Coyotes, October 9

Thank you Mika for this blog! A note about our hike first (Oct 23)...

We have a plan A and a plan B, depending on weather and how we're feeling about the conditions. You can check out a description of the hike at https://outandacross.com/mount-yamnuska-hike/. We would go to Raven's End, and possibly the Chimney. Plan B is Prairie Mountain in Bragg Creek, another great hike with amazing views. Bella will be driving with us, so we have all our rides set! We'll meet at the Cabin at 8:20 on Oct 23rd, and will plan to be back by 4:30. We'll message you if we are running late! Please also bring $5 each to contribute to the gas money. Thank you!

Now, from Mika!

"Starting the day with wheelchair rugby, we divided into teams and played with Mr, Flagrant-Foul (a stuffed duck!). We are finding that oftentimes when someone has a breakaway, it's difficult to stop them from scoring, so doing what we always do, make some of our own rules and change some rules to make for a better game. 

Continuing our fall harvest, we respectfully picked some rose hips growing around the bluff, careful to leave the animals some, and Ms. Dawn shared a Blackfoot story about Coyote and the Rosehip as we picked out all the little seeds and hairs. We also collected some reeds from the cattails down by the bike track for some  weaving, and we began our two projects, making shortbread rosehip cookies and weaving baskets and mats, or in my case, a sash. The cookies will be baked and brought back next week to enjoy!

After lunch we were mysteriously split to begin a challenge; the prisoner's dilemma. 

It goes like this: A criminal gang (or our group) has both been captured. The police split the gang into two groups, and locked each of the groups in solitary confinement (or two different spots on the bluff). The police don't have enough evidence to convict the groups for murder, so they will each get a reduced sentence of two years each. But, the police give each group a choice of betrayal. The groups have no way of talking or communicating in any form to each other. 

If group A stays silent and group B stays silent, both groups have a two year sentence for each member. 

But if group A betrays, and group B stays silent, group A goes free and group B is sentenced 10 years each. 

If group A stays silent and B betrays, group B is free and group A has a 10 year sentence each. 

The big plot twist?: If both teams pick betray, they both get sentenced to 10 years in prison each. You and your group have to decide. For us, instead of years in prison, there are consequences chosen by the other team or teachers! 

Both groups had very different approaches, my group took everything very literally. We weren't playing a game, we were pretending it was very real. Obviously in real life we would stay silent, and the other group would too, but with no prison on the line, it was different. 

It took lots of convincing, talking, reasoning, and even bargaining for our group to reach a consensus. We had two for silent, two for betrayal, and one undecided. I found it very interesting, since the coyotes are normally in consensus, so it was different to convince and debate. Eventually we decided to stay silent, which was what I wanted, It felt too wrong to betray my friends. The hard part was, we had decided we thought the other team was going to betray, so that made it all the more high stakes. 

We were betrayed, which meant some hill climbing sprints, but it was really interesting to hear what the other half of the gang had been talking and thinking about. For them, it was a game, which meant it would be more fun to betray, but it also took them a long time to decide. This was my favorite thing we did this week, it really tested out our sense of the group and trust. 

Water colour paints were our sitspot, trying to colour match an autumn leaf, and it's so nice to enjoy this warm fall weather in the sun. 

The flatness of the orchard made it where we went for volleyball with the giant rainbow ball and it was again, not really volleyball, more get it over the net/hit the ball, but that is much more fun! Sitting volleyball, a paralympic sport, was also interesting, your bum has to stay on the ground, with a very low net, and I found it cool, but hard to move fast! "