The town of Maple Creek, SK, which we went through, had major flooding, as did the city of Medicine Hat, AB, which is still under a state of emergency.

Anyways, shortly after our return, the boys and I made another long-distance trip (350kms / just over 200 miles) to Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump, where we met up with another homeschooling family. Buffalo jumps were widely used by aboriginal peoples on the prairies / great plains / grasslands, and involved killing buffalo—which they depended on for food, shelter, clothing, and more—by driving them over cliffs.

Head-Smashed-In is a superb interpretive centre—another of Alberta’s sites designated a World Heritage Site by UNESCO—and built right into the side of the cliff once used as a buffalo jump. The centre (and cliff) is 6 stories high. Curious how this area got its name? Here’s the sign that greets you in the parking lot:

The left-hand text of which reads: “In the 1800s, according to legend, a young brave wanted to witness the plunge of buffalo as his people drove them to their deaths over the cliffs. Standing under the shelter of a ledge, he watched the great beasts fall past him. The hunt was unusually good that day. As the bodies mounted, he became trapped between the animals and cliff. When his people came to do butchering, they found him with his skull crushed by the weight of buffalo carcasses. Thus, they named the place “Head-Smashed-In.”

Archaeological evidence indicates that this site was used by Aboriginal people for at least 5700 years [in other words, a site older than the pyramids in Egypt], making it among the oldest, largest, and best preserved of the many buffalo jump sites on the western plains.

In 1981, Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump was designated a World Heritage Site by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization [UNESCO].”

Upon entering the interpretive centre, you see this:

and are given instructions as to the suggested order in which to tour the site. They suggest you watch a film about how the buffalo jump was used—as I had read elsewhere that this film is disturbingly realistic, the boys opted to skip it—and then proceed to the top of the centre and work back down. This site and field trip in general was a challenge for my young vegetarians, but it helped them understanding other cultures, other choices, and led some great discussion about how animals were used then (hardly anything was wasted, and thanks was given to the buffalo for giving their lives so the people could live) vs. today (another factory-farmed Big Mac, please!), as well as the difference between choice and necessity.

The boys, with their palaeontological leanings, quite enjoyed the display with the buffalo skeleton, and the lift-the-flap quiz asking you to identify the bone fragments:

They also liked the infant and doll carriers, and learning what was used for diapers back then (moss stuffed into the baby carrier):

We then headed, as suggested, to the top of the centre, and outside along the cliff top where the buffalo were driven over (you can still see the cairns—rock piles—used as drive lanes). The view is incredible:

That’s the Oldman River valley in the distance, one of the few areas with trees in these grasslands, and where the Blackfoot would make their winter camps. In the very far distance, along the horizon, you can just make out some of the many wind turbines in this part of Alberta. Many folks know Alberta is blessed with oil and natural gas deposits, but we also have many wind farms in this SW corner of the province.

The cliffs. Note the school group on the pathway below to give you a sense of scale:

In contrast to the above photo, which looks NE, this is the view to the SW—the Rocky Mountains. Yeah, we’re kind of spoiled for stunning landscapes in this province.

We then headed back inside, where we bumped into a school group listening to a Blackfoot guide giving part of a tour. We tagged along, and learned some interesting tidbits, like that teepee poles were not transported from camp to camp; they were left for the next group. We also learned that First Nations peoples travelled far and wide, and traded with one another, as tools made from stone found in the Dakotas and Minnesota has been found on site here:

Before video games and television; these marked buffalo bones were used for games of chance and gambling.

The boys checking out some hands-on displays:

Then we came to their favourite display, which was mine too when I toured this site with some visiting relatives more than a decade ago:

It explains how various parts of the buffalo were used, including buffalo horns carved into drinking cups, or used to carry hot coals; small bone splinters used for awls for sewing; decorated buffalo skulls used in sundance ceremonies; sinew used for sewing and binding; bladder bags (number 13 in the pic) used to store fat in a tightly sealed containers, allowing this important food source to be preserved for long times (Aboriginal tupperware!); and buffalo chips (dried dung) burned as a fuel source—a vital element to surviving the cold winters on these northern grasslands where trees are few.

We also skipped the very end of the interpretive centre, where the destruction of the buffalo at the hands of the white man was accomplished in a few short years. Shocking, really, when the Blackfoot and other First Nations peoples killed them in huge numbers, but never to the point of (near) extinction.

