Paulatuk (Oct 13/00) - Bringing the pride of Paulatuk to Expo 2000 in Germany was an absolute delight for five teens.

A large castle and farm animals were among the highlights for the group who just returned from Hannover, Germany.

Esther Wolki, Tracey Wolki, Savanna Green, Nolan Green and Warren Ruben are members of the Paulatuk Drummers and Dancers. They arrived in Hannover in mid-September and put on several performances at the Canadian Pavilion at Expo 2000.

After about 10 days there, they toured southern Germany and, two weeks ago, put on performances in Pfarrkirchen, a town 125 kilometres east of Munich.

Tracey Wolki said she enjoyed the diverse sights and sounds of Expo.

"I saw everything there, all the pavilions and the rides and stuff, and lots of people," Tracey said.

Tracey and Savanna said they enjoyed touring the largest castle in Europe, which is near Pfarrkirchen.

"It was very long and scary to look down," Nolan said.

Esther revealed another benefit of the castle tour.

"When we looked outside we saw the trees, and just over the trees was Austria," Esther said. "That was cool."

Warren said one highlight for him was visiting a farm, where he got to see livestock up-close for the first time.

"We saw a horse, chickens, mallard. We saw a donkey," Warren said.

He said his favourite part of the trip was drum dancing at one of the schools in Pfarrkirchen, where all the kids came up on stage.

"They were all copying the girls, even the boys," Warren said.

The youth all agreed the best part of the trip was interacting with other students.

"There were probably four schools there or five. At one school there were 500 students," Savanna said.

One evening while in Pfarrkirchen the Paulatuk troupe put on a performance for the community. The mayor was out of town, but the deputy mayor was present.

"We gave him (the deputy mayor) presents from Paulatuk," Esther said, "like the flag of Canada, and our Paulatuk flag, a drum dancing doll, and a tapestry that one of our elders here sewed."

Esther said she'd never forget this trip, but that it was nice to be home.

"We're proud to be Canadian. We're proud to be from Paulatuk."

Nolan revealed their trip has encouraged many people to join the group, which he said is encouraging to see.

Members of the Paulatuk Drummers and Dancers are already thinking about making plans to attend Expo 2005 in Japan.

"But we really need to work together and get a lot of fund-raising," Esther said.

All the teens expressed appreciation to Parks Canada, Inuvialuit Regional Corp., and everyone else who helped make their trip possible.