My Life As A Chinook By: Jil Chang

My name is Amitola, which means Rainbow. I belong in the Chinook tribe My name is Amitola, which means Rainbow. I belong in the Chinook tribe. The Chinooks live in the Northwest Region. This is my life as an ordinary Chinook . . .

Journal Entry #1: Winter Housing CLINK CLANK! I woke up listening to the sound of a hammer, being used to hit some wood? I checked my window, oh wait, I forgot my type of house doesn’t have windows… I went out the door and saw him making our winter Pit House, it was way deeper in the ground before. My dad says the deeper it is the warmer… At least I have something to look forward to when he’s done, my mom and I get to paint…

Journal Entry #1: Winter Clothing While my father was building our house, my mother and I were planning on making fur coats for the men when they go hunting next time. My mother and I always make clothing for the men. In the summer when it’s like really hot, they usually wear no clothes at all, so yeah we kind of get a small break… Whenever it’s raining we have to make hats and capes, those are the most troubling!!!

Journal Entry #1: Winter Food My mom and I are also responsible for cooking the food(sometimes men), so today my mother and I are going to cook for our family, while my father finishes up our Pit House. We cook fresh foods by either roasting it over a fire or baked in a mini pit. Dried foods were cooked by boiling it in water that’s in a cooking basket or wooden cooking boxes/bowls. Today we were going to cook elks and salmon that the men got when they went hunting. We were going to roast it over a fire today.

Journal Entry #1: Winter Tribe’s Characteristics (Gender Roles) Oh yeah, I forgot.. I also had to help my mom make dinner for my dad, I guess he does deserve some thanks…? My mom also said we had to make some food for the men who went out to either hunt, fish, or build some homes. The first task I had was to go out and collect some shellfish, herbs, fruits, vegetables, and some other plants. Sometimes, my job can be really boring… After the men give us the food they either hunted, or fished, we can add our finishing touches! I sometimes really wish I could go hunting or fishing with the men…

Journal Entry #2: Winter Terrain I was running across the grassy, bumpy land while waiting for my dad to finish the house, then all of a sudden I tripped over this huge rock lying in the middle of nowhere. “I’M GOOD!” I yelled, just in case anyone was watching me.. I sighed… “I wish that the cold weather would just disappear so I could roll around the grass again… No fun rolling around in cold weather…” A little kid was watching me, like I was crazy… “Why are you talking to yourself…?” He asked. “Oh, you know… Wishing we could have all that grass and bumpy terrain back…” And of course, he kept staring…Gotta love little kids, huh?

Journal Entry #2: Winter Ecosystem (Some common animals) As soon as my dad finished building our home we get to go hiking, hopefully…Some animals we usually spot are either elk, deer, bears, beavers, raccoons, muskrats, and many others, men would only hunt most of those. They are all very fascinating! In the winter though, there aren’t as many animals as in the summer. Once my dad and some other men finish hunting, everyone gets to eat a yummy treat! Muskrat 

Journal Entry #2: Winter Ecosystem (Common plants If we do get to go hiking my dad and I are going to go pick some plants that are called herbs for my mom. The herbs that we are going to get for her are either for medicine, for the sick people, or she’s going to use it in her food. I’m not what the specific names for each herb is, I only know that they’re for cooking and medicine… In the winter, we don’t get as many herbs just a few types, but in the summer we get many herbs.

Journal Entry #3: Winter Weather Description Today when I woke up, it was also FREEZING. I feel so sorry for my dad, since he has to work in the cold, cold, cold, COLD, weather. Today the weather was like in the 40’s, as usual. I can not wait for summer to come, where the temperatures will be in the 60’s or 70’s! It’s really annoying for the men, who have to work in the freezing weather, at least they get fur capes… That the women make…

Journal Entry #3: Winter Weather Impact Whoa! A blizzard, at this time when we’re just about to get most things done?!?!? We rarely ever get these!!! This is a horrible time for one to come! “Mom, mom!!” I yelled, I don’t have time to fix my sloppy handwriting!! I put on my coat as fast as I can and ran out of the village as fast as we could. Once we got out, we started watching the strong winds blow the houses apart, one after another. We had to hide in a cave, until the blizzard was over. The blizzard didn’t last as long, but it still damaged most things… As soon as everyone went inside our village, people immediately started rebuilding and some men already went out to hunt for animals.

Journal Entry #3: Winter Survival Strategies The whole village went to work immediately, all the women (counting me) started collecting cedar bark to make new clothing for the villagers. All the men immediately made their spear (they were jacked up because they were rushing) and went out to hunt, they didn’t get many animals…Some men had to stay and cut down some trees and work on the houses. Well.. One house was finished… There’s more clumping together when we don’t have as much homes…

REFLECTION It’s been a few months, our village finally got finished. I’m so happy that I’m finally able to make clothes that are much harder to sew. I still get kind of jealous that the men get to go hunt and we don’t… The neighboring tribe came today, of course they just wanted to trade with us. “I come in peace.”, the leader ALWAYS says that whenever he arrives. I look around, “Uh.. Hey..” He started saying that he wanted to trade with us again, and he offered a few items for ours. Like clothing for food, and all that other stuff. Once we finished I scooted away, slowly and carefully. I went home and saw my mom planting some crops in the grassy field, near our house. I told her about my day, and of course she just smiled like she always does… That is my life, as a Ordinary Chinook…

REFLECTION I think that this project went OK. It took me a while to get the hang of talking in “Perspective Mode”. What I really enjoyed about this project is getting to make a PowerPoint. This is like one of my very first PowerPoint's ever. There wasn’t anything that I didn’t enjoy, I thought that everything was pretty cool. I think I might’ve gotten a B, because this is kind of my first time using perspectives in a project, and I sometimes had to go back to edit A LOT of things. Talking in “Perspective Mode” was kind of challenging for me, and there was kind of some random change in this journal... I still had a lot of fun though. 

SOURCES http://www.fotevikensmuseum.se/Photo/art17/P0011574.jpg http://www.lyneart.com/BBOY.jpg http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/graphics/muskrat3sm.jpg http://www.nesco.com/i/f/Herbs3.jpg http://soulofamerica.com/soagalleries/seattle/famattr/Sea- TillicumVill_salmon1.jpg http://blog.bicyclism.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/cowandbikes-thumb.jpg watertown.k12.ma.us/cuniff/americanhistorycentral/02indiansofnorthamerica/Th e_Chinooks.html gregarobinson.com/art/ChinookFAQs.aspx ehow.com/info_8250435_customs-chinooks-indians.html science.calculator.ca.gov/pdf/eco_restor_fall_chinook.pdf

MORE SOURCES www. Tcpj.com/company/climate.htm My Social Studies Notebook  http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20110601120152/wizard101/images/f/f1/Epic _Face.jpg