After a quick lunch break, we met up with the other homeschooling family for a walk outside:

Here’s the cliffs as they appear from below:

You could see many cliff swallow nests, as well as poop stains:

Daegan found the archaeological information quite interesting. As close as it got to palaeontology for this site, I suppose. Note the teepees in the background:

Interpretive sign about the archaeological site, and how—among other things—dating can be done by examining the type and shape of arrowheads found:

Of course, other things caught the kids’ interests, like this caterpillar:

And here’s the boys looking for more bugs. Makes me wonder if Blackfoot brothers did the same thing in this very spot, hundreds of years ago.

The Centre itself is fair-sized building built into the side of a hill above the Frenchman River valley. It is clean, bright, very well laid out and professional. There are detailed displays on a wide variety of prehistoric life forms—it is not just about ‘Scotty’, the T rex found in the Frenchman river valley nearby. (In fact, its not even primarily about Scotty). Many of the displays are hands-on and kid-friendly, and they have other activities for kids you can add on for low cost. Our boys did a fossil dig (cost: $3).

When you arrive at the Centre, you first head to the theatre to see a short film about the discovery of Scotty the T rex. You are then given a guided tour of the museum displays, with a very knowledgeable guide who, in our case, was happy to customize the tour to the boys interests and questions. Even I Jim and I learned new things (more on this in a bit). We will be back! Anyways, let’s get on to some pics, shall we?

The T Rex centre has two parts: the tourism side, which we enjoyed, and the science / palaeontology side of things. I noticed this on a dusty truck in the parking lot:

There were scientists working in the lab that we were able to watch, and they had some of the prepared fossils on display (like Scotty’s actual bones):

The town of Eastend is in a very scenic spot, among an ‘oasis of trees’ in the river valley, surrounded by rolling grassland / scrubland hills and badlands. The drive off the Trans-Canada (from Maple Creek) goes through the eastern edge of the Cypress Hills as well—not your flat ‘boring’ prairie in the SE corner of Saskatchewan! (The Cypress Hills are a heavily treed geological oddity rising above the prairie—in fact they are the highest point of land between the Rocky Mountains and Labrador on the east coast of Canada. They also have unique flora and fauna as they were not covered by glaciers in the last ice age).

Heading into the Centre, which is built into the side of the hill in an aesthetically pleasing manner:

Part of the guided tour:

There are lots of hands-on displays—very kid-friendly:

We brought a picnic lunch, and enjoyed the scenery (reflected in the pic on the mirrored glass). There are bathrooms, a water fountain, and a superb gift shop, but no cafeteria on site. (There are several places to get food in town, a 2 minutes drive down the hill.)

Daegan and Gareth spent some time after lunch scouting for fossils and catching bugs. You get more of a sense of the scenery in these pics. A really lovely spot:

After lunch the boys did a fossil dig activity (Gareth got a bit of help from Jim at the end). I can so see the future here! Daegan found a parasaurolophus skull (model), and Gareth a brachiosaurus:

Before heading on our way, we went back through the displays one more time—the boys and their uber-excitement had settled by then, so Jim and I were able to read and learn rather than dash from one thing to the next with the boys. One of the most interesting things I learned was about how little we know about T rex. Given how popular this dinosaur is, I thought we knew lots and had founds tons of T rex fossils—but not so. Just over 2 dozen T rex fossils have ever been found (world-wide), and the vast majority of these have only small fragments of the skeleton (less than 10% complete). Sue, now at Chicago’s Field Museum, is the best-known among these.  But we know nothing of T rex eggs or young, nor their growth rate or family habits.

Here’s a bunch more pics from the display area. The one of Gareth pointing to the coprolite (fossilized poop) and Daegan wrinkling his nose in the background makes me laugh. Hope this gives you a good idea of what to expect  if you make the trip to Eastend.

Checking out small town playgrounds and restaurants, hotel swimming pools, tourist information centres and washrooms. Lots and lots of bathroom breaks when travelling with young kids!

We saw lots of wildlife, like these pronghorn antelopes resting in a field near the highway in SE Saskatchewan:

We checked out the T Rex Discovery Centre in Eastend, SK, where we watched a movie, got a guided tour, checked out displays on all kinds of prehistoric life, excavated fossil replicas, had a scenic picnic lunch, and spent generously in their superb gift shop. Highly recommended!

