My canoeing adventure

Au Pairs of Long Island went to the Nissequoque Beach Club for an afternoon of canoeing on Sunday.

It was a lot of fun.

Technically, I think we weren't canoeing. According to some expert whom I spoke to, we were in a kayak.

It doesn't matter.

What matters is 1) I had fun 2) I made new friends 3) I drove on the parkway (similar to a highway) for the first time without too much trouble 4) I got lost on my way home but I found the way finally!

The thing is, I do not know the way to the Park. I had to drive to my counselor's place to hitch a ride to the park.

Which I am glad I did. The directions are really quite complicated.

...

I guess the question that pops into everyone's heads is, how would I rate it?

Well, it was so much fun that I would gladly do it again. Although frankly, it is really a lot of work. The arms especially. And my butt got so sore sitting on the metal. Yikes.

I had anticipated a capsize of the kayak/canoe, but thank god it didn't. I had braced myself for the ultimate worst...which is why I have never ever gone on a kayak/canoe before.

Ha, you must be laughing your heads off.

Well, I do have a lurking fear about water in general but I guess it didn't cross my mind about how rare a capsize is. The thing is, the chances of it happening are so minimal, unless well, yes, you had to run into some massive rock, or when you collide at fast speed head-on with a fellow kayak/canoe.

I realize though, canoeing/kayaking is almost like driving a car, somewhat.

Once you get the hang of it, everything just flows.

The scenery on one part of the River as we were cruising.

Another canoe/kayak with fellow Au Pairs.

There were three of us on the canoe, and none of us has really done it before. I said really because Anais, my new friend had done it once and she was able to at least give us some basic instructions.So yes, it was a big challenge.Nonetheless, I still think we worked very well together. At least the three of us didn't get stranded amidst the lalang-lookalikes submerging on the river. Or got wrecked off at some shore and needed to be rescued.

This is Anais, who is from France. I think she is very pretty. She is so much taller than me! She wants to work as a Special Education teacher. Wow!

This is Henny, who is from Hungary. Um, we ran into some trouble because she was the navigator and she didn't quite know how to judge, but we made it anyway. She is nice, just a little soft-spoken and introverted. She used to be a district nurse back home.

We stopped at this section to have our lunch. It was technically 3/4 of the way already.

This was the last 'obstacle' of the river, which also marked the end of the canoeing. Everyone had to practically ducked and you could hear screams as the paddles get caught amidst the structures. It was quite hilarious.

My new friends. The girls are from another cluster. The third in line is my orientation room mate Hyeyoon. The first two girls speak Spanish and they commented that my Spanish is quite good. I wonder how true that is... oh well. The last girl is Bowh. She is from Thailand.