimes but I am hopeful that by the end of the week I can say that I have been able to do something that helped!

It snowed today and it is cold, cold, cold. My little sleeping bag is keeping me warm but I must admit I miss my nice bed and my hubby!!!