Outside the T Rex centre, and in many other places, Daegan caught bugs for us to examine more closely:

On our way between dino stops, we visited Medicine Hat, Alberta, taking in the world’s tallest teepee, a nature centre (where we got to see a black widow spider!), and two nature walks in Police Point Park: one through “the enchanted forest”, and one along the South Saskatchewan River:

I went for a quick birding outing to Kinbrook Island Provincial Park, just S of Brooks, where we were staying overnight before out big day at Dinosaur Provincial Park.

We saw the stunning badlands of Dinosaur Provincial Park, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, so designated due to its abundance of fossils, it’s “aesthetic” badlands, and its rare, undisturbed riparian habitat. (The Red Deer River runs through the park). Literally thousands of dinosaur fossils have been found in the park, including more than 40 dinosaur species and more than 400 complete skeletons—and excavation continues today. This is the highest density of dinosaur finds in the world. It also has a superb interpretive station with a mix of dino info (including a replica of a palaeontologist’s camp) as well as displays about today’s wildlife found in the park (plants, birds, reptiles, bugs, etc.). We will be going back later this summer—it was absolutely incredible.

The boys also spent time making entries in their travel journals, drawing and writing about the highlights of the trip. Here’s one of Gareth’s entries (“a T Rex named Scotty found in Saskatchewan”):

and here’s one of Daegan’s, about a bug he caught in Medicine Hat:

Tomorrow, a more detailed look at the T rex Discovery Centre.

We then read the book Less Than Zero (Canada) (US) by Stuart J Murphy, one of the MathStart series. Gareth chose to join us.

We then moved to the hallway, where earlier Gareth and I had created a number line:

I made up a story about the temperature in Calgary one day—zero when we woke, then a bit warmer, then the sun really warmed it up, then clouds cooled it down, then there was a chill wind, then snow. At each part of the story I said how much warmer or colder it had gotten, and the boys moved up and down the number line accordingly. They walked forward when it got warmer, and walked backwards as it got colder. Soon, we had a problem: it had gotten colder than zero. What to do?–Add negative numbers to our number line:

I then made up other stories about riding an elevator (get on at ground level, dentist office on third floor, car is parked in the sub-sub basement, etc.), and spending money (getting and spending their allowance, wanting to borrow extra money to buy a toy dinosaur, etc.). Gareth then asked a really interesting question: What about even numbers? Are any of them negative? (This is an AWESOME question from a 5-year-old!)

I had the boys “double jump” in the positive numbers from one even number to the next. They then “double jumped” backwards, and saw both than zero is an even number, as is –2 (and –4, etc.):

Daegan then asked how many negative numbers you could have. I asked him about the positive number line.

Mom: Does it stop at 9 like in our hallway?
Daegan: (laughing): No!
Mom: How far does it go?
Daegan: To infinity!
Mom: So how far does the negative number line go? To negative 10? Negative 100? Negative thousand? Negative million? Negative billion?…
Daegan: Oh! So it goes to negative infinity!

I also positioned the boys at different spots on the number line and asked them who was at the greater / larger number. The boys saw that while 5 is greater than 2, –5 is NOT greater than –2.

We then went back to the problem of the day, which Daegan was able to solve by drawing a vertical number line (like a thermometer). There was some interesting learning there about how to draw on hash marks, label it, etc. As an adult I take for granted how to construct this sort of number line, but this was Daegan’s first time drawing one:

I then talked about how number lines came in (at least) two forms, horizontal and vertical. I showed him Cartesian graphing, and we found and labelled various points. I said that we’d see this in math again later, but notice that this “high school level graphing” is really just about number lines with positive and negative numbers:

I wanted to make this more concrete for him, as I could see he was a bit puzzled. The book Less Than Zero involved keeping a much simpler graph of the main character’s money, as he earns or borrows. But when would you ever use a Cartesian graph? Aha! I’ll talk about flying to various dinosaur sites, and needing to be able to track the location to send palaeontologists back to do digs. So with the help of an airplane eraser, from the Origin Airport (0, 0), our plane flew up (lots of finds, like the Burgess Shale, are in mountain slopes that used to be on sea bottoms) and down (into valleys and badlands—places below in altitude / sea level measurement from Origin Airport):

For the horizontal axis, I talked about the plane flying east and west. This caught Daegan’s imagination and I was THRILLED to see him extend this concept by running to our world map in the hallway:

Of course! Why didn’t I think of that a minute ago? Our world map has latitude and longitude lines on it, and hence a (0, 0) point where the equator and Prime Meridian connect:

But instead of labelling with negative numbers, maps use directions: north (positive y-axis, or vertical number line), south (negative y-axis), east (positive x-axis, or horizontal number line) and west (negative x-axis). But these labels allow us to do the exact same thing as with Cartesian graphing, like find and label precise spots on the globe. And the numbers for the degrees of latitude / longitude work the same was as the Cartesian graph, getting larger in absolute value as you move away from the origin, point (0, 0).

