Kayaking along La Lesse

When offered the chance to go kayaking through a Belgian river I immediately knew I would have fun. I did not know however, the difficulties that would be involved. As a Rotary Exchange student, living in Liege, Belgium I am offered the chance to participate in many Rotary sponsored activities. We would be kayaking twenty-two kilometers down the curvy La Lesse river located in Rochefort, Belgium. Twenty-two kilometers roughly converts to ten miles, ten miles of very little current. The challenge of kayaking was not the lack of effort or strength; but, the ability to motivate ones self to keep rowing instead to admiring the beautiful surroundings.
La Lesse river is surrounded by a fortress of trees, rocks, and even a castle now and then. I cannot adequately describe the breathtaking nature that I saw while traveling the river. Some small mishaps along the way made the kayaking experience even more memorable. Just a few instances were running into other kayaks, being forced to stop because a parade of horses crossing the river, falling in the extremely cold water, capsizing the kayak in front of over one hundred people, and barely catching the last train home. I am proud to say that even though I was cold, wet, and tired, the day was full of excitement and great memories.


In other news- I had to give a presentation in my religion class today. In French. I have never ever been nervous about public speaking before, considering that I hosted the talent show, spoke at DECA events, talked in front of adults......in other words, public speaking is not a big fear of mine. But today- I had to speak in french in front of my class. Let me describe how it went. The assignment was to describe what religion meant to you. Well I happen to be the only Catholic in the class, and the only person who beleives in God. So that was a bit nerve racking. Also, my illustration on what God meant to me was displayed for all to see. Then another student had to describe what she thought my picture meant; however, it was in fast french, so I didn't catch most of it. Then I attempted to describe my picture, but was so aweful at prouncing the words, the teacher just told me to say it in english. How depressing is that? Even the people that don't speak english understood my english more clearly than my french. Understandably I am now much more motivated to speak proper french. I have improved a lot since I first arrived, but speaking is more difficult than I initially imagined. Plus everyone here wants to practice their english, so I have to force people to switch and speak french. I'm hoping that by thanksgiving I'll be able to formulate sentences and by Christmas I'll be able to communicate fully. Cross your fingers, please.