On the road in western Canada

Howdy folks,
in the last weeks we have been traveling not alone along the highway sixteen. Already introduced to him on Vancouver Island Rude Rain decided to be our companion and he was not willing to leave us for more than a few hours. It was a little misfortune that he brought along his friends Daft Damp and Calamitous Cold. So we were lucky to find some interesting sites to see which were mostly located inside heated buildings. The museum of the First Nation People for instance was such a wonderful place.
On our journey I do think of my work as a teacher only once in a while. But when I see children's books providing information about the meaning of totempoles or the stories which have been part of the aural knowledge since centuries I have to leaf through them and finally to purchase one of them. It was funny that just one of the painting books helped us mostly when we later were standing in front of a totempole and were trying to get behind the meaning of its carvings.
After a few days Rude Rain and Daft Damp left us alone. The sun made Calamitous Cold back out on top of the white powdered mountains. We were inspired to pitch our little tent on a neat campground. Right beside was an old Indian village ('Ksaan) consisting of five longhouses and different totempoles. The latter were very important for the community and had different functions. One was to tell a story which was fundamental for the history of the clan. On top of the totempole they usually placed a person. It was surprising for us to find a european top hat of one of them. Notice that the western part of Canada was not explored by the "White Man" until the 19th century. When the Gitxsan people , who have been living here, had their first encounter with an European, they were deeply impressed. They saw a man who was dressed in a heavy coat with gleaming buttons, who owned powerful weapons and metal camping gear mounted on a horseback. Without any doubt this man had to be a chief. And how would a chief appear without an impressive headdress?
It is interesting how people from different countries sometimes meet each other and what the outcome of it can be. So much more pleasing is what happened to us when Sabine in her great interest in searching for mushrooms and fruits met Cherryl who was gathering pincherry berries on our campground. After a brief talk she invited us to her house, provided us with firewood, pincherry jam and fresh salmon. Cherryl is half Indian and half Polish and gave us further information about the First Nation People .
The next day we spent a wonderful afternoon and evening with her family of five children, husband, father and brother in law. I had the chance to accompany her husband and his brother to prey on coyotes and did my first shot with a rifle. These people were unbelievable. As Rude Rain, Daft Damp and Calamitous Cold returned they hosted us in their cozy trailer and served us a mighty breakfast on the next morning. I can tell you, one of the most inspiring things on our journey are these encounters.