We then played a bit of the card game Zero—a variant of 21—but Daegan found it too challenging. He did like 21 a lot though, which I started with to introduce him to the idea, so we’ll come back to that as a way of practicing addition facts. We tried this game on the computer, which turned out to be pretty easy for him, even on the “hard” levels. We watched this song on youtube (and did the arm motions, making – and + signs with our arms, to the number line dance. My wiggly boys loved this!):

We then wrapped it all up by watching the Cyberchase episode “Less Than Zero”:

So today I gathered up some materials we had around the house and did a very spur of the moment “unit study” on Ancient Egypt. We had found a couple promising books at the library yesterday; the Ms. Frizzle title proved to be a very useful introduction for my science- and Magic-School-Bus-loving boys:

Daegan recalled that one of his magazines had a whole issue about Ancient Egypt. (I highly recommend this magazine for kids anywhere. It is ad-free, and covers a wide variety of science topics. The publisher is Canadian, but the content is not. I thank my aunt for getting Daegan a subscription years ago, as it has built upon his love of bugs and dinos to introduce a wide variety of subjects.)

We built a pyramid of sugar cubes, talking about kings and pharoahs, square numbers, and burial rituals along the way:

We wrote our names in hieroglyphics:

We began an experiment to mummify an apple, the details of which can be found here. We did a simplified version:

We cracked some funny (or should I say punny) Egyptian-themed codes:

We read about the Great Pyramid (the boys are very into large numbers and measurement right now):

We moved “heavy blocks” (really, heavy books stacked on top of one another) as they would have when building the pyramid, and discussed how the ancient Egyptians might have made their work easier:

We got out some pencil crayon “logs” and used them to create rollers under the blocks, making the work much easier:

Tomorrow we will continue the Egypt theme by using squares to demonstrate the Pythagorean theorem (which the ancient Egyptians used to reallocate farmland after the Nile flooded each year). And Gareth wants to make date squares, his favourite dessert / snack. After all, as he pointed out to me while we were reading, dates did grow in Ancient Egypt.

If you have other favourite Ancient Egypt activities or resources, please leave me a comment. Thanks!

Daegan found a patch of ice that reminded him of a map of Europe (France and Spain, UK up above across the ‘channel’):

He learned a bit of local history of the park (Edworthy park):

And we saw and heard an unusual woodpecker. We’re still not sure what it is, after consulting all our field guides. My best guess is either a black-backed or three-toed woodpecker. Any birders out there that can enlighten us?:

It was a nice way to start the day, and I believe it helped Daegan focus in his drama class. The teacher said he had an excellent class, and was helping other kids with the story of Alice in Wonderland, the bit of play they will be performing. Daegan is very excited about playing the Caterpillar!

And am I ever glad I did! Now, I knew that water, unlike just about every other substance on earth, expanded when frozen. But I wasn’t expecting how much carbonated water expanded:

We talked about water expanding, why ice floats, and how this was necessary for aquatic life to survive winters. So good on Daegan for creating this experiment and teaching us all a little bit more! The boys then wanted to take the ice out and watch it melt to see if there would be any bubbles. There’ weren’t. But they then found another way to play. Gareth said, very excitedly, “Let’s make an arctic animal habitat!” When I looked in the bowl with the ice this is what I found:

As Jim and I made dinner—curry, yum!—the boys continued to play arctic animals. It was determined in short order that the polar bear would need some food:

It was decided that the fish would not be enough food for the polar bear, and that furthermore, it was not its favourite meal; seal was. But a beluga whale would happily eat the fish.

When I looked over a while later, an arctic wolf and some other kind of whale had joined the habitat:

As the boys played, I heard them also talk about camouflage (the wolf, the polar bear), and Jim and I commented about climate change in the arctic when the ice had melted significantly, dumping the wolf into the water. I love ‘unscripted’ moments like there when you see how much your kids have learned and love to learn, pretty much all on their own.    

Oh, and I’d love to hear comments as to what you knew about Canada already, and what was surprising or new to you in this clip. Did you know about the oil? World war II? While there was much press of our refusal to join the Iraq war, did you know about our involvement in Afghanistan, something that has (so far) cost 140 Canadian lives? (Remember, we have about 1/10th the US population, so multiply that number by 10 to get a sense of perspective compared with American forces lost). I loved the quote by Kennedy too! Enjoy!

We started by watching a couple fun videos on the elements: They Might Be Giants’ “Meet the Elements” and Tom Lehrer’s classic “Elements Song.”  There a multiple versions of both on youtube; the two we liked best were these:

Another great source of videos—one for each element—can be found here. We didn’t watch any as Daegan wanted to get on to the puzzle sheet. We talked very briefly about how the periodic table is arranged (by atomic number, or number of protons in the nucleus—for a basic overview, I relied on wikipedia), and then made sure our printed periodic table was at hand.

Daegan got down to work on on the place name puzzles. Unfortunately, we found a couple typos:

On the sheet, 75 should be 57 (in answers Poland, Netherlands, and Finland) and 16 should be 99 (at the end of Wales). I added a trick question at the bottom.

After Daegan had done a few of the puzzles, the activity was extended in a most natural way. “Mom, I know Spain and Poland are in Europe. But where’s Athens?” So off we went to the hallway, where we have kid-level maps hanging:

We found Athens on the map, noting that it was the capital of Greece. For all the other answers, which were all countries, I had Daegan go find the country on a map, and come back and tell me the capital of that country (which are on our map, so that way I knew he had located the country). He quite enjoyed this (kinesthetic learning!), particularly learning how to correctly pronounce Buenos Aires (capital of Argentina), as well as its meaning (‘good air”). The only difficulty we encountered was not having Wales on the map separate from the United Kingdom as a whole.

While Daegan worked on his puzzles and consulted the maps, I played around making a few more puzzles of simple words. We’re going to try these another day:

20  7  66 (a sweet treat)

16  8  6  6  68 (fun to play in summer)

15  18  53  16 (Capital of France)

5  8  39  16 (what you and Gareth are)

6  8  86 (delicious popped, or on the cob)

6  13  31 R-Y (where we live—note: you may find you have to add some letters to get your city to work)

94  6  19 (you need this to play hockey)

56  90 (you might take one before bed)

Have fun playing around with this idea; it’s very flexible. To incorporate math, for example, you could give simple math problems (8+8) or more challenging ones (4 squared), or math riddles (how old you will be in 9 years), instead of simply giving the number (16). And if you come up with more riddle words of elements, particularly place names, please share. Thanks!

but we are more

than genteel or civilized

we are an idea in the process

of being realized

we are young

we are cultures strung together

then woven into a tapestry

and the design

is what makes us more

than the sum total of our history

we are an experiment going right for a change

with influences that range from a to zed

The only part of the opening ceremonies I greatly disliked was the rendition of our national anthem, O Canada, right at the beginning. As one reviewer said, you could see folks wanting to sing along and show the world the pride they feel being Canadian, but this rendition deprived them of that opportunity. I also thought Rick Hansen should have been the one to light the final cauldron, not Wayne Gretzky, but was pleased that Hansen brought the flame into B.C. Place stadium and I also liked that the cauldron was lit by several people inside—a fitting end to a show about the coming together of peoples. For those who do not know who Hansen is, please click the link to his wikipedia entry I provided above—his life is one of pure inspiration. Too bad one of the columns of the final cauldron-lighting malfunctioned, but it gave me yet another opportunity to drive the point home to our 7-year-old about going with the flow and making the best of it when things don’t go as expected!

Of course, being homeschoolers, we seized the opportunity to learn a little more about our world: we had a globe at the ready and consulted it throughout the athlete’s parade:

And the boys learned more about Canada’s regions and peoples and traditions too. We were VERY happy to see the prairies represented (Calgary is at the intersection of prairie and Rocky Mountain) with the boys flying over wheat fields with Joni Mitchell’s song “Both Sides Now (Clouds)” warbling in the background. If you’ve never been to this part of the country, with its seemingly infinite wheat fields and open space, it might not have made much sense—but it was a fantastic representation I thought.

I’ll leave you with the full text of “We Are More”, the poem about Canada and one of my favourite parts of the ceremony: (I’ve put links to wikipedia entries for bits that may be less familiar to folks from outside this country)

We Are More

by Shane Koyczan

When defining Canada

you might list some statistics

you might mention our tallest building

or biggest lake

you might shake a tree in the fall

and call a red leaf Canada

you might rattle off some celebrities

might mention Buffy Sainte-Marie

might even mention the fact that we’ve got a few

Barenaked Ladies

or that we made these crazy things

like zippers

electric cars

and washing machines

when defining Canada

it seems the world’s anthem has been

" been there done that"

and maybe that’s where we used to be at

it’s true

we’ve done and we’ve been

we’ve seen

all the great themes get swallowed up by the machine

and turned into theme parks

but when defining Canada

don’t forget to mention that we have set sparks

we are not just fishing stories

about the one that got away

we do more than sit around and say "eh?"

and yes

we are the home of the Rocket and the Great One

who inspired little number nines

and little number ninety-nines

but we’re more than just hockey and fishing lines

off of the rocky coast of the Maritimes

and some say what defines us

is something as simple as please and thank you

and as for you’re welcome

well we say that too

but we are more

than genteel or civilized

we are an idea in the process

of being realized

we are young

we are cultures strung together

then woven into a tapestry

and the design

is what makes us more

than the sum total of our history

we are an experiment going right for a change

with influences that range from a to zed

and yes we say zed instead of zee

we are the colours of Chinatown and the coffee of Little Italy

we dream so big that there are those

who would call our ambition an industry

because we are more than sticky maple syrup and clean snow

we do more than grow wheat and brew beer

we are vineyards of good year after good year

we reforest what we clear

because we believe in generations beyond our own

knowing now that so many of us

have grown past what used to be

we can stand here today

filled with all the hope people have

when they say things like "someday"

someday we’ll be great

someday we’ll be this

or that

someday we’ll be at a point

when someday was yesterday

and all of our aspirations will pay the way

for those who on that day

look towards tomorrow

and still they say someday

we will reach the goals we set

and we will get interest on our inspiration

because we are more than a nation of whale watchers and lumberjacks

more than backpacks and hiking trails

we are hammers and nails building bridges

towards those who are willing to walk across

we are the lost-and-found for all those who might find themselves at a loss

we are not the see-through gloss or glamour

of those who clamour for the failings of others

we are fathers brothers sisters and mothers

uncles and nephews aunts and nieces

we are cousins

we are found missing puzzle pieces

we are families with room at the table for newcomers

we are more than summers and winters

more than on and off seasons

we are the reasons people have for wanting to stay

because we are more than what we say or do

we live to get past what we go through

and learn who we are

we are students

students who study the studiousness of studying

so we know what as well as why

we don’t have all the answers

but we try

and the effort is what makes us more

we don’t all know what it is in life we’re looking for

so keep exploring

go far and wide

or go inside but go deep

go deep

as if James Cameron was filming a sequel to The Abyss

and suddenly there was this location scout

trying to figure some way out

to get inside you

because you’ve been through hell and high water

and you went deep

keep exploring

because we are more

than a laundry list of things to do and places to see

we are more than hills to ski

or countryside ponds to skate

we are the abandoned hesitation of all those who can’t wait

we are first-rate greasy-spoon diners and healthy-living cafes

a country that is all the ways you choose to live

a land that can give you variety

because we are choices

we are millions upon millions of voices shouting

" keep exploring… we are more"

we are the surprise the world has in store for you

it’s true

Canada is the "what" in "what’s new?"

so don’t say "been there done that"

unless you’ve sat on the sidewalk

while chalk artists draw still lifes

on the concrete of a kid in the street

beatboxing to Neil Young for fun

don’t say you’ve been there done that

unless you’ve been here doing it

let this country be your first-aid kit

for all the times you get sick of the same old same old

let us be the story told to your friends

and when that story ends

leave chapters for the next time you’ll come back

next time pack for all the things

you didn’t pack for the first time

but don’t let your luggage define your travels

each life unravels differently

and experiences are what make up

the colours of our tapestry

we are

the true north
strong and free

and what’s more

is that we didn’t just say it

we made it be.